apologies for long story. last year nice old family firm installed my new condensing boiler - the dad was boss and his sons made up the team. the dad was the one I spoke to most and he kept my house clean, was polite etc etc = so anyway - doing one of the bathrooms now and got quote from them,amongst others. I've only seen one of the sons for this. The dad seems to have retired - or maybe he only does the boilers part, Quote was ok, he sounded like he knew what he was doing, albeit abit "you can't do this" when other people who quoted said I could, however I decided he was the best of them and that we could work together and I accepted his estimate verbally. he was going to fit only - I am buying everything. So when I started choosing taps I had to ask what pressure I had as they're all classified low, high, one bar etc. He said I could only have the lowest pressure - less than 0.5 bar because my whole system was "old fashioned". My plan is for a modern bathroom and it seems ninety per cent of modern taps are for a higher pressure than this. I spent days and days trying to find something. Each place I called said "most people just fit a little pump to get the pressure" - I heard this from almost everyone I spoke to. I spoke to the bathroom fitter three times and he got more and more irritated each time I called "your whole system is too old for this - you have a gravity fed boiler" "when they do these high end modern things they assume that the people have updated their system" hmmm - I though that's what you and your dad were meant to do last april - and finally "look - it would cost at least two grand to raise the pressure and put this pump in". He didn't say this like he WANTED me to pay him, more like it was a total impossibility short of ripping out my entire house and starting again. We haven't fixed a date because you have to wait until everything arrives in case anything is broken
I am getting hacked off by now - the fifteenth bathroom supplier has told me that he's wrong and so I pick a name out of the yellow pages and get another plumber to come round. He gets here that day, says "yes I can do it for 400 quid. it will take four hours". Two days later he comes here, it takes four hours and it costs four hundred quid. Even with the old bath taps I can see that it works.
He's given me a quote which is more or less identical to the others for doing the bathroom and I am really not comfortable with having this other man anymore. My preference would be to call him or better still email him and say "I don't want to go ahead with you but I would like to give you £100 for the time you have spent on the phone etc". I don;t want to have a long argument about pumps. I would like his dad to continue servicing the boiler he fitted. I wouldn't be comfortable having the son in my house for ten days - he was pretty rude on the phone in the end, like I was being a real pain asking about taps etc. I don;t think he was trying to make me pay more I just think he is either not very bright, or well - it's a mystery tbh
Like I said, there was no slot booked. He has bought no materials, but I have verbally accepted. I don;t want to lie and say because of the economic situation can't afford to go ahead etc.
I called one of those legal telephone lines yesterday and the bloke said I can't put anything in writing. I have to speak to him, tell him he's incompetent and somehow not say in any way that I don;t want to go ahead because that implies there was a contract (which includes offering him any money)
I know I am being a wimp but isn't there another way? Am I really legally obliged when I have only verbally agreed? When i agreed to the boiler his dad made me put it in writing and we booked a slot in his schedule but I have no slot booked and I have not agreed in writing
is that phone a solicitor right? do I really have to have a big blow up with this man? I am so crap at stuff like this.