Problem with electrician - advice please

[shirleybrown]

We have a good electrician who we have worked with for about five years but recently something happened that had left me pretty annoyed. I asked our electrician to come by to move a plug socket in the kitchen fairly urgently. He came the following week. We hadn’t agreed a price. I was at home but upstairs with our tiny baby pretty much the whole time. He turned up with another electrician and my understanding is that they installed the plug very quickly, perhaps within an hour. My husband was liaising with the electricians. It turns out that rather than leaving when they had done the plug they asked him if there were any more jobs that needed doing while they were there. They ended up moving some light switches and installing some lamps. I then got an invoice for £600. I queried this with the electrician and he said he billed me for two electricians for a whole day. I am upset about this as I feel taken advantage of. I wasn’t available on the day yet I am the one who is now expected to pay for all of this, and ultimately I only asked for a plug socket to be installed which took one person less than an hour. I really think it’s unreasonable to be slammed for an invoice for £600 and that the electrician has kind of taken advantage of a chaotic post-baby household. What should I do?

So you were unaware that two electricians were I. Your house, for the entire day, after talking to your husband who arranged for them to then do multiple further jobs- but you think the bill is unfair? If they did the work that your husband requested, and you stayed upstairs all day not sure where they are unreasonable asking for their money!

I think the issue is your husband added extra work which has muddied the waters. If it had just been the socket it would have probably been 2hours charge.
surely it’s a household cost not yours alone?

If your dh kept two electrons busy for the whole day then £600 is very reasonable. You need to speak to your dh.

Electrons! Don't know what happened there, definitely wrote electricians.

This post makes no sense - your DH asked them to do the work? So he agreed it.

No idea why you'd be annoyed with the electricians for doing what they were asked by your husband.

The electrician hasn’t taken advantage of anyone, don’t be silly.

If your husband commissioned work you can’t afford, he is at fault. Or if you personally are expected to pay because of unfair family finances, that’s a whole different issue.

2x qualified electricians for a day for £600 is reasonable.

Out of interest, what sort of price were you expecting to pay

What should you do? Talk to your husband about not agreeing to work you can't afford.

For context I asked/booked the electrician to install one plug; my issue is that he turned up with another electrician (this was never required) and then asked my husband for extra work, it seems opportunistic and like a breach of trust. I wasn’t really sure who was here and for how long; I said hello to them that was it really. My husband doesn’t work and I pay all the bills: my electrician knows that, and that I am on maternity leave so that’s why I feel that the whole thing was all kind of deliberate and a breach of trust. I’m not disputing the work I think the whole thing was gone about in a really backhanded way as if he had been upfront and said I will only do the work if it’s two of us and £600 I would have said no.

The electricians obviously work as a pair, probably one an apprentice, husband asked for the extra work to be done, don’t blame the electrician!.
How much you blame husband depends on wether the alterations were really needed.

This is entirely down to your DH.

Why did your husband agree to having more work done? Did he not think to check with you first?

You've got a husband problem not a electrician problem!

Sorry your dh had the power to decline or even ask for a quotation before agreeing but chose not to! Did they have to source the additional lamps etc? Were you not aware they were there for far longer than a single socket move and ask dh why?

You have a DH problem overall. Surely he knows extra work = extra charges?! It isn't the electricians fault your husband didn't discuss it with you or think that more work would up the charge. Your husband sounds a bit lacking so why was his supervising? Or does he not doing caring for his own child, along with not working? So that's why you were on baby duty? You have zero comeback from what l can see

Your husband asked them to do additional work. They did as they were asked. It's perfectly reasonable of them and they haven't taken advantage of anything. If anything I think they were quite accommodating to do extra work with no notice.

You need to take this up with your husband, not the electrician.

Yup.

Seriously, what kind of idiot is your H that he provided them with extra, aware you only wanted one job done?

Why doesn't he work?

How is this the electricians fault? I'll help you, it's not ! You were not forced to have any extra work done, they didn't do work without you consenting, YABU

Your H asked them to do the extras, or course you have to pay for their time

Your H could have just said no !

What? I seriously can't grasp your view. Your husband asked for more work to be done. So take it up with him. If he hadn't of asked they'd have done the job and left within the hour.

rather than leaving when they had done the plug they asked him if there were any more jobs that needed doing while they were there. They ended up moving some light switches and installing some lamps.

You're hilarious OP. So they carried out several jobs at your husbands request - moving a light switch isnt a 5 mins job (I would know 😉) and you are moaning?!
An electricians call out rate is probably close to £400 per day so for 2 people £600 is reasonable

you could try and argue your husband wasn’t the one commissioning or paying for the work. I’m not fond of electricians they do take the piss from the ones I’ve seen. I’ve also had them sending 2 people on a one person job, not your problem if they have an apprentice or short of work.

Is your husband vulnerable in some way that means he wasn't competent to ask for the work to be done? Did the electrician take advantage of him having dementia or a learning disability for instance?

You cannot be serious surely. If your husband is not 'allowed' to instruct tradesmen then you need to speak to everyone you hire that they have only to take instructions from you.

Would love to see the tradies faces as you explain that your husband can just be ignored and to rake no notice of him.

Wow there are some really nasty people on here! DH isn’t an idiot and he didn’t ask anyone to do anymore work. They put him on the spot. He is really polite and hates conflict. It actually turns out they are charging for an apprentice who was there as well. So three of them for a plug socket. I engaged them not my husband, frankly I don’t think it’s any different than if they asked my cleaner for permission to do more work, I engaged him and clearly asked for just a plug socket and ended up with all this nonsense to sort out. I think it’s sexist actually when I engage and pay for trades and then they try to go over my head to my husband! BTW I run my own business and choose my hours which is why I was with my own tiny baby during that particular day, so comments about my husband not doing childcare are just appalling. There are a lot of uncalled for misandry on this thread. He’s a great Dad. Some of you guys really need to check yourselves.