Being asked for receipts?

[dancubas]

Hi, I'm new here, need a bit of advice: I've replaced a heat sensor in a boiler and the customer is refusing to pay me until I provide him with proof of purchase for the sensor alongside my invoice for the job. Where do I stand on this legally? Am I legally able to refuse, and request immediate payment, or is he entitled to see receipts?

cheers

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

he is entitled to a receipt,not the one you have been issued from your supplier but a invoice from you

 

[dancubas]

Thanks for the reply - I gave him a receipt from me, but he is questioning how much I paid for the part, so he wants proof of purchase - am I right in thinking he is not legally entitled to see this?

 

[anz]

His agreement is with you, you're reselling the product to him, you don't have to show him anything apart from your own invoice.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

Thanks for the reply - I gave him a receipt from me, but he is questioning how much I paid for the part, so he wants proof of purchase - am I right in thinking he is not legally entitled to see this?

yes as you will get trade discount

 

[anz]

Even if you purchased the item for 1p and sold it to him for £100, it's irrelevant. If you've agreed a price, he should pay.

 

[johnnyplumb]

did you give him a price beforehand

 

[SimonG]

He'll have been on the net and seen it for pennies. You've done the job, you're entitled to get paid, he doesn't need to know what you paid for it.

 

[tamz]

Do you ask the guy in tesco or any other place how much they paid for something.
Take your car to the garage and ask to see their receipts for parts.
I don't think so.

 

[dancubas]

Even if you purchased the item for 1p and sold it to him for £100, it's irrelevant. If you've agreed a price, he should pay.

cheers for all the replies. we did not agree on the price of this part beforehand - he is happy with the job but is claiming that he has seen the part at an online retailer for a fraction of the price.

 

[anz]

cheers for all the replies. we did not agree on the price of this part beforehand - he is happy with the job but is claiming that he has seen the part at an online retailer for a fraction of the price.

In that case tell him that if he wanted to, you could could have purchased the product online cheaper and then left him without heating and hot water for a few days whilst waiting for the stat to be delivered. Bricks and motar stores will always be more expensive but with the advantage that you can get the product the same day.

 

[SimonG]

Just tell him maybe so, but his is laptop smart enough or qualified to change it.

 

[clarky101]

Tell him if he's not happy, to pay you for your time to diagnose the problem & fit the part, then say do you want to pay me to take the part out, him get the part again & you re-fit..

 

[Ray Stafford]

How about you go into your merchant and demand to see the receipt that proves what they paid for the gear you buy off them?

You might learn some interesting new words.

 

[nicro3]

You have had to source the items, been it on the tinter net or gone to your supplier if he has a problem then he should have investigated before you did the job

 

[BLOD]

Had this before with a gledhill phe & it turned out the customer was only interested in the warranty that comes with the part. told him his guarantee was with me not the supplier of the part.

 

[johnnyplumb]

he's obviously an @rse, if it's possible you should always agree a price beforehand though.

 

[dancubas]

cheers for all the replies!

 

[P J F PLUMBING]

Tell him 5 days to pay or 25% on the bill

 

[RGII79]

i had this with a customer before a job had even started i gave him a price to do a boiler change over and some new rads and controls materials and labour came in around 2800 which i was being extremly competitive the time of year it was . he came back and said he had seen prices for materials and said my price was un realistic . so i told him id do the job 800 labour and gave him the list to source materials himself .he wasnt long getting back on to me for my unrealistic price . people get on the internet and see these parts cheap they dont realis we have to do the donkey work collecting and ordering sourcing time fuel that goes along with it

 

[stevetheplumber]

i had the same customer insisted she could get the boiler cheaper than i was quoting went and ripped the boiler out as the new one was coming that day when it turned up there was no flue and no clock so she had the option of getting it from the internet and waiting for me to go back again for which i would charge or i could go and get one immediately
i wound up earning more fore the flue and clock than i had originally put on the boiler

 

[Avatar]

Er yeah, people are a bit tight like this!!

I have had a couple of jobs where the customer insists on supplying parts themselves . . . sometimes I have even walked because of this.

You are a business after all, therefore your materials are sold to the customer regardless of how much you paid for them yourself . . . .

I usually try to finish jobs up quickly demanding the most immediate form of payment. It is amazing how quickly people get cold feet and start dreaming up reasons to withold payment from you!!

This is human nature however, like the friend you lend £20 to and you have to chase . . . .

The bottom line is (and I would point this out as nicely as you can to begin with!) it is unlawful for him to withold payment.

You have done work for him supplied him parts and so on. He is legally obliged to pay you. If you take him to court you will have fulfilled your part by issuing an receipt in the form of an invoice and he will be ordered to pay straight away . . . . .

My God!!!!

I wonder if they would like to go to work in their office or whatever and get to the end of the week and the boss tells them, 'I don't think you have done good enough work this week so I am not paying you.'???

It is tantamount to this - tut there ought to be a law against it (there is!)

 

[theanalyst]

i had this with a customer before a job had even started i gave him a price to do a boiler change over and some new rads and controls materials and labour came in around 2800 which i was being extremly competitive the time of year it was . he came back and said he had seen prices for materials and said my price was un realistic . so i told him id do the job 800 labour and gave him the list to source materials himself .he wasnt long getting back on to me for my unrealistic price . people get on the internet and see these parts cheap they dont realis we have to do the donkey work collecting and ordering sourcing time fuel that goes along with it

very good point.
Internet parts often require a day's waiting in for them to arrive as they are always signed for if valuable items.. To those tightwad customers who ask me if I can get it off the internet as they have seen it for xxyy, I tell them 'Yes, I can but there's a 10% mark up on the part for the hassle of me handling it, and there's a labour hourly rate for waiting in for a day for it to be delivered'...

they always pipe down and suddenly become all reasonable then.

 

[CES]

He is trying it on. Tell him "My dog ate it" and see what he says, if he says that's ridiculous then you simply reply "Well, You started it".

 

[Foodface]

Tightwads are the worst customers, had one recently who bought all his own stuff from net and wanted labour price for fitting a triple panel rad replacing a double. He reckoned it would take me two hours, I said 2-3 is a more accurate estimate. He said he would drain the system, got there system not been drained, pipework holding water, had to do pipework alteration, filled up and tested the system again, chasing heat through to the new rad.

Took just under 4 hours to get it done properly, he went mad and tried shafting me. Worst customer I've had, now I'm sorting out T and C's with a pre work agreement on every job.

Stay away from know it alls and tight wads.

 

[Avatar]

Yep you know to walk away from that type!!

Three thing that should ring your 'Nightmare customer' alarm bells:

- I want to buy the materials myself . . . .

- I want to do some of the work myself . . . .

- (the one that tell you what to do - and then look over your shoulder while you do it!)

Yep time to put them walking shoes on!

 

[Avatar]

There are some crazy people out there!

I had one lady who turned up in slippers and a dressing gown and attempted to sweep up a load of tiles I was removing in the bathroom - so much for my complaints . . . . .

One guy I worked for insisted on doing some of the work himself - like turning the water on and off. But he forgot that he was playing with an isolation valve in the kitchen earlier and left it on (nothing connected obviously!)

When he switched the water back on - whoosh !!! Yep he hosed the kitchen down quite nicely . . .

At least I couldn't be blamed for that!

 

[petercj]

Hi, I'm new here, need a bit of advice: I've replaced a heat sensor in a boiler and the customer is refusing to pay me until I provide him with proof of purchase for the sensor alongside my invoice for the job. Where do I stand on this legally? Am I legally able to refuse, and request immediate payment, or is he entitled to see receipts?

cheers

Your customer has no right at all to see your paper work - if he feels the price being charged for the part is excessive, then he can question what you are charging him for it, but that doesn't mean he has a right to know what you paid for it.

It's quite common for businesses to give a quote for labour, "plus parts", and if the part doesn't have a recommended retail price set by the manufacturer, it can be difficult to say what the part should be charged at.

So first off: has the manufacturer of the component set a RRP for the part? If they have, then there is a clear indicator of what the part should be charged out at. If you've had to order the part and collect it from a merchant, then that would justify an additional amount on top of the Recommended Retail Price.

If there is no RRP, then I think you would be well within your rights to charge what the part generally sells for at the top end of the regular price scale, plus something to cover your collection and admin costs.

However, if you are charging several times the regular selling price of the part, then maybe the customer has a case for challenging the cost to him.

If it ended up in the small claims court, the first thing the Judge would ask is: "what retail price does the manufacturer give for this part?"

If there isn't one, then the next question is likely to be: "what is the regular market price of the part .... highest and lowest?"

I think you would be given the benefit of charging at the higher rate, plus any other associated costs involved with obtaining the part. In fact, I reckon you would get away with charging x2 the higher regular price, because it would be accepted that you are making your living from supplying such parts.

If it goes to x3 +, then I think you would need to have a reasonable explanation as to why the cost is higher than would seem reasonable.

If you've given your customer your Invoice for the work showing labour costs and the price of the part, and your explanation of your charging, then it's up to him to either pay the bill, or risk being taken to the Small Claims Court for recovery of the debt. Which you can set up on-line, (all of which is explained on the relevant website) and it won't cost you much - you don't need a solicitor, all you need is your paper work and an explanation of your side of things.

But if you send the customer a Recorded Delivery letter giving him 28 days to pay, or you will start proceedings in the SCC, it's odds-on that you will get your bill paid well before it gets to that.

 

[Avatar]

I am thinking of asking for cash in advance!

At least if you are a mechanic they don't get their car back until they have paid - it sort of encourages them doesn't it . . . . .

On bigger jobs I am reluctant to give back the keys until I am paid in full as you still have a loose right of access if you have them.

Who would be a plumber huh?!?!!

 

[RGII79]

what i do now on heating installs is to leave the commisioning and cetification until i receive payment so they cannot use the heating until payment received

 

[RGII79]

they are long about getting reddies out when you tell them this and it was great way to deal with a chancer of a customer who tried to npull a fast one on me .he tried the im off to work see you about 4 .30 and then calls to say he wont be back as something has come up I told him fine but the gas valve is locked and boiler wont be commisioned until payment is received . he was soon back on to say hed be home with half the money i told him id call back tomorrow for the full amount

 

[jtsplumbing]

All to common a problem these days, ive seen it cheeper on line, good well you buy it, if it dont work its down to you to sort it out, is there any warranty with the part ? is it a genuine part or a cheep copy from china, I am quite happy for them to do the running around for parts, as long as they pay for my time, and they understand that i will not put any gurantee on what has been fitted.