Totally Pee'd off

[phil d]

A landlord who I do a good bit for asked me to fix a fault on a property about 6 weeks ago, while I was there I noticed a few issues that needed attending to, I spoke to the landlord and he told me that he'd just realised it needed an EICR and would I do the bits and pieces and do the EICR at the same time.I arranged the job with the tenant and a day before I was due to go around she cancelled, apparently she had a load of boxes in the bedrooms and I wouldn't be able to get to everything, I rescheduled the job for the following week, at her request to give her time to move the boxes.realising the week after was the school holidays and she had 3 kids, I rang her back and asked if it was better to leave it for a fortnight as the house would be full of kids. She said this would indeed be better and she'd contact me when they went back to school, which she did.

Again I arranged the job and again 24hrs before she texted me to cancel, apparently one of her kids had chicken pox, this had turned into Impetigo and she didn't want me to catch it, but said that it would be good any time the following week. I arranged it for tomorrow morning, Monday, she texted back to say that was fine and she'd be in from 9.30, I said I'd be there at 10, tonight at 7.30 she sends me a text saying she's going to have to cancel tomorrow as she has sickness and diarrhea.

This Is 3 times she's cancelled at short notice, I can't get any work in for tomorrow at such short notice, again, so basically she has cost me 3 days wages! I'm getting grief of the landlord as he wants the job done. It isn't my fault if she cancels the job, however I think it's wrong that it's me losing out again, to be honest I'm thinking of ringing the landlord and telling him he owes me for the day anyway and then refusing to do any more work for him. how do others deal with this problem, I know I could just tell her she's breaching her tenancy by not allowing me access, and see if that frightens her into letting me in but it isn't my job to do that, I'm just fed up losing money because she can't be bothered. Her latest one is could you do it this Thursday or Friday? Well  Thursday I'm going to Elex Manchester, and to be honest I'm reluctant to book the job in again and have her cancel again.

 

[ProDave]

Sounds the sort of job best done when the tenant is NOT there (get a key from the Landlord)

Impetigo is only contagious if you touch the ankle snappers.

 

[steptoe]

That's why I have a different work number that gets 'turned off' at the weekend/evenings, then I just turn up in the morning oblivious,

If I can't get access then I tell them its the tenant that is liable, they can argue it with the landlord if they want.

 

[phil d]

That's why I have a different work number that gets 'turned off' at the weekend/evenings, then I just turn up in the morning oblivious,

If I can't get access then I tell them its the tenant that is liable, they can argue it with the landlord if they want.

This silly cow rang the agent with an urgent electrical fault the weekend she'd moved in, they rang me, I was going out with the wife at the time. I told them I'd attend within 30 minutes, I was passing the property on our way out. They rang her and told her I was coming, I arrived about 15 minutes later and spent 10 minutes banging on the door, no answer, even the neighbour came out to see who I was!

She told the agent she hadn't heard me as I didn't ring the bell and she was in the lounge, there is no doorbell and you have to pass the lounge window to get to the front door.

I think she's just a lazy cow who sits on her rear all day watching Jeremy Kyle.

 

[datadiffusion]

Yep I run a voip phone system (£30 raspberry pi and freepbx) so the only number anyone ever gets is my voip 'landline'.

During the day, screened calls get forwarded to the mobile, at night only warranty (alarm) or customers who've been pre alerted to our

callout charges can get through.

 

[Evans Electric]

later and spent 10 minutes banging on the door, no answer, even the neighbour came out to see who I was!

Based on this I'd say she was a time waster ,  I've come across one or two in my time .  Same as you, keep putting you off , you try to fit in with them and in the end I, like you , realise I'm being messed about .      I just wrote them off and never heard from them again.

 

[phil d]

Well I contacted the landlord this morning and told him she'd cancelled the job again! I told him I was not happy as once again I had lost money owing to being unable to do other work at such short notice. His reply was amazing, "well I suppose the only thing to do would be if you insisted then I'd have to compensate you for your losses". I was quite upset at this, obviously he should compensate me, but he should offer, I should not have to insist.

Anyway I told him that he would have to get someone else to do the work as I wasn't prepared to be messed about any longer! 10 minutes later I get a text from him, "If I can get you access today, will you do the work?" on principle I refused, it was well past the start time and I had decided to do some bits at home, 5 minutes later I get another text, " would you be able to complete work on another day of your choosing?" I sent him a text saying that as previously stated I was unwilling to do any further work on this property while the current tenant was in residence. he replied "I understand", now I don't know what he'll do next but I'm not really interested, if he takes all his work elsewhere then so be it, there are times when you need to cut your losses.

 

[ProDave]

It depends how much you need the work. If you have penty, put this property on your blacklist. Otherwise agree with the landlord that he pays hours for any more time wasted on aborted calls or you simply won't go to that house.

 

[Doc Hudson]

This is where you need to either increase your standard charges to cover for missed appointments, or build a canceled appointment fee into you terms and conditions, if say less than 3 days notice or something similar. This is what many other businesses do.

Doc H.

 

[Murdoch]

I would stop doing for the landlord ....simples

I've educated most of my Landlords to get me involved when the tenants move out - far, far easier to do an EICR on an empty property.... and do any necessary fixes too.

 

[Blue Duck]

I get this all the tango'd time.... lazy courgetteers too stoned to answer the door. I just have to keep going back until I get what needs to be done, done.

I suggested that we have some kind of penalty for the organisations using our services but it did not go down well...

But no we must help these people they need 50 inch TV's on the wall and induction hobs to get better and live a normal life.

meh.

 

[Barx]

This silly cow rang the agent with an urgent electrical fault the weekend she'd moved in, they rang me, I was going out with the wife at the time. I told them I'd attend within 30 minutes, I was passing the property on our way out. They rang her and told her I was coming, I arrived about 15 minutes later and spent 10 minutes banging on the door, no answer, even the neighbour came out to see who I was!

She told the agent she hadn't heard me as I didn't ring the bell and she was in the lounge, there is no doorbell and you have to pass the lounge window to get to the front door.

I think she's just a lazy cow who sits on her rear all day watching Jeremy Kyle.

Sounds to me like you have been visiting the wrong place... :innocent

 

[Andy™]

glad i dont do much landlord work. and those that are usually decent tenants so rarely ever get any issues of them not being in

the main culprit for not being in are those who want a quote for someone, arrange a time then they are not in / dont answer the door

 

[phil d]

Sounds to me like you have been visiting the wrong place... :innocent

Yes I should have visited the local psychiatric unit, after all you expect nutters in there.lol