Callout charge

jdey said:
A contract requires a mutuality of agreement.
Quite correct. Keep going...

jdey said:
If you've not told the customer how much he has to pay before commencing work then no contract exists.
Doh! That is not true. You continue to excel at getting it completely wrong.

jdey said:
It's up to the complainant to prove that a contract is in place...
This is correct, notwithstanding the fact that what you call the "complainant" is actually called the "plaintiff", or, to use a more up to date term, the "applicant".

jdey said:
...knowing the colour of the defendent's carpet isn't enough proof.
I didn't say that it would be proof, I said that it would be evidence, and only part of it. FYI, where the parties do not agree on the facts, the bench has only to decide on the balance of probabilities. Things are not as black and white as you appear to believe, but once again this is an indication of your lack of knowledge.

jdey said:
Do you really think that court's waste their time adjudicating cases where there's no evidence?
Yes. I do. And if it is a waste, then they penalise applicants according to whether the action being brought is vexatious, flippant or simply without substance.
 
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jdey said:
There has to be an offer on the part of the person offering the work, and an acceptance on the person wanting the work to be done. If no acceptance is given then no contract is entered in to.
Quote so, and the contract offer is accepted when the tradesman is invited through the door and permitted to start work on the appliance, which is just a more wordy version of what ChrisR put very succinctly.

jdey said:
http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/0199268142/chapter03.pdf
Well, I'm sure that the text book you're referencing is a very nice one. I suggest that you read it, digest it, and learn from it.

jdey said:
The implied contract which you suggest can only be considered if the customer was informed of the fee beforehand.
No. No no no no no. No.

jdey said:
The OP asked for his boiler to be fixed and then rejected the offer before the plumber commenced work.
No. He didn't reject anything. Even if he did, any charge that is reasonable in quantity is enforceable in law. However, read this again:

I have not said I was not going to pay him I only asked is £70 + vat the going rate for this job in Scotland.

jdey said:
Agile said:
If your plumber adds £47 to his bill to cover his professional insurance in case he makes a mistake,would you be mad?
Unless it was accepted as a term when the contract was agreed, it's not enforceable in law.
Not true. You don't appear to know about, or understand the difference between, express and implied terms.
 
croydoncorgi said:
Can't you guys stop now...
When people stop posting misinformation, I'll happily stop pointing out that it is misinformation.

croydoncorgi said:
This is a plumbing & heating forum, not Oprah Winfrey 'My lawyer has bigger genitalia than yours'.
Oh. OK.
 
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Jdey, do you really think it is REASONABLE for a plumber to add £47 insurance charge to EVERY job cost to cover themselves if they make a mistake ???
 
Seems to be a lot of attempts at self justification going on here, not altogether successfully.
 
Can some please explain the following,
callout charge (rate),
callout charge/first hour (rate)
first hour (rate)
second hour (rate).

Please explain it slowly as I'm not worthy of you pros,
I'm just a mere diyer.

Thanks and Best Regards.
 
Call-out charge - this is a charge for coming out to a job irrespective of the time then spent on that job. Time then spent is charged on top of this. The call-out charge takes account of travelling time and administrative and logistical costs which are the same for a job of 5 minutes or 5 hours.

Hourly rate - the charge per hour. Fractions of an hour would usually be charged pro-rata (e.g. hourly rate £30, 20 mins £10, 5 mins £2.50) but parts of an hour may be charged as full hours, or in say 30 minute increments.

First hours rate - effectively the call-out charge and the hourly rate combined. Some customers don't like the idea of the call-out charge (because they don't understand that it is the fairest way of charging) so the first hour rate disguises it.

Second hours rate - never heard of this but presumably the same as the hourly rate, although it's possible that someone might have a higher rate for the second hour compared to subsequent hours - another form of call-out charge.

For example, if my call-out charge is £30 and my hourly rate £30, then a job that takes 1 hour would cost £60 (plus any materials/parts). If the job took 2 hrs, then it would cost £90 and if it took 20 minutes, it would cost £40.

Someone else might say "no call-out charge" but charge £60 for the first hour and £30 for subsequent hours, which is exactly the same as the example above.

Another person might just charge an hourly rate of say £50 with no call-out or first hour rate. They would be slightly cheaper for one hour (£50 to £60) and slightly more for 2 hours (£100 to £90) and much more expensive thereafter.
 
And some of us quote a fixed price diagnostic charge which covers ( for boiler repairs ) callout, first hour, second and subsequent hours, further visits etc. until the fault has been identified.

Obviously parts are extra and so is fitting if they are very time consuming to fit.

Tony
 

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