Agent failed to cancel work order - invoiced for triple the price

Hello,

Looking for advice on how to handle this complex situation. We approved for an electrician to attend the property to install appliances on a Friday. The work order had a due date for that same day. Upon arrival they advised a circuit upgrade was required so they couldn’t complete the work until Monday. We asked for a quote, they couldn’t give a specific price but did give us a high price range. I told my property manager this was too much and that we needed to arrange for new quotes.

As we were closing in on COB on Friday and I hadn’t heard back from the property agent, I went ahead and arranged an electrician for a much more reasonable price. I called the agent to notify them to no avail - sent an email to confirm in writing.

Monday morning I get a call saying the highly priced electricians were on site already doing the work. I then get a quote for their work at $300 more than their original price range estimate, which was already way past budget.

Seeking advice for how to handle this as we did not approve for those electricians to attend on Monday. The agent failed to cancel the work order. And we are now stuck with an invoice way over budget.

Thanks in advance.

 

Pay the electricians for completing their work?

You (via your property agent) organised for the electricians to do works. You (via your property agent) did not cancel the works. They did the works. You need to pay them since they fixed your problem?

The dispute may be the total cost and whether that was agreed upfront, but a lot of time, a quote is merely indicative, and more labour and parts may be needed once work starts.

 

agent negligent to you?

 

We did not agree that those electricians were to continue with the circuit upgrade - I did not approve the work order for those electricians to attend at that price on the Monday. I told the agent I wanted to arrange for someone else to attend, so I did. Which is why I arranged for someone else to attend.

I will take the advice on board to dispute the cost. Thanks.

 

What was the quoted price?

 

if $300 more tripled the quote, the quote was $150 and the invoice was $450.

 

Sounds like it's an issue between you and your PM - I don't think the electricians are at fault if they were told someone else by the PM and they shouldn't be penalised. It may be that the PM has to cover the difference in cost if they were not acting in your best interest or were negligent in their duty to you?

 

from what I read they charged $300 more than the quoted amount which was already substantially more than the competing quote so the total would be higher than $450

 

What was the appliance out of interest?