Consumer rights for services

[Julesg7]

Hello - I have recently joined up as I have some queries in relation to Consumer Rights in relation to a service provided. I've obtained various information but am currently unsure whether to defend or defend and counterclaim against a demand that has been received as it all depends on how strong our position is. Basically I arranged for a trader to come the night before he arrived so some 13 hours later (ie overnight). I'm confused as to how this affects my cancellation rights as there was time to cancel, it's not like he arrived within a few minutes. Also a little confused as to what paperwork we are supposed to have received. We are also concerned at what court costs might be levied should we defend and lose. Can anyone help shed any light on these queries please. I'd be most grateful as I work full time and just don't have enough hours in the day at present. Thank you.

[Julesg7]

Sorry, I should have mentioned this was an 'off-premises' service performed at our house.

[Amethyst]

Okay, try not to worry, we'll need a bit more information.

You arranged for a trader to visit the next day - how did you arrange this ? what was the service ?
When did you try and cancel ? and how did you do this ?
Or did you arrange for the trader to visit earlier and tried to cancel the night before?
What is he claiming for ? ( can you post up the Particulars of Claim please )

He's a business and you're an individual ? Or business to business ?

[Julesg7]

Hi – sorry for the delay. Had to wait until I was able to take my lunch break.

We’re individuals and he’s a business. In a telephone conversation on a Friday evening we arranged for a mechanic to come the following morning (13 hours later) to replace a clutch doing the work on our driveway. We were trying to get the vehicle back on the road by the Monday morning and this seemed preferable to getting it towed to our usual garage who wouldn’t start work on it until the Monday. The trader was informed of this in the initial telephone conversation so knew we were trying to get the work done quickly. We agreed to his charges of £40 per hour (via text message) assuming it was just one days work but he took 5 days (spread over a 9 day period) to do the job.

We paid him promptly for days 1-3 (same day payments) but were very very concerned at this point as to how long it was taking and didn’t offer payment – he also didn’t push for it so we just let him carry on. We needed to arrange the finances but he wouldn’t tell us how much it was going to cost in total. We couldn’t tell him to stop as our van was in pieces and he would have walked away leaving us with no money left to get it fixed by someone else.

On the morning of day 2 we’d asked for estimates twice but these were not provided. The following day we told him it needed to be one more days work maximum (ie 3 days in total) but he was vague and carried on working on the vehicle for another 2 full days. On the afternoon of day 3 he told us 5 more hours but it was actually 15. After day 4 he told us it would be 4 more hours max but proceeded to work another 7 hours. We have had no paperwork from him so have no proper invoices and he only acknowledged receipt of one of the three payments that we made and then only after I chased it up.

Once he had finished the repair he sent a text message telling us how much was outstanding but as we felt he had taken an unreasonable amount of time (charging on an hourly basis) and we had already paid him more than enough we paid him for 3 (7 hour) days and for all parts. He wasn’t happy and sent various texts back to me (one accusing me of stealing from him!) and saying that he would take us to court and add on charges for running around getting parts (he also didn’t give us advance notice of £121’s worth of parts that were allegedly required).

We only didn’t pay him £520 but the demand he has issued is for £930 so he has added on £410 that was never due to him. We have since got a quote from another company showing that the repair should have been around 7-8 hours work and for much less money. We are considering counterclaiming for the difference between what it should have cost and what we paid ie about £450.

As previously mentioned, we are unsure whether to defend the CC demand or counterclaim as it all depends on how strong our position is.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as this whole thing is stressing me out - a lot! Thanks

[Amethyst]

Did you book him through some kind of trader platform/service or just by looking up a mobile mechanic and contacting him direct ? You say he's a business, sole trader or Ltd company ?

So it's not a cancellation issue.

Other than the £40 per hour he gave you no quote for the parts required ? or did you already have the replacement clutch ?

Did he tell you in advance how long he expected it to take ?

How much did you pay him in total ? (£450 ? )

and he's claiming £930 PLUS court fee / interest etc ? so a total £1380 for the work ?

He didn't give you any invoice, or receipts for the parts or anything ?

Was the work actually okay in the end and have you had it checked over by the garage?

Of course, you're going to pay more than garage rates for the 'convenience' of him attending your home rather than you having to take the car in to the garage.

Can you post the actual particulars of claim please.

[ostell]

On the contrary a mobile mechanic should be cheaper than a garage with premises as there are no overheads.

[des8]

The average franchised workshop charge is £99 an hour, compared to £56 an hour for an independent. (http://garagewire.co.uk/news/uks-gar...ates-revealed/)

[Julesg7]

Hi Amethyst.

I found him on Yell.com when searching for 'mobile mechanics'. Rang others too but he was the only one free to come out the next day. He appears to be a sole trader. He is not a registered company anyway as I've checked Companies House.

No it's not a cancellation issue - I was just trying to establish whether he should have given us details of our cancellations rights per the Consumer Rights legislation.

He quoted us £40 per hour for labour and about £150 for the clutch (which was actually £136). He didn't give us a quote for any of the other parts just told me in a text message that he had got them and how much they were.

No, he didn't tell us in advance how long he expected it to take ?

In total we have paid him £1,236.59 being £396.59 for parts and £840 for the three days (21 hours) labour.

Yes, he's claiming £930 PLUS court fee. Nothing mentioned about interest. So in total (ie what we've already paid plus what he's claiming now) totals £2,166.87.

No invoices given, just figures requested in a text message. He relayed his bank details from memory which I had to write down. No receipts given either for the work he did or for the parts.

The work appears to be okay to day and no we haven't had it checked over by a garage.

He kept telling us in his texts that he was cheaper than a garage as no overheads.

Particulars of Claim are:-

[Julesg7]

Whoops posted accidentally. I'll type those in shortly - got to do something else quickly now...

[Julesg7]

Amethyst, sorry about that. Particulars of Claim are:-

"Claiming for £930.28 which is the outstanding money that is owed to me from (me) and her husband. This is for works repairing their vehicle at their property. I was there for a week and they knew my hourly rate which they’d agreed to. Works went on and they’d allowed me to complete their vehicle whilst being fully aware that they’d no intention of paying me the full amount."

We actually had every intention of paying him but when the days were dragging on and after paying him for 3 days we didn’t have the money and needed to get a family loan but he wouldn’t give us any estimates so we couldn’t arrange the funds. As said, we thought it was one days work not five and we believe we’ve ultimately paid him a more than fair amount considering it should never have taken him 33 hours!

[Amethyst]

Asked my other half ( mechanic ) says if all parts were there then could be two/three days if there's seized bolts and other issues - now he's on about dual mass flywheels and other car stuff ( wish I hadn't asked him now lol ) ... okay the point is coming ... 33 hrs is excessive

Apparently on an old cavalier he could change one in 20 mins ( he's actually miming how to do it now ... oooo and now a drawing .... hahaha ... that'll teach me !! )

Costs could have risen if the subframe bolts snapped etc ( apparently )

I take Ostell and Des's point about overheads ....

I think your problem is going to be that you didn't get a quote in advance for either the work or the parts and don't actually know what parts were used or needed.

But first of all he needs to provide a proper invoice for the parts and time, properly broken down- so once you've acknowledged the claim you can do a formal request for information from him and then go from there. He'll have to provide that info and receipts etc later on so there's no reason why he can't provide it now - if he'd done the paperwork properly at the time it likely wouldn't have ended up in court.

[wales01man]

What car is this Times for most jobs on cars are published this is how garages give prices for work

[Julesg7]

Thanks Amethyst - whilst I'm still not sure whether to defend or counterclaim and defend at least you've made me smile! :-)

Wales01man - it's a Peugeot Bipper van (2011).

[wales01man]

Thanks Amethyst - whilst I'm still not sure whether to defend or counterclaim and defend at least you've made me smile! :-)

Wales01man - it's a Peugeot Bipper van (2011).

A quick online check shows about 5 hours work hopefully tools can offer advise via ame seems a rip off

[Amethyst]

Firstly acknowledge the claim with intent to defend in full - then send a request for info to him. Will help you draft something in a bit once I've got big computer on xx

What's the issue date on the claim ?

Diesel van ? Think the 5 hours is an estimate for at a peugeot garage?
Did the mechanic inform you of any additional work/problems while doing the clutch replacement ? ( dual mass flywheel / subframe bolt issues and what not ) ?


Just to start thinking on - Part 18 we can try to obtain info via questions... so for discussion thinking these questions.


1: Can you provide copies of invoices issued to the Defendant which are alleged to be outstanding.
2: Please detail how the sum of £930.28 has been calculated.
3: Please provide copies of receipts for the Parts purchased in order to complete the works.
4: Please provide receipts and a breakdown of payments received from the Defendant.
5: Please provide a detailed breakdown of the works undertaken
6: Please provide a detailed breakdown of the hours worked.
7: When you attended the Defendant's property did you give a quotation for the work, parts required or any time estimate. If so please provide a detailed account.
8: As the work progressed did you keep the Defendant update with any progress or changes to your original quotation ?
9: Are you registered for VAT and is VAT included in your invoices ?
10: Are you a member of any trade body?


My question: Whether to ask him in the Part 18 request or not - Do mechanics need public liability insurance ? ( if he did it wrong and dangerously and you crashed for example)

I'll do the 'template bits' tonight but if anyone can input on questions it'd be useful as we have already established, I know nothing about mechanics/cars etc.