Did the tradesmen rip me off?

stcdp11

Hi there

i am never normally on these forums to complain i only ever look on these to see if there are any other people in the same position or have had same experience.

recently we got a tradesmen (company) in to quote for a job for a leak and without going into much detail the price of the quote was to include labour work, removing a bath to have a look at underneath to see if leak was coming out of under the bath, taking off tiles on the bathroom walls a few rows up above the bath, re-tiling of the walls were tiles were taken off, fixing the leak from the bath. replacing boards under the bath as they would be rotting and green mould from leak. fixing the ceiling in the kitchen were the leak was coming out from the bathroom. open up the plasterboard on the ceiling in the kitchen and repair the plasterboard etc.

the job was to take 2 to 3 days maximum.

day one arrived and the workers arrived with their boss to show them the scope of the job. they went through it all together and what was entailed in the job. the tradesmen themselves got to work banging away to get the tiles off the tiled in bath and they said that the bath did not need to come out all as there was no leak under the bath and that all the tiles did not need to come out only a small border size amount around the bath about 1 metre and half. there was no damage to the floor boards so no need for the boards to be replaced. the only thing that needed to be done was the bath to the properly sealed around the edges to the wall and then re-tile a small border and then re tile the bath panel as the bath was tiled in. fix the ceiling in the kitchen. that all that was done. none of the pulling the bath out and fixing the plumbing was done as it didn't need to be done.

with this information we went to the boss and asked because the work wasn't done or needed to be done would there be a reduction in the price as the quote was based on the biiger stuff to be done like removing the bath refitted it and tiling up the wall to about 3 tiles high. none of this was needed so it turned out to be a smaller job.

we paid them the deposit on the 1st day. work was done within an hour, they went off and came back with materials about 3 hours later to finishing more of it. seal the bath and let it dry out before they could grout it. grouting was done on the second day around the bath with the small border tile that was only needed. and the tiling of the bath panel. again only a few hours if even 2 hours spent there. the tradesman was to meant to come back that evening to put the sealant then around the bath and secure the shower door back in place. he did not arrive that evening. he was not available the next day to finish the job. i was under the assumption that the job would take 2 to 3 days max that the tradesman would be available on the 3rd day. this was a Friday and if the job was to be 2 to 3 days max you think they would have the tradesman available on the 3rd day.

so we were left without a functioning bath as the sealant wasn't done and the shower door was hanging off the wall which eventually fell on me. i have tow young kids and was unable to give them baths as the shower door was in a dangerous position with it hanging off the wall as the part they took out of the tiles was not replaced where the shower door fixings went in. this was meant to be done when the tradesmen came back the evening of the 2nd day which he didn't.

so the weekend has passed and the tradesman arrives on the Monday, only does the sealant job around the bath and goes within half an hour and said he hasn't the other tools with him to fix the other bits that were left as in there were tiles missing round the fixings of the shower door and a tile missing on the bath panel. so yet another day i had to get someone to be in the house to let them in. going into day 6 now and they come back and fix the few bits but still leave it quite sloppy looking.

the things we are not happy with are that the job was to take 2 to 3 days max yet the tradesman was not available on the 3rd day - why say that and then leaving us for a whole weekend with young children without a secure bath (shower door hanging off) and the other bits that needed to be done.

the tradesmen did not have to do a big job in the end as it was a smaller job you would expect the price of the job to be reduced. all that was taken off the price was the cost of the boards that were to go under the bath if they were rotting - which they weren't. i understand that if the labour was done with taking the bath out, doing the plumbing etc that this would warrant the original price quote but this work was NOT done and yet the amount was still the same. the lack of the availability of the tradesman over the initial 2 to 3 days max. i say in total he spent about 2.5 hours in the house over the 6 days doing the jobs where the original job would have taken a lot longer yet they weren't reducing the amount to be paid to them. as i said if the work was done on the removing of the bath etc tiling making the job warrant the quote price that would have been find but there was no budging on the price apart from the few euros taken off for the boards we didn't need. yet we didn't need the bath removed in the end and the extensive tiling they had quoted and the quote was not revised for this.


i am just looking for general thoughts , advice from other tradesmen etc as to whether we were ripped off. it was near €1300 that was paid in total to these COWBOYS i am saying now as i have had enough of them and i don't like to brand people tradesmen cowboys but the majority of them that i have used in the past have been excellent. the whole process of this has just been one big headache for us all and its still going on as the work they left was still sloppy and i wasn't happy with it.

we have gone to the boss of the tradesmen and he said there was no budging on the amount paid to them. but surely its only fair that if work isn't done you don't pay for it - work done you pay for it. i am baffled that they think this is ok to rip people off like this and be ok to take the money for a job they didn't do or return some of it even. its my mothers house so she had the financial dealings with the boss and she probably wasn't thinking straight till i had said they were meant to do the bits on the bath removing it etc and then she looked at it again and we both are feeling really annoyed now that these people did this. granted my mothers own naivety that she paid them in full without realising the extent pf the work that wasn't done as per quoted originally. my mother is in retirement now so she doesn't need this stress.

sorry, for the long message. but if anyone had any thoughts how to go forward on this or general advice.

thank you very much.

Spear

Try the consumer issues forum instead:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=580