To not pay this invoice

[PrettyPollyPlease]

So just a couple of weeks before Christmas - the first one I hosted - my oven decided it was the perfect time to start tripping power to half the house.. perfect
So I hopped on Checkatrade and posted the problem.. one company got back to me instantly to say they could help. They had 0 reviews (I am a slave to good reviews) so I would usually not have considered using them, but they were new to the site, the lady I spoke to seemed lovely, it was close to Christmas, was rather urgent and no one else contacted me straight away. So I booked them in.
The lady said the call out was £70 so I would pay that plus parts and there was no additional labour charge - no matter how many visits might be required. This seemed a bit too well priced, but for previous reasons I went with it.
The guy shows up.. I don’t want to be rude, but he wasn’t someone I relished having in my home & spending time with (amongst other things he dragged mud and leaves across my kitchen and didn’t flush after he used the bathroom).. he had no idea what the issue was, but suggested he could “fix” the range of things that “could” be the problem - basically he could replace half the oven components.. he also pulled one of the oven doors off accidentally, and in putting it back on left it not closing properly.
I then got a quote for over £400 covering components which google tells me should be no more than £25 list price (one is listed for £200), and a call out fee of £95.
I ignored this, hoped the oven might heal itself, and cajoled it through Christmas - with no food poisoning - yay!
Now they are chasing me for £95 .. I don’t really think this is reasonable, but I don’t want to be a bitch when this guy did come out promptly, at a busy time - it is the call out fee & he was called out. Am I BU not to pay??

No. Call out plus VAT would be £84 not £95

You need to ask them why the call out fee changed from £70 to £95. Did he put any parts in or change any fuses or bulbs etc?

He should be a qualified electrician trained in oven repairs, if he's a member of a regulatory body you can contact them if you feel he was incompetent.

I wouldn’t pay it because it’s the wrong amount, he broke the door and didn’t know how to fix it!

Quite, but the question is whether he actually presented himself as such. Or whether he’s simply a not so handyman.

Love this! I’d invest in this business .. I’m sure it would be more productive than that call out!

Would you all care that the cost quoted for components seems to have been so dramatically inflated - with one c. 8 times the cost I could apparently buy them online? I expected to be charged the price they were paying.. is this naive of me?

Well, you could... But I doubt if you'd get much business (as you'd have no reviews) and you'd soon rack up a huge list of bad reviews so you'd get even fewer jobs.

I would speak to them before paying anything and enquire:

1. why it was 70 and gone from 95 to 96 and what the justification is here as it’s not the agreed amount
2. how they will he compensating you for the broken door. Explain you feel the service was poor and you’ll now be getting another company in to fix the damage. So they either wait to waive this call out fee or accept the bill for the damage once it’s been fixed
3. Check whether they are even VAT registered. Sounds like a tiny outfit so my guess is they likely aren’t and they are chucking it on top to make more money

I can’t really understand why you didn’t complain about this at the time. Just leaving it until you got the invoice seems a bit more difficult.

But they’ve charged more than the call out fee and damaged her oven in the process.

If it were me I’d pay £70 as quoted. Do you have the quote anywhere? Email?

Called about a basic issue and was told they had someone local to me. Guy showed up very late for when I had been told he would arrive, walked in and told me that fixing the problem was impossible. Then tried to charge me £140. I said I had checked and been told there was no call out charge. He then announced he came from 2 hours away and I had to at least pay him half to cover his travel costs. I refused and he sat down at my dining table for about 10 minutes, asking me at intervals what I was going to do to sort this out.

I was just contemplating going to get my male neighbour to help me when he got up and walked out without a word.

I got a local company through word of mouth a few days later who sorted the problem in 10 minutes and charged £100.

I am sure that there is a whole bunch of people who make their business out of call out charges and intimidating people into paying.

Pay the call out fee he came out promptly. Leave a review.

Say you'll agree to pay the originally quoted fee when they send someone to repair the damage caused by the Company who isn't the original workman.

If they are unwilling, say you will deduct the cost of the repair from their call out fee and invoice them for any outstanding amount payable due to the damage they've caused. (Or just say this anyway).

Ask on your local FB groups for recommendations or go into local electrics stores and ask for people they trust.

CheckaTrade is apparently open to anyone who wishes to be listed and pays the fee.

I would expect to pay something extra as they’ve used their time and knowledge to identify and order the parts, but that would usually be included in the labour charge. I certainly wouldn’t expect that level of markup though!

Good heavens,
He didn't do the job, or fix the problem, and he damaged your cooker in the process.
They owe you.
Pay them SFA. and send them a bill for repair costs to your door.
Do not let them loose on your Cooker again.

I would ask for proof of qualifications. You are entitled to expect someone capable. This sounds like a scam ie just send anyone round. If they refuse to show you let them take you to small claims. If trader qualified then yes pay and review

You should pay the call out fee at the end of the day you should have checked with VAT lesson learned

The call out fee is for a tradesman qualified to fix whatever item it is. This bloke didn't sound as if he had a clue. In a fair world, you shouldn't pay anything but to avoid the risk from these villains, I would cough up the 70 pounds they quoted.

I appreciate that tradespeople use their resources such as time and petrol to come out to you but assuming they were told what the problem was etc you would expect them to be knowledgeable. I once called a plumber out to fix our boiler - explained the problem, the make and model of the boiler, the error code etc (my normal guy was away) and he turned up, said he didn't deal with that make of boiler and charged me £70 call out!

Absolutely. they should have taken a picture and claimed.

No proof really now.
Pay the call out fee and move on. Gets stressful otherwise.