Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not pay the full price?

22 replies

NobHob · 10/10/2018 13:13

I had some work done on my house recently. I had a written estimate for the work in advance that said the time to do it would be "approx... hours" and the materials required would be "up to ... items".

When the workmen turned up they were at my house for only a third of the time estimated, and used only a third of the materials estimated.

I was astonished therefore to be invoiced for the full amount.

AIBU to refuse to pay the full amount?

OP posts:
shapeshifter88 · 10/10/2018 13:19

did they have a rate you would be charged for each hour / day they went over their estimate too?

if not, it looks more fixed price and u agreed to that price for the job to be done.

KriswithaK · 10/10/2018 13:24

I agree with PP.
There’s a difference between ‘quote’ & ‘fixed price’.

With the quote you’re opening yourself up to being vulnerable, whereas the fixed prices does what it says on the tin.

You could question their invoice but personally I don’t think you’ll get anywhere with it.

easyandy101 · 10/10/2018 13:27

Would be happy they'd smashed it out at a rate quicker than expected at a price i'd agreed to

Original poster
NobHob · 10/10/2018 13:28

No, not a quote or a fixed price. Neither of those terms were used in the letter I received from them

OP posts:
Holidayfromreal · 10/10/2018 13:30

We say something similar in my workplace, we quote for the work and an estimated time and if we do it faster happy days and if it takes longer there is no extra charge to the customer. But to do it in a third of the time does sound like a bad estimate so querying it can't hurt.

MintedLamb · 10/10/2018 13:36

Could it have been something like they estimated 12 hours to do the work but they sent 3 men to do it and therefore it only took 4 hours?

Original poster
NobHob · 10/10/2018 13:37

Exactly Holiday. I thought there was a big difference between a quote and an estimate. A quote means that if they go over, or come in under, you pay the price quoted,. However if it's an estimate, then you pay the price for the actual work.

Otherwise companies can just over quote all the time and the consumer is out of pocket.

I wouldn't have cared if they'd come in a bit under, but a third is ridiculous and smacks of profiteering to me

OP posts:
bridgetreilly · 10/10/2018 13:38

You should definitely only be paying for the materials used. For the rest, I think a phone call for clarification is in order.

newmumwithquestions · 10/10/2018 13:39

Definitely question it. When we had our roof done the quote was estimated based on the builder being able to re-use half the slates. They re-used lots more than that so the invoice was less.

Original poster
NobHob · 10/10/2018 13:39

Minted, the letter didn't mention man-hours. Just hours. And they still only used a third of the materials estimated, so I think that's pretty telling

OP posts:
newmumwithquestions · 10/10/2018 13:40

Sorry to clarify they may have given us an estimate not a quote...

Original poster
NobHob · 10/10/2018 13:40

Tried ringing them Bridget. They said it's a fixed price (not according to the letter) and then became really unpleasant

OP posts:
LivingDeadGirlUK · 10/10/2018 13:41

Perhaps the labor cost their hourly rate, so would then be multiplied by number of tradesmen? Either way no you should not just randomly pay a 3rd of the price without saying anything, but yes you should call them and query the cost.

Cakeisbest · 10/10/2018 13:42

You shouldn’t have to pay for materials not used, unless it’s something like half a bag of cement that can’t be returned.

theworldistoosmall · 10/10/2018 13:49

I would email them back and say if this is a fixed price that you are paying for 12 materials used, and they used 4 materials that upon delivery of the unused materials you will pay for them.

jcyclops · 10/10/2018 13:53

You can ask politely for a nominal reduction based on the time saving and the fact they could work elsewhere due to this, and you can say that this will be mentioned when you put your experience on the review websites (ie. "speak softly and carry a big stick" - T. Roosevelt). You can not refuse to pay. Bear in mind that tradesmen working on fixed prices will finish some jobs quickly, and others will take a bit longer than estimated, and you would not like to pay extra if they took a bit longer.

MrsFezziwig · 10/10/2018 13:56

Did you have other quotes/estimates for the job?

CrystalQueen · 10/10/2018 13:57

we had a similar thing recently, where we were told it would be three days of work - but actually had workmen for one hour on each of the days. We queried and the bill was halved. Were the workmen subcontractors? The explanation we were given was the the work had been subcontracted and the subcontractors had invoiced for full days.

ButtonMoonLoon · 10/10/2018 14:25

How many hours did they say in writing and how many people did the job?

Mugglemom · 10/10/2018 14:26

We had the opposite. An electrician estimated he'd need 1.5 hours and would require £100 for some work but it ended up taking 3 hours.

He did not try to charge more, although we offered him extra £ for the time/effort.

If it were the opposite way around, how would you feel?

ElainaElephant · 10/10/2018 14:28

Sounds like they had 3 people on the job, hence it took 3 x the number of hours they were there for.

Holidayfromreal · 10/10/2018 14:31

I like theworldistoosmalls answer

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread