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.