To expect tradesman to send certificate I paid for

[Kandinsko]

Came round early July, did the work, gave me a price for the work, inspection certificate, and to write a report on the old installation.

I insisted on paying almost double the amount he suggested as he’d been there for 5 hours and was massively undercharging me.

Said he would send certificate over same evening – it was a Friday, I said don’t worry, it’s Friday night, send it on Monday.

Paid full amount immediately.

Got certificate about 10 days later. Got the report about 5 weeks later after chasing. Always responded – got lots on (new jobs). He finally became available when I mentioned a friend who might need some work done.

Early September I noticed the certificate has the wrong address on it We need to send it to landlord, who paid for it. Trader says he will amend it. 11 days nothing. Chased it again last week – “I’ll try and do it tonight”. Since then texts ignored.

Now I chased it up on social media and he’s responded angrily saying he ‘asked me to check it was correct months ago’. ‘Do I expect him to just drop everything and rectify it?’ He will do it ‘when he has chance’.

I’m at a loss lol. What do you say? I just need the certificate and would like to move on.

Can I just check l’m not going mad here? AIBU?!

It's not actually just as simple as changing the address on the certificate. There's more to it than that. He has a point that you could have let him know at the time, but now your deadline means you are putting a deadline on him when he could have a gazillion other things to do.

How on earth did you not notice that the certificate didn’t have your own address on it?

You are hurting his reputation by broadcasting it to all and sundry online and framed the first part of your story to make out you’re not being unreasonable (I let him send it on Monday because it was Friday night / I insisted on paying him more even though he gave me a bill for a lesser amount) when you are.

The address was similar to mine but incorrect. I didn’t complain but just asked him to amend it as the certificate isn’t valid for us. I can’t see how it’s more my fault than theirs because I didn’t notice their error immediately!

I don’t mind waiting but it’s the fact of being given a time frame, relaying this to the landlord, then hearing nothing. I didn’t demand it within a certain amount of time.

If there was just a clear expectation of how long it would take I’d happily leave it with them. So if they just said – it’ll be about 2 weeks – fine.

When I’ve chased it up there’s now no response via any channel.

He is obviously happy to take on new work day to day and prioritise that over completing outstanding work that’s already been paid for.

I am self-employed and if I communicated poorly, was unreliable and ignored messages I wouldn’t have any customers.

I posted on a local page asking if anyone knew of him as he’d disappeared and I wasn’t getting a response via any other channels. He popped up quite quickly and I removed the post. I don’t want an argument or to make him look bad, I just want to get it sorted (even just with a reliable time frame).

But was also curious how long you’d expect it to take to get a certificate like that – he’s said sane day so I’ve gone on his word, but maybe I’m being impatient and waiting up to a month is normal. I don’t know as it’s not the area I work in.

The address was similar to mine but incorrect. I didn’t complain but just asked him to amend it as the certificate isn’t valid for us. I can’t see how it’s more my fault than theirs because I didn’t notice their error immediately!

It is more your fault. If he asked you to check that it was all correct and you either didn’t, or didn’t notice that your own address was incorrect, that’s your negligence.

I don’t mind waiting but it’s the fact of being given a time frame, relaying this to the landlord, then hearing nothing. I didn’t demand it within a certain amount of time.

He didn’t give you a timeframe. You were hassling him and he said that he would try to get it done that night. There’s no clear expectation in that sentence and you have no idea how much or how little he tried to amend it on the night he said he would.

If there was just a clear expectation of how long it would take I’d happily leave it with them. So if they just said – it’ll be about 2 weeks – fine.

Okay, so just pretend that he said “it’ll be about six months” and then chase it up after that if you haven’t heard anything, if you’d actually happily leave it with them if they had have given you any timeframe.

When I’ve chased it up there’s now no response via any channel.

Because you hassled him on social media for everyone to see and he’s probably angry with you and wants to have as little communication with you as possible.

He is obviously happy to take on new work day to day and prioritise that over completing outstanding work that’s already been paid for.

AKA making a living

@CitizenFame

Fair enough.

“When I’ve chased it up there’s now no response via any channel.”

This is before I posted online. I posted online after getting no response for a week via any other channels.

The original 1-paragraph report took 5 weeks – he originally said he would send it over immediately, and then each time I followed it up, probably about a week apart, to ask (really politely) if there was any update, he said he would do it that day then never did.

Fair enough in the message last week he said ‘try’. I think by that point it just seemed he didn’t want to commit himself fully as he knew he probably wouldn’t bother. It seemed like there was going to be another x weeks of chasing it up.

I didn’t slag him off on sm, I just asked if anyone knew of him, then deleted post immediately when he popped up.

If he said he would do it in 6 months that would be a bit rubbish really wouldn’t it?

Maybe I’m BU then.

“He is obviously happy to take on new work day to day and prioritise that over completing outstanding work that’s already been paid for.”

“AKA making a living”

If you’re taking on so much that you can’t complete jobs for you’ve already started for weeks on end, you’re probably being fair to the customers you’re working with. If I’d waited to receive the original certificate and report before paying for them, I suppose I would have received them a fair bit quicker.

YABU. He asked you to check and you failed to do so.

@emilyfrost

I should probably clarify that – he’s said that now but didn’t ask me to check it over at the time.

[quote Kandinsko]@emilyfrost

I should probably clarify that – he’s said that now but didn’t ask me to check it over at the time.[/quote]
Do you need to be told to check it?

He was the one responsible for the report and got the address wrong. He should fix it, and it's a bit crap you didn't notice at the time.

Even so, you now need to get it corrected on a deadline. Though I think it's more his fault than yours, I would suggest going back to him with sweetness and light, all apology, and explaining your predicament. You could also offer to "clarify" on social media that you were at fault. (Basically just suck it up in hopes that you get what you need!)

Argh I am having a similar nightmare!

Had some electrical work done a few months ago. Im now in the process of selling my house and realised the electrician didn't provide us with the paperwork he was supposed to. DOH!

Que our buyers solicitor demanding it and me having to chase it up a million times!

@emilyfrost

Well I will in future! I did glance over it but didn’t spot the mistake initially. It was just the number wrong, and the address was in small type and not written anywhere prominently. He sent the certificate over about 11.30pm weeks after the inspection was done and I guess at a glance it looked ok.

I wasn’t upset they’d made the mistake at all. He agreed to amend it first week of September.

@Greentulips1

Sorry you’re having the same faff Tulip! I feel your frustration!!!

It’s just the endless chasing that becomes ridiculous, if you’re too busy this week just say and I’ll know to leave it with you!!! It’s just completely indefinite when or if he will finally get round to it.

Has your electrician said they will sort it?!

I’m beginning to get why people value reliable traders so much. You just have no idea what you’re getting.