Overcharging help please

[jeremyrs]

Hi, I am not a plumber and know nothing about plumbing but my 87 year old mother has just had some plumbing work done and I feel she’s been heavily overcharged. I don’t know if anyone here is willing to give an opinion on this but I’d be very grateful if they would.

My mother leaves in a 1970s terraced house. It has a toilet at the front and the waste pipe from that runs under the house to into a trap under a manhole cover in the garden and then to the main drains. The kitchen and bathroom are at the back of the house and their waste pipes also connect with this trap.

Last week she noticed that part of her living room carpet at the back of the house was damp so she called a plumber. The plumber lifted the manhole cover and found the trap full. He pumped out the trap and cleared the blockage. He then put a camera into the toilet pipe and found that it had cracked and was leaking which he said was causing the seepage into her carpet. To fix this he fitted a sleeve into the pipe and told her that the damp would dry out in due course. For this work, which took three men all day, he charged £3000.

Two days later the damp was worse so she called him again. This time he decided that it wasn’t the toilet pipe at all, but one of the down pipes from the bathroom, which come down to the ground floor in a sealed column near the carpet. To fix this he opened up the bathroom wall, closed off the existing pipes, fitted new waste pipes through the wall which he connected to a new external downpipe that led to the trap. For this work, which took less than a day – not sure how many people – he charged £1800 on a “pay cash no VAT” arrangement.

Thanks in advance for any help on this.

 

[Renewable M]

this is why god invented trading standards.

You will need a report form a qualified (and I mean qualified in all aspects - not the local 'plumber') competent person, which will cost you, then it's small claims court.

Cash or not, it was still a contract, and clearly she was exploited.

Trading standards have no powers to do anything but will give you solid advice.

They want their damn balls cutting off.

 

[moony]

4800 for 2 days work shocking mate have they had to dig the floor up - not sure what works been done - ask for a break down if possible. that does seem extreme.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

i would call this theft this so called plumber should be on rouge trader,its con artists like this that give us genuine plumbers/engineers a bad press

 

[Winston]

Jesus thats alot of money get a full breakdown as to what has been done, and seek legal advice.

 

[oldplumber]

u need some large mates to pay a visit to this firm to request a refund

 

[Jock Spanners]

People like this give the rest of us a bad name. That's a total rip off. I'd have my solicitor sue them for every penny they have!

 

[Puddle]

Fool me once and shame on you
Fool me twice and shame on me

I have heard this story so many times with drainage companies
It amazes me how people get suckered in
87 or 37 the age does not matter, Labourer or brain surgeon, many fall into their trap
They say works can be claimed back on house insurance, health and safety, work needs doing straight away
First thing anyone should do in this situation,were so much money is involved, is get some quotes for works, check with their insurance company
OK you may be generous with the first time ( I wouldn’t) but defiantly the second time, hope leak has now stopped at least !!,wants a 87 year old women doing in control of so much cash in this case , she has family
Ring trading standards and citizens advice, get a solicitor ring the press, it may help stop this firm but probably not they will just change their name and carry on, after all they are not going to worry about keeping name for any recommendation works are they but your mums CASH money has gone, very unlikely to be seen again, she lives by herself and her health is worth alot more than £4800....£4800 that was given away just like that


And yes it obviously gives our trade a bad name but I bet the people involved were not tadesmen of any kind

No more than the people going around repairing roofs for £3000 to move a few slates around and stick a bit of flashband about are not roofers or builders

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

well said that man,well said

 

[WaterTight]

On his first visit the only parts used were one sleeve. So labour cost for 3 men was 3 grand. That's a grand each a day. Most plumbers earn that a fortnight. These are fraudsters and need arresting.

 

[billybongo]

Lets hope the sleeve is a good job ,as they can be more trouble than there worth

 

[jeremyrs]

Many thanks to everyone for your replies and views. You've confirmed what I've thought and I'm going to do the best I can to try to get some of the money back as you've suggested - Trading Standards, Small Claims and so on - but I fear as puddle says it's gone for good.

 

[WHPES]

You got charged almost 3 times what I would have expected. I can see what 2 men might be doing but what was the other one for? Fetching the tea?



Conversely a previous poster commented on roof repairs - My mate is a builder and he doesn't like repairing roofs because what usually happens is:

Someone calls up after a storm saying they have a few tiles off. He goes out with the ladders, has a look, finds it's a more awkward job, has to go back to the lockup hitch up his trailer and and load his tower onto it (about an hours work), go to site, erect his tower (about another hour), find what type of tile it is (chances are it's an old type and he doesn't have any or enough spares). Goes to roofing merchants (in town 15 miles away), spends ages looking for some the right size and colour (invariably rooting through second hand ones), comes back, finds somewhere to secure harness rope and puts on safety harness, goes onto the roof and does the job, dismantles the tower and loads it onto the trailer, goes back, unloads it and stacks it back into the lockup. By the time he's finished, it's taken an entire day to replace a dozen tiles, plus about 40 miles or more driving. When he presents them with a bill based on his hourly rate and travelling they always complain, saying "What? just to replace a dozen tiles?"

 

[Smcart5]

£3000 to sort out a cracked waste pipe , if the waste water from the toilet was leaking out that would have given off an almighty stench of urine and excrement right?, he really should have know it was a cleaner water supply leaking out no?

 

[w1nxn]

where abouts is this 'company' based?

 

[Jimbob]

On his first visit the only parts used were one sleeve. So labour cost for 3 men was 3 grand. That's a grand each a day. Most plumbers earn that a fortnight. These are fraudsters and need arresting.

Dunno about that.

That is a ripoff IMO,

You could go down the legal route, Or you could go down the big mates route

 

[moony]

dont go down the big mates route youve got an elderly mother there who lives on her own, do things properly, to be honest no disrespect but if she has access to thousands of pounds to just hand over like that perhaps you should be trying to get any work done on her behalf. for every hundred people who are willing to help an old lady there is one who would gladly rip her off. shes really unlucky to have found the one person, if she was qouted this before starting the job then unfortunately she is going to have a hard time getting anything back, lesson learnt perhaps she would be best asking for a little help in this area or help being offered to her in future repairs.

 

[wiltsplumb]

ive got a baseball bat if that helps?!!!!

 

[Winston]

I just find it unbelievable and disturbing I use to be in the healthcare industry and this just makes me sick Yet on our other forum they are convinced I rip oap's off which I dont.

I have even done free jobs as they are so trivial, tonight on my way home go to a leaking shower the old girl uses as she finds it difficult to get upstairs. It cant be repaired cheap old plastic shower valve. I removed 3 perfectly good shower valves from a house last week. One I saved for my upstairs shower the other the scrap bin. Told her I will fit just pay my labour of 2 hours and a couple of Iso valves. I do hope I am not a rip off merchant

And if this had happened to my mum there would be hell to pay .

 

[FPCPlumb]

Sounds like a complete rip-off to me - straight to trading standards if i were you.

 

[secret squirrel]

Can I play devils advocate here for a moment.......... Having recently been ripped off by an old woman who called me out at 8.40pm, I clearly didn't deserve the £40 I asked for.

Anyway thats a previous post and feels like a lifetime away. Yes, I realise what I'm going to put is controversial and will get some abuse.

Firstly, let me make it clear that I think the 2 bills are outrageous and cannot be justified. Thats that said.

Trying to keep this general:

Secondly, was there cohersion used? did the customer loose free will? was there bullying involve? were the costs explained up front? was the problem immediate? why weren't other quotes taken?

Thirdly,

Where were the customers relatives? its ok to shout the odds after the situation has ballooned out of all proportions but was the customer given the support she needed by the family at the time the customer needed it?

Lastly; what about the contractor? No one has heard from them, I'd like to invite them on to the forum to justify there costs and explain what happened from there prospective. As the customer stated in this case they have little or no plumbing experience.

I genuinely hope, I've not offended anyone and its not my intention to be inflammatory.

 

[david williams]

it will continue to happen,untill all plumbers have to be licenced and a body put in place to oversee it,good points raised by secret squirel,but the older person is quite easaly browbeaten into having the work done and paying in cash,was it reactfast useualy charge between£100 to £160 an hour.

 

[moony]

i know plumbers who charge 100 quid call out, so even if its a tap washer its 100 quid. rip off yeah but they have their ways of operating. may not get repeat business ? thing is though they go there and they sort it and thats their price. but the original poster here has been ripped off but if thats the price they agreed before they started the work then not much they can do.