Hypothetical question on integrity

[BigJon]

If you had some sort of work done, be it on your house, car, boat or whatever and paid the bill at the end of the work, what would you do if the service provider contacted you later and pointed out that their itemized bill contained an clear error / computer glitch and you still owed money for the work?

Would you pay the difference or would you laugh all the way to the bank?

[POD]

I think legally they are not bound to stand by such an error so you would be liable to pay up (not 100% sure on that one- definitely the case with advertised prices). Ethically, it would be dependent on a few factors- for instance, if it was an honest tradesman who had done a good job at a fair price, turned up on time etc I would treat it differently to 99% of the trades I have experienced who price gouge and do the absolute least they can get away with for the most they can get. In those cases, 'sometimes you're the bug, sometimes you're the windscreen'. If, say, you had been surprised how low the bill was and it turned out they had forgotten to bill the materials that they had supplied, of course you should pay up.

[Saitch]

If, after a long, hard look, it was ascertained to be a genuine error, I'd pay, especially if it concerned a small business.

[goingbush]

If it was clear to the customer that there was a accounting error, which in this case it seems to be, because said customer is 'laughing all the way to the bank' then said customer is a scumbag and needs to recompense with all haste.

[trout1105]

If you had some sort of work done, be it on your house, car, boat or whatever and paid the bill at the end of the work, what would you do if the service provider contacted you later and pointed out that their itemized bill contained an clear error / computer glitch and you still owed money for the work?

Would you pay the difference or would you laugh all the way to the bank?

Just pay the bill, I am pretty sure that IF the bill was wrong in the service providers favour the bill would be questioned.
This is exactly the same as someone giving you extra change at the supermarket and if you have a problem with handing back the extra money given to you by mistake then 'Hypothetically" there is something drastically wrong with a persons Moral Compass.

[NavyDiver]

I've had it once or twice. Once I told them a shop they had undercharged me and they then tried to give me the product for free. It was Big W or target in Perth. Saucepan set was scanned at $50- price was a lot more. Something to do with scanning code of practice. I did not want the money back and they did not want the correct amount from me[thumbsupbig] The same happened with a home brew kit before I paid- Free Beer!

At work I bill people for visits to their Doctor and at times for rather expensive travel vaccines which I stock and pay for. More than a fe honest people have point out that they had the vaccine and we had not asked ( or been told) the doctor have given them the vaccine. My losses for charged vaccines and similar stuff is very very low. On the other side of it we do not charge pensioners kids or health care card holder to visit their Doc. Its not that uncommon for us to find out later that a new person fitted the health care card or pensioner category. I refund the money even though not legally required to do it.
Unless something seemed very unreasonable, for genuine mistakes I would pay extra.

[austastar]

Hi,
Yep! Honest pay for honest work.
That way it won't come back and bite you.
Cheers

[grey_ghost]

If I knew that the work was done, and done to my satisfaction - I would pay it myself.

[Andrew D]

Pay, low act otherwise.

Clearly the money would be set aside to pay the full amount.

Some people have no moral compass.

How do you justify to yourself not to pay? Luck?

[Eevo]

to put the shoe on the other foot. if you got home and realised they have overcharged you, would you ring them up and ask for a refund?

[Fattima]

If I could see it was a genuine (not a scam) error then yes I would pay.
I've gone back to a pub the next day when I realised they had not charged for a few meals on our table, honesty is the best way.

[Blknight.aus]

IIRC

under rings and undercharges are for the customer effective immediately.. Over charges are also settled for the customer, immediately if prior to payment, with a reasonable processing time if after payment.

If an invoice is issued and its under because its missing an item BUT the item is on the quote then the initial invoice stands but the outstanding item can be billed for on a subsequent invoice


Depending on what the undercharge was and how the company presented the issue would influence how likely I would be to stick to my guns. A "we screwed up and missed an item..." type approach will get a payment sorted a "hey you didnt pay all the bill you should have known...." type approach will get a stonewall.

If I picked it up before I paid I'd offer them the chance to void the invoice and re-issue.

[Bigbjorn]

going back as far as I can remember most commercial entities had the characters "E & OE" somewhere on their invoices. "Errors and Omissions Excepted". This was standard commercial practice. Which meant they could correct their mistakes and charge the client the corrected amount.

[Saitch]

going back as far as I can remember most commercial entities had the characters "E & OE" somewhere on their invoices. "Errors and Omissions Excepted". This was standard commercial practice. Which meant they could correct their mistakes and charge the client the corrected amount.

These days it would mean "Errors and Omissions Expected."

[BigJon]

Thanks everyone for the responses. You have confirmed my thoughts, generally speaking most people are honest and reasonable. Unfortunately some are not. Feel free to PM me for the back story.

[alittlebitconcerned]

At times I’ve over charged by mistake as a tradie, and each and every time I’ve returned to the client and given them money back. None ever realised they were over charged until I told them. I’ve also made the mistake of undercharging and each and every time I’ve pointed this out to my clients they have happily paid.

If I came up against someone who said bad luck it’s my loss for undercharging, I would not work for them again. Those people would deserve the “never on time”, “gouging”, “bull****ting” tradie in my opinion.

I’m not religious but the Christian ethos of “do unto others...” is an excellent way to live your life.

[DiscoMick]

If I thought it was a genuine mistake and the cost was reasonable I would pay it, particularly if I had a continuing good relationship with the biller.
If I thought it was a scam and the amount was unreasonable I would query it.

[theelms66]

If the invoice is not corrected I think trying to get warranty issues sorted may bite you on the bum.