NSW Excessive costs

Australia's #1 for Law
Join 150,000 Australians every month. Ask a question, respond to a question and better understand the law today!
FREE - Join Now

Camilla

Active Member
16 February 2021
5
0
31
We had a contractor look at a retaining wall that was in a poor state on our property.
Anyway he organized an engineer to inspect and make a report. We didn’t think anything of it as it’s standard practice. The engineer arrived checked it out and 6 weeks later a report arrived in our inbox.

We couldn’t open the attached report without paying the $3000 bill.

We thought this was excessive we assumed the costs would not exceed $1000. We questioned this and our contractor told us he travelled from Newcastle to Sydney so this fee was also covering his travel costs? We ended up paying the $3000.

The question I’m asking is can we claim any of this back through small claims? As the contractor didn’t enclose these fees upfront with us and has since fobbed us off for months.
 

Mike Love

Well-Known Member
25 June 2014
64
3
199
My mate had a similar experience.
He paid the fee, under "distress", and then lodged a complaint with the VCAT (Vic) i think it was. The hearing took 6 months but is happening soon.
Can you check what other companies would charge? Then you might claim the difference?