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?

I cannot think of any lady I know who would be happy with some random bloke rummaging around in her garden and trimming her bush.

Even if she were OK with that, I am pretty sure the way the world works is that he pays her not the other way round.

I am fairly educated in these things, having watched Gardener's World, Pretty Woman and some French noir films over the years.

You and me both.

There are some well-known criminal families in Ireland who will try this roof/gardening trick. An Irish person will spot them coming a mile off - hence why they’re in the UK and further afield.

DH is home soon and looks like a right brute at the moment due to various rugby injuries so hopefully if the guy does come back it'll be him who answers the door.
I'm WFH again tomorrow and really cba to deal with him. I'll have to charge up the door camera thingy

No contract. Don't pay.

Ah this one is definitely a localish lad. Broad Geordie accent.

If he comes back tell him to piss off otherwise your'll call the police.

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

Hahaha, course you would!

Ah bless him for trying - cheeky twunt! If he knocks on again tell him you’ve informed the police and given his van reg, that’ll get him out of your hair.

He's a cheeky sod.
Tell him to take a long walk off a short pier.

The * ock up is his own as there was no agreement with you beforehand.

Don't pay him anything, he should not even be asking you for.money.

Decades ago in the US some companies got the idea of mailing out unordered cheap tat to people and then sending them a bill for it. Congress clarified the law to state that if you receive something you didn't order, it's a gift.

He gifted OP a lawn mowing.

100 quid to cut grass? Do you live in a stately home? Fuck me pink. I was going to say throw the poor fucker a tenner.

I hate too tidy Gardens so i'd have threatened to sue him for ruining my beautiful wildlife garden.

This is exactly why MNers tell you never to answer your door!

Well, I don't know exactly how much he wanted as I didn't really get that far into the conversation, but he did say that the going rate was £40 an hour and he had wasted a couple hours on me. That was when I shut the door.

Tell him he has wasted your time, wasted his time, robbed you of one of the pleasures in life: to whit gardening, and if he really wants to press the point he will fall foul of trading standards and quite possibly the law.

He can apologise and if he want to get snarky give you a written promise he will not set foot in your garden or ask you for money again.

"OMG what have you done? I was cultivating over the last 3 years a wild flower garden, and you've annihilated it" <burst into tears and watch him run>

Love this

Used to happen all the time if you were driving in or out of London in the rush hour, if you were stopped at traffic lights or just in stationary traffic. Don't know if they still do it.

YANBU. It was his mistake not yours. He wasted his own time.

cf the UKs "Unsolicited Goods Act" ...

I'm still wondering where the obligation to save this guys time comes from as per a PP.

(Total thread derail ... Incidentally, as a USAian, is there a chance SCOTUS could throw that law out as "unordered cheap tat" isn't mentioned in the constitution ?)

Tough shit. He will make sure the next time!!

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.
"Your working relationship with my neighbour is nothing to do with me."

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.
It's not your problem that he was hired for somebody else's job, & decided to randomly do a job that you didn't ask for & knew nothing about.

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.
"Come off it, I'm not responsible for YOUR mistake."

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'.
"I didn't know you were cutting MY lawn, had I known I would have stopped you."

How did he get the neighbour's job without knowing which house was theirs?
It's unusual for a gardener to quote without seeing the garden first!

How / when did he realise that he'd cut the wrong lawn? Given that he is blaming it on the houses not being numbered, surely he would only realise that he'd done the wrong garden after your neighbours came home and asked him why he'd not cut their lawn.

FORTY QUID AN HOUR for unsolicited plant-ruining?

Yeah, he's trying it on.