Decorators have caused two different lots of damage but want full payment.

[Speckly]

In brief, my Mum (80) just had 3 rooms decorated. In the bedroom she had to have the ceiling replaced. The central ceiling light which was working beforehand, now doesn't work. The decorators have also cut through her burglar alarm cable which ran along the bedroom door threshold. The burglar alarm therefore doesn't work now either. However they still want full payment and are chasing her for this when she only received the final bill yesterday. She spoke to them and the guy basically said "Well I'm not comfortable doing electrics". He also made excuses that because the ceiling light wasn't fixed to a joist that's what the problem is. That ceiling light has worked for the last 40 years and I can't see why it not being fixed to a joist (although I realise that's normal) means it now doesn't work. It's got to be to do with the cabling surely? I think they've caused damage putting the new ceiling up and am a bit concerned it's going to have to come down again to repair the problem. Are we being unreasonable or is she within her rights to delay payment, get the damage rectified and then deduct the cost of putting things right from her bill? She owes them about £2,000. (UK based).
Oh he also started the bedroom job on a Thursday, and then informed her he was going away to Turkey for a week so didn't come for 8 days, despite not telling her this beforehand.

Maybe an electrician is needed. If they’re just decorators they can’t work with electric.
A replacement ceiling would surely require an electrician to make good on the lighting.

Don't pay until the damage is rectified then deduct the cost of the repair. Clearly they've not carried out the work with due diligence.

If they've caused damage then the cost of sorting that out needs to be paid by them. They can arrange an electrician they will pay, or they can let you sort one and deduct the costs from the final payment.

Either way they don't get paid in full, and they don't get paid till it's resolved.

I'm appalled they think it's ok to cause damage and walk away!

Have you contacted trading standards? I would do that first thing tomorrow.

Don't pay.

Tell them they agreed to remove/replace the light as part of the job and if there are now have problems replacing the light do they have an electrician to look at it or do they want you to engage one and it comes out the cost of the job. If the electrician says it was an existing fault then you'll need a rethink.

If the decorators are not comfortable with electrics they shouldn't have touched it and made it clear before taking on the job.

I assume they have charged professional decorator prices? Then, if they agree to remove/replace a light as part of that service they need to absorb the cost when their jobs sometimes go wrong.

dh works on ceilings and knows an electrician he can call in if he hits a problem. It is built into his general operating costs that on occasion it might be needed.

I'm concerned that if they bring someone in to repair the central light, they'll tell her it was a pre-existing fault. This is why I'm inclined to get an electrician in ourselves to fix it. If they then say there's a pre-existing fault then so be it.

I think they think that because she's a little old lady they can pull the wool over her eyes! She going to phone Trading Standards tomorrow. She is anything but a pushover! She still scares me!!!

Then say ok I will make sure it is fixed.
The reduktion is this on her bill and set your £

The decorators should have public liability insurance, they can claim on this for these instances. It does sound rather like negligence rather than an accident though, especially as there are 2 incidents.

Did they warn your mum that there was an issue with the electrics before or during the job, or just wait til she found out?

I've had ceilings re - boarded and plastered. In 2 rooms the plasterers brought an electrician in to remove the fitting and replace it. In the kitchen I got an electrician in to replace the fitting as I was having another more elaborate one fitted. I believe that a decent tradesman would sort that out as part of the actual job, as you can't replaster without, at least, undoing the fitting. Tell them you are not happy and you will be reducing the bill once you get a competent tradesman in to rectify the issue.

This 100%

I'm not sure this is correct, PL Insurance is for accidents, eg putting a ladder through your window, rather than botched work and the Excess is usually about £500 anyway

Any tradesman worth his salt would put this right, not blame something else. Access to the cable should be from above so the ceiling shouldn't need to come back down. He should know a sparky who can fix it.

It's a flat roof bungalow so it's either take the roof off or take the ceiling down :-(

Echoing others, get a competent electrician in to fix it and deduct the cost from their bill. I would agree with you that it's likely they view your mum as a soft touch as she's older. I hope she tells them their fortunes!

The electrician should be able to sort the cables by cutting slots in the ceiling that can be filled afterwards. It hopefully shouldn't require removing the whole ceiling.

I hate stuff like this , when people seem to be (IMO) taking advantage. Like other pp have said- I would get an independent electrician in, get him to give you a written quote for repairs and show the decorators. Tell them that you will have to deduct that from their bill. I run my own business OP, and If one of my employees made a cock up,, I would make sure it's put right.

Ummm are you sure they aren't dodgy and cut through the burglar alarm for a reason?

Jees that’s a twist

Funnily enough this crossed my mind too!

Personally, I think I'd contact Citizen's Advice before taking action, and getting someone in off of your own back to sort the electrics out OP. However, if you can't get hold of anyone, or don't want to, then I'd consider getting 3 quotes for the work that needs doing, to ensure that you don't get ripped off about getting the electrical work done too. Trouble is, it's all too easy when you want work done, to go for the first tradesman that shows up, but really your Mum should have asked for recommendations, or failing this, asked for a list of clients who would be happy for her to talk to them, and even gone to see the work that has been done, before engaging someone. I know it seems a real faff, but these days I think it's really important to cover your back as much as possible. When we had an extension built a few years back, we got 3 quotes, didn't go for the cheapest, and insisted on a choice of previous customers contact details, so that we could choose for ourselves who we spoke to, fearing that the builder, if dodgy, might only give you details of friends or family, and then tell them what to say. Having gone and looked at 3 jobs they'd done, we then went ahead and signed a Contract. There were still the odd niggles that came up, but for the most part we were happy with the work done. So it really is worth the effort if you're spending a lot of money. If you don't know of any good electricians, I usually find using the local 'Nextdoor' forum a good place to start looking for recommendations. Hope you manage to get it sorted without too much more hassle.

You do need to get proper legal advice. I did a bit on contract law recently, as part of my course. You do have to pay, on completion of the work, to a satisfactory standard and in accordance with your contract.
You cannot just deduct money from what you owe. You have to give them the opportunity to put right any damage they have caused. They must use a qualified and certified electrician who can provide you with a certificate that the work has been done correctly and you can check the credentials of the electrician.
only when everything has been made good do you have to pay the invoice in full