Aggressive electrician demanding payment...what do we do?

[arbymeadows]

Hello!

We hired an electrician in August to complete some work for us in a little art studio. It included metal conduit, plugs changing to metal ones (plus more added), pendant lights fitted, strip lights updating (2), plus bits like electrical radiators (3) and a hand dryer installed.

The work was due to be completed for the 9th of September, in time for the space to be used the following week. We were asked to pay for materials up front as he didn't like the idea of buying them, so we transferred £1400 up front.

He then failed to show for two weeks, and gave us a few different excuses, then turned up in dribs and drabs (two hours here, then a full day on a random Sunday). We're now over a month behind schedule, paying rent on two places, and the work is still not completed. He never turns up. He never calls. We are constantly chasing him. Half of our unit is without lighting or power completely, including the toilet, which means the space as a whole is completely unusable. He has had to redo a few different bits where he has not followed our plan (pendants in the wrong places, power too close to the sink etc).

Anyway, he is now asking for payment before he completes. He's charging us for his mistakes and calling them our changes. He's threatening us with a bill for over £4000 +VAT when I've asked for his break down of work completed, plus a receipt for the materials we purchased. He's incredibly defensive, aggressive and unprofessional, but I have no idea where we go from here. The work is uncompleted, he is demanding payment, but we have no faith he will even return if we pay him for the work done. We have never undertaken work to this scale, and basically do not know where to go from here. Where do we stand? Do we have to pay him immediately, or is it ok to request that work is completed first? He is claiming over 80 hours work on site, but this is just absolutely not true.

Furthering this, in reality, we do not want him on site any more. He has been so aggressive in his correspondence that we would really rather just pay him for work already completed and move on from this mess. Is that viable? We have no idea what to do.

Any help would be massively appreciated!

 

[telectrix]

Some good advice above, part with no more money, communicate in writing to record things.

Hopefully this is just a misunderstanding and can be sorted amicably and quickly.

@GLENNSPARK it's not you is it???

can't be Glenn, coz if Glenn was in the right, OP would be posting from a hospital bed. .

 

[Octopus]

Shame the op hasn’t updated us ......

Sounds like this spark is working “on the side” after doing another job .......

 

[arbymeadows]

Is there any written contract on your part that gives completion dates etc and what you expect out of the Electrician, also when he was asked to alter his work because he had failed to follow instructions can you confirm you had some detailed plans for him to follow.

If this was all done on the word of mouth then it makes it a lot more complicated on your part but if any of this was recorded, he had been supplied plans of the new layout and it clearly showed positions etc that he did not adhere to then you have a much stronger position.

Hi!

Thank you so much for this, and thank you to everyone for your replies. Honestly I was a wreck this morning; it is so(!) reassuring to know that this isn't typical and we're not totally screwed.

So, yeah - we have written confirmation of the initial completion date, plus every subsequent date we've re-agreed (four total). He repeatedly does not show, we miss the deadline, we re-agree the following week, and he fails to show once again. It's exhausting.

All of this is either in email or text, and every time we have made sure to mention an exact date, so that it's clear when he exceeds it.

We also have the plans (three total - one for lights, one for sockets, and one for the fittings).

I've stopped replying to him for now because I don't know where to go from here, so we're seeking legal help. He's been emailing/texting me all day asking for the 'interim payment', telling me that I've created a 'nightmare' for him by asking him to provide proof of purchase for the materials.

 

[arbymeadows]

Agree with darkwood, think your first step is to seek legal advice, darkwood mentioned registration, I assume he is on about VAT registration.
Do you know if this Electrician belongs to one of the CP Schemes, such as NICEIC, NAPIT as examples, if it turns out that he does then a letter or email to them may be in order.
Do you still have the materials you say you have paid for, or is he holding onto them?
It seems from what you are saying that you do not wish to use this chap again, regardless of any outcome, you could try asking for the materials, paid for by you, back. Can you estimate how much of the materials he has used? I would say as you paid for these materials the legally they belong to you.

His invoice says STROMA on it, if that's anything? He had an argument with my landlord on the first day of the job (a ring spur not connected properly or something?) kept going on about being an inspector for something and insisted he was "going to get the place shut down" - he then refused to attend the site for a week until it was connected due to the fact that it was a "loss of life" hazard. I wish we'd pulled the plug then but, hindsight is a beautiful thing.


We don't have the materials, we never received the materials. We were told when he bought then (attached is his email) that they'd be delivered to the unit. They never arrived. Because we'd paid him such a large amount up front, we sort of panicked and wanted to keep him sweet, so didn't push it. Again, in hindsight we were naive and should have questioned it (or, just not paid him up front).


I've asked for a receipt for all of the materials purchased for our job so I could have a look at what has been used, and that's what's made him blow his top. He says he bought it in dribs and drabs with other jobs so won't be able to get me receipts. But, his email clearly pushed for early payment because he was doing a bulk order? So frustrating.

 

[arbymeadows]

Do you have his full details?

Do you have an invoice for the upfront payment?

The fact he didn't want to buy parts is worrying to say the least

We do! We have an invoice for the upfront payment - which includes all of his details inc. address.

We weren't aware this was an issue until we've started getting quotes on what's left. Is it really this unusual to request payment up front? We were completely oblivious. Obviously he saw that and took us for a bit of a ride.

 

[Midwest]

I'm not quite sure why you are asking for legal advice on an electrical forum and how we can help there. You clearly are unhappy with the situation (do you need electrical advice on that?), and as suggested, seek legal advice about the situation from someone who is qualified to give such advice.

I'm not quite sure the police would be vaguely interested in such a contractual situation, unless this guy is using threatening behaviour or is doing something criminal, of which on the face of it is not.

 

[Darkwood]

I don't think the OP is asking for legal advice here, just responding to comments made, I think like expressed this is been a very rough ride and they wanted to get some feed back from other electricians, when angry people shout loud it can be intimidating and make you question your own position and rights ... it is clear this character is one of the bad apples in our industry and sounds like they have anger management issues to boot.

 

[Midwest]

If you try and make a complaint with Stroma, I think you will find they will not intervene on contractual issues, they will only do so if it is about the standard of electrical installation etc.

In any case they first suggest you give the contractor the opportunity to correct things, but this doesn't appear to be the issue.

 

[Midwest]

I don't think the OP is asking for legal advice here, just responding to comments made, I think like expressed this is been a very rough ride and they wanted to get some feed back from other electricians, when angry people shout loud it can be intimidating and make you question your own position and rights ... it is clear this character is one of the bad apples in our industry and sounds like they have anger management issues to boot.

Well, thats got it off the OP's chest. Next port of call is CAB or a solicitor or even get the guy back to complete the contract he was employed for, but under more stricter an profiled conditions; perhaps the later is something member's could give guidance on?

 

[arbymeadows]

One thing which has not been mentioned, there are always two sides to an argument and we have only heard one. I am not suggesting the OP is lying, but I have been in a similar situation where I had to walk off site because the customer kept altering things and the costs escalated, so maybe there could be some misunderstanding, as Murdoch mentioned in his reply, perhaps the way forward is communication first in a friendly manner, then go from there, we have no idea what the sparks side of the story is.

Absolutely! There have certainly been adjustments made.

• We originally agreed to have a table in the workshop area fitted with plug sockets - but he informed us the table would have to be fitted in to the floor, and it just wasn't feasible, so we decided not to do that. We therefore moved the three sockets that were going to be in the table to various places around the room (two on the wall, one on the ceiling).
• We added one more radiator upon his advice (which we purchased).
• We asked him to move one pendant light, after he ignored the plan and put it in the way of the projector.
• We asked him to move plug sockets out of the way of the sink, after he ignored the plan and put plug sockets all along the kitchen counter.
• We mentioned installing a dimmer switch instead of a conventional light switch (mentioned, it was never done).

But, all of this work was literally completed last week - it hasn't hindered his time scale at all. He has spent over a month coming in for an hour or two every few days, to fiddle around. It took him three weeks to hang the pendant lights. Our changes have been minor, and most were the result of his poor work in the first place.

It took two weeks to even get him in to the door, so we were just eager to get the work started. We've ignored a lot of work he's done wrong (hand dryer, plug sockets, pendants in the wrong place) because we have just been desperate to move in and stop paying rent on two places. I think he misunderstands us as correcting his work as us being indecisive. He fails to acknowledge his wrong doings and quickly points blame.

I could totally understand his frustration if we'd been at all indecisive or demanding, but we created a plan, and had a very strict budget, so there was little movement on our end anyway.

 

[arbymeadows]

I'm not quite sure why you are asking for legal advice on an electrical forum and how we can help there. You clearly are unhappy with the situation (do you need electrical advice on that?), and as suggested, seek legal advice about the situation from someone who is qualified to give such advice.

I'm not quite sure the police would be vaguely interested in such a contractual situation, unless this guy is using threatening behaviour or is doing something criminal, of which on the face of it is not.

I'm not asking for legal advice - I've had no experience with this kind of work before, and had no idea if this was typical. I wanted to get some guidance on his behaviour from others in his field before I took it further and sought legal advice. This forum has been so helpful, and I really thank everyone so much for that.

 

[buzzlightyear]

we need the other party to tell us their side before we condemn him .
on hear say .

 

[buzzlightyear]

I'm not asking for legal advice - I've had no experience with this kind of work before, and had no idea if this was typical. I wanted to get some guidance on his behaviour from others in his field before I took it further and sought legal advice. This forum has been so helpful, and I really thank everyone so much for that.

first I would have gone to the citizen advice to tell you how to go on .I'm not hear to judge a person until the other party has spoken .I'm out .

 

[buzzlightyear]

just to say if you have signed a contract well all being good if not
tuff .

 

[Octopus]

He's been emailing/texting me all day asking for the 'interim payment', telling me that I've created a 'nightmare' for him by asking him to provide proof of purchase for the materials.

That's odd too - surely he has invoices from his supplier ...... even if such invoices include parts for other jobs its not too hard to cross them off .