This is a really odd scenario so please bare with me, posting for a friend however writing it in first person so if more info is required please let me know and will ask her to clarify..
My neighbour's landlord hired a gardener to come and do some routine maintenance and tidy up of their yard. They accidentally gave them my house number instead of their house number.. said gardener came and did my yard instead (not much honestly, just some minor mowing, whipper snipping, trimming of plants, pulling out some weeds which I had only poisoned a few days earlier). I don't have a locked gate so said gardener let themselves in and did the task.
So there's a bill in my mailbox and it's a whopping $250, I rung the phone number and explained that there must have been a mistake as I hadn't booked him to come and he assured us I had and sent the "correspondence" message from Facebook which showed it was the owner of the property's profile.
Anyways, this is the complicated part. I am refusing to pay for a service I didn't request nor want as I'm an avid green thumbs myself. The owner who requested the service is refusing to pay any because they didn't get their property done and still need it to be done so have to fork out more $$ if they did pay. The poor gardener is in the middle and not getting his money which I can understand is frustrating.
The gardner suggested that both the owner and myself split the bill 50/50 so I would be out of pocket $125. However, that's almost a whole weeks worth of groceries and quite frankly, I don't have it in my budget to just throw away over $100 willy nilly. He also offered a payment plan but again, I don't feel I should pay for a service I never even wanted.
I am a bit royally peeved at the whole situation, I feel I am stuck in a mess and am here stressed about finances when I really shouldn't have to be.
What do I do now? Where do I stand legally/what can I do to make this go away that doesn't require me to be out of pocket?
23 Replies
Landlord needs to foot the bill, he’s the one that requested the service and gave the wrong address, not yours or the Gardner’s fault so he’s going to have to pay for it twice unfortunately
Hi thanks for your reply. That is what I think should happen however the landlord is refusing and the gardener keeps contacting me like it somehow involves me. I have asked them to sort it out between them but it keeps coming back to me and I originally blocked their number but they then tagged me on facebook almost in a shaming way (wrote unpaid bill dispute) which was embarrassing.
Block them on Facebook too!
I would have responded to the Facebook post saying what happened. Make them look like the idiots.
Do NOT pay a cent.
This is between the gardener and the landlord.
The gardener has processes he can go through to try and recover the money as a business operator.
If the gardener is part of a group like jim’s mowing or similar ring them and complain.
Not your problem. I’d tell them if they don’t stop harassing you, you’ll seek legal advice. Put all the evidence together and make a copy for them. Then ignore!
Not your problem. I’d tell them if they don’t stop harassing you, you’ll seek legal advice. Put all the evidence together and make a copy for them. Then ignore!
No you don't pay anything. If the owner fave that address , the owner commissioned that work and pays.
If the gardener misread the address or worked at the wrong property, it's his own fault and mistake.
You have no part in it and do not nhave to pay for services received when you had no part in requesting or agreeing to them.
To make them go away, you say you've received advice and are not responsible nor have any part in this transaction and are leaving the conversation. Good bye. After that block or tell them not to contact you again.
Make sure you screen shot it all first so you have proof of what actually happened.
Yep. Legally, you have nothing to do with this. The landlord is viable because the gardener went to the address he was contracted to do. Advise the gardener that if he and the person who contracted the work cannot come to an agreement he can pursue the cost in small claims court but their is no legal obligation on you at all and request he cease contact. If he persists, reinstate that you had no role in the matter and that if he continues to contact you about payment you will lodge a harassment claim as the outstanding bill has nothing to do with you.
A misconduct order that is . Sux tho that she will have to pay for one as they aren't free , when none of this is her fault.
Landlord needs to foot the bill, threaten to put the story on a local facebook page as they are trying to rip off a small business and yourself, nobody likes their nastiness getting exposed.
They “accidentally” made a mistake and unfortunately they need to pay for that mistake! The gardener absolutely needs to follow up with the landlord!
Tell the gardener that you are going to the police on them for entering your property without your permission or knowledge.
That the issue is between him and the owner of the property he was supposed to visit and you’re not paying for a service you did not request. Tell them you’ve received advice from the relevant ombudsman and they are saying it is not your responsibility to pay for the service as you did not need nor want it. That you have all of this printed and saved and that you will be seeking a cease and desist if he continues to harass you.
Police aren't going to do anything, gardener genuinely believed was at the right property, so no offence was committed.
Did the Ombudsman say that ? You're giving advice on police and ombudsman when the Ombudsman said no such thing yet . However you're telling her in advance to just say thats what the Ombudsman said . They didn't . Its likely they might say that or they may actually say something else.
Anyway , yes , she should not be paying for this service at all . It's not her problem and should definitely take it further if the gardener doesnt let up . Hes not taking responsibility for his own error at all .
Police can still charge for that, then it would be up to the gardener to fight the charge in court and it would likely get dropped. Besides, I don't think this poster is actually advising to get the police involved, just to use it as a threat of what COULD be done and to hopefully stop him chasing the OP and put pressure on the landlord.
Lol seriously ? What a total waste of resources and very unlikely. Charged by police and then dropped in court ? Nothing of the sort would happen like that about the gardening event that already occurred. However , if he keeps harassing , then yes it can be done on any further issues. Not the original issue.
My point was, police can charge if a law was broken. It's not up to police to decide what excuses get them off or not, that's a judges job.
It isn’t on you to pay. In writing tell the Gardener to stop contacting you, threaten to go to the police for harrassment.
In writing, tell your landlord you were not supplied with an entry notice with sufficient time as per your tenancy agreement, and so the landlord is now in breach. Tell the landlord if they do not arrange for the gardener to stop contacting you, you will have no choice but to issue a notice to remedy breach for the unlawful entry onto the property by the contractor (gardener).
Only liaise in writing, never over the phone, keep everything, it is up to the gardener to chase payment with the landlord, nothing to do with you. Just keep everything in writing to cover yourself.
Thanks everyone for the advice, she was very embarrassed as the gardener posted something on his Facebook Business Page regarding an outstanding bill and wrote her name as well as the landlords and said to contact him regarding their bill dispute and refusal to pay. She was worried about defamation for writing back anything.
She contacted the gardener and told him to stop harassing her and has said that she will not be engaging in further conversations and will be blocking his details any further. And that if he posts anything involving her online she will be claiming defamation of character as it is something that she has no part in.
That’s an odd one isn’t it. I’d say the person who requested the job pay as they gave the wrong address who doesn’t double check or know their own address.
Landlord pays or who ever organised it. It has nothing to do with you! Who ever requested it should pay if they have the wrong number. If the gardener got the number wrong then it’s his problem but certainly not yours.! I’d say it’s the owners if they have your house number, they should pay! I am
With you, I’d be refusing also! Don’t pay it. Not your problem.