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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want to name and shame ''proffesional'' gardening firm for their nasty comments (IMO)?

78 replies

QuiQuaiQuod · 21/09/2017 15:43

Don't know if HQ will let me name them, but if you livearound the Heathrow area I can pm you with them.

Theyre even in that 'check a trader' thing.

Anyway. I ring them to ask for a quote for one hour or so of help in garden (Im disabled and cant manage).

guy quoted me £185.00 ! whaaaat?

I said a few years ago a guy did an hours work , a proprer gardneer and charged me £20.00. (Ive lost his contact details hence me phoning around).

guy on phone said,in a sarcastic voice, and I quote,' ' only 20 quid? 'he must have gone back to Romania by now.''

I said 'pardon'?

he said 'must have been a foreigner then''.

I said ' er, no, guy was English'. thinking thatw as a nasty remark to make .

When I said gardener was english, guy on phone (again in a sneery voice) says ''well hes probably on the dole right now.'' i was like, whaaaat?

so I said 'you are supposed to be a reputable firm, and yet youspeak to people, and about people like that? thats not proffessional. especially to a potential customer, which by the way you wount get from me''. and cut phone call there and then.

AIBU in thinking you dont say things like that to anyone? Im not one of the PC brigade that every single thing would offend, but i thought his attutude and tone was certainly not proffessional.

OP posts:
StigmaStyle · 21/09/2017 16:15

£20-30 an hour round here, expensive major city.

I can understand it might be more if they are just coming for a total of one hour, and travel costs etc are going to be more if they are just doing 1-hour visits. Not £185 though! And anyway he should explain to you why it's that much, not start being unpleasant. Twat.

Also I don't think you were rude. Saying you previously paid £20 isn't demanding he charge the same, it's just pointing out the vast discrepancy and that you expected it to be significantly less.

Also I bet you £185 that if you were man he wouldn't have given you such a high price to stat with and wouldn't have been so aggressive when you objected.

Original poster
QuiQuaiQuod · 21/09/2017 16:16

guilty* i asked if they do my area (ooh er, missus!) and they said they were nearby. they are local firms.

and the job is basic garden tidying, no tree cutting, no hedge trimming, just soe weeding and stuff, nothing big, but as Im disabled i cannot do the mostbasic things.

OP posts:
Flyingflipflop · 21/09/2017 16:17

I think they're charging as one off jobs and not ongoing contracts.

Original poster
QuiQuaiQuod · 21/09/2017 16:18

Also I don't think you were rude. Saying you previously paid £20 isn't demanding he charge the same, it's just pointing out the vast discrepancy and that you expected it to be significantly less.

exactly what i meant. thank you Stigma.

OP posts:
SantasLittleMonkeyButler · 21/09/2017 16:20

£185 might be the firm's standard charge for a one-off job. The work that OP imagines will take an hour, may well take a whole day if done to a "professional" standard.

Some companies just don't want the small £20 jobs.

If £185 per hour is indeed their regular rate then I'm changing careers too!

NetballHoop · 21/09/2017 16:20

Is there any chance that they were quoting for a day rather than an hour?

Lunde · 21/09/2017 16:21

Is the quote per hour or for the job? Is the quote only for labour or does it include materials, plants and equipment etc?

DB works in this line of work and many people under estimate jobs - thinking it's about an hour when it's 4-8 hours and don't include all the costs

TheAntiBoop · 21/09/2017 16:21

It may well be that they effectively charge a day rate as doing an hours work isn't worth it for them as they would not be able to fill the rest of the day but still need to pay their employee

Whereas a local handyman is more likely used to filling his days with odd jobs

LurkingHusband · 21/09/2017 16:22

Theyre even in that 'check a trader' thing

waste of electrons. Look who pays them .... (see also "RatedPeople")

Rachie1973 · 21/09/2017 16:24

And it's worth noting you're not his 'client' so he doesn't have to address you as though you were.

Viviennemary · 21/09/2017 16:27

Nobody is going to do a one off one hour's gardening. It's just not worth it. In the current climate it was probably unwise of him to say what he said. But £185 for an hour's gardening is mad. I agree with the poster who said it was probably a quote for the job which would take several hours.

StigmaStyle · 21/09/2017 16:31

Of course they do, I've often had a gardener come do do a one-off tidy up or a specific job, taking one or two hours.

Trollspoopglitter · 21/09/2017 16:35

It's not an hour's work. You've been quoted for a job. You've decided it will only take them an hour. They change a minimum and you need to find someone who charges per hour.

NameChangeFamousFolk · 21/09/2017 16:36

Im not one of the PC brigade that every single thing would offend

Hmm
mum11970 · 21/09/2017 16:36

Are you calling gardening/handyman businesses or landscape gardeners? There will be a huge difference in price between the two.

SallyForthSunshine · 21/09/2017 16:37

Ridiculously low - some of you must be getting scalped... My Nan pays £12 an hour for her gardener.

millifiori · 21/09/2017 16:37

LurkingHusband That's interesting. I used CheckaTrade for a quote to paper one wall - just one wall - of our house and was quoted £400. That's not including materials. He reckoned it would take 2 days.

PeppaPigTastesLikeBacon · 21/09/2017 16:38

They way he was taking was wrong.

He quoted himself out of the running. We get it a lot in the job I work for when someone doesn't want the job they just price themselves way above

eddiemairswife · 21/09/2017 16:39

I've just started with a gardener. Midlands city, 2 hours every fortnight, £30.

Penguins333 · 21/09/2017 16:41

It's kind of irrelevant whether you think they were rude or overcharging - their business and their prerogative. You can't barter with a business who have set prices and if that's what other people regularly pay them for their services then they probably found you rude to say you think they are worth £20. Just look on a google to find places that charge what you think is acceptable and call them instead. Why do you want to name and shame a company who sets prices themselves and doesn't want to work at what would be a reduced rate for them to suit you?

sizeofalentil · 21/09/2017 16:42

I'm originally from around the Heathrow area and would expect to pay around £20-£40 for an hour of gardening. Depending on who I was asking and what I wanted them to do. Eg. a local handyman I know charges £10 an hour, but he isn't a skilled gardener so could get him to dig but not weed.

I'd also be surprised if someone would come for an hour tbh. Most people want to do two hours.

Witchend · 21/09/2017 16:42

The OP says "an hour or so" and I suspect that what he's actually quoting for is a job that OP thinks will take about an hour but the gardener can see will take considerably more.
I know how that goes myself. I think "I'll just do a quick hour and in an hour I'll have cleared both beds and can be down to the tip with the rubbish. After 2 hours I've done a not very good job on the first third of the first bed. Grin

RidingWindhorses · 21/09/2017 16:49

That may be their minimum call out charge. They may not just want to do an hour's work for a one off customer.

Candlemiss · 21/09/2017 17:01

If it's a professional company, it's not worth their while to do an hour or so here and there, hence the off-putting quote. What you are looking for is a local odd job man.

illustratednews · 21/09/2017 17:05

£20 here (north of England) but no-one would do an hour job due to travelling etc- and it would stop them taking a full or half days work- so minimum would be 3 or 4 hours.

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