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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
Genevieva · 22/03/2023 15:23

How much did he ask for?

Clearly you owe him nothing because there was no contract between you. However, if he was young, polite and apologetic / mortified that he had made a mistake and had to do the work all over again, then I would have given him £20. If he was entitled I would have done what you did.

IncompleteSenten · 22/03/2023 15:23

Oh my god there are some gullible buggers out there 🤣

Op, you did the right thing to shut the door. His mistake does not translate to your financial obligation.

Greeno999 · 22/03/2023 15:23

ReedRite · 22/03/2023 15:21

Oh yeah, it's a well-worn scam. As we've seen from this thread, there are some so naive/gullible/scared, that they pay up, instead of slamming the door shut and calling the police. To be fair, it usually comes with a side order of intimidation and coercion. 😡

she didn’t pay, what the man didn’t know was that her oh was also an Irish fella. 🙈

Lesvacances · 22/03/2023 15:23

My answer to doorstep workers is I rent this house so I won’t be paying for anything.
I don’t rent but it works.

ReedRite · 22/03/2023 15:24

Greeno999 · 22/03/2023 15:23

she didn’t pay, what the man didn’t know was that her oh was also an Irish fella. 🙈

😂 Nice one! Hoist by his own petard 👌

DPotter · 22/03/2023 15:24

It's a bit early for grass cutting - and certainly wet where I am so he shouldn't have been cutting the grass anyway.

As he's a bit of a chancer and literally knows where you live I would give 101 a call to report just in case there's any strange damage to your property or he tries it on with anyone else. I'd also tip off all your neighbours too, and ask your next door lot about it as well

ReedRite · 22/03/2023 15:25

IncompleteSenten · 22/03/2023 15:23

Oh my god there are some gullible buggers out there 🤣

Op, you did the right thing to shut the door. His mistake does not translate to your financial obligation.

If that 'mistake' was genuine, I'll eat my hat!

Cherrysoup · 22/03/2023 15:25

Yup, if he comes back, mention criminal damage. How bizarre!

MrsMoastyToasty · 22/03/2023 15:25

If he turns up again later then shout back into the house " Boys! Come and "sort this guy out!" ".
(Even if "The Boys" aren't at home/don't exist ".

Greeno999 · 22/03/2023 15:25

ReedRite · 22/03/2023 15:24

😂 Nice one! Hoist by his own petard 👌

Exactly 🤣

but yeah like you say, if you’re easily intimidated / elderly etc you’d pay. It’s disgusting that people are preyed on

ReedRite · 22/03/2023 15:27

Really sickening exploitation. And it's not just the financial loss, the people scammed are left feeling so foolish and it really knocks their confidence. 😡

MonkeyMindAllOverAround · 22/03/2023 15:28

Honestly, I don’t believe for a moment that you didn’t notice he spent so much time working in your garden.

You could have stopped him wasting his time but chose not to.

ZeldaWillTellYourFortune · 22/03/2023 15:28

Now I'm curious about what your garden looks like; if it's not too outing to post pics. Want to see how he did the shrubs.

YANBU to refuse to pay him; it does sound like a scam. But oddly a little part of me feels sorry for him. If he did a good job at the pruning, it probably is to your benefit in the long run, and this is the right time of year for it.

Mosaic123 · 22/03/2023 15:28

Surely a scam!

Don't pay.

nowaworriedmum · 22/03/2023 15:29

😂😂😂 got to applaud him for trying! 👏🏼

lunar1 · 22/03/2023 15:30

I'd bill him for the damage to your garden. Cheeky sod. If I heard a lawnmower I wouldn't have a clue if it was in my garden or a neighbour's unless I actually went outside.

ThreeRingCircus · 22/03/2023 15:32

Of course it's a scam! Why would the neighbours have "prepaid" someone that has never been to the house before to either quote for the work or at least know which house it was? Otherwise he'd know which garden he was doing.

Sugarplumfairy65 · 22/03/2023 15:32

I would give him the benefit of the doubt and pay him this once

pinkstripeycat · 22/03/2023 15:34

Ask him for compensation for ruining your wild garden that’s taken ages to grow to attract birds and bees.

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 22/03/2023 15:36

MonkeyMindAllOverAround · 22/03/2023 15:28

Honestly, I don’t believe for a moment that you didn’t notice he spent so much time working in your garden.

You could have stopped him wasting his time but chose not to.

I didn't even notice he was in my garden at all.

From my POV I was sat working in the front room with the blinds closed, heard the noise of the mower and thought someone was cutting their grass so moved to the back room and kept working. I wasn't curtain twitching or paying any attention to what was going on. Plus for my work I spend quite a bit of time editing promo videos so have headphones on. I don't pay any attention to background noise.

OP posts:
SerendipityJane · 22/03/2023 15:36

MonkeyMindAllOverAround · 22/03/2023 15:28

Honestly, I don’t believe for a moment that you didn’t notice he spent so much time working in your garden.

You could have stopped him wasting his time but chose not to.

Is there any obligation - in law, religion or trading cards - to stop someone wasting their time ?

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 22/03/2023 15:37

Sugarplumfairy65 · 22/03/2023 15:32

I would give him the benefit of the doubt and pay him this once

Why? I didn't enlist his services nor can I afford to be giving strangers £100. That's literally a weeks shopping.

OP posts:
Agapornis · 22/03/2023 15:37

'Interesting' time of year to prune. He's probably cut off lots of new buds. Would love to see before and after photos of the shrubs!

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 22/03/2023 15:40

I don't feel comfortably posting a pic of the garden just because if there are any locals on here who recognise it they'll be able to find my posting history and may know me/DH/DS etc

OP posts:
jenjenlinks · 22/03/2023 15:41

Funny, recently a poster was on about a window cleaner cleaning her windows afetr repeatedly being told not to do it, and loads of MNers were insisting that she owed him for work done. Even though it had caused her time and money in damages, they said she owed for work she didn't want doing.

Obviously neither OP nor the PP owes anyone for doing work they didn't ask them to do....

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