Garage has issues me with 3 different invoices

[msq7786]

Hello,
I have business and my van is essential to that business. I gave the van to a local garage as i was recommended as i was told the work they do is good, and i agree, their work is good and of high standard. i also asked if they were VAT registered and they replied YES, as i knew i could claim back all the costs associated with VAT and reclaim.

At the beginning of the project my business partner and I, made it clear that our budget would be no more than £2.5k to £3k at the max as that is all we could pay for this kind of job.

The garage did not confirm this amount via writing, neither did they give me a verbal quote or provide me with any Terms & Conditions.
So, we were all under the impression that the work would be around the budget we had discussed at the start of the project, 2.5k to 3k

As the work progressed, i made small payments as and when the garage required.

On the 9th Oct i was handed an invoice for a total of £4,358 inc VAT and as i asked for their VAT number i was told they do not have one, which did very much annoy me as i was now forced to pay more. As nothing was VAT reclaimable.
I should say that by the time the invoice was generated i had already paid £3.5k and was happy to pay the difference.

However, a few days later, i was told that the invoice issued on the 9th Oct (issued by the Director of the business) was in correct and a member of the staff had now taken over and after careful examination, the invoice was wrong and a new one was sent out, dated 26th Oct.

To my surprise, it was adding more things to it and some items were being charged for twice, as for example, they were charging me £400 to fix the back door and then under the title `LABOUR` there was over 300 hours recorded of work carried out on the van, which logically included the Labour charge to fix the back door, so in effect they were charging me twice. it was listed as Back door @ £400 and included in the total amount of hours spent on the van.

Then when i queried further into these and a few other charges, 2 days later i received another bill on the 28th, again done by a member of staff not the Director who i was dealing with through this project for more massive charges.

For example, a charge had appeared, as they were charging me £360 to take the van for a test drive as it was nearing completion. I asked why so much and their response was that 3 of them had to be involved just in case something went wrong and they were all required to fix it and although they only spent 4 hours on the test drive, they could not work on anything else after the 4 hours test drive, so all 3 of them involved had to charge me for a full days labour.

I asked about this and i said although i was happy for the test drive, i only wanted a maximum of 2 people involved, who invited the 3rd and i was told the Director and the charge was justified as he was there just in case something went wrong. I also asked why i was not informed prior to the test drive that it would cost me £360 and they have not responded.

Now, the final bill owing is running at £3,000 on top of what has been paid and they are not releasing my van until i pay, i have tried to sensibly discuss the invoice and they have failed to respond and keep telling me to go to Court.

At present what i have worked out on the bill is that they are charging me £12 per hour, which i have not disputed, the issue is that they are charging me for an astronomical amount of hours, which just cant be justified.

There is nothing in the garage displaying their charges or how long things take or how much something is likely to take, it is all just based on estimates. Never have they sent me via a text or email any idea of how much things were costing, whilst i have got many messages to them asking for the invoice and how much my bill was, so i had no idea what they were charging me for and how much.

If i am forced to pay this as i they are making threats to dispose of my van, then my question is, how strong a case do i have to claim the incorrect amount back. As i have received pretty much 3 different invoices from them, i am willing to pay an average between the 3 to get my van, however they are not accepting and forcing me to pay the £3,000

I have had my accountant and 2 book keepers training to be accountants and they have never ever seen such a mess of an invoice, between the 3 invoices, there are different amounts for the same work, the labour amounts keep changing and all of them are very, very confused.

This is a mess and i look forward to hearing from someone,

Thank You,

[ostell]

Re: Garage has issues me with 3 different invoices

As you need the van then I would pay the amount but make it be known that this is under protest. Then sort out the matter via the court.

You say the bill includes VAT but they are not VAT registered. That is fraud.

[R0b]

Re: Garage has issues me with 3 different invoices

As a business, I am not entirely sure why you had not gained anything in writing and why didn't press for at least an estimate of the cost of work instead of assuming the work would costs within your budget. That I am afraid are very poor choices, but you are where you are.

First of all, they can't just dispose of your car (well they can) but then you can sue them for wrongful interference in the civil courts plus it would also amount to a criminal theft and it can be reported to the police. Secondly, you refer to a director of the business so is this a limited company or some other type of business structure?

I agree with Ostell in that if the van is essential to your business and you can't work without it then you might have to pay up now but make it clear in writing that the payment is being made under protest and given that they have threatened to dispose of your vehicle you have chosen to pay now and then you will seek recovery of the difference by commencing legal proceedings. Otherwise your other option would be to issue legal proceedings and hash it out there but your looking at least 6 months before anything gets to a hearing, assuming the garage defends the claim.

What isn't really clear is whether you went to the garage on the premise of knowing what needed to be fixed or did you just say the van needs fixing and this is my budget, please can you do it within this? Was there anyone else with you who was a witness to all of this?

You say there is 300 hours of work which sounds like a hell of a lot so you might want to take the invoice to several garages and get a few quotes to see if they are overcharging you by some margin and see what they would have charged for the work in terms of hours. If there is a discrepancy and it can't be justified by the garage, then you could have good reason to try and recover the difference that might have been expected with someone of that profession doing the job with reasonable skill and care.

Arguably, they have invoiced you the first time around and therefore you could have expected to pay that amount, assuming it was acceptable? As you say they haven't justified the increase in bill and sounds like they may be rinsing you but this is exactly why you need to get things in writing preferably before work is carried out, or witnesses (though I understand with garages things are different when you just need the working doing).

As for the VAT you could possibly claim for misrepresentation and look to get the VAT amount back from them but again can be difficult to argue unless you have further evidence and/or witnesses to attest to this - no doubt the garage will put forward a witness or two in order to rebut this.

I've tagged [MENTION=39710]des8[/MENTION] as he's probably got more experience on the garage/work side of things.

[des8]

Re: Garage has issues me with 3 different invoices

Like other posters I would suggest first pay the account under protest.
This will relieve the concerns that the garage might sell the van, and also give you the use of it which you describe as essential.

You have calculated their hourly rate at only £12 ph Average uk rate is now pushing £70, but small independents about £35 ph.
Ask them what their hourly rate is.(I don't think calculating on the basis of the test drive figure will give a true answer)

A 4 hour test drive seems rather excessive. and to have two riding shotgun would indicate they aren't very confident in their own work.
And as for not arranging the test so that working hours aren't broken sounds very suspicious.
In any case you should only pay for the hours worked on the vehicle, not hours wasted because of their incompetence (always questioning if that £360 charge is for 3 x 8 hours)
Even if there is only half an hour left over at the end of the day, there are always small jobs that need attending to.
Seems to me they could have had a day out in your van,

They certainly seem to be very disorganised over what is probably the most important part of any business ie invoicing