Someone has cut my grass and now wants money

[SliceOfCakeCupOfTea]

I'm working from home today today and heard the noise of a lawn mower out the front. I didn't really give it much thought and just moved into one of the back rooms.

I've just had a young bloke knock on the door and he explained that he's accidentally 'done my garden' instead of my neighbours. We live in a semi and it's the neighbour we are attached to. Our front gardens are separated by a knee high wall. Neighbour is out (car is gone and they aren't answering their door so I assume they're out) but the lad wants paying for cutting my grass. Since neighbour pre-paid him and they're aren't in, he's now saying that I owe him money because he has provided me with a service.

Neighbours garden is just grass surrounded by the wall. My garden is a bit more wild with plant boarders all around and a couple of small trees and bushes. The lad has cut my grass, trimmed the edges, tidied some of the bushes etc. It's obviously a bigger job than what he was hired for.

I don't want to pay because I didn't ask him to do this. Nor am I too happy with the job he's done anyways. He's saying that his time needs compensating and if our houses were clearly marked then the mistake wouldn't have happened. He's also saying that since I'm home and could hear the lawn mower, I should have said something instead of 'letting' him carry on 'doing my garden'.

AIBU?

Honestly, this exact same thing happened to me mam in her old house. Pretty much all her neighbours were elderly and used the same young lad for regular cuts. A couple of weeks after moving in she came home to find her grass had been cut. Lad showed up later asked for the money 😆 she bloody paid it! Said he'd done it for the previous tenant, hadnt realised she'd moved in. Previous tenant had died, house had been empty weeks and grass overgrown when she moved in. He came every month after that, despite me offering to do it for free.

What does it matter whether it was an ok price or not? She didn't want it done, she didn't ask for it to be done; there's no way she should reward this nonsense of "your houses look too alike" by paying him.

May be but this time the grass was actually cut,

Ultimately you're right, but it's not a "scam" really is it , they have actually done the work, to what standards I can't see, they shouldn't ask for the money, but I would perhaps offer it - if I had it.

He's learnt a valuable lesson today hasn't he.

Same

My house is on a corner plot on a council estate. Early one morning whilst still in bed I heard the council workers strimming the grass outside the flats across the road which are also on corners.

I thought it was rather loud but didn't think anything of it. When I got up and looked out of the window the council workers had strimmed my massive lawn. I was delighted and even more delighted that they did it again some months later. Of course I didn't complain.

Have you been able to speak to your neighbours yet? See what they know?

You have a stale donut? How on earth did that happen?

We had scammers in our area jet washing peoples drives without permission (usually the elderly). Either doing it then demanding hundreds or doing a little square without permission that's super obvious so people's drives look horrible and then they hope they'd want them to finish the rest and charge hundreds.

Twats! Sounds similar, I honestly can't fathom the cheek! If his story is true it's his own dumbass fault for getting the wrong house, if anything he should be apologising for being so stupid. Glad you didn't give him any money!

@Hawkins003

May be but this time the grass was actually cut,

That's the scam.

'Oh I cut this by mistake'

It's to scam people into paying for something they never asked for.

I'd be clear that noone asked him so im not obliged yo pay its his error, but. I would pay him what the job is worth and tell him never to do it again. Life's too short.

Yep, seems more and more like a scam when you talk it out doesn’t it ?

I accidentally pressed you are being unreasonable- I was wrong ! You are not being unreasonable xx

Whilst asking for the money you should have got a pen and paper, drew a little portrait of him and asked him to pay up for it since he saw you doing it and didn’t stop you. Don’t you deserve to be paid for your art work?

Yellow label purchase and they were already iffy when I opened them

I wouldn't pay him. You didn't ask for the service so not obligated to pay it.

I live on a small estate under 100 houses. By the way things worked out my garden is probably the largest in the estate.

1 of the locals started to cut grass locally and when I moved into this house started coming to cut my grass. I never asked him, £20 for the cut. That was okay once a month.

I don't get up early due to ill health so then he started coming fortnightly, it was always around 7am when I would be asleep I paid this twice, then he saying he needed to come weekly. He would call later in the day to get paid.

The second week in a row he arrived I was out to meet him and told him I didn't want it cut, he insisted that it was growing too fast and looked "bad". I told him he could cut it if he wanted but I wasn't paying for it. Honestly I can't afford £80/£100 per month on grass cutting. He had cut one strip by then so he abandoned it and never came back.

He has done this on many people. During the first lockdown he went around some mornings and started painting people fences. They didn't want the fence painted nor asked for it and then he wanted paid for it. People were annoyed at this stage and many people told him that he could do their grass and paint if he wanted but not paying him.. That put a stop to it. But he was just chancing his arm.

I'm absolutely astounded that anyone thinks you should pay. Although, I kinda want their details because I'm actually a Nigerian prince.

This is literally nothing to do with @SliceOfCakeCupOfTea, the neighbour can pay if they feel inclined.

I would be raging about this. I have a v small lawn at the front, but the large side section is not meant to be cut. We just leave it. It looks overgrown and weedy, like a badly maintained lawn at this time of year, but it is a w mini wild flower meadow. It has loads of different wildflowers, clover, dandelions etc in among clumps of grass. I very deliberately planted it and now let it do it's own thing to counteract all the concrete and monobloc etc. Bees need a helping hand.

I also have shrubs and bushes, some of which must not be pruned at this time, or they will be more vulnerable to frost. Given that this is Scotland, we may well have overnight frost still and you just do not take the chance on pruning some things.

I would be asking for compensation to be honest.

Tell him he should have rung the same door bell he did when he wanted payment prior to the job. If he had checked and introduced himself he would have saved the trouble of mowing the wrong lawn.
A valuable lesson for him, check before you work, either by knocking or by ringing the client.
Sorry no payment for a service that was not requested.
Make sure you get a picture of him and his vehicle before he leaves in case there are repercussions.

he’s having a laugh 🤣

Though completely baffled at the 3% who have said YABU 🙄

Mistakes cost. But they cost the person who made the mistake! His mistake, he learns to be more careful next time!

I hope you didn't pay. By his logic he can rock up anywhere, have a crack at doing whatever he fancies and demand payment. Nope.

Can't believe some of the answers on here. No way would I pay someone who did something without me requesting it. That's why people get scammed. And they keep trying it on because some people will just pay for an easy life.

Don't feed the scammers.

In the old TV game show tradition, Tell him to rearrange these words into a well known phrase or saying: OFF FUCK

I was about to call him a class A bell end. But that would be insulting to bell ends.