Am I being overcharged?

blueglass123

I asked a man who had previously installed our boiler to come and have a look at a possibly faulty motorised valve. I did request him by email and asked if this appointment would be charged for but he didn't respond to this part or provide a quote. He came and have a look and said something about the lever being faulty and it will need to be replaced which would cost £. As he was leaving he said he'd give the bill. He was in the house for less than 10 mins so I was a little taken aback and didn't say anything as I'm not really a confrontational person.

He has send a £ bill today for 'Freed off jammed 3x port valve as required'. I'm not paying this and will probably argue with him about it. It's a shame because I thought this guy was okay.

GGross

Just like your last post I would tell you that we do not discuss pricing on this forum

Jamie Hall

He had to drive to your house. He had to diagnose the problem. He had to fix the problem. He had to drive to the next job. You are not being overcharged; if anything he's giving you a good bit of free time.

blueglass123

It was cheeky of him to not tell me if I was going to be charged for this appointment to have a look or to not provide a quote when I specifically asked.

pecmsg

Have you called the service manager? What did they say?

blueglass123

In my original email I had only asked him to come and take a look and if I would be charged for this appointment. He didn't respond to this question and just told me when he could come by. I did not ask him to do any work. Today he's send an email charging me £, on the invoice it says 'Freed off jammed 3x port valve as required, recommend it be replaced. £. I usually do not argue but this is taking the mick. He's also put the due date as today lol.

He's a guy who owns his own small heating business, not working for a company or anything.

Ironman

blueglass123 said:

It was cheeky of him to not tell me if I was going to be charged for this appointment to have a look or to not provide a quote when I specifically asked.

So, you think that a service man should come to your house and repair something for free?

Ill admit that he should have told you what his rates were up front, but for you to expect him to do it for nothing is ridiculous

When you request a repairman to come and tell you what’s wrong with something, that’s a diagnosis, not an estimate. It requires his time, training, tools, transportation, etc; not to mention his business overhead. He’s got to charge for that or else he won’t be in business for long.

If I call my lawyer for advice, he might give a couple of minutes for free, but he’s gonna bill me for his time.

How can you expect a tech to come to your house for nothing?

And if he repaired the problem, now you don’t wanna pay him??

blueglass123

Ironman said:

blueglass123 said:

It was cheeky of him to not tell me if I was going to be charged for this appointment to have a look or to not provide a quote when I specifically asked.

blueglass123

I have used his services before. I used him to install our new boiler and payed up front (£) and he also serviced our boiler recently (for £). I already told him that it was a problem with the valve and to come and take a look. If he had let me known this appointment would be charged for I would've told him not to come. He was I the house for less than 10mins. He also didn't fix anything. He said he's unjammed something in the valve and it will need to be replaced which will cost £ if he does it. I am asking around for quotes but it should definitely be no more than £.

I understand he has travel and time costs, absolutely fine. Maximum I would pay is £. £ is ridiculous.

hot_rod

I agree that the trip charge should have been discussed

iF he would have told you before arriving, about the charge would you have said no to his visit?

You are paying for his knowledge in addition to the cost of getting there,

Ssounds like he needs to raise his price, $200 and up is not unheard of around here for trip charge and diagnostics 

Erin Holohan Haskell

@blueglass123 , please follow site rules and stop posting specific prices. Thank you.

blueglass123

hot_rod said:

I agree that the trip charge should have been discussed

iF he would have told you before arriving, about the charge would you have said no to his visit?

You are paying for his knowledge in addition to the cost of getting there,

Ssounds like he needs to raise his price, $200 and up is not unheard of around here for trip charge and diagnostics 

Absolutely would have said no. The issue was that whenever the hot water was turned on, the heating was also turned on too. It's colder here in the UK anyway, so it wasn't really a huge issue. Not as if we were without hot water and heating. I already knew it was an issue with the valve.

Jamie Hall

blueglass123 said:

hot_rod said:

I agree that the trip charge should have been discussed

iF he would have told you before arriving, about the charge would you have said no to his visit?

You are paying for his knowledge in addition to the cost of getting there,

Ssounds like he needs to raise his price, $200 and up is not unheard of around here for trip charge and diagnostics 

Absolutely would have said no. The issue was that whenever the hot water was turned on, the heating was also turned on too. It's colder here in the UK anyway, so it wasn't really a huge issue. Not as if we were without hot water and heating. I already knew it was an issue with the valve.

That's fine. Do it yourself next time something goes wrong. Bit chilly here in New England, too, I might add.

ChrisJ

The best way to see if you're overcharged is to check your subcooling and superheat and see how the system is running.