The stench was unbearable. And when Sophie moved on, what she feared so much happened. The water in the toilet got higher and higher and then over the rim. The entire toilet room and also the wooden floorboards in the hallway were full of water, toilet paper and bits of poo. She urgently searched online for a sewer unclogging service. She called the emergency number and soon a technician was there to help. Very nice, she thought, until she was allowed to pay 1800 euros.
Sophie was perplexed. How is it possible that the price is so high? And that she has to pay for this on the spot? The mechanic announced that this was the usual price. He shouted that she had signed for these costs and that he had to urgently go to the next unblocking. Sophie wanted the problem solved, so she decided to pay the amount. She was left stunned – and 1800 euros poorer.
cheated
Sophie felt cheated and called me immediately after the incident. When I asked how she was doing, tears started flowing spontaneously. I reassured her and she indicated that she would like to go through the steps with me.
We started with the company’s website. This one was high in the Google search results and looked very reliable. Not only was the site neatly laid out and contained business-like and correct wording, we also saw a number of visual features that evoked confidence, such as five yellow stars and an explicitly stated low price for call-out costs.
Unclear rates
When the mechanic arrived and Sophie had provided him with a cup of coffee, she was briefly presented with a tablet with the rates on it. The engineer emphasized that the first half hour of working time was included in the standard visit and that the costs had to be settled for each 15 minutes of additional work. The rate of € 29.90 per additional quarter of an hour was mentioned.
The mechanic then quickly scrolled down and asked Sophie to sign for approval. Since the information seemed pretty standard to the naked eye, she signed it. After all, something had to be done about that blockage quickly.
ridiculously high
After the mechanic had carried out his work, Sophie again had the tablet pressed under her nose. She had to pay 1800 euros including so-called “spiral costs”. The ridiculously high amount of spiral costs was nonsense, because such a spiral is reused by technicians. Sophie didn’t know that and the mechanic took advantage of that.
Misleading
I set to work on behalf of Sophie to get part of the amount back. Of course I started with the unblocking company itself, but they refused any form of communication. So in the end I had to go to court for compensation. I convinced the judge that the way of claiming was so unusual that Sophie as a consumer should not have had to take this into account. Pre-drawing on the tablet makes no difference. The way in which the emergency service presented its rates is misleading.
The right feeling
The judge agreed with us. My claim was granted. That is precisely why Sophie liked that I was going to tell this story here. A warned person counts for two.
Christa Verploeg
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