massive problems with a plumber and now his bill!

macman

I'm guessing that you will not have received any certification for the fitting of the boiler though..

trumpton

If he has been at your house most days for 3 months then £800 is a relatively small bill for labour. I think the issue is more whether you should have to pay in full for such shoddy work. A decent plumber would have charged a lot more for 3 months work, but wouldn't have taken 3 months either.

Have you incurred extra costs having his work corrected? I would be inclined to deduct this from the bill. I can see your difficulty when he is a friend of a relative, though it sounds very much like he was attempting work that was beyond his skills. Did he give you a written quote or even a verbal quote? If the quote was for £800 labour, then I wouldn't pay it because he has not done the job to a reasonable standard (which you have a right to expect, however cheap the quote was).

Do you know for certain what the suite was £1100? He may have marked up the cost of the suite, so he is making up on the cheap labour.

john_p_b

gas4you wrote: »

Are you REALLYsure he is gas safe registered, or in fact that he IS a plumber:eek:

Dropping flux/solder onto the flexible anaconda is one of the biggest no no's to do.

We all know this will eat through it almost straight away.

He is very lucky, because usually one would get a Riddor from NG for doing this.

£800 is nothing at all for the work he has done, in fact I would say it is so little it fits in with the standard of workmanship you have told us about.

However, there are always two sides to a story.

yep i have his registration number and have checked it with the gas safe register, came so close to reporting him for his incompetance but as he is a friend of the family i decided not to go ahead.

i know plumbers charge like a wounded rhino but the work he has done wouldn't have even totalled 2 days work due to the amount i did myself, it's purely his stupidity and lack of planning that has dragged this job on so long.

i don't even consider the job to be finished, the bath panel is utterly ruined beyond use, the shower head holder isn't fixed to the wall, there's bits of sealer missing all over the place..............

i've written a letter stating my dissapointment and listing his failings stating that i'm dedcuting the cost of the bath panel from his final bill plus the costs of repairing the ceiling and all the making good we've had to do behind him. basically i've knocked £300 off his bill, i don't know where it will get me and i don't know what will come of it in the end but i'd honestly rather see him in court than just hand over so much of my hard earned cash for such a bad job.

macman

I shouldn't worry, if he's earned only £500 (after your deductions) in 3 months, then he's not going to be in business long enough to wreck anyone else's bathroom...
The question I would want to ask is-why would a halfway competent RGI want to waste 3 months installing a bathroom, when he could be fitting/servicing/fixing boilers at maybe £300 per day?

john_p_b

macman wrote: »

I shouldn't worry, if he's earned only £500 (after your deductions) in 3 months, then he's not going to be in business long enough to wreck anyone else's bathroom...
The question I would want to ask is-why would a halfway competent RGI want to waste 3 months installing a bathroom, when he could be fitting/servicing/fixing boilers at maybe £300 per day?

to quote a conversation i was having with him when he started our bathroom
"i've had that many customers complaining and jobs going wrong with boilers i thought f*** it i'm gonna do some bathrooms for a while"
i suppose that should have set alarm bells ringing for me in the 1st place.

the 3 months wasn't solidly working on my bathroom, he's been coming and going as he pleases, most weeks he's only done 1-2 hours work and that is usually putting right what he did wrong the week before.

1984ReturnsForReal_2

john_p_b wrote: »

plus the costs of repairing the ceiling and all the making good we've had to do behind him. basically i've knocked £300 off his bill

This is where I know you are talking the micky out of either him or us.


You used him because he was cheap & now you are skimming that.


2 days work you say?


You have already had him fitting a boiler & a radiator & what was that about sealant?

Fit a bathroom for you also? All for £800...

john_p_b

1984ReturnsForReal wrote: »

This is where I know you are talking the micky out of either him or us.


You used him because he was cheap & now you are skimming that.


2 days work you say?


You have already had him fitting a boiler & a radiator & what was that about sealant?

Fit a bathroom for you also? All for £800...

do i know you or are you a friend of the plumbers? i must say your attitude absolutely stinks, i come on here looking for help and advice and get called a joker by someone i have never even met or have any idea what gives you the right to be so judgemental of me.

i used him as he came well recomended, is a friend of the family and said he would do the job at a better price and a better finish than anyone else as he is a friend of the family

the boiler is a totally seperate issue that was paid for back in june, i'd like to point out that at the time his bill for that came in at £400 more than originally quoted so i would thank you to take your attitude and stop making judgements on things you obviously know nothing of as at no point have i stated the boiler was fitted in with the cost of the bathroom.

his bill was dropped in the day before he came to finish the job, so that's the day before he came and completely ruined the bath panel which is going to cost me £115.36 including vat to replace plus then i have to fit it myself or get someone else in to fit it. it's cost me £80 to have the ceiling put right from damage he caused, so there is just shy of £200 then it's taken my wife and i days to clean up the sealer he covered the bath, sink and toilet in not to mention the doors and floors, the silicone spray he covered my wifes car in...........

he quoted the job orginally at 2 days work, said he charges £35 per hour, now even on a 10 hour day, which he never worked more than 6 hours in a day, that would be £700 labour?

gas4you

It does seem that the main problem is the quality or workmanship rather than the cost.

I still think to fit out a complete bathroom for £800 is cheap, BUT you should expect a good job done for that.

As for coming in at £400 more than the quote for the boiler, then if this was an actual quote, then you should not have had to pay unless agreeing it before hand.

A written quote is the price you expect to pay, however if it was an estimate, then that is different.

I only do heating & boilers, I can fit bathrooms etc, but know my limitations and could never tile or finish off work to a good enough bathroom standard. I do know that my boiler and heating installations are good though.

We all will get boilers that go wrong, whatever make is fitted, but if he was getting so many that he stopped fitting them, then as you state, alarm bells should have begun ringing.

What are his responses to all that has gone wrong?

john_p_b

gas4you wrote: »

It does seem that the main problem is the quality or workmanship rather than the cost.

I still think to fit out a complete bathroom for £800 is cheap, BUT you should expect a good job done for that.

As for coming in at £400 more than the quote for the boiler, then if this was an actual quote, then you should not have had to pay unless agreeing it before hand.

A written quote is the price you expect to pay, however if it was an estimate, then that is different.

I only do heating & boilers, I can fit bathrooms etc, but know my limitations and could never tile or finish off work to a good enough bathroom standard. I do know that my boiler and heating installations are good though.

We all will get boilers that go wrong, whatever make is fitted, but if he was getting so many that he stopped fitting them, then as you state, alarm bells should have begun ringing.

What are his responses to all that has gone wrong?

If the job had been done well i'd have absolutely no problem in paying the bill. as a man who works a lot of hours to provide for my family and try to make a nice home for us i do have a problem with paying for sub standard work that is not actually finished and needs a lot of putting right.

the boiler or the cost of it are not the issue here to be honest, yes i was a little miffed at the time with having extra on the bill and yes sinse the fitting we have had a few things pointed out that haven't been done too great but the boiler works and works a lot better than the one we had before so that's not my problem.

every time i have approached him with a problem with the bathroom he's shrugged it off and responded with "oh it's just one of those things it'll be ok in the end" i heard that from him more times than i could count on both hands!

amcluesent

TBH I'd pay then have wee word with your brother-in-law tat due to the costs of all the work by his mate you won't be having a 'big' Xmas so no pressies to the family etc.