Am I responsible for a service call fee even if no service was preformed?
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Am I responsible for a service call fee even if no service was preformed?
My pool filter stopped running and a local pool store came out to take a look. They told me my pool filter was installed wrong and it would cost $300 to fix it. Four days went by without hearing a word so I called them and they said they could be out in a week, needless to say, I told them to forget it because my pool was turning green. I called another service and they installed a $30 part and had the pool up and running that day. I never heard back from the first service except to collect the “service fee” for coming out to the house which is $95. Is this legal?
Asked on August 11, 2011 New Jersey
Answers:
FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
If the first pool service came out to your home to inspect the problems that you were having with your swimming pool and never advised you over the telephone before its representative showed up at your home that there was going to be a charge and the pool service representative left your home without providing you with an invoice or letting you know there was going to be a charge, at best, such was a poor business practice.
You should call the owner of the pool service company about the $95.00 "service fee", the representative's $300.00 estimate for the problem and how another pool service company solved the problem quicker and for less money and see what the owner wants to do.
The $95.00 charge is not illegal, but shows poor business sense on the way the charge came about.
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