I have been charged a Service Fee of $75.00 by Couchman Electrical in Palmerston North last month. It was a quick service call to fix a few problems in our new house we had just bought and as a convenience they were avaialble so I asked them to come and fix the problems.
The electrician was great, no issues there but, then I received the invoice! $75 for a service fee? - it takes 10 minutes to get to Ashhurst driving.
This I have been told covers, travel time and milage from Depot to my house and return and administration costs. I have checked with two other electrical service companies in Palmerston North, they have confirmed that the charge would be no more than $30.00
I contacted citizens advice on this issues and as I didn't ask what the rates would be I should pay the amount.
Surely this is an unfair charge on their part, and I wonder who else has been caught out by this other than myself.
I have talked to Mr Nixon - new owner of Couchmans Electrical from last year - he wasn't at all bothered about it and explained it cover 'administration costs' as well as travel. He even stated he would send the account to debt collection if it wasn't paid. He wasn't even interested to listening to me.
He also stated I should have asked about the service charge - I would have if I knew they were going to charge one.
Anyway, I only used this electrician as my usual provider was unavailable.
It would be prudent on your part perhaps to bring this to light and make sure people ask for costs before engaging new businesses. I certainly got caught out.
I wrote a letter two weeks ago with no response to date. This company won't be called on again.
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