Receipt question

[ETradesmen]

Morning gents,

after emailing the customer an estimate for the work to be completed at her house which she agreed to, she then asked me for an invoice at the end of the job. I provided her with one that worked out slightly cheaper than the original estimate (i estimated 3 days it took me two).

She had the bloody cheek to tell me it was still too expensive and that she wasn't going to pay unless she saw ALL of the material receipts.

Am I right in saying she doesn't have the right to see what I'm charging for materials as she has accepted the initial estimate?

it will be near impossible to find ALL of the receipts as I shopped at various wholesalers and used materials off my van.

its funny how she has queried this after the job is complete.

I've left it with her that she has 14 days to pay otherwise I will take it further with a small claims court.

IM ONLY DOING QUOTES FROM NOW ON! ESTIMATES CAUSE TOO MANY PROBLEMS.

I have everything in writing via emails.

 

[telectrix]

ask her if she demands tesco's receipts for what they paid.

 

[ETradesmen]

Lol, I said to her does she refuse to pay for the cereal out of tesco until they prove to her what it costs to make!

shes just after a bargain.

 

[nickblake]

one of the problems today is the internet people look up the costs even if you do a break down the costs, if you mark up they will question it, i just tell them it has to be dearer so i can offer a guarantee on the product, they still moan no they cant ask to see the receipts for the parts but can for an itemized bill

 

[Guest111]

The funny thing is,in law an estimate isn't legaly binding,a quote is.So basically if you'd got it wrong and it had took 4 days instead of 3 then you coud have charged more and there'd have been nothing legally she could have done,because an estimate is basically a best guess.Now if you'd quoted for 3 days and it took 4 then you'd have had to stand the loss.This woman sounds a real pain,most peolpe I've dealt with have been very happy to have 20 quid knocked off a bill let alone a whole days labour.

 

[Darkwood]

Is there any email replies from the customer to substantiate that she agreed to your estimate to start work, even if not the fact that she allow the work to commence following the emails is good ground.

Explain you can give an invoiced breakdown of materials but you are not going to and you have no legal duty to provide receipts to the customer unless for some strange arrangement you agreed to up front.
Explain their is a standard competitive markup on materials that cover the basics like time finding, ordering and collecting of materials as well as paperwork associated with the work and if she had any issues she should have asked for various quotes from different companies up front.

Tell her the invoice has 14 days to be paid and failure to pay would bring possible legal action and she may incur hefty legal costs if her case fails.

Sounds like someone is pulling her strings here or she is trying to stall payments - either way its sounding like a pain in the ---.

PS ... Regardless of her request for receipts you should be retaining all your receipts related to business and find it strange you say you won't have some of them if you pay cash for anything it needs to be proven upon request to the taxman etc .. I use a paper trail, or electronic trial like my business cards which can easily be reviewed or printed on request.

 

[ETradesmen]

That's what I thought!

i never start any work over £500 without a written agreement.

i told the lady I am more than happy to drive around to all the wholesalers and spend hours ruffling through all my receipts as long as she is willing to pay me £25 per hour to do so.

i do retain all if my receipts, but why should I have to prove what I'm charging her if I don't have to?

i have it in writing that she was happy for me to start the job on the estimate given.

im not worried as im in the right.

thanks for your thoughts guys.

mike

 

[Octopus]

If the customer accepted your "estimate" by email, then you can bill "up to" the value of said estimate.

As you are charging her a day less she should be pleased.

 

[Marvo]

Tell her in no uncertain terms to go and fly a kite. The internal financial structures of your business are nothing to do with her. Just start going through the normal hoops to get your money, send the invoice, send the reminders then start with the legal remedies available to you. Make it clear that costs involved in recovering the debt will be for her account.

For future, if there's a discrepancy in the invoice amount from the estimated amount and it's in the customers favour, rather invoice the full estimated amount and reflect the difference as a 'prompt payment discount' and only applicable if payment is received in 3 working days.

Welcome to the wonderful world of customers by the way

 

[ETradesmen]

I've been doing this for 12 years, I've only ever had this bizarre request last week.

she was ****ed off that I was earning better money than her job! And she went to university haha.

Cheers guys

 

[Clive P]

Hi,

I don't think many people are aware of the amount of time it takes to source and get materials for a job. If you added up all that time, with paperwork, fuel etc included you would probably think; hang on a minute I'm undercharging. So adding a percentage to materials is a must, especially if you are also giving a guarantee.

Regards.

 

[gazj82]

Hi,

I don't think many people are aware of the amount of time it takes to source and get materials for a job. If you added up all that time, with paperwork, fuel etc included you would probably think; hang on a minute I'm undercharging. So adding a percentage to materials is a must, especially if you are also giving a guarantee.

Regards.

Don't forget all the time on the phone when the Wholesalers *//* your order up! :angry_smile: Thats even after they have had it in black and white via email!

 

[7029 dave]

Geez customers, trying to squeeze you uh.?