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Our Money team helps a reader every week with their consumer issue or financial dispute…
Today, the problem comes from a reader called Gail…
I had a plumbing emergency. I called Emergency Hero and made an appointment. A few minutes later, I then cancelled it because a neighbour offered to help. They still charged me £270 for no service. They said I should have been told that, but I wasn’t. Can you help?
Our Money live reporter Jess Sharp tackled this one…
Thanks for getting in touch, Gail. We spoke a little more about your circumstances after you emailed, and you explained that you had called, booked, cancelled and sent a follow-up email to Emergency Hero within around 30 minutes.
You said you had made the booking over the phone, and nobody mentioned it being non-refundable or set out the terms and conditions to you at the time.
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, we would expect you to be made aware of the booking being non-refundable, as it would be considered a key term in your agreement with Emergency Hero.
I had a look at the company’s terms and conditions on its website, and it does say that the fee you pay is non-refundable if a contractor has successfully been instructed.
If a contractor had not been instructed, it says the refundable amount is 50% of the initial call-out fee to cover any time spent in trying to find a plumber to do the work.
It also states: “By making payment over the phone for our services, you explicitly agree to the terms above and accept that any refunds made outside of the above terms are done so purely at the discretion of Emergency Hero management.”
Considering the short timeframe between booking and cancelling, I first wondered if Emergency Hero had managed to hire a plumber.
I contacted the company to ask, and its chief executive, Aaron Mcwilliam, told me that one had been instructed and had started travelling to the site. The plumber automatically…
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