Hello everyone,

I received a bill yesterday from a company that installed my dishwasher and my washing machine.

The amount is 440 euro and the bill states that the technician woked for 4.5 hours.

In reality the technician was at my place 3.5 hours only and he had to go for 1 hour to bring the needed material.

The Problem is that my wife signed on the paper where all this is stated (She didn't know how long he worked and didn't think that something like this would happen)

Anyway, I called the company and complained but they don't want to even change anything and they say that we signed so we must pay. I told them that i was not gonna pay.

Any advice on how to solve this? Can something be done regarding my wife's signature?

Thanks.

@AxEnNeSo

Are you serious? You are refusing to pay for 1 hour spent to bring the needed material. He spent total 4.5 hours on your job, no matter how you ramify the time.

Moreover, there is no point arguing now since your dear wife has signed the paper without reading it. You should thank god that it was an invoice not power-of-attorney of your bank account ;-)

10:00 till 13:30 are 3.5 hours.
1 hour to pick up material so 2.5 hours remain.
That's around 120 euro difference.

Please leave your side jokes to yourself.

Any real help will be highly appreciated.

Thank you.

@AxEnNeSo
100€/hour for a plumber!!! - v.poorly negotiated!

As Akshay said - it is already signed so you cant change it,
in case if he forced/threatened your wife to sign it then you can call police and report it! (may be it's too late now!!!)

What about anfahrt! Most of the company charge pauschal for anfahrt varies on distance usually in the range of 20 to 35 euro per visit! (35 euro is e.g. for grossraum Munich!)

If you dont negotiate properly (Pauschal) then many companies charge you actual driving time of handworker in bill! (to and fro driving time to your place!!!)

With the limited facts you have provided here, based on that, i would say you wont be able to do much about it now!

Stores like Technoland or Mediamarkt charge pauschal depends on distance - they bring the device/s to your place install it and show you how to use it. Prices are very fair, quite reasonable! e.g. for a washing machine bought from technoland i paid 30 euro for transport (11 Kms) and installation on 2nd floor of building(without elevator)! they call u in advance and make appointment.

Thanks for your help bmilan.

They charge 54 euro the hour which is not what I am arguing about.
The guy just installed the devices which were already in my kitchen, he did not transport anything.

The problem is that he noted 4.5 hours whereas he was only at my place for 3.5 hours - 1 hour in which he left to get the necessary material.

So it was supposed to be 2.5 hours instead of 4.5.

Anyway, it looks like I won't be able to do anything except to pay the bill because I spoke to the boss of the company and they are refusing even to discuss it since we signed.

@AxEnNeSo

it's sorry to say but you will have to pay that, because as your wife signed, it is supposed to be an agreement on both parts unless you decide to bring this to a court, which means you will have to give up money again for that.

As the saying says, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me". We all did that kinda mistake once in a way or another, we paid for it but let it be a lesson for you and your wife so that nothing like that happens again: never sign something unless you've read it throughout and know that the person can't urge you to sign if you tell him that you want to read all that first. If he insists, then just tell him "either I read it through, or I give it to you unsigned, you decide".

That's how I deal with papers to sign.

D.

You're 100% right.
Thanks for the advice.

to me it seems that you never expected labour and transport charges, otherwise you have asked in advance the company how there going to charge for tranport and labour. It is known that in Germany all these charges are too high.

Frankly, it is too late to negotiate on this and you cant just refuse to pay. If you dont respond you will get Mahnung(warning) and then finally legal notice with penality.

The only way is to challange it through a lawyer saying that your wife dont know German and prove that the labourer worked only 2.5.
All this will cost you time and money (if you dont have insurance), so have more chances to lose than win as your wife has already signed.

Good luck.