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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Someone has cut my grass and now wants money

384 replies

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 22/03/2023 14:07

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?

OP posts:
PrettyMaybug · 23/03/2023 21:24

Hippoh · 23/03/2023 21:13

So.. you heard a noise while at home alone… suspiciously close… that may have been someone in your garden.. that was someone in your garden… decided not to look out to check just moved room… unless your house is massive I’m guessing you could still hear… but decided to ignore it… then when work was done and door was knocked played ignorant and claimed you have been violated by a vigilante gardener.
sorry this happened xx

U OK hun? Sad Serious question.........

dexterslockedintheshedagain · 23/03/2023 21:29

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 23/03/2023 20:57

I do have windows, you are correct. Also blinds as my house faces onto the street with other houses. I wasn't looking out the window. I didn't look into the front garden or the street. I was looking at my laptop, heard a noise and moved into a different room.

I'm not a curtain twitcher so don't exactly care what's happening out front. My focus was on my work. Genuinely thought it was a neighbours garden being cut because why in the world would I expect it to be mine when DH was at work and I clearly wasn't doing it myself?

I see you 'rose' to the occasion here, and have 'branched' out into sarcasm (quite successfully). But don't beat about the bush, or hedge your bets. Hipoh IS the (budding) scammer!

HangerLaneGyratorySystem · 23/03/2023 21:31

I know there's a thread going on for pages and pages at the moment about someone's DH eating a lasagne, but this is edging a close second - how the actual fuck is this the OP's fault? It seems like if a man does something, whatever it is, it must be right. End of story.

Original poster
SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 23/03/2023 21:33

Hippoh · 23/03/2023 21:13

So.. you heard a noise while at home alone… suspiciously close… that may have been someone in your garden.. that was someone in your garden… decided not to look out to check just moved room… unless your house is massive I’m guessing you could still hear… but decided to ignore it… then when work was done and door was knocked played ignorant and claimed you have been violated by a vigilante gardener.
sorry this happened xx

Yes BUT my house has these things called doors which close off small areas and help dampen sound coming from the opposite side of the house. Plus my headphones.

It's ok hunz, thnks for your prayers 🙏❤️🙏

OP posts:
Hippoh · 23/03/2023 21:36

Ok… I give up!

I wasn’t aware this was such a problem as it seems to be. I have never heard this from friends etc. thank you for the education and although I’m still a wee bit suspicious I’ll take your word on this.

peace
xx

Original poster
SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 23/03/2023 21:38

HangerLaneGyratorySystem · 23/03/2023 21:31

I know there's a thread going on for pages and pages at the moment about someone's DH eating a lasagne, but this is edging a close second - how the actual fuck is this the OP's fault? It seems like if a man does something, whatever it is, it must be right. End of story.

Well I don't know about the lasagna OP but I am a secret stay at home scammer apparently. Like one of those spiders who waits ready to pounce. I lure innocent trades people to my home with my messy garden and clogged gutters

OP posts:
dexterslockedintheshedagain · 23/03/2023 21:39

Oh the lasagne thread is AWESOME!! The outrage at reheated food is quite something

Original poster
SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 23/03/2023 21:40

dexterslockedintheshedagain · 23/03/2023 21:29

I see you 'rose' to the occasion here, and have 'branched' out into sarcasm (quite successfully). But don't beat about the bush, or hedge your bets. Hipoh IS the (budding) scammer!

Show quote history

You 'grow' girl (or boy)!

You've got me 'soiling' my 'plants' with your puns.

OP posts:
HangerLaneGyratorySystem · 23/03/2023 21:46

I imagine you just sitting at your laptop deliberately NOT asking people to do work in or around your house and then actually expecting not to pay them when they do it. How dare you not ask them in the first place maybe? Maybe by deliberately being a householder who does not earn enough to ask men to do work, you are asking for it? The more we know of you, the worse it gets.

HangerLaneGyratorySystem · 23/03/2023 21:46

(and stop engaging @dexterslockedintheshedagain. They need to get their coat)

Original poster
SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 23/03/2023 21:50

HangerLaneGyratorySystem · 23/03/2023 21:46

I imagine you just sitting at your laptop deliberately NOT asking people to do work in or around your house and then actually expecting not to pay them when they do it. How dare you not ask them in the first place maybe? Maybe by deliberately being a householder who does not earn enough to ask men to do work, you are asking for it? The more we know of you, the worse it gets.

You've got me pegged.

I do indeed deliberately not ask people to do work and then not expect to pay them. It's a hobby really.

My mask is slipping.

OP posts:
Skynorth · 24/03/2023 05:10

This one is in my department! In short, you never entered into any contract with that person therefore you owe nothing. You didn’t ask them to cut your lawn. In fact by doing so he’s trespassed onto your property, whether accidentally (which I don’t believe as it’s a common scam tactic used by chancers) or not.

MrsToothyBitch · 24/03/2023 05:47

YANBU. I'd be refusing to pay for something I hadn't wanted or arranged to have done. Especially if it ruined my plants - my lovely lavender isn't much to look at this time of year but it is growing and readying, so probably vulnerable to an ignorant plonker attack.

I say all this as someone who really hates gardening and would gladly oursource it. I still want to choose who works for me and what I want done!

Koolie2222 · 24/03/2023 06:59

He’s vandalised your lawn! Get compensation!

dexterslockedintheshedagain · 24/03/2023 07:10

HangerLaneGyratorySystem · 23/03/2023 21:46

(and stop engaging @dexterslockedintheshedagain. They need to get their coat)

😂😂😂😂

GrabbyGabby · 24/03/2023 07:33

I wish you were my DP. Yesterday he gets a knock at the door, fella says he can trim the hedge at the front, take clippings away. DP tells me he bartered him down. Dude shows up with electric trimmers, done and dusted in 10 mins.

SIXTY FUCKING QUID.

Showed DP this
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/5992728?clickSR=slp:term:electric%20hedge%20trimmer:2:22:1

RachaelN · 24/03/2023 08:14

Cheeky bastard. That would be a straight no from me. Call the police if he doesn't leave.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 24/03/2023 09:50

He’s vandalised your lawn! Get compensation!

This is what some of the 'be kind and pay up, you nasty meanie' attitudes on here seem to be conveniently missing - as well as the man who did it himself.

Work that was neither requested nor actually wanted is a 'regressive' step - one that often requires significant remedial action to put right the damage - regardless of how much time and effort the meddler may have wasted in doing it.

I'm reminded of these paintings that, although they maybe did require some carefully-planned restoration by highly-skilled, authorised professionals, were the victims of well-meaning but hugely-overstepping vandals on their way back from B&Q.

Original poster
SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 24/03/2023 11:15

Hibye23289 · 24/03/2023 07:22

That's hilarious!

OP posts:
Harrysmummy246 · 24/03/2023 12:50

GrabbyGabby · 24/03/2023 07:33

I wish you were my DP. Yesterday he gets a knock at the door, fella says he can trim the hedge at the front, take clippings away. DP tells me he bartered him down. Dude shows up with electric trimmers, done and dusted in 10 mins.

SIXTY FUCKING QUID.

Showed DP this
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/5992728?clickSR=slp:term:electric%20hedge%20trimmer:2:22:1

I'd pay someone to sort out our hawthorn hedge and take it away if they actually did the taking away part properly. From thorny experience, they're incapable of doing so, so I may as well do it myself as I'll have to pick the leftovers up either way

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 24/03/2023 13:59

From thorny experience, they're incapable of doing so, so I may as well do it myself as I'll have to pick the leftovers up either way

Yes, that's the thing, isn't it. Any idiot can spend 15 minutes on the easy bit of wielding a hedge trimmer and taking off a lot of thickness, but it's the clearing up and disposing of all the cuttings afterwards that really takes the time.

If all they're going to do is try to charge you more than it would cost you to buy a hedge trimmer to attack your hedge on one occasion, you may as well just invest in one and do it yourself, unless you're physically unable to do it and don't have somebody to help you.

Pinkrinse · 24/03/2023 18:13

Legally, he hasn’t got a leg to stand on. There is no contract to enforce as you didn’t request hi, to do the job. Imagine a world where you do something without being asked and expect to get paid. ! Just say that under contractual law you have no obligation to pay him.

MissConductUS · 24/03/2023 18:29

Pinkrinse · 24/03/2023 18:13

Legally, he hasn’t got a leg to stand on. There is no contract to enforce as you didn’t request hi, to do the job. Imagine a world where you do something without being asked and expect to get paid. ! Just say that under contractual law you have no obligation to pay him.

This. The essential elements of a contract are an offer (he offers to cut your grass for X price) and an acceptance of that offer. Neither exists in this incident.

Hippoh · 26/03/2023 17:59

You've got me pegged.

I do indeed deliberately not ask people to do work and then not expect to pay them. It's a hobby really.

My mask is slipping.

But you do.... hear people working in your garden and deliberately ignore as you have not hired them to do it, and are getting justification here not to pay... not the best place to ask xx