Daylight robbery

We wanted to service the alarm system that was in the house when we bought it in Nov 2012. The firm came to service it said it was an old system and needed updating. They gave us a quote of £269 plus VAT, and we agreed. They came yesterday and when they looked into it, they said it needed more work than they thought and said it would cost about £150 more, not happy but the carpets were up and half the work was started. We reluctantly agreed as an alarm is part of our house insurance deal. He has just left, the final total was £615. My better half made in quite clear we were livid, but what do you do so we paid. Its a long time since l was shafted and it really really hurts.

Oh my, that sounds extortionate Hovis It really does hurt when you believe you have been 'ripped off'!

It happened to me 12 months ago, I paid £600 to have a large shed knocked down. They asked for 'cash' and even offered to take me to the bank to get it (I refused and gave them part cheque and part cash) much to their disgust! Not bad going for an hours work.

These people are still advertising every week in the local press.

Name and shame them. Who are they!

Not sure of the legalities of that TP on an open forum?

First off poppyanna 555 you must estimate what should have been a reasonable cost for the time, materials and overhead charges. I.E. How many men. What materials (wagons, tools, work-gear etc - as there doesn't appear to have been any other additions) plus 17.5 - 20 percent of the subtotal for overheads. E.G. Time taken on job plus time taken to arrive plus time taken to tip plus time taken to return to base. Wagon cost per hour plus - How many men at say £20 per hour which would include the overhead charge. Plus 20% of sub total VAT. I would have thought the bill should have been approx £360 - £400.
You can name the firm putting forward the points made above and stating that a reasonable charge should have been X for the time plus overheads and that in your opinion the charge made was excessive by X without making any allegations of rip-offs. The rest is up to you.

Was that the chap that designed Windows 8 ?

cyfrifia wrote:Was that the chap that designed Windows 8 ?

Ooo. Ouch!