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I went to a customer today for a repair to her fridge freezer.
I found the fault on the visit and advised her how much the part was and that I had the part on the van so I could repair it on the visit.
She had already been advised of the call out charge and she agreed to have it repaired as it was an expensive appliance and cheaper than replacing it.
I repaired the appliance and she was pleased it was working again.
I asked her for payment and she refused to pay as she had seen Dom on the TV and he said you have a 7 Day cooling off period and she had changed her mind.
I then reminded her she had phoned me 8 Days ago and I could not come on the same day and she booked the visit by text for her next day off work, so she had gone past the seven days cooling Off.
She then tried to be clever and said she would pay for the call out but not the part as she only agreed to having the part today.
I said ok and she paid my call out in cash and I gave her a receipt.
I then started to work again on the fridge freezer and she asked what I was doing as it was working ok.
I told her as she had not paid for the part it belonged to me and I was taking it back off and in seven days if she decides to have her fridge repaired I would just charge her for the part next visit.
She said will it still work without the part and I replied no.
She said how will I be able to keep my food without a fridge for seven days.
I replied if she could make her mind up now and pay for the part she would have a working fridge today.
She went off and found her purse again and paid for the part and I gave her a receipt for the part.
I hope she sends in a complaint to Dom.
I can now see why manufacturers now say you will have to wait 2 weeks for a visit.
Nice one Dom.
Re: Nice one Dom
Here’s one for Jackal:
Under the Cancellation of Contracts made in a consumers home or place of work Regs 2008 and within the sub heading Specified Contracts it refers to the supply of goods to meet an emergency. Who defines the term ’emergency’ the contractor or the consumer?
In this specific case of a faulty fridge where, and unless, it is repaired on the spot it will defrost and the contents lost. Is that not considered as an emergency? Or a cooker that doesn’t cook, a washer that doesn’t wash, are they not considered as ‘an emergency?’
Nevertheless the trader must always, and without exception, get the consumer to get that in writing using the following example :
I/we agree that …………………………………………………… [trader’s name] may commence work on ………… [date], before my cancellation period has expired.
I understand that if I decide to cancel within seven days, I may be asked to pay for any work that has been carried out prior to my cancellation.
Signed………………………………………………………… Date………………Footnote to all this……..I believe (I heard somewhere) that the 7 day cooling off is being extended to 14days!!!!
Re: Nice one Dom
spot on mate love it, you just cant make it up.like your way of thinking, give it back to them.
Nice one Dom
The regulations have already been amended as of 13 June 2014.
The term emergency is relative to what a reasonable person would call an emergency. It is reasonable to say the loss of £150 of food to some would be considered an emergency. On our job sheets we have a section marked urgency, with tick boxes for emergency, Urgent or standard. when the customer signs the job sheet we record the service level that determines how we proceed should we need to prove the call out was requested by the customer as an emergency.
The customer is entitled to cancel at any point during the first 14 days of the contract being formed.
However they are required to pay for any services provided to them up to the point of cancellation, provided the trader has provided the customer with written documentation of how the customer can cancel the contract. We do this by handing the customer a copy of our job sheet with the cancellation procedure on the rear of the page.
The OP did exactly the right thing by removing his property at the point the contract was cancelled.
In the event that he had left the part in situ he would have needed to wait the requisite 14 days (note this is days, not working days) before demanding payment and initiating formal debt recovery procedures.
Again if you have your T&C’s and documents correctly laid out, then defeating these Jeremy Kyle types is easy.
Their problem is they think, having watched a 7 minute TV show they are suddenly consumer rights lawyers. A little planning on our part soon stops that idea!
Jackal
Re: Nice one Dom
I thought it was illegal to use deception when agreeing terms, if you suspect the customer has no intention of paying surely that voids the contract.
Re: Nice one Dom
Deception is fraud covered by the Fraud Act of 2006. You would need to prove beyond all reasonable doubt the party deliberately set up false representation to go this route. Bouncing a payment cheque for example would do it.
Whom in their right mind would continue to do work for a party if they thought that party deliberately had no intention of paying at the end?
None payment doesn’t void a contract, it breaches it. Two different things, but I understand where you are coming from Lee
J
Re: Nice one Dom
I know every business as it’s own terms and conditions, but I dare say like me there is a good many engineers / self employed who do not have them on their letterheads or receipts etc…. Yet!
so is there a standard format or structure that we can adopt? Or avoid?! I’m not the best when it comes to wording these type of things especially when it starts getting into legal grounds and would probably end up wording things that got me into the brown stuff more then out of it.
Did you all do your own or did you get someone to do it for you? Or did you adapt someone else’s to suit your own needs. Obviously jackal would of done his own, but how did the rest of you go about it? forgive me for asking but I am just looking for some ideas what needs to go in and what doesn’t, also how to present it so the customer knows without going to sleep or losing interest and going elsewhere, I need something that will protect me from the likes of this lot because it’s only a matter of time with how people are today before someone try’s it on.Phil
Re: Nice one Dom
Ditto above.
Emergency ‘ A serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action:’
Re: Nice one Dom
Perhaps a WTA subject? I know with FA safeguarding issues I use templates from the FA website perhaps the WTA could adopt something similar?
Re: Nice one Dom
timdowning wrote:Perhaps a WTA subject? I know with FA safeguarding issues I use templates from the FA website perhaps the WTA could adopt something similar?
I’m not sure there are many parallels between the white goods trade and the Football Association are there?
Re: Nice one Dom
Just giving an example Martin. The FA appreciate that such templates assist the user saving them time and costs on an individual basis. Why do we need there to be parallels?
Re: Nice one Dom
timdowning wrote:The FA appreciate that such templates assist the user saving them time and costs on an individual basis.
Sorry Tim but I’m more confused than ever. Where on the FA web site are there any “templates”?
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