What are my rights if someone does work I haven’t agreed to?
Do I still have to pay for a full month for my gym when they close down for 3 days over Christmas?
My mechanic did more work on my car than I asked him to do and so I’m refusing to pay the extra amount. The mechanic won’t let me have my car back until I do. What can I do?
What are my rights if someone does work I haven’t agreed to?
As long as you are specific about the type of work you want done then you don’t have to pay for unauthorised work. This is covered by the Consumer Guarantees Act. Make sure you make yourself clear about what you want from the start to avoid any issues later on. For instance, if you took your car to the mechanic and simply said ‘fix the car’ then you would need to pay the full amount for any work done because you weren’t specific about what you wanted.
You should:
- Always be specific about the work you want done
- Set a monetary limit on the work and advise the service provider of that
- Get a written quote from the service provider
- Ask the service provider to contact you once they have a better idea of what will be involved in completing the work; that way you can approve or reject any additional work
Do I still have to pay for a full month for my gym when they close down for 3 days over Christmas?
Most gyms close for a few days around the Christmas period. This will probably have been written into the contract you have signed with them so, yes, you will have to pay for the full month. It is probably worth checking with your gym on their particular policy.
My mechanic did more work on my car than I asked him to do and so I’m refusing to pay the extra amount. The mechanic won’t let me have my car back until I do. What can I do?
If you were specific about the work you wanted done, and the mechanic has done unauthorised work, then you don’t need to pay for that and he has no right to hold your car in exchange for payment. If you weren’t specific about the type of work you wanted done, for example if you just said, “fix the car”, then unfortunately you would need to pay for all the repairs. The mechanic is allowed to hold your car until you pay for the repairs. If you don’t pay within two months then the mechanic can sell the car, after giving one week’s notice. For more information about unauthorised work, visit this website.