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Home Repairs - Did I Get Screwed?
ElJeffe
Moderator, ClubPA mod
Moderator, ClubPA mod
Okay, so our garage door recently broke. It's been crap since we moved in, we knew it would need to be replaced, and it fell off the rail a couple days ago. Suck, but we saw it coming.
So we called a repair guy who had done work for us before. My wife talked to him. We were at work at the time, but he said he would run out there, look at it, try to figure out a bid, and close the door if he could (it was partially on the rails, still). He then calls us last night, tells us he's working on a bid, and it'll be $75 for closing the door.
Buh? $75 for closing the door? He told us that he would do it, but I didn't think he would charge us money for it, and had I known that, I would've told him not to bother, since we're going to have it fixed within a couple days anyway, and there's nothing in the garage that anybody would want to steal that's worth more than $75.
Do I have grounds to dispute this, or should I have known better, and I'm pretty much stuck paying for it?
So we called a repair guy who had done work for us before. My wife talked to him. We were at work at the time, but he said he would run out there, look at it, try to figure out a bid, and close the door if he could (it was partially on the rails, still). He then calls us last night, tells us he's working on a bid, and it'll be $75 for closing the door.
Buh? $75 for closing the door? He told us that he would do it, but I didn't think he would charge us money for it, and had I known that, I would've told him not to bother, since we're going to have it fixed within a couple days anyway, and there's nothing in the garage that anybody would want to steal that's worth more than $75.
Do I have grounds to dispute this, or should I have known better, and I'm pretty much stuck paying for it?
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ElJeffe on
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I would assume he wants your business, so he'll probably give in? If you loose the argument, make sure he knows you're pissed, and not giving him any further business or recommending him to any friends. Should help keep him from screwing other people in the future.
If this guy is associated with a repair company you could try calling them to complain about it. If he's independent it will be harder, but either way just make it clear to him that you are not happy. Maybe he's not a total ass and will apologize and waive the charge. There could be some kind of law against this kind of douchebaggery, you just have to decide whether it's really worth your time and effort to dispute it
When he said he would do something and you agreed, the default assumption is that people work for money, not out of the goodness of their hearts. To be the advocate here (I'm sorry you're in an unpleasent situation btw, just seeing it from his side) when he asked if he should keep working, you should have either said no, asked him how much it would be, or agreed to a flat rate. Buddy probably thinks he gave you a deal and did the right thing by you, as his past experience would tell him. He asked before working, you nodded, so he did his part. That was your moment to clarify, and you missed it.
I ain't saying he won't understand your situation, most guys are pretty understanding, but I would encourage entering into a renegotiation with the idea that he believes he covered what needed to be covered, and that you legitimately owe him that amount of money.
But don’t let this guy repair replace the door, after all, he did fuck you over. Ask friends for recommendations, or call the better business bureau and ask them to recommend someone legit. Garage door repair scams are pretty common (just ask Google!) so it’s good to be careful, and it’s also good to get multiple bids and let the contractors know you’re doing it. Hell, our home contractor just took $5,000 off some work we’re having done just because we mentioned that we’re getting more bids.
Repairmen are always suppose to tell you the cost before they do something, not after the fact. Obviously people work for money, but if he's already out there to look at the project to get a bid on it and then mentions that he'll close the door for you I'd assume that he's doing it for free to encourage you to accept his bid.
* An oral agreement is a legal contract, but it’s difficult to prove exactly what you both agreed to. I doubt he would want to go through legal hassles for $75.
* Based on your O.P., the price and means of payment were never agreed to beforehand, nor put down on paper anywhere. Doesn't sound like there's a hard copy of a contract anywhere and you never signed anything, so I'd say it would be pretty hard for him to hold you to making this payment unless you want to make it.
It could have been a simple misunderstanding, so talking with him about it before doing anything else would be your best bet. If he's actually a nice guy, you should be able to work something out. If he's a complete tool, I don't think you'd have any problems skipping the payment and finding someone else.
Ng Security Industries, Inc.
PRERELEASE VERSION-NOT FOR FIELD USE - DO NOT TEST IN A POPULATED AREA
-ULTIMA RATIO REGUM-
This guy isn't exactly a wealthy corporation trying to scam you, is he?
Were you in his business, you might also realize that if you can't get at least $55 - $75 dollars, it really isn't worth your time to drive out somewhere.
Anyway, he said,
This is generally interpreted to be a charge only if he says it is
Same as above. "look at it" is a free service unless they are clear about a charge for it.
Estimates are usually free
Which likely means you will be charged for labor if he can close it.
That is how I would have interpreted it.
Your best bet is to wait for the estimate, and then ask him to credit your $75 towards it, since if he had fixed it the first time, it would have closed on its own.
But if work was performed after you agreed, then yeah, I'd pay it. Just as you can complain to your neighbors about him, he can complain to other contractors about you.
I'd say suck it up.
Being in a position where I show up to fix things on site for people, I would tend to disagree. Sometimes it's possible to give a rough total estimate, but generally one just states an hourly charge and gets the okay for whatever task. If no charges were discussed though, yah, I'd agree it's pretty shady to hand in a bill after the fact.
It really depends on how this was worded to the guy coming out. If the client (OP) knew the opener was broken before hand and asked this guy to come and take a look at the opener specifically, than additional charges should have been discussed prior to extra work being done.
But if the OP was like "Um, yah. I can't get my garage door to close? Could you come take a look?" then buddy was there to close the door, and that's what he did. If it came to light after the fact that the reason the door wouldn't close is because the opener was broken, then that is a different and separate job to be performed, with it's own work bid. Two seperate jobs, two separate bills.