I'm surprised they had the knowledge to find the stop cock and turn it off!
I also would have quoted a call out over the phone especially at that time
of day and then reaffirmed that 'before' doing anything. I find most people
would be perfectly prepared to pay £100 for that kind of repair and would
be happy to hand it over, glad that you came on such short notice.
It would not be extortion, just basic Market economics and might just
persuade them to leave the hammer alone next time



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