Been charged double... Or have I?....

Post by **Donald** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 9:20 pm

It'll do! Paragraphs 2 & 3 are little bit of a soliloquy but I'm guilty of doing that all the time so whatever! It'll get your point across

Shiny · Post by **Shiny** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 9:27 pm

I'd maybe change this a bit, or they could just come back and say you were charged the standard rate.

Having said all of that, I have also noticed on the invoice that although the amounts quoted are that of double time, that they have actually been described as “@normal time”, suggesting that I should have been charged at your “plain time” rate. So I don’t know whether I should have simply been charged at that rate from the start and that the double time charges are simply a mistake or not (???).

Maybe

Having said all of that, I have also noticed on the invoice that the call out has been described as “@normal time", yet I have been charged double time. So perhaps you have quite simply charged me double time in error?

I'd try and get he words "reasonable" and "fair" in thre somewhere.

As a thought, it might be worthwhile finding out the call out charge of local gas engineers and their hourly work rate. You can then compare the costs (obviously don't mention them if the local engineers are more expensive).

Are you are British Gas customer, if so it may be worth mentioning how harsh you feel have been treated bearing in mind you a private customer of theirs etc.

Shiny · Post by **Shiny** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 9:27 pm

Sorry, Wales & West, not BG.

mercutio · Post by **mercutio** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 9:29 pm

re read it tomorow and spellcheck it before sending the second paragraph sounds a bit off to me maybe i could be reworded i dont know if its just me. i probably would have wrote maybe something like this

All service providers will have a set scale of charges yours sound a little amatuerish made up in fact, like you are picking numbers from the air and trying then to justify them. I am paying you for a service not to hire your employee from you as if you are an employment agency.

Post by **NafemanNathan** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 9:49 pm

Gorgon wrote:It'll do! Paragraphs 2 & 3 are little bit of a soliloquy but I'm guilty of doing that all the time so whatever! It'll get your point across

Yeah I was very concious of that, but they are purely to get my reasons across as you said. I just wasn't sure if I should swap the checkout assistant for something closer related, but that does explain my theory clearly.

Shiny wrote:I'd maybe change this a bit, or they could just come back and say you were charged the standard rate.

Having said all of that, I have also noticed on the invoice that although the amounts quoted are that of double time, that they have actually been described as “@normal time”, suggesting that I should have been charged at your “plain time” rate. So I don’t know whether I should have simply been charged at that rate from the start and that the double time charges are simply a mistake or not (???).

Maybe

Having said all of that, I have also noticed on the invoice that the call out has been described as “@normal time", yet I have been charged double time. So perhaps you have quite simply charged me double time in error?

I'd try and get he words "reasonable" and "fair" in thre somewhere.

As a thought, it might be worthwhile finding out the call out charge of local gas engineers and their hourly work rate. You can then compare the costs (obviously don't mention them if the local engineers are more expensive).

Are you are British Gas customer, if so it may be worth mentioning how harsh you feel have been treated bearing in mind you a private customer of theirs etc.

Cheers Lloyd. I much prefer your paragraph. I'll drop fair and reasonable in there with my suggested amount as well

I'm actually a customer of NPower, but Wales and West own the lines I think. And I'll enquire on some other company's rates t. Good idea

mercutio wrote:re read it tomorow and spellcheck it before sending the second paragraph sounds a bit off to me maybe i could be reworded i dont know if its just me. i probably would have wrote maybe something like this

All service providers will have a set scale of charges yours sound a little amatuerish made up in fact, like you are picking numbers from the air and trying then to justify them. I am paying you for a service not to hire your employee from you as if you are an employment agency.

Cheers Merc. I'll re-read it again tomorrow like you said... Had enough of it for today

Cheers again guys

Post by **NafemanNathan** » Tue May 22, 2012 3:15 pm

Result!

After the first letter from myself they replied with nine paragraphs... The first seven was them accusing me of causing the damage and therefore being responsible, but of course I had never denied this

. The eighth paragraph vaguely touched on the fact I supposedly hadn't been charged double time and this was their error, although it was contradictory as previous to this they had stated the double time charge had occured because it was a Sunday! There was no mention of the traveling time charges apart from that they were on my invoice. They then just demanded full payment.

So I sent them a second letter saying...

Dear Janet,

I’m writing to you again, this time referring to your letter dated 2nd May 2012.

I would appreciate it if you and your depot manager spent the time to read this letter properly and respond to the queries I have actually raised this time.

I understand the majority of your reply to my first letter was a response from your depot manager, but I’m a little confused… In which part of my letter did I deny the damage caused was my fault? The entire reply consisted of seven paragraphs (of nine) pointing out my mistake of which I am blatantly aware, yet it only vaguely touched on the two subjects I actually enquired about, and still posed no real argument.

So I find myself referring back to my first letter and again asking how you justify charging your customers for travel time at an hourly rate equal to that of your employees service rate? Do you seriously not think you’re taking advantage of your customers with this policy? I have no choice in who comes to fix my gas service pipe, as you’ve already stated Wales & West Utilities owns the pipes. So why should I be charged an hour and a half extra of what is essentially “service” labour than the household that resides next to you? You cannot justify your answer by suggesting your employees could be working elsewhere all the time they are travelling. If they didn’t travel for work, they wouldn’t have work. Again, this is why most utility companies have a set call out fee.

Then you vaguely touched on my second query, which referred to the possibility you either had or hadn’t charged me double time. The letter stated, “The Double Time charges are reflected that you actually caused the Gas Service Damage on a Sunday”, but then also “We have not charged you double time this is our error, you have actually been charged at normal time rates.” A little contradictory, but am I to assume your normal time rate is at £65.10 an hour? If so, I am happy to pay for the two hours on site at this rate, but I am still not happy to pay this rate for travelling time unless you can show me a reasonable and fair argument.

As I have still seen no argument regarding the issue of travelling time, I simply enclose a cheque for the sum of £132.32, which covers the entire cost of the labour on site and the coupling used and I will await your further response.

Yours sincerely,

Nathan

Then yesterday I received a payment reminder from them (For the full amount), which had no mention of either letter or the cheque I had sent. So I called them today and Janet answered the phone. I'm quite a polite person (not as dickish as the letter makes out

) So I kindly explained that I'd received a payment reminder, but I was hoping to have heard back from them regarding my second letter. She confirmed they'd had the second letter and cheque and that she'd speak to her depo manager once he returns from his lunch and then call me back.

Come an hour twenty later my phone rang. I'd spent the whole time revising my arguement, thinking of what my responses could be to whatever he may throw at me. I imagined he'd be the one to want to call me back, as Janet seemed fairly lovely, and I don't like arguing with people when I don't really know what I'm taking about, so thought it would be typical for him to want to speak to me lol. I'd also decided to cave if they wouldn't budge or simply be happy if they met halfway with the traveling cost.

Anyway, I answered the phone and Janet was on the other end!... And she simply informed me that she'd spoken to her depo manager, and that he was happy to just accept the cheque that I'd sent them as full payment

I can't believe my luck really! I've saved a grand £97.65 (over 40% of the cost), so I'm chuffed to bit!!!

106pete · Post by **106pete** » Tue May 22, 2012 3:31 pm

Nice result bud, hope you can find something worth while to spend the savings back on the lude

Post by **NafemanNathan** » Tue May 22, 2012 3:32 pm

Yeah... The rust!

Post by **indigolemon** » Tue May 22, 2012 3:39 pm

Common sense wins!

toyracer69 · Post by **toyracer69** » Tue May 22, 2012 4:01 pm

indigolemon wrote:Common sense wins!

Makes a change in this day and age!