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[Help] Have we been ripped off?



jackanada

jackanada

Well-known member
Jul 19, 2011
3,170
Brighton
So they've swept out the box gutter and painted something on it.
Why did it need the fancy paint? What is the box gutter lined with? What is the underlying problem?
If it's not a box gutter then just wtf
If you're paying a few hundred to get a coat of acrylpol on the chimney for no good reason every couple of years I can see why you may not be getting value on other works.

Oh I failed to notice there were many more pages before I replied.
Add whoever installed the conservatory to your lengthening list of tradesmen you won't be using again. Or at least add their boss because most decent tradesmen have had the experience of their boss insisting on a cheap and shit solution because despite pricing in a very decent wedge for themselves they can't stand to lose any of it.
 
Last edited:




Eric the meek

Eric the meek

Fiveways Wilf
NSC Patron
Aug 24, 2020
5,386
It's no consolation but my sister has just had a quote to repair a leak in her porch. It's a polycarbonate sheet, about 4 feet square, that has a 20cm crack at one end. I offered to stick a bit of duct tape on it.

I nearly forgot. The quote was £3000.
 




Moshe Gariani

Moshe Gariani

Well-known member
Mar 10, 2005
12,102
LamieRobertson said:
Any jobs in the garden needed....ive got some tools by Wolf Garten...good German company
Click to expand...

Garden is fine. That is my domain. So any work that needs doing (fencing, decking, etc) I hunt around a bit and find someone handy around £15 p.h. labour.

Anything to do with fixing the house, however - especially “damp” or “water leaks” - triggers a psychological reaction in my better half that requires her to be in control of the process. At that point I have learned to just say “Yes, I agree” a lot and wait for news of the bill. This particular episode is not the worst but is up there.
 








Moshe Gariani

Moshe Gariani

Well-known member
Mar 10, 2005
12,102
jackanada said:
So they've swept out the box gutter and painted something on it.
Why did it need the fancy paint? What is the box gutter lined with? What is the underlying problem?
If it's not a box gutter then just wtf
If you're paying a few hundred to get a coat of acrylpol on the chimney for no good reason every couple of years I can see why you may not be getting value on other works
Click to expand...

Painting the chimney has solved a damp problem in an upstairs bedroom.

Are you suggesting it doesn’t need doing?
 






Moshe Gariani

Moshe Gariani

Well-known member
Mar 10, 2005
12,102
Diablo said:
I`d be friendly with anyone willing to pay me and mate(who`d get £20) £700 for hour and a half work.
Click to expand...

All these type of comments are ignoring the £500 spent by them on the German sealing technology....
 








Moshe Gariani

Moshe Gariani

Well-known member
Mar 10, 2005
12,102
jackanada said:
So they've swept out the box gutter and painted something on it.
Why did it need the fancy paint? What is the box gutter lined with? What is the underlying problem?
If it's not a box gutter then just wtf
If you're paying a few hundred to get a coat of acrylpol on the chimney for no good reason every couple of years I can see why you may not be getting value on other works.

Oh I failed to notice there were many more pages before I replied.
Add whoever installed the conservatory to your lengthening list of tradesmen you won't be using again. Or at least add their boss because most decent tradesmen have had the experience of their boss insisting on a cheap and shit solution because despite pricing in a very decent wedge for themselves they can't stand to lose any of it.
Click to expand...

One of the reasons I’m not so pissed off about being a victim of Dick Turpin is that, in the course of the 90mins he spent at our house, he pointed out a further problem that it is useful I know about.

The opening from the kitchen to the conservatory has a beam across it which is sagging so the mortar in the bricks above the gutter outside is opening up. (Without any additional charge he smeared some brown goo into the cracks.)
 


G

giveusfalmerplease

Well-known member
Sep 21, 2006
1,990
Not quite a million miles from Brighton
if you haven't already paid DONT. Like others have said this price is just ridiculous. Firstly if one bloke did all the work whilst another one did the labouring then there should be a massive difference in their rates.

You need to be brave. I was once quoted £300 and agreed to some work on my garden wall. i could see them from my upstairs window and one worked whilst the other read the paper. When they finished , a mere 45 minutes after they arrived they tried to bill me £600, saying yeah its £300 per person. They even had the cheek to try to justify the cost by saying "we saved you money actually as we had some sand and cement left over from the previous job and didnt charge you for that".

It was a bit scary to refuse to pay as they were both muscular types but i stuck to my guns. I convinced them i had CCTV and could see one of them was sitting on his back-side. I would pay the agreed £300 and only when i've had the work inspected by a friend tomorrow . Next morning i got up and the "cement" had all fallen off the wall!.

I sent him photos and said i wasnt paying a penny and if he pursued the matter i might even send him a bill for the damage me made to my wall.

Hope the OP gets this sorted...
 


D

Diablo

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Sep 22, 2014
4,211
lewes
Moshe Gariani said:
One of the reasons I’m not so pissed off about being a victim of Dick Turpin is that, in the course of the 90mins he spent at our house, he pointed out a further problem that it is useful I know about.

The opening from the kitchen to the conservatory has a beam across it which is sagging so the mortar in the bricks above the gutter outside is opening up. (Without any additional charge he smeared some brown goo into the cracks.)
Click to expand...

If only you`d mentioned "Brown Goo" before.......You got a bargain !!
 




Moshe Gariani

Moshe Gariani

Well-known member
Mar 10, 2005
12,102
Diablo said:
If only you`d mentioned "Brown Goo" before.......You got a bargain !!
Click to expand...

I’m not counting my chickens. Might have been more German goo and I’ll find it added to the bill...
 




Moshe Gariani

Moshe Gariani

Well-known member
Mar 10, 2005
12,102
giveusfalmerplease said:
if you haven't already paid DONT. Like others have said this price is just ridiculous. Firstly if one bloke did all the work whilst another one did the labouring then there should be a massive difference in their rates.

You need to be brave. I was once quoted £300 and agreed to some work on my garden wall. i could see them from my upstairs window and one worked whilst the other read the paper. When they finished , a mere 45 minutes after they arrived they tried to bill me £600, saying yeah its £300 per person. They even had the cheek to try to justify the cost by saying "we saved you money actually as we had some sand and cement left over from the previous job and didnt charge you for that".

It was a bit scary to refuse to pay as they were both muscular types but i stuck to my guns. I convinced them i had CCTV and could see one of them was sitting on his back-side. I would pay the agreed £300 and only when i've had the work inspected by a friend tomorrow . Next morning i got up and the "cement" had all fallen off the wall!.

I sent him photos and said i wasnt paying a penny and if he pursued the matter i might even send him a bill for the damage me made to my wall.

Hope the OP gets this sorted...
Click to expand...

Being more serious about it. I haven’t paid yet. The bloke is coming back in the morning.

The firm is as far as I know quite reputable in Eastbourne. We have used them for quite a few jobs. On one occasion they provided a very cheap solution (£40) to a different damp chimney problem that another builder wanted hundreds just to investigate.

The serious point about the German goo is that it is some sort of special product that means you can strengthen back to straightness a plastic gutter that has become bowed and is holding water. Replacing the gutter was not an easier/cheaper option.

I’m not sure that all those posting in the thread have been in possession of all the necessary information.
 






The Fifth Column

The Fifth Column

Retired ex-cop
Nov 30, 2010
4,029
Escaped from Corruption
Moshe Gariani said:
Being more serious about it. I haven’t paid yet. The bloke is coming back in the morning.

The firm is as far as I know quite reputable in Eastbourne. We have used them for quite a few jobs. On one occasion they provided a very cheap solution (£40) to a different damp chimney problem that another builder wanted hundreds just to investigate.

The serious point about the German goo is that it is some sort of special product that means you can strengthen back to straightness a plastic gutter that has become bowed and is holding water. Replacing the gutter was not an easier/cheaper option.

I’m not sure that all those posting in the thread have been in possession of all the necessary information.
Click to expand...

This makes no sense whatsoever!?! I think they are pulling your plonker mate. They've just used your ignorance and thrown in the word 'german' and 'special' to imply it must be high tech, quality & expensive. What they've sloshed in there is probably some standard self levelling sealant compound of some sort, it most definitely wouldn't cost £500 for a single length of short gutter. You sound like you want to believe them, they are clearly ripping you off.
 


D

dsr-burnley

Well-known member
Aug 15, 2014
2,194
The last bloke who cleaned out my gutter charged £10 for the front, £10 for the back, and used a very long ladder and a pair of thick gloves. He obviously forgot the German goo.

(He got a further £10 for removing a dead pigeon that was overhanging from my neighbour's gutter and would, eventually, have fallen into my garden. Talk about lucky that he knocked on my door the same evening after the pigeon died that morning. If the gutter had been visible from any road, I might have been suspicious.)
 


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