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Ripped off by heating engineer?

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Discuss Ripped off by heating engineer? in the Find Local Gas Engineers - Post a Job area at Plumbers Forums

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In a court of law, you hired him and are expected to pay, you need to get several quotes to find out how much they would charge, in your area, you then pay that much, take the quotes to court and say this is what should of been charged and this is what is reasonable. You also need to write to the plumber stating that the charges are too high and what you are willing to pay. You can get free mediation as well. Then when they take you to court the judge will have all the facts. The question is, did he tell you his charges before he started? Did he tell you how much per hour, is this written down? Did you agree to the charges? As a plumber I can charge £1000 per hour as long as the customer agrees before starting. If you didn't ask how much then this may of been your mistake as well as the plumbers! No clear communication!! Just out of curiosity, why isn't the landlord paying, if it is landlords property then they should pay surely.
 
A1P said:
Am I missing something here? Why are you as a tenant paying a bill for maintaining a boiler in a RENTED property.I always assumed this was the landlord's responsibility.You say previous tenants have had to do this.I would not be renting any property where this was expected.When I attend rented property, bills go to the landlord/letting agency.
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Yes it is the landlords responsibility bu they told is it would not be possible to get it fixed for a month (which is illegal in itself)
As a previous reply asked, there is more to it than meets the eye - the landlord is a property developer who had applied for permission to build 14 homes where this bungalow stands - he cannot start building until we have left the home and with 6 months of our tenancy left it would be illegal to evict us. By leaving a family with 2 small children with no heating for 1 month we feel he is trying to force us out prior to the end of the tenancy.
 
Dannypipe said:
What's that got to do with it???
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Everything and nothing!!!!!!! IF TRUE it is way over the top whatever time and it seems it was normal hours on a weekday.I think it is always good practice when called out on an emergency to make clear some idea of price e.g an hourly rate.In this case it would have saved unpleasantness all round.
 
When tenants call me to do work on a rented property, I will say NO and refer them to the landlord. If landlord then calls me, then we can agree a bill or what work needs doing? I NEVER agree to do work on a rented property on a tenants behalf.
 
Go find your tenancy contract and have a read through. Tell you what you are/are not responsible for in the property.
 
Benjaminsbarn said:
A friend of mine fixes helicopters, he doesn't get paid £250 per hour
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Not meaning to be funny but what is the relevance of this comment? Comparing apples with pears really.
Also, how do you know that the previous tenants had the same thing happen to them?
 
village idiot said:
I did say most of them want it done now.
The only question now is: Were you told what the hourly charges will be? Was there a call out fee element to the bill? We know he has exaggerated the labour time, but we need him to qualify WHY?
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Yes the hourly rate was £35 per hour, the actual work carried out should have been under £100 (allowing for a generous travel expense!)
 
Ray Stafford said:
Why not trading standards?
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Because they take several months to resolve a complaint and are very general in comparison to a specific governing body. Our court date is end of next month - we need as much help as we can get now, not 3-6 months that trading standards take!
 
Benjamin, I think you have answered your own question. You surely have been ripped off.
The landlord and the engineer are colaborating to fleece you of hard earned cash. DISGRACEFUL. As if you are not paying him enough rents.
What is to say both of them are not responsible for ''stealing'' the oil in the first place? It's a sad story and I feel for you. What with Xmas just round the corner? So sad
 
Sorry if this is hard to keep track of - as a newbie I wasn't quoting people properly and my replies to individual posts have seems random. I guess me being a newbie is also why the mod is taking longer to post my replies than it is to post yours!
thanks to all for the help!
 
let him take you to court, you counter claim simples. you need to respond to his letter with an offer of a one off payment to cover his costs at a reasonable amount, oftecwill offer you some guidance on rates if he is oftec registered and they will investigate if they see a need, if not citizens advice for help. As I mentioned you should by law have been given a cooling off period or waiver/cancellation form to sign. Anything over £35 and you dont have to pay by law, no arguements which is mad but can help in cases like this. talk to trading standards for verification, its a stupid regulation but can help at times.
 
I agree with village idiot it sounds as though the landlord and plumber are collaborating to rip you off and get you out. Absolute crooks
 
Benjaminsbarn said:
Yes the hourly rate was £35 per hour, the actual work carried out should have been under £100 (allowing for a generous travel expense!)
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Pay him £100 and tell him to take you to court for the rest, have you got this written down? Have you got a witness to his visits?
 
village idiot said:
The cooling off thingy is one I pay no attention to.
Try telling a homeowner (in the middle of winter), that you will have to wait for seven days for them to decide if they want the install to go ahead? Most of them want it now.
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that isnt how it works if you look into its operating method, and if you are going to bill someone a large amount for a days work it is in its self a contract for your backup
 
You called him so you have to pay, but you agreed to £35 per hour, he was there for 2 hours so pay him what you think is right and tell him to take you to court for the rest!!
 
village idiot said:
Benjamin, I think you have answered your own question. You surely have been ripped off.
The landlord and the engineer are colaborating to fleece you of hard earned cash. DISGRACEFUL. As if you are not paying him enough rents.
What is to say both of them are not responsible for ''stealing'' the oil in the first place? It's a sad story and I feel for you. What with Xmas just round the corner? So sad
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Thank you :) I didn't really expect so many replies and only really expected a couple of people to give an estimate of what they would have charged!
i do believe the landlord was responsible as thefts from our home also coincided with damage to our vehicles left on the drive overnight, both these things started happening as the landlord received approval for the planning application.
neither the police nor any other local authority would help us. In our area the landlords family are involved in many important jobs and local positions. In addition the landlord is a Freemason (the idea is laughed at by many but down here the Freemasons are still very important) - we have little faith that a local judge will be truly impartial which is why we are looking for help and advice from as many people as possible.
 
Can't believe this. Just see them in court, keep all the paperwork and seek legal advice. At the end of the day it doesn't matter what anyone else charges, you have been quoted £35 per hour. It's a case of unjustifiable charges which should be easy to prove given the time he was in the house.

Trading standards aren't much use, they can advise you what to do though. It's sounds like you need a legal forum not a plumbing one.
 
Go and tease one off through his letterbox.
I am sorry to hear this though,it gives us all a bad name. It's an absolute joke,like has been said tell him you will pay him £35p/h as agreed and nothing more.
 
how can the engineer charge you a call out anyway when he came 2 days later a call out is an inconvience charge as far as i am concerned.

it can be argued that it was your fault as the tank was empty. (did you report the theft to the police and get a crime number?) but £500 to me is disgusting.
 
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Nostrum said:
Where are you located?
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A small town in Devon. Family ties mean everything down here and as neither my partner nor myself are from the area we have little help to call upon. The plumber has a lot to gain by helping the landlord as he will get a lot of extra work!
 
As have been pointed out earlier, I too think you should pay them what you consider a ''reasonable'' amount (a cheque or bank transfer may be an acceptable method as they may say you paid nothing). Then tell them to take you to court. Surely, a judge will work out that the charges are exagerated. Except the landlord want you to offset the said amount towards your rents
 
Start planting Japanese vine weed in your garden and add fertiliser to help it spread like wild fire. Then have the last laugh as the muppet has to spend thousands removing it before any building work is done.
Alternativly claim to have spotted a rare species of bird breeding somewhere on the land and inform the RSPB and watch his planning permission be put on hold whilst he has to fund investigations into wheather or not the development can go ahead due to disturbing the birds.


This may/may not be good advice.
 
iain85 said:
Start planting Japanese vine weed in your garden and add fertiliser to help it spread like wild fire. Then have the last laugh as the muppet has to spend thousands removing it before any building work is done.
Alternativly claim to have spotted a rare species of bird breeding somewhere on the land and inform the RSPB and watch his planning permission be put on hold whilst he has to fund investigations into wheather or not the development can go ahead due to disturbing the birds.


This may/may not be good advice.
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Even if there was a rare bird it would make little difference, a barn up the road got approval for conversion despite having barn owls in the eaves. The application showed a £60,000 'contribution' towards local playing areas. The application was approved with the condition that the owls were encouraged to relocate to another barn. As soon as a team of 12 polish builders started work on an adjacent barn the owls were never seen again.
Japanese vine weed though.... That's a new one on me :)
many thanks :)
 
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