OT: rip off

We look after the TV system at an old people's flats complex down the road. These aren't high rise; there's a whole lot of two-floor six-blocks, all running from one central aerial. Off-air signals there are extremely poor (to get a half-decent signal we have two 28ft masts at the top of the highest roof and we use two transmitters.) An elderly lady moved in and found the TV reception in her flat to be non-existent. Not knowing that there was a communal system she somehow found a firm which at this stage I will not name, but they appear to be based in Glasgow. An 'engineer' came, diagnosed a faulty wall plate, took a cheque for £97, and went. We can't understand why she paid because she still had no reception. After a few days she contacted the firm again. A different 'engineer' came and fitted a masthead amplifier and power supply behind the TV set. There was then decent reception. Again a cheque was written for £97 but reception failed after a day. A few more days elapsed and the housing lady called to see how the old lass was settling in. This resulted in Paul calling. He found that the wallplate (which was not an original but was an old one of the type that comes from the Far East and has a multi-purpose circuit board) had the screw that secures the coaxial inner missing. The cable was not connected but Paul guessed that the inner had been shoved into the screw hole, and had then fallen out. When a new wall plate was fitted reception was perfect. The old lady has two itemised receipted invoices for £95. We've strongly advised her to contact Consumer Services and maybe also the police. We've told the housing people. What more can we do?

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright
Loading thread data ...

Get Paul to write an account of what he found. Put it in a letter and say she'll sue if the money is not repaid.

formatting link
will cost 25/35 pounds if you need to follow through with the court.

Theo

Reply to
Theo

Yes I'm hoping the housing people will drive something like that. They are very good with elderly and disabled tenants. Paul is adamant that something has to be done. he came round here and I could see he was furious when he came through the door.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

You can threaten to sue if not refunded, then send an LBA, but nothing ille gal has been done. However a small claims court may decide the work wasn't to an acceptable standard & thus order repayment. That doesn't mean repayme nt will occur. Reality is that much of the fault lies with the person that paid the money.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Put your mobile number on all the flat wall plates?

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Not much really. It might have been nice to photograph the job as left. 97 sounds a lot, I'd have said 25 more apt. Sounds definitely like somebody is exploiting lack of knowledge.

I'd take them to court myself, however I also think that the people who run the flats should perhaps make sure all new residents are aware of the system in use and that they should not need to get outside contractors involved. Also of course, if she is renting getting outside non approved people in might be against the terms of the agreement. You do not want messrs Bodgit and run to do jobs in the flats leaving them dangerous etc.

I'm not up to speed about the current small claims procedure, but really the company needs to be reported and somehow flagged for this sort of thing. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

A point of detail: did she pay the firm in Glasgow or each of the 2 people who came to her?

Reply to
Robin

So why are the cheques for £97? B-)

It's a civil matter the Police won't be interested.

The housing people ought to look at their procedures for new tenants. Make sure any "welcome pack" has information about the TV system and what to do in case of problems. Make sure the tenant knows about the pack and that it should be the first point of reference for problems with the flat. Part of moving in day but also ought to be in an "everything ok?" visit just after.

Possibly even include testing of the outlet(s) in any "pre-delivery check" of a flat, though to be honest the failure rate is presumably so low that it's not really worth it.

Get Paul to write and account of what he found, (pictures would be great...), what he did to solve the problem and what his bill would have been for a call out(*), ie. not covered by any maintenance contract with the housing people. The hook to hang getting the money back is that they never cured the fault and charged twice for not permenantly solving the fault. Not that the repair should have been free under a maintenace contract that the old lady didn't use. Back up Pauls report with ideally independant statements of trading history, experience, membership of relevant associations etc.

In the first instance send it to the Directors of the company. Asking for a full refund of both fees. If nothing happens within a couple of weeks, write again, enclose copy, tell them you'll report them to any trade associations or "approved trader" schemes they are members off (list them), their local Trading Standards and Chambers of Commerce. Nothing after two weeks, report 'em, write to tell them they have been reported and give 2 weeks notice of starting Small Claims proceedings. Follow a reasonable process, giving them plenty of warnings and time to respond.

Good luck, Small Claims is fairly straight forward to do but TBH I'm not overly convinced about the strength/evidence of the case. For whatever reason the old lady made a mistake and the call out cost is not totally unreasonable. She may have to settle for refund of just the second fee.

(*) £97 inc VAT is £81 nett. Call out: £25 first hour (even for a

5 min job you have to get there and back), up to 25 miles radial at £1/mile (again you have to get there and back) is £50 nett. £81 is

pricy but could be £30 1st hour and 50 miles radial...

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

There are problems with that idea but yes, it might help.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

It's mentioned in the paperwork but people just don't seem to read it.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

She gave a cheque to each. I think Glasgow is just an outfit that sells jobs to local riggers. Both invoices were on the Glasgow firm's stationery though.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

It does have.

This didn't happen. And there's no warden now.

That happened but too late.

No that wouldn't work. The call-out would be too dear. The outlet should work or the previous tenant would have complained.

It would have been all right if the guys had actually done anything!

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

Organise a uk.d-i-y meet at your house for say 1pm. We turn up and have a good time for a few hours before we all hide in your bedroom. You book the same company in to have a look at your "non working" TV at 3pm.

At 3.15 pm we all fall into line and give him a good kicking.

Or is that no longer allowed?

Reply to
ARW

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.