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Help please, Can company charge me for something I never asked for?

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  • 11-06-2021 6:16pm
    #1
    Lgh
    Registered Users Posts: 10 ✭


    Hi,

    Would really appreciate some help/advice on the following:

    I am getting a garden room built out the back garden and I have a written agreement on the price of the garden room with the company building it. The written agreement has a set price with no additional charges specified.
    They put 6 spot lights in the ceiling and then the next day they told me I'll need to pay extra for those spot lights. They told me these are more expensive than the alternative single hanging light. But my issue is they never asked me which one I want. A different builder told me "yeah you're getting spot lights, they have a nicer finish" and then the next day the director told me I need to pay this extra charge even though we agreed on a set amount for the garden room and never told me beforehand that these are more expensive. Also it says on their website that spotlights are included with the electrical. I have no knowledge in this area and don't know what is supposed to be included in our agreed price. So if they tell me I'm getting spot lights then I would have thought it's in the agreed price. If it isnt then surely it's their responsibility to be transparent with the customer. The written agreement just says garden room and then the price. Surely a business should ask the customer beforehand if they would like spot lights and tell them it will be an added charge to our agreed price?

    In addition, I asked if I can get an outdoor socket and they said yes. They then told me the next day (after it was fitted) that I need to pay for it. This seems really wrong to me. I would expect them to explain to the customer that there is an extra charge for something like this when I asked before they fitted it. They then told me this is my fault and I should have asked if there is an extra charge.
    Can they do this after they gave me a written agreement for the price of the garden room? I would expect that if there where any additional charges they should have either included it in the agreement or mentioned it to me before they fitted them. This feels like terrible business.

    I told the director I am paying the amount we agreed on and then the director then told me that he is cancelling all the other jobs in my estate and telling those customers that he is never coming to this estate again because of me... I've never experienced this from a service company before and they have great reviews which really surprises me. Any advice please, is this legal what they are trying to do? I contacted my solicitor but they are finished for the weekend. Thanks in advance.


Comments

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    #2
    Tow
    Registered Users Posts: 6,427 ✭✭✭Tow


    "Spotlights are included" according to their website.
    Therefore in the absence of any more details they are included in the quoted price.

    You asked for an extra socket. It would be normal to pay for any extra work.

    Telling everybody in the estate is childish. It shows the type of person you are dealing with.

    When is the money (including lost growth) Michael Noonan took in the Pension Levy going to be paid back?



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    #3
    Samuel T. Cogley
    Registered Users Posts: 10,684 ✭✭✭✭Samuel T. Cogley


    There is a degree of wanting your cake and eating it too with the socket. Either you're going on the written agreement or you're not. That aside I'd be sticking to my guns about the spot lights and telling him if he wants to cancel other jobs to be a child then he's well entitled to, it's his business but any information shared about me will not end well for him.


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    #4
    tabby aspreme
    Registered Users Posts: 3,850 ✭✭✭tabby aspreme


    You should pay for the socket, as it's an extra, as for your neighbours, tell the company boss you have already told them to have nothing to do with his company, and see his reaction.


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    #5
    wildwillow
    Registered Users Posts: 1,111 ✭✭✭wildwillow


    You need to pay for the sockets as they are an extra and shouldn't have expected them fitted for free. You should have agreed a price for them.

    The spotlights are a different matter. They were included and if more expensive lights were fitted without your consent, then they carry the cost. Take a screen shot of their website where the lights are mentioned.

    I would remark that your neighbours wouldn't want to deal with his company if they ask you for a review.


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    #6
    Lgh
    Registered Users Posts: 10 ✭Lgh


    Tow wrote: »
    "Spotlights are included" according to their website.
    Therefore in the absence of any more details they are included in the quoted price.

    You asked for an extra socket. It would be normal to pay for any extra work.

    Telling everybody in the estate is childish. It shows the type of person you are dealing with.

    So I didn't ask for an "extra" socket outside. A bit more info, a neighbour has a very similar one and I asked for mine to look the exact same as his when we were discussing a price (his is a different size but I wanted everything else the same as his, they agreed). He has a socket outside. Again this was verbally agreed and not written down in the set price. On the day they were fitting the sockets, they asked me where I want them. I then asked can I or do I get one outside, the builder said yes but they never cared to inform me that this was an extra charge. That is my issue, we agreed on a price but they never cared to inform me about what was extra


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    #7
    Lgh
    Registered Users Posts: 10 ✭Lgh


    Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »
    There is a degree of wanting your cake and eating it too with the socket. Either you're going on the written agreement or you're not. That aside I'd be sticking to my guns about the spot lights and telling him if he wants to cancel other jobs to be a child then he's well entitled to, it's his business but any information shared about me will not end well for him.

    So I didn't ask for an "extra" socket outside. A bit more info, a neighbour has a very similar one and I asked for mine to look the exact same as his when we were discussing a price (his is a different size but I wanted everything else the same as his, they agreed). He has a socket outside. Again this was verbally agreed and not written down in the set price. On the day they were fitting the sockets, they asked me where I want them. I then asked can I or do I get one outside, the builder said yes but they never cared to inform me that this was an extra charge. That is my issue, we agreed on a price but they never cared to inform me about what was extra


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    #8
    Tails142
    Registered Users Posts: 2,103 ✭✭✭Tails142


    Are we talking 100 quid here or what?


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    #9
    Lgh
    Registered Users Posts: 10 ✭Lgh


    Tails142 wrote: »
    Are we talking 100 quid here or what?

    500 euro but I wouldn't have gone with the spot lights if they had explained this to me beforehand


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    #10
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    I'm not a lawyer, but this doesn't feel like a legal discussion issue. The OP isn't thinking of taking legal action against the builder, and the builder doesn't seem to be thinking of legal action.


    The line about cancelling all the other jobs in the estate is - possibly - the most juvenile thing I've read on Boards (and believe me, the competition is pretty fierce).:D


    Pay them the agreed amount. If they want more they can whine to your neighbours or get a solicitor's letter sent to you. I have a feeling they won't be doing either, but if you get a solicitor's letter you can worry about it then.


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    #11
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    wildwillow wrote: »
    You need to pay for the sockets as they are an extra and shouldn't have expected them fitted for free. You should have agreed a price for them.

    The spotlights are a different matter. They were included and if more expensive lights were fitted without your consent, then they carry the cost. Take a screen shot of their website where the lights are mentioned.

    I would remark that your neighbours wouldn't want to deal with his company if they ask you for a review.


    Don't negotiate on this. Don't offer, don't suggest, don't even hint.



    If you do you are offering to reopen the contract, and that includes the agreed price and the issue of the spotlights. Pay the agreed amount, make no further comment, and wait for them to make demands. Unless those demands come in the form of a solicitor's letter you can ignore them.


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    #12
    elperello
    Registered Users Posts: 14,258 ✭✭✭✭elperello


    Bring your "written agreement" to your solicitor on Monday and ask is it a contract.

    Follow the solicitor's advice after that.


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    #13
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    elperello wrote: »
    Bring your "written agreement" to your solicitor on Monday and ask is it a contract.

    Follow the solicitor's advice after that.


    I think this advice is fundamentally sound, but it's best used if the contractor threatens legal action, which he hasn't. Anyone who responds to a possibility of underpayment with "I'll cancel other jobs and do myself out of money while moaning at your neighbours" rather than "I'll see you in court" doesn't seem like much of a legal threat.


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    #14
    poisonated
    Registered Users Posts: 2,277 ✭✭✭poisonated


    Sounds like a gobshi.te to me. That’s in my expert legal opinion.


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    #15
    Andrea B.
    Registered Users Posts: 1,921 ✭✭✭Andrea B.


    Lgh wrote: »
    500 euro but I wouldn't have gone with the spot lights if they had explained this to me beforehand

    500 just for the 5 spots as opposed to a single light, or is this incl outside socket?


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    #16
    Lavdogg
    Registered Users Posts: 52 ✭✭Lavdogg


    The director saying he'll cancel all other jobs in the estate is very childish

    you should put it to him that if there is X amount of houses in the estate that are seeking his services, he could surely do with that extra buisness rather than holding you to ransom for something that was not in the written contract.


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