NOT WORTH THE PAPER THEY'RE WRITTEN ON
Rubbish :
There are two basic rules to the formation of a legal contract; offer and acceptance. One party makes an offer or agreement to provide a service and the other party accepts the offer. By setting out the terms and conditions of offer and acceptance a legally binding contract has been made. If the contract is broken, or breached, then the law can used to enforce the contract
Had the tradesman had his T&C's in place he would have protected himself and more importantly any court would have a legally binding contract made between client and trade to refer to.
My terms and conditions state:
In the event of breakage or damage to the property, X (me) will notify the client immediately and set out steps to remedy the situation. Similarly, if at the end of the job the client is dissatisfied with any aspect of the service, they must inform us as soon as possible. Clients must allow X to effect a remedy using our own tradespersons or tradespersons nominated by us and under no circumstances will we be held liable for the costs of reparations by third parties that we have not expressly agreed to in writing. The client must notify X in writing within 24 hours of an alleged breakage or damage caused by us.
I also state :-
The acceptance of the quote, electronically or by any other means signifies a full acceptance and commitment to accept these terms and conditions.
Please check your quotation carefully.
Would have saved this bloke a whole heap of trouble.
In fact i would never accept a quote from any trade without T's & C's