To be angry at company refusing to reduce quoted fee

[HollyBerryz]

We recently had some issues in our house. Someone came out and quoted us for some work. They came to do said work but discovered some of it wasn't actually needed so it wasn't done (think digging up, so presumably quite labour intensive and this wasn't actually done in the end). They've still charged us the same amount. We've asked them to reduce the bill as they didn't do all the work quoted for and they're refusing. Do we have a legal leg to stand on? Surely they can't expect us to pay for work they didn't do just because they quoted for it!

Ask for an invoice for work done.

Ask for an itemised invoice of works done against the quoted amount.

That's shabby of them. Just pay for the amount done.

It's possible they underquoted in the first place, or decided that to win the business they'd throw some of the things they thought were needed in for free. It's not great, but I made that mistake when I first started - it was a big job and so I thought, as a nicety, I could afford not to charge for a small element (added extra they hadn't initially asked for). What they wanted turned out not to be possible, but they then expected a reduced price, even though I hadn't ever incorporated the fee for that element. I learnt never to do that again, as it just ends up leaving a sour taste in everyone's mouth. Which is to say, they might not have overcharged you, but simply ask for an itemised invoice.

Not sure what an itemised bill would do. They could just inflate individual items to come to the same total.

Are you sure it was a quote not an estimate? Assume you have the quote in writing. Was the quote itemised so you could see the value of each aspect of the works?

Having looked again it was an estimate, but I think that's irrelevant as they're trying to charge us for work they didn't do.

They estimated over £900 to 'carry out an exploratory dig on the PVC junction, use high pressure jetting to remove all debris from the pipework and then survey the pipework to determine the cause and if it's derelict or in use. This includes replacement of the junction for access. This does not include any further works which we will price on site once we have inspected the pipework.'

They flushed out the pipe, determined it wasn't in use and said it was already capped off. They didn't dig anything up and they didn't replace the pvc junction, the latter two of which I think would have been the bulk of the £1000 cost?!

I'm starting to think we've been well and truly had? We assumed the cost was so high because of the digging they'd have to do.

Out of interest, if they'd given you the same quote, but then come back to you saying that they'd needed to do extra work (costing more) to achieve the desired result, how would you have felt about paying the extra? Would you have expected them to "suck it up" on the basis that they had quoted for a finished job?

It does sound like a poorly worded estimate to be honest, but it has little legal standing, which is a plus point for you as well as them.
Normally on a quote the wording would be crucial as to whether it's a quote to resolve the issue or to do a specified bit of work.
Since it's only an estimate, you can either pay what they ask and chalk up to experience, or you can work out what you think the job is worth and pay that (the undisputed portion), and ask if they have a mediation or professional body that would be able to adjudicate on the rest as you don't want to rip them off.

Refusing on what grounds?

There's a difference between a quote and an estimate but as others have said, ask for a detailed invoice for work carried out.

How many people’s labour for how many days and were there any items of equipment used? Think £250-275 per person per day is probably going rate for sole traders and for an insured business, with personnel, overheads like vehicles etc could be £3-400 and if they used any equipment there is a hire or running cost. They probably spent time on the estimate too.

If it was an estimate then it’s ’best guess’. The price they invoiced may well be what they quoted, but it doesn’t mean it included for the work they didn’t do. It could be for things they found along the way that needed doing, or materials they hadn’t allowed for, or had got the price of those not quite right.
If you ask for an itemised invoice, you will have your answer.

Have you paid it?!
How exactly is it worded? If it is worded in a way that they explicitly say it’s a ‘sort of retainer’ for their time, regardless of what work is actually carried out, depending on what the investigation uncovered, then it may be that you’ll need to pay it but….
if they have worded it in a way where they are charging you for specific work then they would have had to do that work to get paid.

As you say it was an estimate, and given that they didn’t need to do any of the work estimated for, you are not liable - estimates can go down as well as up!

Get some legal help, Citizens Advice maybe able to help or at least sign post you.

My hubby works in construction and he is the money man on each project and there is no way he would ever pay someone who hadn’t actually done the work!!

@UnicornBubbleit was worded exactly as posted above. My husband paid as he's autistic and felt pressured, I wasn't best pleased when I realised put it that way! He did question it at the time and the bloke said he couldn't adjust the amount as the office needed to do it so dh just paid and figured he would email them later and they would sort it out. I usually do all this stuff precisely for these reasons, he's not good at this stuff, but passed this one to him as I've a lot on my plate.

That they didn't do a significant amount of the work, as stated.....

I think you’ve misunderstood my comment. I’m asking why they’re refusing to reduce the bill when clearly they didn’t have to do the work they were expecting to 🙂

Sorry I did misunderstand. Not really sure as yet. They've knocked a small amount off but not enough imo. We sent a pic of our very clearly not dug up front lawn to demonstrate the major part costed for wasn't even done. We'll see what they come back with this time.

Some companies send out estimates and then charge that on a swings-and-roundabouts approach. We had someone in who estimated two days' labour. It took until 2pm on the second day but he still charged us for two days (until 5pm). Presumably if it had taken until 7pm he would still have charged the two days. Not what I would do as I estimate and then charge by the hour, but some do.