failed to quote first

Mad_maxx

my widowed mother is selling her house and moving to be closer to her daughters as she is a widow and lives in the countryside



solicitor asked her ( me as im helping her out ) to hire an engineer to come out and check the house and prepare a cert of compliance to show the property was in line with the original planning application , was made clear to the engineer that nothing to0 fancy was required , just enough to satisfy potential buyers



i asked the engineer to email me with a quote before going out the day i first contacted him but he phoned my mother two days ago and visited the house and carried out the inspection , he emailed my mother and myself with a bill for two thousand euro including vat today , requesting 50% of fee now and the balance upon completion of report , referred to having requested planning files from the local authority



i have an email log showing where i asked him to send me on a quote the day we first spoke which was four weeks ago , she has decided to ask someone else to carry out the exercise as the fee is outrageous , solicitor said it should not have exceeded a grand , he wouldnt say during out initial phone call a month ago what the cost would be as i asked him what it might cost

i rang the engineer today and just said the following " i have decided not to proceed with the exercise " , he simply said thanks for letting him know and we said our goodbyes , now im wondering if he thought i was referring to the exercise of selling the property as i didnt refer to his sky high price at all

might he be able to push to get paid 50% of the fee or that its on the record that he was asked for a quote a few weeks ago , would protect my mother , he also said during our first phone call that he normally sends a quote , i didnt think he meant he sends a quote after visiting the property

nuac

Mod
suggest you discuss with your mother's solicitor

Mad_maxx

problem sorted , got another engineer

900 including vat

first guy was a pirate , he can sing for it

the_syco

Mad_maxx wrote: »

but he phoned my mother two days ago and visited the house and carried out the inspection , he emailed my mother and myself with a bill for two thousand euro including vat today , requesting 50% of fee now and the balance upon completion of report , referred to having requested planning files from the local authority

Did you mum agree to having the report done by him when he called around to do the survey?

antix80

the_syco wrote: »

Did you mum agree to having the report done by him when he called around to do the survey?

The mother authorised her solicitor and the op to act on her behalf.

The op made contact with an engineer to obtain a quote, and obviously negotiate a fee and the specifics of the work to be carried out.

The engineer took it upon himself to doorstep the mother and pressure her into getting work done. It's the behaviour I'd expect to see from someone tarmacking drives. I don't need to spell it out. A widowed lady, living alone, possibly elderly. Very hard to see how a contract would exist in this case.

If the engineer sends another bill or a reminder, pass it on to the solicitor and let him deal with it.

Mad_maxx

antix80 wrote: »

The mother authorised her solicitor and the op to act on her behalf.

The op made contact with an engineer to obtain a quote, and obviously negotiate a fee and the specifics of the work to be carried out.

The engineer took it upon himself to doorstep the mother and pressure her into getting work done. It's the behaviour I'd expect to see from someone tarmacking drives. I don't need to spell it out. A widowed lady, living alone, possibly elderly. Very hard to see how a contract would exist in this case.

If the engineer sends another bill or a reminder, pass it on to the solicitor and let him deal with it.

the engineer said he would email me a quote based on the information i provided him with , no fee was agreed , i of course would have thrown his 2300 euro quote in the email trash can had i received it

antix80

Mad_maxx wrote: »

the engineer said he would email me a quote based on the information i provided him with , no fee was agreed , i of course would have thrown his 2300 euro quote in the email trash can had i received it

There you go.

Well look, she can legally enter a contract.
If the engineer is a member of a professional body there's probably a code of conduct surrounding quotes. So... Be careful.

Don't worry for now. Don't be tempted to reply to his email and tell the lady under no circumstances reply. If he phones her, all she has to say is "mad max is dealing with that matter. Sorry i don't have anything to do with this, can you call max. I don't know what you agreed with max etc"

You just need to loop in the solicitor. Do that before paying a 2nd engineer.