Not getting paid

[oscar21]

I run a one man band electrical company and have been told by a customer that I will not be getting paid. His argument is that we never agreed a price in the first instance and he is not happy with the final bill.

 

I was told what to do by the customer and I did it professionally and as quickly as possible, in fact I recon I went out of my way to help him out. Also we did the job at trade rates as the job was through a builder.

 

The materials cost me £440, there were two of us and the job took about 3 days which he was billed for at £15 per hr each. The total bill came to about £1100. I made no money on the materials and I have other overheads like a van to insure and tax etc. I cant see how he could have expected us to do it any cheaper. This guy also works in the building trade (managing a building suppliers) so knows the labour costs of things.

 

Anyway I know how the small claims process works and I'm ok issuing a claim etc. but I'm not sure how a court would look at a situation where there was no agreement of price at the beginning. Although it is clear (in my view) that I have not ripped him off.

 

PS for what its worth I think his argument was scripted and he never had any intention of paying from day one, but I know I cant use the liar liar pant on fire defense.

[JimmySpangle]

Go around and recover all your materials back, even if that means channelling out the walls to get YOUR property back.

 

Someone did this to my brother (an electrician) a few years ago. He went back and literally ripped everything back out. He lost about £800 in actual materials, recovered about £150 of that in scrap wire and fittings, but caused thousands of damage to their new plaster getting his property back.

 

They then took him to court for the damage and they lost!

[oscar21]

I have heard that once anything is fitted to the fabric of the building then in becomes the property of the householder paid for or not. I did offer to take a lower payment and take some of the stuff back but he immediately said I was trespassing and threatened to call the police and I know that would have ended up with being arrested for breach of the peace. He also made sure his young son was in the room whilst we were arguing over the bill, I think this saved him from getting filled in by my mate as he was ready to smack him.

 

I also showed him my jobsheet that listed exactly what I have paid for the stuff and hours worked, normally the customer doesn't get to see that.

 

I wonder if there is any mileage in asking the court just for my stuff back, I would much prefer to do this and wreck his kitchen than see any money.

[JimmySpangle]

That is true. Wouldn't stop me removing stuff I paid for. There is obviously only one language that this ****** will understand. I will let you use your imagination.

[dr fox]

Been in the trade for 18 years and the very first time it happened to me we were skint and had a new born baby. Was nothing up with the job it was just that they didnt want to pay

 

They wouldnt return my phone calls and after a fortnight i went to the job with a hammer to take my materials back that i had paid for.

 

They werent at home but the painter let me in. He phoned them and told them that i was there with a hammer and was going to take the plasterboard back off the walls. They did treaten me with the police and i told them yes please call them....i want you to call them.

 

Within the hour my money was there.

 

Happened to my twice after that and ive basically had to write it off as i cant afford to take it to court

[Kraken1]

contracts don't have to be in writing. In the absence of an agreement as to what the contract price was the court can assess this. See s 15 Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982.

 

It is likely that he is calling your bluff, reckoning that you won't sue. Bang off a letter of claim, review his response if you get one, then issue if you are happy you can prove that there was an agreement that you would be doing work for him. How you do this is a question of evidence. the fact that he let you do the work is, i'd suggest, a good indication.

 

Don't try and remove the stuff; you can only do this where you have a retention of title clause, sometimes called a romalpa clause, which you haven't as there was no written contract. Even then, such clauses are only valid in limited circumstances and this does not seem to be one of them.

[buzby]

Agreed. Removal is pointless - apart from the questionably legality (and safety) you don't get your working hour back, and what use is lengths of cut cable?

 

As Kraken1 says - do an LBA. I work with a spark I trust, and I tell him what I want and he bills me for the hours and parts. No requirement for a Quote unless one is requested prior to commencement.

 

If his defence is that no price was agreed - he'll be laughed at.

[oscar21]

Thanks for the advice guys, the builder has mediated between us and he has offered £1000, which I am happy with. It means that I worked a day for free but I can live with that.

 

However I have a similar case that I will post up tomorrow that is quite interesting, if you could keep a lookout for it that would be great.