Bike held hostage! Any trained negotiators here?

[Fnaar]

OK, if he's done the work, he needs to be paid (check it with OH, to agree nowt wrong with the work/otherwise done to bike while with him). However, even though I am probably the nicest person on the planet* I would certainly make him wait. AND I would make him come to you at least once in order to chase it up. AND I would give him a crappy excuse (non-sequiturs are best... Oh, sorry, I spilt some lentils on the floor, so I couldn't write a cheque) and wait till he asks again. Then give him a cheque written on a piece of hardboard 6 feet by 3. Or perhaps on a pair of Y fronts.


*according to me

 

[Crankarm]

And the lesson we have learned from all of this............. do your own bike maintenance and servicing.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Also, as he appears to want to bypass you and deal with your other half, I'd make sure that he has to deal with you, only to make him squirm a little.

 

[Archie_tect]

OK.... I would certainly make him wait. AND I would make him come to you at least once in order to chase it up....Then give him a cheque** ...

** dated September 2012 when he should have finished the work, so wait til March... then let him come back to you when the bank doesn't honour it cos it's 6 months out of date... If your bank does inadvertently process it [because they are quite likely to, because they do things like that], you can get the money back from them... a plan without fault.

 

[Crankarm]

Ask for a proper invoice. He is likely doing business as a sole trader and should be registered with HMRC and the local council as such. If a proper invoice with breakdown for VAT is NOT forthcoming then don't pay him. Was there a written contract of work to be done and parts to be replaced based upon a prior written estimate? If not then it is his word against yours and the fact that he's had your bike for 6+ months will look pretty bad should it get to a Small Claims court. You might like to know that a business that does work on your car or bicycle can legitimately hold onto it until you the owner make payment for work reasonably done and parts replaced. However in this instance the fact that such a long time has elapsed since he first took your bike and it appeared not to have been stored safely, in fact left to deteriorate, rather scuppers his case against you. Personally I wouldn't pay him and let him swivel. If it looks like getting nasty then maybe pay him an amount to cover parts that he originally estimated needed replacing, not the pedals if you didn't authorise their replacement. Contact police if he doesn't leave you alone. Harrassment.

 

[Archie_tect]

Doubt he does enough to reach the VAT threshold C.... but you never know.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Tell him you've seen a woman riding round town on what looks like your bike. Then say I'll be round in 10 minutes to pick it up, and it better be there.

all good fun until he then reports it stolen and the cops take it an Sara into custody. Then when the joke is explained there will just be causing false crime reports and wasting police time for her to worry about.

I'd pay a reasonable amount less 'rent' of the bike for the shenanigans and dishonesty about why he was hanging onto it. Any complaints, name and shame on here, trader review websites and locally by word of mouth.

 

[MrJamie]

Assuming his quote is reasonable for the work, I'd just pay him and be glad it's over and the bike didn't get stolen or damaged etc. Despite the time taken being ridiculous, I think I'd have to take a little bit of responsibility for letting it go on so long too and not demanding it back sooner if that were an issue for me.

 

[classic33]

I'd say if the works been done to a reasonable standard, pay him, minus 10% for the unreasonable wait - however do request an invoice and receipt for tax purposes.* Also make it clear how unhappy you are about your bike being left insecure, outside. Then leave it at that, but spread the word to save others from the same fate!

* This is presuming its a relatively small amount. If you are talking about a three figure bill, I wouldn't pay that much due to the level of dissatisfaction.

You mean more than a £1.00 I take it!

 

[classic33]

all good fun until he then reports it stolen and the cops take it an Sara into custody. Then when the joke is explained there will just be causing false crime reports and wasting police time for her to worry about.

I'd pay a reasonable amount less 'rent' of the bike for the shenanigans and dishonesty about why he was hanging onto it. Any complaints, name and shame on here, trader review websites and locally by word of mouth.

But who would have reported it as stolen, and where is the "joke".
He had something that wasn't his, refused to answer any questions on the matter and held onto something that wasn't his.
He then left it outside, unsecured, having informed the owner that it would be ready for collection. If any shop did that with anything of mine, left for repair. Payment, demanded or otherwise would be the last thing on my mind. There is a duty of care, on his part in this matter, that he has dispensed with when it suited him. He should not be seeking payment, unless he can prove replacement parts were bought & that they were actually used on the bike.

Brox Quad with advertising space on the back available if required.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

But who would have reported it as stolen, and where is the "joke".
He had something that wasn't his, refused to answer any questions on the matter and held onto something that wasn't his.
He then left it outside, unsecured, having informed the owner that it would be ready for collection. If any shop did that with anything of mine, left for repair. Payment, demanded or otherwise would be the last thing on my mind. There is a duty of care, on his part in this matter, that he has dispensed with when it suited him. He should not be seeking payment, unless he can prove replacement parts were bought & that they were actually used on the bike.

Brox Quad with advertising space on the back available if required.

I think you've skipped a few posts. The suggestion was that the rightful owner takes it, in the repairmans absence, then calls the repairman to say they'll be round in a few minutes to collect it. Thus denies all knowledge of having taken it and likely prompting repairman to report it stolen to cover their back/try for an insurance claim (if it had been an unknown perpetrator taking it, who's to contradict him if he said it was secured at the time without blowing their own cover - he'd prevaricated enough on returning it before, why not claim to lock it up 'by accident' to do so again) whilst at the same time the owner is now in posession of a reported stolen bike.
The ins and outs of the repair saga are irellevant at this point, the owner has forced a false crime report to occur as some sort of revenge/joke and if particularly unlucky will be seen and arrested by cops who don't know the back story and won't be impressed when they find out it was all a hoax.
happily its all hypothetical tho.

 

[Radchenister]

Blimey, it's turned into a Miss Marple mystery; where's the corpse hidden?

 

[Pale Rider]

Blimey, it's turned into a Miss Marple mystery; where's the corpse hidden?

Under a patio in Gloucester with a lot of others.

 

[CopperCyclist]

On second thoughts, you could just ring him and say you've left the cash you owe him on your garden wall, and he can come pick it up whenever he wants

 

[Radchenister]

Under a patio in Gloucester with a lot of others.

... a tumbleweed roles past the boundary of taste; on the horizon there's the faint figure of a man, a shadow barely visible through the dust storm of insomnia - it's the one they call 'Pale Rider' .