Have any fellow Mumsnetters suffered the same fate I did when seeking a safe, qualified gas engineer to connect a newly installed meter to an existing live feed? If not please be proceed with extreme caution (if at all) if you decide to use the services of a company called We Fix Now Limited. Here's my story of woe:
In the early hours of Friday June 5, 2019 I rang We Fix Now Ltd to get a quote to connect a live gas feed to a newly installed meter. I found them from an internet search. They are Gas Safe registered so I assumed they must be bona fide. It wasn't an emergency job. It was estimated to be a 30 minute operation and was quoted £80 'including VAT'. Payment would be taken when the engineer arrived at the premises. It was mentioned that if the work rolled over beyond that time the cost would be a charged at a full hourly rate. Any cost for parts/materials would also be chargeable. I agreed. The appointment was fixed for between 10:00 am and 12 noon that same day.
However, at 10:22 (there's a record of the calls received and made on my phone) I received a call informing me that the engineers were stuck on a job and were not able to make the scheduled appointment. Instead, a new time of between15:00 and 17:00hrs was set. I agreed, reluctantly. At 16:23 PM I received another call to inform me that the engineers were on their way but stuck in traffic.
The time was 16:36 when I received a further call, but this was the payment request for the imminent works. I duly paid (over the phone by credit card) £80. However, 20 minutes later I received yet another call, and this is when they sprung their carefully laid, late-in-the-day trap: I was asked for a further £80 payment for an hour's work. It had just come to light that the work involved a meter.
I challenged this: I had pointed out that a meter was involved when I asked for a quotation. The engineer had not arrived so this wasn't the operatives' judgement regarding the complexity or otherwise of the job, but sales office mischief. Apparently, ALL jobs involving work with the gas meter are automatically levied at an hour's rate. They were 'sorry' I hadn't been informed when I booked the job (the first of three, 'I'm sorry'). By definition all gas works will involve some reference to the meter. Therefore, it should be quoted upfront!
It was close to the end of the afternoon (four minutes before 5 PM), and although I was offered the 'choice' of cancelling the job and a refund on that first payment, they had me by the short and curlies - and they knew it. I wasn't going to secure another engineer that late in to the day. Circumstances meant I had to pay.
The engineers did arrive (shortly after 17:00hrs), and whilst the records will show their work lasted past the 30 minute mark, the records will not tell whether the work was subsequently drawn out because I had now voiced my objections and was known to be monitoring events.
I was charged a fee for a minor part and a safety chain which were fitted. This formed a third payment (this was highlighted when I was quoted the job at the start, so I have no complaints on that score). But this company deliberately spun me into a position where I was backed into a late-in-the-day corner and they then proceeded to pick my pocket.
I asked why there was no price list on their website, and received the helpful reply 'We don't put prices on the site'. Even that inadequate response can't explain why there's no reference to the 'meter related work incurs an automatic hourly rate' warning.
The Wefixnow.co.uk website was first registered in 2010.That's plenty of time to post something clear and simple about the structure of their charges. How many others have been deliberately stung like this over almost a decade?
You can ignore my experience and use this company's services, or you can freely harvest my very bitter experience and go elsewhere.
We Fix Now extracted an additional £80 from my wallet (plus two lots of VAT which were never mentioned at the time of the booking - the cost was said to be inclusive).