Builder trying to rip me off for a 'free' quotation...any ideas?

[BigCyp]

So my wife calls up a company called ABS Preservation UK, to take a look at some rising damp on our exterior wall. The woman she talks to says they will come round a do a 'free quote' for us...

Next day a bloke comes round (I'm at work) and within 10 minutes of taking a look at the problem gives my wife a quote of over a grand to fix it (massively overpriced).

Says thank you very much, we'll call you kind of thing. Next guys from another company comes and quotes £650 for same job so gets the deal (actually at my house doing it now lol)

Sooo.....just got a call from the Mrs to my office "Babe i've just received a quote for nearly £100 for the first guy who says it's a 'survey fee'?" (We actually had a surveyor come from our insurance company weeks ago for free so we didn't even need a survey lol).

I call the guy up, massively pissed off as i've been in 2 hours of traffic this morning! The conversation goes like this "Your secretary said it was a free quotation." "No we don't do free quotes"
 
"Well thats your problem to sort with your staff for giving out shit info"............"Bottom line mate is you need to pay the survey fee within 10 days or it's being reffered to a collections agency/bailiffs bla bla"

Me "No bottom line is mate, you're gonna have to come back to my house yourself and take that fucking 1'er out my pocket yourself you little c u nt"

Guy slams down the phone.

What next getbig??? I'm wondering if my phone provider can give me a transcript of the call to prove their incompentance.......

[bigmc]

you haven't entered into an agreement with them

they are taking the piss

tell them to fuck off or you will report them to watchdog

belligerent aggressiveness in these circumstances is appropriate

good work 

[Dr.J]

You have a lawyer?

[BigCyp]

You have a lawyer?

Got 2 for when things get nasty. First one has a wedding ring on, the other one just my grandfathers signet ring.

[Dr.J]

Got 2 for when things get nasty. First one has a wedding ring on, the other one just my grandfathers signet ring.

Have one of them send them a nasty Peter...

[muscleman-2013]

So my wife calls up a company called ABS Preservation UK, to take a look at some rising damp on our exterior wall. The woman she talks to says they will come round a do a 'free quote' for us...

Next day a bloke comes round (I'm at work) and within 10 minutes of taking a look at the problem gives my wife a quote of over a grand to fix it (massively overpriced).

Says thank you very much, we'll call you kind of thing. Next guys from another company comes and quotes £650 for same job so gets the deal (actually at my house doing it now lol)

Sooo.....just got a call from the Mrs to my office "Babe i've just received a quote for nearly £100 for the first guy who says it's a 'survey fee'?" (We actually had a surveyor come from our insurance company weeks ago for free so we didn't even need a survey lol).

I call the guy up, massively pissed off as i've been in 2 hours of traffic this morning! The conversation goes like this "Your secretary said it was a free quotation." "No we don't do free quotes"
 
"Well thats your problem to sort with your staff for giving out shit info"............"Bottom line mate is you need to pay the survey fee within 10 days or it's being reffered to a collections agency/bailiffs bla bla"

Me "No bottom line is mate, you're gonna have to come back to my house yourself and take that fucking 1'er out my pocket yourself you little c u nt"

Guy slams down the phone.

What next getbig??? I'm wondering if my phone provider can give me a transcript of the call to prove their incompentance.......

Maybe he will accept a blowjob as payment? 

[JasonH]

you haven't entered into an agreement with them

they are taking the piss

tell them to fuck off or you will report them to watchdog

belligerent aggressiveness in these circumstances is appropriate

good work 

This.

There's no written agreement. They can't do shit - bailiffs still need paperwork to show the purchaser when they come knocking as evidence that there's a debt for services rendered.

[Roger Bacon]

Have one of them send them a nasty Peter...

I can't understand British English but I'm a big fan... Extra civilized cussing sounds awesome 

[muscleman-2013]

This.

There's no written agreement. They can't do shit - bailiffs still need paperwork to show the purchaser when they come knocking as evidence that there's a debt for services rendered.

BS they can fuck up your credit rating.  welcome to 2014.

[BigCyp]

This.

There's no written agreement. They can't do shit - bailiffs still need paperwork to show the purchaser when they come knocking as evidence that there's a debt for services rendered.

Yes cheers mate,

I thought that would be the case - as if baliffs would turn up and say "He said he came round and you never paid him lol"

[bigmc]

BS they can fuck up your credit rating.  welcome to 2014.

so you think they will pursue this for 100 quid

don't be stupid

it isn't worth the negative press it would attract

it only fucks up your credit agreement if they judge against you

there is no way in a million years you could lose this at court

[BigCyp]

so you think they will pursue this for 100 quid

don't be stupid

it isn't worth the negative press it would attract

it only fucks up your credit agreement if they judge against you

there is no way in a million years you could lose this at court

Exactly, I work for a decent size haulage firm and we wouldn't even go to court for less than 1k (unless it was to prove a point etc).

[sososue]

unless you signed something there is no actual evidence they attended your property at all.
Thats the first thing they would have to establish.

If that wasnt the case they could just send random bills to people telling them they owed them £100 for a survey they did when they were out.

[calfzilla]

Just have Uncle Junior pay the 100 for you.

[d0nny2600]

So my wife calls up a company called ABS Preservation UK, to take a look at some rising damp on our exterior wall. The woman she talks to says they will come round a do a 'free quote' for us...

Next day a bloke comes round (I'm at work) and within 10 minutes of taking a look at the problem gives my wife a quote of over a grand to fix it (massively overpriced).

Says thank you very much, we'll call you kind of thing. Next guys from another company comes and quotes £650 for same job so gets the deal (actually at my house doing it now lol)

Sooo.....just got a call from the Mrs to my office "Babe i've just received a quote for nearly £100 for the first guy who says it's a 'survey fee'?" (We actually had a surveyor come from our insurance company weeks ago for free so we didn't even need a survey lol).

I call the guy up, massively pissed off as i've been in 2 hours of traffic this morning! The conversation goes like this "Your secretary said it was a free quotation." "No we don't do free quotes"
 
"Well thats your problem to sort with your staff for giving out shit info"............"Bottom line mate is you need to pay the survey fee within 10 days or it's being reffered to a collections agency/bailiffs bla bla"

Me "No bottom line is mate, you're gonna have to come back to my house yourself and take that fucking 1'er out my pocket yourself you little c u nt"

Guy slams down the phone.

What next getbig??? I'm wondering if my phone provider can give me a transcript of the call to prove their incompentance.......

Look up CommonlyKnownAsDom on youtube. He is a bit of a handiquack but knows his stuff about bailiffs.

[sososue]

Look up CommonlyKnownAsDom on youtube. He is a bit of a handiquack but knows his stuff about bailiffs.

DONT, KEEP AWAY FROM IDIOTS LIKE HIM, IT MAY ALL END IN TEARS IF YOU START LISTENING TO HIS TOMFOOLERY.

[PJim]

Tell the cheeky kunt the money is in the U-Bend

[Mr Nobody]

Call Falcon he'll come over and do it cheaper than anyone and you guys can talk about life philosophies.

[dr.chimps]

So my wife calls up a company called ABS Preservation UK, to take a look at some rising damp on our exterior wall. The woman she talks to says they will come round a do a 'free quote' for us...

Next day a bloke comes round (I'm at work) and within 10 minutes of taking a look at the problem gives my wife a quote of over a grand to fix it (massively overpriced).

Says thank you very much, we'll call you kind of thing. Next guys from another company comes and quotes £650 for same job so gets the deal (actually at my house doing it now lol)

Sooo.....just got a call from the Mrs to my office "Babe i've just received a quote for nearly £100 for the first guy who says it's a 'survey fee'?" (We actually had a surveyor come from our insurance company weeks ago for free so we didn't even need a survey lol).

I call the guy up, massively pissed off as i've been in 2 hours of traffic this morning! The conversation goes like this "Your secretary said it was a free quotation." "No we don't do free quotes"
 
"Well thats your problem to sort with your staff for giving out shit info"............"Bottom line mate is you need to pay the survey fee within 10 days or it's being reffered to a collections agency/bailiffs bla bla"

Me "No bottom line is mate, you're gonna have to come back to my house yourself and take that fucking 1'er out my pocket yourself you little c u nt"

Guy slams down the phone.

What next getbig??? I'm wondering if my phone provider can give me a transcript of the call to prove their incompentance.......

[Army of One]

Me "No bottom line is mate, you're gonna have to come back to my house yourself and take that fucking 1'er out my pocket yourself you little c u nt"

Are you saying that you regularly ask strange men to have a feel down your trousers?hahaha, gayer than Goodrums portfolio

[Skorp1o]

So my wife calls up a company called ABS Preservation UK, to take a look at some rising damp on our exterior wall. The woman she talks to says they will come round a do a 'free quote' for us...

Next day a bloke comes round (I'm at work) and within 10 minutes of taking a look at the problem gives my wife a quote of over a grand to fix it (massively overpriced).

Says thank you very much, we'll call you kind of thing. Next guys from another company comes and quotes £650 for same job so gets the deal (actually at my house doing it now lol)

Sooo.....just got a call from the Mrs to my office "Babe i've just received a quote for nearly £100 for the first guy who says it's a 'survey fee'?" (We actually had a surveyor come from our insurance company weeks ago for free so we didn't even need a survey lol).

I call the guy up, massively pissed off as i've been in 2 hours of traffic this morning! The conversation goes like this "Your secretary said it was a free quotation." "No we don't do free quotes"
 
"Well thats your problem to sort with your staff for giving out shit info"............"Bottom line mate is you need to pay the survey fee within 10 days or it's being reffered to a collections agency/bailiffs bla bla"

Me "No bottom line is mate, you're gonna have to come back to my house yourself and take that fucking 1'er out my pocket yourself you little c u nt"

Guy slams down the phone.

What next getbig??? I'm wondering if my phone provider can give me a transcript of the call to prove their incompentance.......

Unless you signed an agreement they cannot enforce the debt. Hence when they send out a letter, write back disputing the monies and ask them to provide you with copies where you agreed for the survery to take place at £100. If they can't provide it they have no leg to stand on.

I did that with a lawyer who charged me 375 quid for a half hour fee which was supposed to be free. Crooks out there all of them, and at times they can screw credit ratings with questionable debts, that's what they use as leverage.

[Tapeworm]

It's tempting to wreck 'em, I bet.  Report them everywhere from consumer watchdog, to the press, to business registration to have their licence to trade revoked, even the police for attempted fraud.  

In reality, you should probably let it rest unless they push it further.  A lot of the tradies I knew there were outright criminals who had no qualms about violence or wrecking property.  They're probably of that sort if they're willing to try on dodgy shit like this.  You've been clear that you're not paying so I doubt they'll waste any more time on you.

Best to schedule a time for these things when you're around.  Sometimes these kind of blokes just need to see there's a swinging dick around.  (Figuratively.  I don't mean you should actually swing your penis at them.)

[BigCyp]

Lol he told my wife he wanted something in writing, so I emailed this:

"Good afternoon 'Mike',

This morning I received a call from my wife, who was concerned about an invoice for £88 she has received from you in respect of a ‘Free Quotation’ you carried out at my property.

Naturally I told her not to be concerned, as you had no written or verbal agreement with us to carry out a paid survey, and henceforth not a leg to stand on.

I strongly suggest that you make no further contact with us concerning your bogus invoice. If I receive another letter or call from your company, or a collections agency in respect of this, you will be reported to Trading Standards the same day.

Regards



I actually used '    ' for his name in honour of getbig

[Skorp1o]

Lol he told my wife he wanted something in writing, so I emailed this:

"Good afternoon 'Mike',

This morning I received a call from my wife, who was concerned about an invoice for £88 she has received from you in respect of a ‘Free Quotation’ you carried out at my property.

Naturally I told her not to be concerned, as you had no written or verbal agreement with us to carry out a paid survey, and henceforth not a leg to stand on.

I strongly suggest that you make no further contact with us concerning your bogus invoice. If I receive another letter or call from your company, or a collections agency in respect of this, you will be reported to Trading Standards the same day.

Regards



I actually used '    ' for his name in honour of getbig

spot on and great writing skills

[Army of One]

Lol he told my wife he wanted something in writing, so I emailed this:

"Good afternoon 'Mike',

This morning I received a call from my wife, who was concerned about an invoice for £88 she has received from you in respect of a ‘Free Quotation’ you carried out at my property.

Naturally I told her not to be concerned, as you had no written or verbal agreement with us to carry out a paid survey, and henceforth not a leg to stand on.

I strongly suggest that you make no further contact with us concerning your bogus invoice. If I receive another letter or call from your company, or a collections agency in respect of this, you will be reported to Trading Standards the same day.

Regards



I actually used '    ' for his name in honour of getbig

Just don't pay, fuck them.Also try to get the woman back on the phone but this time record it.Also google the company, chances are you arnt the first they have done this to and others have complained.