Cancellation rights trap.

[Stevesplatto]

Just got out of a small claims court. A technicality just cost me £750!
Goes like this:
I provided an estimate for remedial works left over by a previous electrician who was sacked bt the client. Dont usually take these on but his wife was 9 months prenantand they were desperate to get the bedroom completed.
Raised an estimate with a strong caveat that there may well be more works on further investigation (and there was, shocking work). Started the next day with an email acceptance.
2 1/2 days in with 1/2 a day to go the client sacks me. I raise an invoice for the work done. The client pays the bill under protest and takes out a small claims saying that under the The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 because I didnt give information on cancellation rights I have to refund him the money for my labour so far.
The judge very apologetically agreed on legal grounds and I have to pay the client £750 incl court costs!

Most of my work starts within 14 days and a fair proportion is within 2-3 days of agreeing the estimate. Does anyone have any wording that would satisfy the regulations for work that is cancelled after it has comenced?
Cheers

 

[Leesparkykent]

Just got out of a small claims court. A technicality just cost me £750!
Goes like this:
I provided an estimate for remedial works left over by a previous electrician who was sacked bt the client. Dont usually take these on but his wife was 9 months prenantand they were desperate to get the bedroom completed.
Raised an estimate with a strong caveat that there may well be more works on further investigation (and there was, shocking work). Started the next day with an email acceptance.
2 1/2 days in with 1/2 a day to go the client sacks me. I raise an invoice for the work done. The client pays the bill under protest and takes out a small claims saying that under the The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 because I didnt give information on cancellation rights I have to refund him the money for my labour so far.
The judge very apologetically agreed on legal grounds and I have to pay the client £750 incl court costs!

Most of my work starts within 14 days and a fair proportion is within 2-3 days of agreeing the estimate. Does anyone have any wording that would satisfy the regulations for work that is cancelled after it has comenced?
Cheers

What a piece of s***! People like this really boil my wee. Can't you pay them £1 a week or something to really pee them off?

 

[Christopher Bernard]

Might be of use, if you make a statement on invoices (maybe just for this type of work) which covers the basics you see here maybe that might suffice in order not to get stung in future.

Cancelling building or decorating work - https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/getting-home-improvements-done/cancelling-building-or-decorating-work/

 

[Octopus]

Out of interest, why did the client sack you with only 1/2 day to go?

Sounds like they did this deliberately.

Did you keep them up to date with the additional costs?

 

[snowhead]

To the O.P, were you legally represented in the small claims?

So this customer has now sacked 2 Electricians and had the last 2 1/2 days of work (and materials ?) for free.
How much did they get out of the first one I wonder?

 

[Spoon]

Can't you pay them £1 a week or something to really pee them off?

I'd go with this.

 

[buzzlightyear]

bar stools ,they did it to get job of nothing.

 

[buzzlightyear]

what did he sack you for ?

 

[static zap]

So this customer has now sacked 2 Electricians and had the last 2 1/2 days of work (and materials ?) for free.

Sounds like the court have had the Wool pulled over thier eyes . It needs to be stopped !
( Do we have the EU to thank for this ? )

 

[buzzlightyear]

send me the details of the A88hole ,IL put in right ,in a coffin .
with some marigold flowers in is hole with head face facing down.
I will not take prisoner's.one thing I cant stand tip toeing a round customers .

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

Know a plumber in Bristol who had a customer do something very similar, thought he was clever taking plumber to court and getting the money paid back under similar daft laws as above, sacked him after the boiler and heating system was in and certified and about to start the ensuite shower rooms
Ending up costing him several hundred quid.
Now i do not condone this but turned out the customer was renting out the flat on air bnb, seems somebody booked the flat and copied the key! somebody later stole the boiler! not sure who would do such a thing - must be scrap metal thieves.. they also saw fit to put expanding foam into the pipes and loosen joints. also splashed bright red paint on all the white walls! Would have cost a lot of money to put right... karma is a funny thing and always comes back round..

 

[Richard Burns]

Not good, whilst the law is there to protect the public from unfair tradesmen it can be misused, as in this case, to fleece innocent businesses which should not be possible.

The attached pdf (if the forum allows it) is the schedules 2 and 3 from the legislation that details the information you need to supply.

If you supply a fully featured quote or estimate with your business details on it then the following additional wording could be used to cover the provision of an off premises service contract.
However it is critical that you asses the information needed and ensure you are covered for what you do. This is just an example.

Right to cancel

You have the right to cancel this contract within 14 days without giving any reason. The cancellation period will expire after 14 days from the day of acceptance.
To do so you must clearly inform the company of your decision to cancel this contract (by email or equivalent) before the cancellation period expires.
If you cancel (apart from deductions for loss of value from handling beyond establishing the nature, characteristics and function of the goods and delivery charges above standard delivery) the company will reimburse all payments received from the customer within 14 days or less of the return of goods, if applicable, or the receipt of the cancellation notice, by the original method of payment unless agreed otherwise. Goods must be sent back by the customer within 14 days of the date of cancellation, you will have to bear the direct cost of returning such goods.
If service is requested to start during the cancellation period the customer will pay, in relation to the cost of the contract, a proportional amount relating to the work done until the cancellation took place.

 

[Octopus]

^^ so we should give that schedule to everybody we give a quote or estimate to?

Madness.

 

[buzzlightyear]

delete

 

[Richard Burns]

^^ so we should give that schedule to everybody we give a quote or estimate to?

Madness.

If you do not provide the information about the right to cancel then there is by law no limitation on when a customer can cancel or the amount they can avoid paying.
If you have provided all the information and communicated by email, not just by phone, then the law does provide the protection intended to the customer and does not leave you open to abuse.

 

[Octopus]

^^ So a quote to Mrs Jones to replace 1 outside light needs this paperwork .............. total madness.

 

[buzzlightyear]

Mrs jones, get a text from me or email .

 

[buzzlightyear]

any big job estimate, and get the customer to sign .

 

[happysteve]

I was looking into this last week (slow week), took me a couple of days to get my head round it. The main issues are:

1. Only relevant to consumers (not businesses).
2. You need to tell them about their right to cancel. Failing to do so can result in the customer effectively doing you over, as per the original post.
3. The right to cancel does not apply in a couple of circumstances relevant to our trade: (a) when the customer invites you into their home to do urgent repair work, and (b) anything "made to measure."
4. If you do work within the 14 day period, (and you've told them of their right to cancel) then they can still cancel at any time, but they must pay you for (a) your time, (b) any materials you can't remove without damaging, (c) a reduction in value of items (e.g. wear and tear) that you can remove, (d) costs of returning items; all provided that you have informed them of all this at the beginning.

I used the following links for my research, they're worth a read:

• Citizen's Advice (sets out the consumer's rights, so coming at it from the consumer's perspective): Cancelling building or decorating work.
• Business companion (sets out the requirements from a business perspective): Consumer contracts: distance sales.
• Legislation.gov.uk: Model instructions for cancellation.

I've now appended information about "your right to cancel (if you're a consumer)" to my terms of business, which I email to anyone who wants more than a small amount of work doing.

But crumbs, what a headache! (And all sympathy to the original poster).

 

[Strima]

What was the reason for the customer sacking yourself and the previous spark?