Am I obligated to pay the additional fee?
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Am I obligated to pay the additional fee?
I contacted a local company to clean my gutters. In prior years, the company charged me 150. The person on the phone quoted me 150. When the workers arrived they asked me to turn the water on, but they didn’t mention anything about charging more than 150. Before they left, they invoiced me for 150. I paid the 150. A few days later I was contacted and told that I owe an additional 25 because they weren’t aware that my house had a second level. Do I need to pay the extra 25? Not only did they quote and invoice me for the agreed upon amount which was the same as prior years, but they should have been reasonably aware of the second level prior to beginning the job, and I feel they should have communicated the additional fee prior to doing the work.
Thank you
Asked on August 18, 2018 under Business Law, Massachusetts
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
Legally, no--if they quoted you a price then did the work before teling you there might be a different or additional charge, they are limited to the price they had quoted and you had agreed to pay. They may not charge you more than you agreed to pay after they have done the work. (If they had shown up and told you that there would be an extra $25 for the additional floor *before* they did the work, you could have either agreed to pay or told them "no thanks--I don't want the work done." What they can't do is after the fact increase the cost without your consent.)
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