Help with contract

[mainebankelec]

Firstly sorry if this is the wrong section of forum.

I provided a customer with a quotation after we carried out a PIR of a domestic property and the quotation was of faults identified during this.

Customer rung up 2-3 weeks ago and said we were to start the job. He only allowed us in at certain times of the day. The first day was tue at 12 and next day was a friday at 9.
He has now contacted us after the work was completed and electrical installation certificate provided saying that price is to high and he wants a break down of material used and labour.

My terms for a quotation are that we never break down a quotation into individual parts and labour

I was just wondering but is a verbal agreement legally binding and what would other people do in this situation.

He is trying to say that we completed quick and that we allowed to much time for the job but my argument is that if job took longer to complete i couldnt turn round and say you owe me more money lol

other peoples views would be much appreciated

 

[bugsy]

1: Did you send him a quotation
2: Did he accept the quotation
3: Did you receive an order

Providing you sent him a quotation which he accepted then the time taken is irvelevent (I know you should'nt but next time dont issue certs until you've been paid )

 

[white armour]

Verbal agreements are not legally binding.

Think by law now any works over £50? must have contract signed by both parties and have a 7 day "cooling off" period. Know this is a little impractical at times but was designed to help customers with the pushy salesman.

Was a good post on here a couple of days back regarding T & Cs and contract stuff.

As bugsy says only hand over paperwork upon proper payment. Hope you get it sorted mate.

Regards wa

 

[mainebankelec]

Yes i sent a full written quotation, a couple of weeks after quotation was issued he contacted us by phone to carry out said works on quotation.

No order as such received..

Work was all completed then about a week after he phoned up to say he had been talking to his mates who were electricians who said price was to high with my next comment being well did you get more than one quote which he replied no

I know about certificates lol but his next door neighbour is buying his house and needed certs to get mortgage so asked for them asap and thought there would be no problems

 

[Dcf]

I sometimes wonder if my estimates etc are too detailed but in cases like yours it pays off when ball ache costumers like this lad start their nonsense.
If it's in black and White what they are actually getting for their money the less chance of a moan at the end.and it's always at the end eh?

 

[mainebankelec]

My quotation was all laid out as in replace consumer unit with dual 30ma rcd, 100ma rcd, mcbs, New earth electrode fitted new 10mm oil and gas bonds. Everything was all in bullet points stating what was exactly being carried out/ allowed for.

Thats the way all my quotes have been laid out for the past two years with no real problems like this before.

What gets me is that he wants us to drop from quotation price to per hour price

I had allowed for 3 Days Two people where as we Completed it in 2Days Two people

 

[white armour]

How easy is for someone to say they could have got it done cheaper, unless they have quoted for the job and he has proof. Think customer is full of sh#t & just trying it on.

Unfortunately unless you have a signed written contract the law cannot help too much, it can be difficult even with all relevant paperwork signed correctly.

Try calling his bluff by writing a letter stating that you may try to recover your payment through the small claims court and that if you win the customer may be liable to cover the court costs.

Regards wa

 

[mainebankelec]

He rung saying he priced the job from all materials sourced from screwfix and came in with 300 quid but if you take our consumer unit with dual 30ma and a time delay rcd and mcbs you nearly hit that alone never mind rewiring two 9.8kw showers which were wired in 2.5 and 4mm lol previously into consideration. I wonder how he priced it all but if he didnt have a material sheet etc with everything we used. He has nothing different now to be able to price it now than he did at start so why didnt he price it at start and pipe up about it lol


Going to take the nice sorta approach first send out letter stating that quotation will not be broken down into individual parts and labour costs as a quotation is the final price you pay unlike an estimate which can change depending on labour etc

 

[fire]

just go back and remove the consumer unit then see how he will start jumping like a fish without water.

 

[mainebankelec]

just go back and remove the consumer unit then see how he will start jumping like a fish without water.

lol i would but the house now belongs to the next door neighbour it not his house he sold it to them and rents its back of them lol

 

[white armour]

As fire said "All materials and accessories remain property of the installation company until such time proper payment has been received."

Nice sharp pair of cutters for snipping cables as short as possible near CU also an option (after safe isolation of course).

Is your customer a landlord btw?

Regards wa

 

[Martin Bradley]

Give him a brake down of prices and get him to sign for it, dont forget to use an invoice pad, so that you will have a copy. if he signs then you have proof. long shot but you never know?

 

[mainebankelec]

A quotation is a fixed price offer that can't be changed once accepted by the customer. This holds true even if you have to carry out much more work than you expected. If you think this is likely to happen, it makes more sense to give an estimate. You can also specify in the quotation precisely what it covers, and that variations outside of this will be subject to additional charges.

An estimate is an educated guess at what a job may cost - but it isn't binding. To take account of possible unforeseen developments, you should provide several estimates based on various circumstances, including the worst-case scenario. This will prevent your customer from being surprised by the costs.

 

[mainebankelec]

As fire said "All materials and accessories remain property of the installation company until such time proper payment has been received."

Nice sharp pair of cutters for snipping cables as short as possible near CU also an option (after safe isolation of course).

Is your customer a landlord btw?






Regards wa

Its confusing lol.

We were first employed by the new ower of this house to carry out a PIR for a mortgage, This done and quotation posted to them.
Invoiced to new ower and all paid now.
Then got phone call from current person in house to repair faults this is due to conditions of sale meaning that current person in house has to bring up to standard before neighbour buys house.

Work carried out and invoiced to current person in house.

House sold now and person renting back of our first client that got PIR carried out lol

Dont ask

 

[Martin Bradley]

another thing is to find out if he lives in an area that is coverd by a chancel, a chancel i hear you ask? if you look it up then contact the local church to find out if they have an intrest in the propety, if so give them all the details, this then alows them to make a claim on the house owner for the cost of repairs to the church, all the church has to do is charge them for anyamount of work they have even if its millions and they have to pay up and try and claim the money back from neighbours, also it prevents them from getting insurance cover to protect them of it. not many people know about that. sorry for any spelling mistakes. click link.
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