We expected to supply the radiator as a result of them telling us we had to. But they then offered to supply one for us as an 'extra' for the price I posted in the first post (this price was sent to us last night at 9pm ish). Before we had a chance to do anything about it they fitted the one they quoted for this morning without any agreement from us.
If they'd just dropped us a message saying 'We need to fit the radiator tomorrow so we need to know if you want us to fit this' - we'd have responded by saying no and running out to Screwfix or something first thing this morning to get them one that was suitable before we went to work.
They can't do that...as I said before, alterations to a quote without your agreement are not acceptable in law. Get him to change it to what you wanted originally, and what was agreed, IE a radiator, and sort it out at the end. Make it clear that further extras are not acceptable, but do so in a way that doesn't suggest you've agreed to pay for the extras already carried out. I suggest you have a proper discussion about those when it comes to bill-paying time to avoid too much upset now. You don't want your relationship with him to break down mid job.
You should have called him out on that move. Trying to go up the chain of hierarchy. I called them, but he asked to speak to my husband instead
You should have called him out on that move. Trying to go up the chain of hierarchy. Lost my opinion of him now.
That should have been a "when you ask to speak to someone supervisor, then it turns out they own the shop" situation.
To be honest that doesn't bother me too much, it was a bit of an eye roll moment but hey ho. I'd rather it wasn't me who had to deal with the face to face (or in this case phone to phone) bits anyway
Today's update: They told us they weren't going to be onsite today. Which led to us being very confused when the cctv cameras were triggered showing someone going into the house and also walking around in our garage. Turns out they had planned for a plasterer to come today and had given him our house key.
Is it normal to not at least drop us a message to let us know? We were literally watching this guy wandering in and out of our house and around the garage with no idea who he was but hoping he was part of the bathroom work. We messaged them to check and they said it was probably the plasterer which was a big *phew* moment...
Which is what he would have been hoping would be the result, because he knew he was in the wrong and getting you to accept the incorrect installation means he gets away with it.With the radiator we explained that it doesn't fit our requirements and we didn't agree to it. "But it's done and we don't think pulling up all the floors to change it now is the right thing to do". The only reason we said that is because he started telling us how we were going to have to pay for all that work to be redone, plus the radiator, plus the new radiator and that scared us so we backed down.
Yes you did handle it badly, you need to stick to your guns and get what you want. You're paying a lot of money and you want it to be right. You need to send him something along the lines of "having had time to consider, we've decided that we aren't happy with the towel warmer you've supplied, and would like this to be replaced with a radiator as per the original specification we agreed to when you quoted for the work". Say nothing at this stage that commits you to paying any extra. TBH he sounds like an idiot, asking to speak to your husband instead of you, and adding extras on as he feels like it.Did we handle that really badly? They have the day off today so we have time to retract that and ask them to remove it without impacting the job any further, as in saying it today or yesterday makes no difference.
wow... I'm impressed with you. If the marriage doesn't work out give me a call.The full story around the pipework is that we have a 15mm feed from the mains into the house, this then switches to a 22mm feed that feeds the whole house from our cold and hot feeds on the boiler. The rest of the house is still 15mm, but this was to make sure that any bathrooms were being fed with full 22mm to reduce the dreaded pressure drop if we use more than one tap in the bathroom.
When we had the boiler replaced we went for a pressurised system. We told the gas engineer that when we re do the driveway we're going to upgrade the mains cold feed to the biggest option the water board will let us have. So we expect to have 22mm mains -> 22mm feeds into and out of the boiler that feed the rest of the house. Most of the house will remain 15mm but it then gives us the option to run 22mm if/when we need to.
When the boiler work was done the plumber left two 22mm copper pipe tails around 5-10cm from the main hot and cold feeds next to the boiler, he ran these upstairs and along to just outside of the bathroom (under the floorboards) ready for use by whoever did the bathroom in the future. The work to plumb the bathroom in required attaching the 22mm pipes next to the boiler and then doing the plumbing for the various bathroom items.
The people doing the bathroom wanted to use the existing 15mm pipes that were already feeding the bathroom and adjust those as required. Hence the extra cost.
Now I would have felt that his complaint and charge was reasonable if I'd not told him any of this, but we told him all of this when he intially came around to quote. So this wasn't news to him, he'd just forgotten since he initially came around. But also to be honest the difference in pipework shouldn't be that much. The bit he's charged £80 + VAT for is just the attaching of the tails to the hot and cold next to the boiler.
TBH he sounds like an idiot, asking to speak to your husband instead of you, and adding extras on as he feels like it.
He sounds like a chancer.
I would normally much rather deal with the lady of the house in these situations. Husbands are usually a pita. But then, ploughing ahead on a bathroom installation without clear plans and finishes laid out from the get go is crazy. On both sides.
I do have sympathies for the OP; but a little voice in the back of my head is saying that somehow they deserve each other in some small way.
Remember-if a punter asks endless questions and dictates his wishes and ideas - he is considered a PITA and the general advice hete is to walk away .
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