I have tree roots growing beneath my grass. I called a garden company to quote for the removal. They sent me a quote for removal of bamboo roots for £600. I accepted the quote, having checked that this will now rid me of the problem. After the work was complete I still noriced bumps under the grass. I called the company who said that all the bamboo was removed; what remains is tree roots which is much more costly and difficult. I replied that i asked you to quote for the removal of the roots beneath my grass. He replied that the quote only says bamboo roots. I naturally assumed that was the only thing causing the problem as i had asked the company to quote for the removal of the growth under my grass. Who is right?
Answer:
If a regular person reading the quote will be led to believe that the entire problem is bamboo roots, and that there is no other problem involved, your payment was made in error, and you will have a claim against the company.
However, if a regular person reading the quote will not assume that this is the only problem, and can understand that there are other issues that are not being dealt with, you won’t have a claim. You note that you “checked that this will now rid me of the problem” – does this mean that you could have known about the problem?
Even if you have a claim against the company, I assume that their work did improve the situation, and it therefore has concrete value (unless the improvement is slight and you would not pay for it alone). Under this assumption, you will in any case have to pay for the “benefit” of having the bamboo roots removed, though you might be able to pay less than $600, depending on the general cost of the work.
I advise coming to some compromise with the company, which might be to the satisfaction of both parties.
Best wishes.
