Doing a Freebie nearly cost me £100

[Sean Kelly]

I started a job yesterday for a very good friend. I was not charging him for laying hardibacker & tiling the floor (about 4.5sqm of porcelain). Before I started I noticed that his wall tiles were virtually coming away from the wall. So I took a picture of them.
I laid the Hardibacker and started spreading the addy. I slightly touched the bottom row of wall tiles with my trowel, and woah, 25 tiles came crashing down into the addy. I put the dirty ones into the sink to wash them. I turned on the tap, but unbeknown to me my mate had disconnected the waste pipe. The water just went straight through the plughole and onto the floor. My mate had done the measuring, and of course did not buy enough tiles for nice cuts. Luckily they were black tiles and black grout. I had to make some of the cuts a little bit shorter than I would have liked. It all worked out ok and my off cuts could easily fit into a Tesco carrier bag without it splitting. I packed up my tools and got into my car when I noticed a little yellow and black square stuck to my windscreen. A parking ticket. I was reeling on the way home. I had got a ticket for parking on a grass verge. The tires were barely touching the grass. When I got home I looked at the ticket. The parking attendant had got one digit incorrect for my registration number. I'm hoping that this invalidates the ticket. I checked online and the reg quoted belongs to a Toyota Rav4. Not a VW Golf. So, doing a good deed nearly cost me a £100 fine. BTW, my mate has now asked me to tile the wall where the tiles came away. I'll be charging for this one!

 

[hillhead]

oh yo were lucky there,any black cats there .lol

 

[Olz]

I think what will probably happen is that the council will eventually apply to find out the owners detilas of the incorrect number they recorded, at which point they will contact said owner who will point out their mistake becuase he will say his car isnt a VW GOLF, and they will have to invalidate the ticket, i cant see how they would ever trace it back to you if they got the reg wrong unless of course they took a photo so you should be okay.

 

[cornish_crofter]

As for the ticket thing, I think you'll get away with that one.

The Toyota owner will probably get the reminder. Leave well alone and see if you hear any more.

 

[LM Ceramics]

definetly get away with that once they notice they havent got the right reg i cant see them pursuing it

 

[faithhealer]

Sounds like you had a 'wivers' day

 

[doug boardley]

cover your *** and charge everyone!!:yes:

 

[lucius]

I got done years ago for the same thing, they got the reg right but the vehicle as toyota van when it was a nissan cabstar just waited for the reminder and wrote them a nasty letter no problem, also got done once in a bus layby for parking 2 minutes after 8 when parking was allowed til 8 sent another nasty letter along the lines of arent the police supposed detecting crime not sneeking up on people coming out of the cafe 2 minutes late got away with that one but the best one was when council employed traffic warden got me on parking at the local swimming pool on some hatching while i ran in shop to get a paper only trouble is the jobsworth parked his car on the same hatching to nick me unfortunately for him i had a camera in the car so ticket, picture and letter was sent back to the council explaining what is good for the goose is good for the gander as you may guess didnt hear any more.
Lucius

 

[david campbell]

last freebie i done ended up with a mate that lost a lot of friends,won't go in to details about it,but he started getting really cheaky when he was getting a lot of work done for the cost of materials, about how often i was there(it had been agreed that i would be there after jobs and on my days off),bottom line is he was made to look like a total a*$e,so ever since there has been no freebies,so there can be moaning !!!

 

[graham31]

Yip was meant to tile my brothers bathroom but every time i went up their was more flafing about than the time before.Cut a long story short he phoned one day asking how much he owed me for mats answer was nothing i hadn't bought any.So he said he needed it pushed on and would do it him self.Fair enough i said.

Then a week later i broke his arm and wrist at football :ban:i should have offered to do the tiling again but got somessing about the 1st time i never

 

[Leatherface]

Tried doing "job for job" with other trades once or twice before, once for an electrician who was supposed to fit me some "nice" lantern lights outside with low energy bulnbs, with sensors so they come on in the evening. Took 12 months of chasing and I got cheap halogen spot lights.
Did a tiling job for a plasterer in return for plastering at my house, took six months before it was done, after booking me in 3 times and letting me down he eventually sent his lad to do it.
So no more "job for job"

 

[Grace'sDad]

ANY error on a ticket, contract, or notice however minor, is cause for invaldating.

You can ignor that ticket :hurray:

BTW, have you read about these companies now who trawl through your credit card contracts and find errors? Then they get the whole debt written off. Immoral yes. Legal? Perfectly!

 

[cornish_crofter]

I do job for job with a Quantity Surveyer friend of mine.

I do the odd minor repair for materials only, he does a quick price check for quotes when I ask him to. If I spend a day or two he pays, in the same way if he has to spend a similar amount of time on my work I pay. A few mins or a couple of hours is free though.

It works very well.

 

[Bolter]

Ive done job for job with two of my friends in trades. One is an electrician whom I tiled his custom shower area, bathroom and kitchen (total 1 days work) and he has fitted me a new fuse box and is my permanent on call sparky. He also checks all my electric tools one a year and produces a certificate for me, for free

Works very well.

My other friend is a chippy, and I tiled both his fireplaces for free, and he has put a fence up in my garden for me Got plans for him for another couple of projects also, and I know he needs more tiling doing, so its all good really.

Trick is, they are very good long term friends I have known since school. If they were someone I met on a building site, I would be charging, and expect to be charged back.

 

[Sean Kelly]

That was my last 'free' job. Apart from if my Ma & Pa need any tiling done! Good news about the ticket, it was good to hear confirmation from you guys that the ticket is invalid. I was just so gutted on the way home, but now I feel that I have won against the authorities. Cheers Sean.

 

[Olz]

Family pay for materials only, very close friends get a huge discount, everyone else pays the normal rate. My cousins a corgi regsitered gas fitter and plumber and sparky so im pretty much covered for anything needed in the house that I wont touch myself, he just gets his tiling done in return.

The missus's cousin works for british gas doing boiler and home appliance repairs, which is very handy as my drier and washing machine constantly take it in turns to break :incazzato:

 

[Derry]

nightmare all round by the sounds of it! you will get away with the ticket, if they marked it down wrong it is invalid. even if they traced it back to you somehow the original ticket is still invalid!