We have a small 15 inch drain outside the kitchen for a rental property, that was blocked. Organising the booking was fine and thinking that its a small job and shouldn't take more than 30 minutes to clear with a High Pressure Water Jet for which they charge £75 per half hour. Their service engineer got to our premises by about 10.00am and spent the next 30 minutes looking for an outdoor water supply to refill his machine, since his machine had run out of water. He eventually had to connect to the kitchen sink supply and then asked how long does he think it might take to clear the drain and he said about 30 minutes. I confirmed what the charges will be. He said £150 plus the VAT for the complete job. I was not happy about this, since he had already spent 30 minutes looking for the supply! Wanting to just get the job done, I reluctantly agreed. I had to go onto a meeting and left him with the tenant in the flat. I specifically told the engineer to call me for the payment after he completed the job and I expect that's what you would do under normal circumstances...ask for the payment for the job from the person who made the booking.
I received a call from their office at 11.01am saying that job had over run by 30 minutes, so it's going to be £150 plus the VAT. I responded saying that's fine. I was expecting him to ask for my card number, but he put the phone down. I waited for a call back, but nothing. I called the tenant after the meeting which finished at 1pm, to see what was going on. The tenant to my shock and disbelief informed me that he had to pay £360.00 by his card. I asked him why did he pay, when I specifically asked the engineer in front of him to call me for the payment, once the job had been done. This tenant struggles to speak and understand English, so I'm not sure how and why he had to pay.
Anyway, I think I should have only be charged £150+ VAT for the job, but was charged double. read more
