Billed by electrician for labour but problem not fixed

A question about : Billed by electrician for labour but problem not fixed

I contacted a local electrician as my hot water heating was not working. He came in and looked at my timer switch and immersion for around 20 minutes. He said the fuse was blowing and that I would have to get a plumber in as he thought it was the immersion. He left with the fault not fixed.

A week later I received a bill for Ј40 describing the work as for labour Check immersion heater circuit. Faulty immersion.

I thought as he couldn't fix the problem and left me in the same position that I wouldn't be charged. I was not told there would be any charge. I wasn't given any paperwork and didn't sign or agree to anything.

Would I be in my rights not to pay this? I have since had the problem repaired by another tradesman.

Best answers:

• Surely it's your fault for calling out completely the wrong trade? If I was a leccy and called out, spent some time at your house and found what the problem was I'd definitely be billing you and expecting payment! People don't work for free?!
• It took HIM that long to find out that he couldn't (or wouldn't) fix the problem. It turned out that the fault was the immersion i.e. electrical.
• Unless there was an obvious "no call out fee" somewhere, you don't have a leg to stand on. You should have checked before calling out whether there was a charge to have a look.
• I sympathise with you as he was only there for 20 minutes and was unable to fix the problem, but he is well within his rights to bill you for his time, and Ј40 isn't unreasonable for the hassle of coming out, even for just 20 minutes.
• I charge for fault finding
  If you ask someone to carry out a task of work (looking for a fault ) then it is chargeable.
  Let me change the angle - how many people go to work and say to their boss- don't bother paying me for the last hour?
  My company policy is that if I work ( not looking and giving a price to a client) I charge money.
  There is a use of tools and equipment from fault finding ( such as a test meter that costs Ј965 and requires to be calibrated ).
• Was the other tradesman who fixed it a plumber or an electrician?
• You employed someone to check what the fault was with your hot water system.
  If he identified your problem, he has as much right to bill you for his time as, say, a structural engineer, who might tell you why your house has a crack in it. You wouldn't expect the engineer to fix that!
• So, is changing an immersion heater a job for an electrician or a plumber? It's not clearly one or the other - is it? However, as your man identified the immersion heater being the source of the problem, why did he not change it? I suggest you don't use him again if he is not willing to follow through a job to completion.
• I'd say an immersion heater is a job for a plumber. Yes, there are electrical connections but they are very simple and well within the capability of a plumber.
  On the other hand I wouldn't expect an electrician to be going round equipped to drain a hot water tank down and then remove the immersion heater (which requires a special tool) and then to put everything back which could require further plumbing materials..
  The lesson here - make sure you call the right tradesman. Also Ј40 doesn't sound unreasonable for the electrician's call out and diagnosis.
• A faulty immersion could be the element, switch, timer, fuse, supply, thermostat.
  Most of the problems with an immerser are electrical.
  A decent insulation tester will confirm if the element is faulty- most plumbers don't have an insulation tester
• A diagnosis should be possible using a bog standard multimeter.
• Pay the electrician. The electrician should have not come out and said call a plumber, though it is not known what the OP said to the electrician for him to come out.
• Plumber may have said 'don't do electrics, call an electrician first'.
  Swings and roundabouts, who do you call first, which plumber will check electrics, which electrician will change an immersion heater?
  Pay the electrician, he was correct, took the time to come out, and was honest with you.
• A "heating engineer" should have both the electrical and plumbing knowhow for the job. As far as I can tell most plumbers class themselves as heating engineers anyway.
• Its not unreasonable for an electrician to charge for his time spent investigating a fault, but is it also not unreasonable to expect the electrician to state his call-out charges up front? If a client comes to me regarding some work, I always state my fees up front and people are free to go elsewhere.
• A garage would charge you for plugging a car into their diagnostic equipment. They need to pay for their time, equipment and other overhead costs.
  The same principle applies here.
  The way to avoid all labour costs is to learn how to do the job yourself.
• As a retired electrician it would never have occurred to me to call a plumber to a faulty immersion heater. Both the plumbing part of the job and the electrical part of the job are easy enough to do for either trade.