Small Victory HooRay!

I went through an electric cable last year (my fault ho hum) with a digger when doing a front drive way. EDF came out all fixed in 1 hour very efficent. then we got the bill (approx £500.00). Tried charging us for 4 hours work for both guys. Sent me all the time sheets as back up to their claim. I went through all the sheets and then sent back a letter telling them what the cost should be based on the time they were really there.

ANyway a series of letters went to and tho, each time trying to explain what the hours were for. went a bit like this

The hours are correct

no theyre not, ive got a letter here from the householder who backs up what i say, and ive got the phone logs and timed photos as well

the hours are correct they had to go to the depot to drop off the rubbish and then travelling time home

No theyre not. they placed the items in our skip (so i sent them a counter invoice for that!) and im not paying for travelling time home!

The hours are correct the time is for travelling time to book off at the depot and replenish items used in the repair

No theyre not, your time sheets show they started another job in another part of town which is only 10 minutes drive away. Take me to court if you like, and ill be pursuing you for non-payment of the waste disposal bill and all my costs.


Had a reply today. Our hours are submitted on an honesty basis so we have to take them at face value. On this occasion we will accept your offer!

In other words ive driven a hole through your bloody overcharging time sheets!

Moral of the story, keep your own records, and ALWAYS get the blokes to agree what time they will book before they leave site! Saved £150 off the bill. I dont mind paying what is fair and reasonable for the damage we caused, but i object to being ripped off!

Think ill buy a beer now!

well done old boy
bob

Chalk one up for the little guys. Bravo Thermo!

and would you be happy if your customer only paid for the exact number of minutes you were working on site?

invoice for a full day, they come back with..

"at 10:17, you left for the wholesalers to get some parts and did not return until 11:03.."
"you arrived on site at 08:06, and stopped for lunch at 12:21, resuming work at 13:09 and left site at 15:40"
"with these figures in mind, I am only willing to pay you for 6 hours and not the 8 you are invoicing me for." ( that was lucky huh? made up numbers worked out to exactly 6 hours.. )

if i charged on an hourly basis as they do, then i would expect to charge exactly what i worked.

they were quite specific in what thye were charging for and i didnt have a problem with how they charged. what i had a problem with was straight forward lies in the hours they attributed to the work.

would you be happy with that? if you want to throw money away and get ripped off thats down to you. i dont run my business that way and i dont like getting ripped off

Good man

Right, but next time go careful.

Paul Barker said:

Right, but next time go careful.

Click to expand...

Doesn't matter how careful you go with a machine, breaking a cable or leadpipe or whatever is so easy, I know from experience, I also went thru a 14,000 volt cable with a heavy jackhammer a few years ago, which wasn't my fault but obviously I lived to tell the tale, thank god, you just got to be lucky.....

my cousins husband drives diggers and once hit a cable in the street..
thought nothing of it trying to short it out with the bucket so the guys could get into the hole safely..

turned out it was a street lighting cable, and those things don't have fuses... was sparking for about half an hour before he gave up and had to call in the power company to re-joint it..

How many times getting the relevant gas or electric supply firms involved with the dig and their survey maps are they so totally wrong or not even marked with warning tape etc etc, go through one however and it's big money , especially Telecom, To my mind they should cough up if the plans have been drawn wrongly.

If your dumb and clumsy enough to dig thru a pipe/cable then you should pay for it! There are cable and pipe detectors available so there really is no excuse.

There are even dowsers in Sussex they can find anything

dangermouse46 said:

If your dumb and clumsy enough to dig thru a pipe/cable then you should pay for it! There are cable and pipe detectors available so there really is no excuse.

Click to expand...

....and if you were not totally witless and even partially intelligent you will have read that Thermo did pay for it, just not what they were asking.