Plumbers invoice

[thesnailandthewhale]

Last week I had a new combo boiler installed, guy who owns the company did the quote but another guy came and did the work. All fine, new boiler is great, however while he was here he said that the bathroom sink tap needed replacing as the water had all come out of the top of it when it was connected up due to the pressure. He said they would come back this week and sort it.

Owner guy came round just before he had finished, checked his work and said to me that I would need to get a plumber round to sort the bathroom tap. A bit later he said that he'd spoken to the other guy and they would call me this week to come back and sort the tap.

Today he called and the other guy came round and did the tap. All good. However tonight I have had an invoice for £90 - £45 for the tap, £30 for labour and £15 for VAT. I assumed it would be included as part of the original job, even though it wasn't in that quote there was nothing wrong with the tap before they did the work? I suppose I shouldn't expect them to pay for the new tap etc but I wasn't given a quote and I thought they were doing the work as part of the original job?

YABU - its a different job, pay up
YANBU - its part of the job I have already paid for

The plumber should have discussed any additional costs with you before proceeding with the extra work.
Did the plumber put anything in writing to you? Or was it verbal?

If the agreement is verbal and no additional charges were discussed then I would ask for a brief report of their findings plus an invoice.
Tell the plumber you need these before you can pay and for tax purposes.

If there was no written estimate initially then it may not be worth your while to dispute this and it may be easier all round to chalk this up to experience and pay up.

If there was a written agreement then pay the agreed cost and negotiate the additional charges.

YABU

Unless the boiler fitter broke something, the job they costed was for fitting the boiler. That you also needs a new tap fitted is another job and wasn't part of the boiler fitting.

I had an invoice for the original work, which I have already paid. The guy who fitted it said that the pressure of the new boiler meant the tap leaked, the water came out halfway down the tap rather than out of the tap as it should, so my bathroom was soaked (he used 4 towels to clear it up when he fitted the boiler). He said to me that they would come back and replace the tap. I therefore took that to mean it was all to do with having the boiler fitted as the tap was fine before they came.
I can see now that maybe it wasn't part of having the boiler fitted but there was no mention of costs, I would've got a mate to do it had i known. The new invoice is: £45 tap, £30 labour £15 VAT.

I’ve dealt with a lot of tradesmen recently and you very quickly learn to say ‘how much more is that?’ Call it a valuable learning experience. He should have told you, though.

It’s unfortunate, but a tap failing is not there fault and they do have labour/material costs to pay. They have to pay the VAT back to the government anyway. Sounds reasonable to me.

Your tap was faulty if an increase in pressure caused it to burst - so why should you not pay for it.

As a compromise You could say you didn't think you should be charged for labour but I Definately think the new tap is on you

*their not there!

Married to a plumber. No the tap would not have been included in price for boiler, as they were not to know about the amount of increased water pressure to cause the tap to not function. Always ask for price for any extras beforehand, but £90 for a new tap is a good price.

You are definitely being unreasonable. They charged you a small amount for labour on a 2nd visit to fix your faulty tap. You have had very good service. You should be writing them a glowing review on their social media. You are being a total CF.

As the potential for you to be charged for this a not even mentioned I think you would be right to object/query.

It is tricky though because it may be that the tap issue was unavoidable as part of the new boiler fitting in which case it was reasonable to replace unless you were willing to put up with a leaky tap (or possibly could have been avoided with more caution in which case the plumber should really have done the work gratis) - you just don't know. It should have been discussed with you before the tap work was done as to why it had happened (if it was a known risk I would have expected them to flag it up before starting the boiler work) and what the cost would be if the tap was replaced.

You have got a new tap out of it so perhaps offer to pay for the part only but object to the labour costs on the basis you were not informed of the risk or that dealing with it would attract a charge.

I had this when we had upstairs carpets fitted. The guy said as he was measuring up that one of the small joists was loose and he could "have a look" at it when he was installing the carpet. It was quite a shock when I got the bill and he had added £300. Given that we were spending over £4000 on carpets I had assumed he was throwing it in for free. Otherwise I would have nailed the joist in myself. I did pay as I had agreed he could "have a look" and I had a lot else going on at the time, though looking back I regret rolling over. Anyway, we are now having the downstairs carpets replaced and I have taken my custom elsewhere this time!

Thanks all, happy to pay and will put it down to a learning experience :)

DianaT1969 - I really don't think I am being a total CF, I just asked a question, never said I wouldn't pay ... and I had already given them a glowing reference on checkatrade, but thanks for your thoughts.

Look at it from the other side. The broken tap wasn't their fault, so why should they pay for it?

@DianaT1969

You are definitely being unreasonable. They charged you a small amount for labour on a 2nd visit to fix your faulty tap. You have had very good service. You should be writing them a glowing review on their social media. You are being a total CF.

A bit harsh, the Op was just querying the price, like we all do when we aren't sure. How does that make her a CF?

As soon as they mention extra work I ask how much. But yeah they should have said really.

Well they should have told you ahead of the cost but yeah you should have asked too.
It’s amazing how many people do think they shouldn’t have to pay for extras though. DH often used to get asked “ooh while you’re here could you just....” and people would noticeably bristle when he said “sure it will be an extra £££” (I know that’s not what happened here OP)

You should have asked the price, he should have made sure you did. But it was never going to be free. Also VAT doesn't go to them so it's not really them charging you it, it goes straight to the Gov.

Of course it was not the same job! YABVU.

He should have made it clear that there would be extra costs involved but I’d pay and move on.

As a plumber, I'd like to say that's a good cheap price for a tap refit.
Some taps are designed for lower pressure systems, which is why it failed when you had combi put in.

Why would they give you a free tap?
It was explained to you that the pressure of a new boiler meant the tap was now not suitable as presumably you now have an efficient working boiler .
Did you not think to ask the cost?
I mean if you took your car in for brakes and whilst there they spotted your tyre was bald would you expect them to fit tyre for free.

Also when fitting a boiler ,I don't see how a plumber could break your tap as he wouldn't really be touching it