Electrician charging me fifty five quid for nothing! Any advice please?

[Spangletangle]

We waited about a week for this appointment so not an emergency call out. He stood in my kitchen for five minutes, flicked a couple of switches on the cooker and said he couldn't fix it. End of. They said nothing to me at any point about a call out charge so now they say 55 pound covers their overheads and they always charge call out regardless of whether any work was actually done. Any advice for me? I think it's daylight robbery.

Sorry but you need to check whether there is a call out charge beforehand. Time is money don't forget

Their website says they don't do call out charges and offers free quotes. And even if time is money five minutes of time and no actual service? I'm going to set myself up as some sort of tradesperson, go round folks houses to tell them I can't fix anything and kerching!

If their website says no call out fees, then they are a bit out of order to try and charge you! I would tell them to do one and cite their website!

Did you pay? If not, just refuse if the website says no call out. Do they even.have the expertise to fix a cooker? Isnt that usually a 'cooker repair person' job?

Refuse to pay. It sounds like the no call out charges thing only applies if they actually do something chargeable; the the extra will be neatly disguised in the bill as something else.
Shysters.

Inform Trading standards as well.

Btw, make sure you screen copy the website with a time stamp or save it.
They might change it.
And send it to trading standards before you tell them you're not paying and the reason why.

I agree with the others. They only charge for providing a service, not for turning up.

Don't pay. And screenshot.

The electrician company told me that there will be a callout fee of 79pound.
After arrival the electrician said he works for a different company which he’ll have to charge 659 pound for a faulty finding fee, otherwise he can’t do anything. but I have to pay the call out fee. I refused to pay and he threatened me that I will receive a HMP letter.
i don’t know what to do now

You should have started your own thread rather than reviving a 7-year-old thread. If you did not reply, "I confirm", you are at most liable for the call out fee. The threats and level of charges suggest this is an extremely dodgy outfit. I would report them to your local Trading Standards.

They must send you a letter before action if they intend to take you to court. This will set out how much they claim you owe them and give you a chance to settle. However, I doubt they will do so. I would be very surprised if the courts considered this charge to be reasonable.