Payment for services

[Jammer16]

Recently I phoned a local company to ask them to have a look at the cooker in my property as it was broken, they quoted a price to come and do an assessment, which is fair enough, and told me this amount would be deducted from my final bill if I decided to go ahead with the repair.
This initial payment was taken from my account immediately as I had given my card details over the phone.
The quote came back and I agreed for the work to be done- the company had to wait for the part to come in but said the work would be carried out four days later (unfortuanetly this didn’t happen as they had a problem with their van so had to re-arrange for a later date).
What I didn’t think was right was that the 2nd payment for the work to be done was also taken from my account immediately without the repair yet being carried out.
I phoned the comapny to complain and they said I should have been told about this as that’s the way they deal with all customers. (I wasn’t told)
Is this legal for payment to be taken immediately before the work has been carried out and without me giving permission for 2nd payemnt please?

[nigegt]

Re: Payment for services

Not sure on the “legality” But if the company took payment immediately before making a visit to quote then it only stands to reason that they would take payment for the quoted repair too as un-returnable parts may have been ordered specially which a repairer can’t be stuck with without payment.

So i myself would have expected the payment to be taken even if they forgot to mention it. You cant expect credit without credit checks etc which take time when you just need a repair.

If the repair is done and they charged what was quoted then apart from a small delay there would seem to be no problem. Why go after them just because they forgot that bit if it is not “legal”, if all is done and well. You have pointed it out to them so they are aware and will most likely be more diligent.

A quick call to trading standards is you best bet on the legal stand i would say. 😀

We all make mistakes.

Nige

[Jammer16]

Re: Payment for services

Thanks I’ll give Trading Standards a try.

I agree we all make mistakes- we are all human after all, but being arsey about it on the phone afterwards when I asked about the usual procedure didn’t help!

Thanks for your advice

[nigegt]

Re: Payment for services

You’re welcome and you’re right. No need to be arsey when you’ve made a perfectly innocent query. It only fuels the fire. Which it has.

Happens to me all the time when i talk to my wife about something random then get my head blown off. 😆

Nige

[Jackal]

Re: Payment for services

Another one of those “it depends on the contract made at the time of the transactional decision”

It is not illegal to take payment up front.

Tescos effectively want payment for your shopping up front ie before you leave the store for example.

Its a tad discourteous not to tell you they were debiting you when they did and then blame you for their error. So I understand the frustration.

It will make you think next time about using that particular company though.

Regards

Jackal

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