Kitchen Fitting

Is it acceptable to do work for a client that has not been agreed and then demand payment?

Anonymous user 23/02/2024 - 3.23 PM

I have just had a kitchen fitted by a general builder who I had used previously for one job. This gentleman had gained my trust and when I decided to refurbish the kitchen I immediately contacted him for a quote describing the work that I felt would need doing and sending pictures of the kitchen to him plus a plan drawn up by the company I bought the kitchen from. I also invited him to actually come and look at the kitchen but he declined saying that there was no need as he had already seen it and the pictures I had sent were adequate. With regard to the quote he gave me, I have nothing in writing as in reply to my request he said he would ring to discuss - so, we spoke on the phone and he gave me a quote and told me it would take 3 or 4 days but he didnt put it in writing (slaps forehead for being such a fool!). On the second day I left the house for a few hours and when I returned he had knocked great chunks out of the wall and as I walked in he turned to me and said "I had a brilliant idea while you were out, Ive decided that these plug points would look better closer to your work surface so Ive decided to move them". He never said anything about any extra cost for this work at all and to be frank I was quite happy to have left them where they were originally and was a bit upset because he hadnt asked me what my preference was and also, this job was now going to take longer. He also insisted that it was a legal requirement to have fused 'isolator' switches on the walls for the freestanding dishwasher and washing machine and installed them too but again never mentioned any financial implications. Towards the end of the job he told me that he wanted to 'talk money' with me and then informed me that he was adding £600 to his original quote for electrical work - the next day he told me that he was unable to lay the tiles on the kitchen floor as he had another job to go to and so was willing to knock the princely sum of £100 off the total bill. Lastly, on the last day while I was at work he made my son sign something to say he was happy with the work done by telling him that he could not leave until he had had this paperwork signed. Can anyone give me any advice on how to deal with this as I feel that I have been conned. one last thing - throughout the time he was doing the work he kept presenting me with receipts for supplies/sundries but they only had the totals on them - they did not show what items had been purchased - I paid £100s in cash to him for this...