Practically Classics Forum

ive been self employed for years now & recently ive worked for a chap who wants his bill 'more detailed' when you consider this will involve detailing 5+pages of a4 for plumbing fittings alone, i think he is being a little unreasonable. recently i dropped a well paying job to dig out & repair a septic tank for a widow & did the job 3& half days work 505€
labour & materials. cash... the lady was quite happy until he said i was expensive & is now refusing to pay the full amount.....
id like your thoughts on this chaps

I wouldn't say that is expensive as such - if the job took 25hrs, your labour should be nearly 400 euros at a minimum (or is the labour rate in France much cheaper than the UK?). Add a few fittings, a digger or whatever and some tax and the bill skyrockets. Unfortunately, some people don't appreciate the costs of a job and expect to pay peanuts.

My "heating friend" had a call out last year to a lady who he hadn't met before. She called on a Saturday and several times through the weekend. When he asked who she usually got, she said the name and that they wouldn't come! After a lot of hassle, he went to the job, repaired the fault enough to see what the problem was and left saying he'd be back in the morning to check it as it may need more work (I think pressure loss was an issue). He went the next morning and the son had turned up, said the system was working and wouldn't let him through the door - even though my friend explained the situation. So my friend went to his next job - about forty miles away and had hardly unpacked when the son rang to say the heating had gone off and he had to go back straight away to fix it! My friend arrived at eight at night (he works long days in the cold weather) and sorted the problem with a repair and a (good) used part.

They refused to pay the bill as he was far too expensive (even though he didn't charge for the second/third visit!). They got told by a third party to pay it, which they did. I gather the boiler went off this year too - they phoned my friend, but ended up having to go elsewhere (and were charged a heck of a lot more!)

I think there is an unhealthy mix of arrogance and gutter manners prevalent today and this in part manifests itself in a preponderance of “Know alls”, who perhaps because they have passed a few exams, like to give the impression that they know all about everything (Especially if they read up about it on the Internet). Often they personify the expression that a little knowledge is dangerous and equally often they are full of the proverbial .

Some people are never satisfied and seem to be of the opinion that everyone is out to catch them (I often wonder whether this is a reflection on their own personality). Yes there are clearly rogue traders (And I include banks and other so called professionals in this; they are not all builders ) out there (I’ve had dealings with some of them) but there are also rogue customers (And I’ve had dealings with them too), who will try it on, though unlike rogue traders, they come in for little scrutiny and have no reputation to lose (In a business sense). In both cases the motivation is greed. Get rid of greed and you solve the problem but as to how you get rid of greed, I haven’t a clue.

He's taking the piss, kick him in the nuts - or offer to remove everything you did & let him find someone who'll do it for what he wants to pay.

OneCarefulOwner wrote:to remove everything you did

That could prove interesting!

Agree with the rest of what you said!

OCO's comment reminds me of a neighbour who had ordered new dry verges and gutters etc, then found he was broke and couldn't pay. He says he told the firm not to fit the stuff, but they did - and made goodness knows how many calls for payment. Eventually the gutters and downpipes were removed - but no the dry verges. The neighbour was declared bankrupt and another firm was brought in to put gutters on, clear the house and get it ready for sale!

Of course, the first firm was part-owned by a Polish bloke - and over half the workers were Polish too, so there wasn't a lot of subtlety! The firm are good though - they did our house a couple of years ago and were quick, efficient and kind to my poor old mother!

Someone in my street inherited his mother’s house and had a grant to do it up (It was in very poor repair). He had been bankrupt and had also done time for some kind of fraud. He was at the time unemployed, though he had assistance to become a driving instructor (Never seemed to be giving many lessons and it was suggested he had to “Show willing” in order to retain his benefits).

The house made good progress and seemed to be a nice job but then it stopped. It seems the grant monies had been misappropriated and the builder and builders merchants were owed money (I can’t understand why the council didn’t pay them direct). It seemed to drag on for ages, with the house unfinished (It became known as Schubert’s); there was a piece of plywood, propped up by a piece of wood, where the back door should have been and the walls were only rough rendered, whilst there were no rainwater goods (He had a satellite dish however……got his priorities in order ). They didn’t even attempt to clear the building rubble from the garden, though they did erect inflatable Santas each Christmas, that really looked nice amongst the building rubble . Eventually he was evicted and the house is in the process of being finished. I presume the council have re housed him.

It’s odd how when I enquired about a grant 20 years ago, there was nothing doing, yet this person was given a grant and then spent the money on other things . There are still some jobs to do at my place but like the rest of it, there will be no grants for it; I’ll just have to save up. You might say why not but equally you might say why give it to spongers like Schubert?

I wonder if this customer is a Quantity Surveyor?

I work on the fringes of the construction industry and this happens to us all the time. A price is agreed with the QS, the work is done, we apply for payment and then get asked for a cost breakdown. Why then? Why not at the start of the job?

Basically this is a way of achieving two things. First a breakdown will let him argue about every tiny part of the job in an effort to get some sort of discount - he might be able to draw it out so long that you become desperate for the money and are willing to accept a reduced amount just to get some money in the bank. Second, while this goes on the money is in his bank making him interest (even though not much these days) and the longer it stays there the better for him.

Undoing work or repossing items supplied is (very sadly) a big legal no-no, although it has been done with varying results. Think carefully before taking the chance.

Unfortunately, we are not all physically fortunate enough to get away with kicking someone in the shoemakers, even though it's a lovely thought.

I fully agree that greed is the problem here.

Everyone wants something for nothing,i blame Martin lewis and watchdog.

thanks for your thoughts chaps, my mate who got me in to sort the job is trying to sort it. from now on i only work after i prepare an estimate.. blocked drains will have to wait!
its a shame there is no trust anymore