Advice please - overcharged by electrician

[ms_wilson]

We have a good electrician who we have worked with for about five years but recently something happened that had left me pretty annoyed. I asked our electrician to come by to move a plug socket in the kitchen fairly urgently. He came the following week. We hadn?t agreed a price. I was at home but upstairs with our tiny baby pretty much the whole time. He turned up with another electrician and my understanding is that they installed the plug very quickly, perhaps within an hour. My husband was liaising with the electricians. It turns out that rather than leaving when they had done the plug they asked him if there were any more jobs that needed doing while they were there. They ended up moving some light switches and installing some lamps. I then got an invoice for ?600. I queried this with the electrician and he said he billed me for two electricians for a whole day. I am upset about this as I feel taken advantage of. I wasn?t available on the day yet I am the one who is now expected to pay for all of this, and ultimately I only asked for a plug socket to be installed which took one person less than an hour. I really think it?s unreasonable to be slammed for an invoice for ?600 and that the electrician has kind of taken advantage of a chaotic post-baby household. What should I do?

[Spartacus]

Did your husband not agree a price for the extra work ?

Ultimately if they asked if anything else needed doing and your husband said yes then a verbal contract was technically made to proceed with the work and they were then acting under your husbands instructions on what was needed and as a couple you obviously need to accept joint responsibility for any work he requested.

Not a lot you can do except pay the bill unless the quality of the work is substandard or dangerous.

If you are unhappy about it all then look for a new electrician for any future jobs.

[KidKruger]

I'd doubt the electrician(s) have a strategy of taking advantage of chaotic / post-baby households, per se.

The pricing may be cheeky, but unless agreed in front it's down to (in this case) the work agreed on the day.

I would question though, how two electricians were needed for what, basically, a handyman could do for ?150 in a day !

Also, if you're long-standing customers of this tradesman, it's bad business for him to take the Mick with you - and perhaps this could be your angle in negotiating his invoice down ?

[PMOSES]

Hello,

No matter what happened,they should have provided you with quotation and agreed a price with you before carried out the extra job and they should have also agreed with you for the price of initial job and if these two conditions applied that's exploitation and it's unlawful. Contract must be agreed before the commencement of work which included price (invoice), so you can challenge this for a fairer invoice. Please inbox me your number if you don't mind.

Cheers.