£1000's worth of damage from cowboy plumber (LONG)

BobProperty

Several things in this really annoy me. First I am sorry to hear about what has happened. I suspect as you do that this guy is a cowboy and is unlikely to 1. be insured and 2. have any assets anyway. So taking him to court (if you can find him now, too) will be a waste of time and money. All I can suggest is that you report this to the local trading standards and hope that they can either do something about it, if he is still working in the area and / or at least warn people about him and his activities.

startrekker and possibly others - there is no such thing as a "registered plumber". They may be registered with a trade body but there is no universal list. Plumber is not a title like Architect where you legally have to be registered to use the title. Equally complaining to CORGI won't help as he is not likely to be registered and they are only interested in bad gas work (and arguable even then from what some people say).

Edited to ask : You haven't paid him have you?

Canucklehead

Good afternoon: Sorry to hear about your probs with the cowboy. Has the plumber who is giving you a quote tomorrow been checked out by you? Personal recommendation perhaps? Have you seen his work? Ask if he is member of the IPHE... you can check this out online at http://www.iphe.org.uk/iphememdb.html. He should carry a card with him if he is a member. My OH (plumbing and heating engineer a.k.a. Corgi Guy on MSE) has had the misfortune of call outs to other 'plumber's' bodge-jobs in the past...an unscrupulous individual could take full advantage of your situation and give you a grossly inflated quote.

Good luck. I hope you have found one of the good guys out there.

Canucklehead

BobProperty

ellas9602 wrote:

...... I have contacted trading standards who have said that if I don't write to this person and offer him the chance to put right his handy work I void the opportunity to take him to court.....

I wouldn't say you void the opportunity but it is expected that you offer the defendant the opportunity of correcting their mistakes. In this case it is unlikely that the person concerned would come back plus you can put the case that the defendant has shown such lack of skill that you don't want him back.

ellas9602

Thanks again..

I was just reading through the small claims process on the CAB's webiste. It says two things to consider before taking legal action are;

can I afford the costs?
Can the other person afford to pay me if I win?

No to both I think

whats that chinese proverb? God grant me the
serenity????

EDITED TOSAY : 'fraid so Bob:o

ellas9602

BobProperty wrote:

Edited to ask : You haven't paid him have you?

yes....
he visited about 7 times and each time said he needed £60 for the work he had done that day. the last visit he sealed fitted the radiator and "connected" the water. My OH checked that the water was working but didn't pay attention to the deatisl and paid him the final installment. He took £425 pouns in total, we have no receipts.

moob_2

Nightmare.

If he advertised his 'services' - and even if not, contact your local trading standards service and report all the details you have on him. They should be able to chase him up.

Tom_Jones

Sorry to be critical, but it seems you employed a person that didn't even check out properly, my question is why ? I've said it many times on this board check out any tradesperson that you employ first and do NOT always go for the cheapest price, and do NOT pay any money upfront.

I'm sorry for the predicament that you you find yourself in and I doubt that you have any recourse against him, unless you have legal cover on your insurance policy and maybe they could persue him, be thankful that your insurance cover you for all the damage that has been done.

BTW don't forget to check out this new plumber your thinking of employing.

ellas9602

Message for BobProperty.

Hi Bob thanks for your kindness. I can't send a Pm cos your inbox is full.

The source of leak was mended so the claim for damage can go ahead. All plumbing work which I have to re-pay for will have to wait untill after xmas as I can't afford to have it re-done.

I was hoping that you could help me with something else. before we started work on the bathroom I noticed our hot water wasn't very hot any more. I mentioned this to the 'plumber' and he was going to 'flush something out'. He messed with something on the boiler and now we have no hot water at all. Its not freezing but is barley luke warm and it wouldn't be possible to bathe in it. There was a problem there anyway but he's made it worse. The towel radiator he fitted doesn't work at all if this means anything. the system is now VERY noisy and all the radiators rattle where they didn't before. I have two boilers if that means anything.
Can I restore my hot water for xmas without calling a plumber??

Thanks again.

poppie,s_dream

if he's advertised his services try rogue traders on the t.v they are always looking out for peeps who rip people off. and i,m sorry for all the troubles your having.