Protections against Due Upon Receipt?

[quincy]

Understood. I was just asking about how much time is allowed to pay the bill when it's due upon receipt.

When a bill is due upon receipt, there is an implied urgency about paying the bill. You need to submit payment when you receive the bill, knowing that next-day mail delivery is not guaranteed and the receipt of your payment by the plumber could be delayed by a few days by the mail service (especially this time of year).

The extra days to allow for mail service does not mean YOU get an extra 7 days to mail the payment. It is a recognition and acceptance of the reality of mail service.

You should be okay if you sent the plumber the full amount of what was billed. The plumber was nice to do the work without demanding payment upon completion.

 

[Taxing Matters]

On the invoice, it said 12% per year late fee. But starting when?

The only problem with that for the plumber is that late fees cannot be unilaterally imposed. The late fees have to be stated in the contract, not imposed later by the business after the contract is made. Perhaps the plumber's usual written contract states such a late fee, and the invoice just reflects that. Well, that would work for those customers who entered into that written contract with the plumber.

 

[Subjection1]

When a bill is due upon receipt, there is an implied urgency about paying the bill. You need to submit payment when you receive the bill, knowing that next-day mail delivery is not guaranteed and the receipt of your payment by the plumber could be delayed by a few days by the mail service (especially this time of year).

The extra days to allow for mail service does not mean YOU get an extra 7 days to mail the payment. It is a recognition and acceptance of the reality of mail service.

You should be okay if you sent the plumber the full amount of what was billed. The plumber was nice to do the work without demanding payment upon completion.

I actually wanted to pay it upon completion, but they didn't even tell me what the amount was at the time. They just said that the company would send me a bill.

 

[quincy]

I actually wanted to pay it upon completion, but they didn't even tell me what the amount was at the time. They just said that the company would send me a bill.

Interesting. That was a big risk for you to hire a plumber to do the work and not know in advance how much the work was going to cost. I assume you were given an estimate and that the cost was not unreasonable.

The only way for the plumber to recover more than the amount on the invoice is if you failed to pay the amount billed and the plumber had to sue for payment.

I recommend in the future that you get written signed estimates before okaying work.

 

[Subjection1]

Interesting. That was a big risk for you to hire a plumber to do the work and not know in advance how much the work was going to cost. I assume you were given an estimate and that the cost was not unreasonable.

The only way for the plumber to recover more than the amount on the invoice is if you failed to pay the amount billed and the plumber had to sue for payment.

I recommend in the future that you get written signed estimates before okaying work.

A written contract is what I wanted, but the best I could get out of any plumber I called was to record the conversation I had with them on the phone when I called and asked for the price of the water heater, labor per hour, and any other fees. They always refused to give me anything in writing. I was being quoted anything from $1800 to $2100. The one I went with ended up charging $1709.

 

[cbg]

The work was done on the 10th, I got the bill in the mail on the 19th, and I mailed out the payment today, the 22nd. With Christmas being close and causing delays in mail delivery, I don't know when the plumbing company will get it. It could be a few days, and hopefully by Thursday, or it wouldn't get there until next Monday.

You're not going to be hit by late fees.

 

[quincy]

A written contract is what I wanted, but the best I could get out of any plumber I called was to record the conversation I had with them on the phone when I called and asked for the price of the water heater, labor per hour, and any other fees. They always refused to give me anything in writing. I was being quoted anything from $1800 to $2100. The one I went with ended up charging $1709.

Emergency (same day) service tends to be more costly than scheduled-in-advance appointments. I know that because we ALWAYS wind up with the emergency repairs.

You at least were given quotes so you had an idea of what to expect.

I hope you now have a working water heater.

 

[Subjection1]

Emergency (same day) service tends to be more costly than scheduled-in-advance appointments. I know that because we ALWAYS wind up with the emergency repairs.

You at least were given quotes so you had an idea of what to expect.

I hope you now have a working water heater.

Oh yeah, it works! It's quite nice after having to improvise for the past 6 months. I was putting off the job as long as I could. I was expecting it to cost around $600 like my Dad's did. His is electric. But mine is natural gas power vent, which costs much more. I could have gone to electric, but then the upgrade I would need for my electric service would have raised the cost to what I ended up paying for the one I ended up with anyway.

 

[quincy]

Oh yeah, it works! It's quite nice after having to improvise for the past 6 months. I was putting off the job as long as I could. I was expecting it to cost around $600 like my Dad's did. His is electric. But mine is natural gas power vent, which costs much more. I could have gone to electric, but then the upgrade I would need for my electric service would have raised the cost to what I ended up paying for the one I ended up with anyway.

The worst repair we had was to a water heater (also gas). The plumbing company we called was reputable but the plumber who came out was a new hire - and he had no clue what he was doing. He somehow managed to break a water line and smash a hole in our furnace vent. The company took on the cost of fixing their own damage but we were without a working water heater for longer than anticipated - and it was still costly.

 

[LdiJ]

The worst repair we had was to a water heater (also gas). The plumbing company we called was reputable but the plumber who came out was a new hire - and he had no clue what he was doing. He somehow managed to break a water line and smash a hole in our furnace vent. The company took on the cost of fixing their own damage but we were without a working water heater for longer than anticipated - and it was still costly.

I had a real problem with a water heater repair. It was a gas water heater and was just a couple of years old. They came out and replaced the ignition switch, but it died again a day later. They replaced it again and again it died. They tried to insist that the problem was due to my furnace and the venting not being up to code. I insisted that they check as to whether or not they had problems with defective ignition switches...it turned out that they did. However, they were still insisting that the furnace and venting system were not up to code. The furnace was also a few years old and the furnace company was angry that they said it wasn't to code.

Finally I got my brother over to my house while the water heater repair guy was there, and he stood over him until he replaced the ignition switch once again...however the repair person refused to reattach the water heater to the gas because of his contention that the venting wasn't up to code. My brother said no problem, he would take care of that himself.

When I needed another water heater, I did NOT buy it from that company.