Hi there,
First post. I am hoping you can maybe give me a bit of advice.
My home was recently broken into while I was out and fortunately the robbers were heard by a neighbour who alerted the police. The police arrived and the robbers were arrested. However, to secure my property they had to call out a joiner to fit a small piece of plywood over part of my window.
I then received a bill from the joiner for £240 for fitting this piece of wood. This was broken down to £150 call out fee, £60 labour for 2 men (2 men to fit a small piece of wood with 4 nails??) and then VAT.
Whilst I appreciate that the work was completely necessary, was done out of hours (11pm on a Fri) and obviously needs to be paid for, I feel like I am being completely ripped off and the tradesman is taking advantage of the circumstances of which he was called out. After all, the police called him to my home and the police authorized the work without my knowledge, meaning he probably thinks he can charge me whatever he likes.
I am perfectly willing to pay an amount I think is reasonable for the work that was done (I realise it is not going to be cheap considering it was an emergency call out), but is it just a case that I have to pay whatever amount he is charging, or do I have any right to dispute the amount considering that I never made any kind of up front agreement with the joiner or was ever given a price? If so, what should I do to dispute this?
Thanks in advance.
First post. I am hoping you can maybe give me a bit of advice.
My home was recently broken into while I was out and fortunately the robbers were heard by a neighbour who alerted the police. The police arrived and the robbers were arrested. However, to secure my property they had to call out a joiner to fit a small piece of plywood over part of my window.
I then received a bill from the joiner for £240 for fitting this piece of wood. This was broken down to £150 call out fee, £60 labour for 2 men (2 men to fit a small piece of wood with 4 nails??) and then VAT.
Whilst I appreciate that the work was completely necessary, was done out of hours (11pm on a Fri) and obviously needs to be paid for, I feel like I am being completely ripped off and the tradesman is taking advantage of the circumstances of which he was called out. After all, the police called him to my home and the police authorized the work without my knowledge, meaning he probably thinks he can charge me whatever he likes.
I am perfectly willing to pay an amount I think is reasonable for the work that was done (I realise it is not going to be cheap considering it was an emergency call out), but is it just a case that I have to pay whatever amount he is charging, or do I have any right to dispute the amount considering that I never made any kind of up front agreement with the joiner or was ever given a price? If so, what should I do to dispute this?
Thanks in advance.