Stunning plumber's bill

cajef

zigglewigler wrote: »

Interesting that you say some will charge it, because some will pay it, is that because they too 'save energy' and give in? Like your backbone.

Also interesting is how many new posters resort to insults and being rude when they get answers they do not like or want to hear.

zigglewigler

GwylimT wrote: »

So the company is based 15 miles down the road, out of business hours you will find that plumbers drive directly from their own homes and have to drop whatever they are doing, having dinner, putting their children to bed, cleaning up etc.

You always pay a premium on a Sunday and you should expect this, I would have thought that virtually all plumbers would each charge for call out out or hours, or charge a mileage rate.

I'm a mechanic and when I worked at a garage we always charged a mileage fee for call outs, we don't get a free supply of time or petrol you know!

The premium for Sunday eve was £60 per hour. Fine. 1 hour job.

Most plumbers do not charge call out or mileage, that's what the £60 per hour is for, any call out charged has to be declared, in this case £120 travel money would have meant they wouldn't have gotten the job, and another professional firm would have been called out of the yellow pages, charging £80 per hour ALL IN. No call out, no mileage.

Do people here honestly think that they are paying plumbers these rates per hour because they are so phenomenally skilled?:rotfl:

The rate covers all the costs of business.

zigglewigler

southcoastrgi wrote: »

I'm afraid it is very much the issue, you called an emergency plumber on a sunday eve (although you haven't said what time), just try breaking down on the motorway with no cover & phoning the AA or RAC & see how much they charge you just to tow you to the nearest exit

You asked for people's opinions & then you tell us if we don't agree with you to shut up

There is no industry standard for any charges in the construction business so you are on a non starter there, just because you have had quotes from others that means absolutly nothing

Going to court will waste your time & his, plus when you lose (& you will) you will have to pay the orginal invoice, the court costs, interest on the orginal invoice, the time he has had to spend attending court

Don't misquote me, I said and I quote 'Please, if you think £200 for a 1 hour job, even on a Sunday represents value, keep it to yourself.'

The pejorative term is your choice, it's the difference between asking someone to leave and telling them to f off.

Sunday eve. 20.00pm, what difference would that make? Look up emergency rates for Sunday, all day all night. It's the same.

You said:"There is no industry standard for any charges in the construction business so you are on a non starter there, just because you have had quotes from others that means absolutly nothing"

Really? The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, look it up. Charges have to be reasonable, along industry standards, so other quotes are exactly what a small claim court would refer to, also charges have to be declared up front rather than trying to deceive the consumer that they will pay for the 'job' only. The plumber is trying to justify £120 travel expenses because they were part of the 'job'.

You assert that I would lose in court, read the Unfair Trading Regs then try to that argument again.

zigglewigler

Dan-Dan wrote: »

Shop around?
Wait till Monday?
Turn stopcock ?
Learn plumbing (or your mum)?


Just pay it and stop complaining so much , £200 is alot less than potential damp ceilings and joists and the like

If your took the trouble to read previous post, you'd see that my mother called the contracted plumber to her property.

Wait till Monday? She wanted it done, out all week working.

Turn stopcock? What do you think happens when she turns it back on when she needed water?

Learn plumbing? Well I have fixed leaks and done plumbing in my homes, plumbing isn't difficult, I once had to show a plumber how to clear an airlock, took me 5 mins, after he faffed around for 30 mins sucking the tap with his hoover.

But I wasn't there to help. Any more useful tips?

So just pay? Don't complain. Do what most British people do and give in? The charge is excessive! I didn't start this thread to ask whether people agree with the charge, wanted to know if anyone had gone through dispute process.

But it seems everybody is just too willing to pay without complaint.

keystone

Has the miscreant got a website? Does it show a scale of their charges? Does it include their Ts&Cs including evening callouts?

Not being funny but (and you ain't going to like this for one single solitary picosecond but it has to be asked in the pursuit of balance) are you absolutely certain that the firm didn't say to your mother - "its £60 an hour or part thereof a this time on a Sunday night and that starts when he leaves home and finishes when he gets back"? Is it at all possible the they did and she is just too damned frightened to tell you? Your somewhat bellicose attitude on here leads me to suspect that she might have reason to be scared of telling you if such is the case .

What are you goping to do if they say that they did? It becomes one persons word against anothers and the DJ won't be best pleased if it gets before him under small claims? Anyway why are you talking about small claims? I guess its fair to assume that they haven't been paid so what would you be claiming? Or are you expecting them to sue for non-payment in which case it probably will end up in the County Court. Two other small things:

1. If you suspect Consumer Law has been broken then the place to take your complaint is to Trading Standards who will investigate and prosecute if necessary.

2. There is no such animal as a "small claims court".

Cheers

southcoastrgi

zigglewigler wrote: »

Don't misquote me, I said and I quote 'Please, if you think £200 for a 1 hour job, even on a Sunday represents value, keep it to yourself.'

I didn't mis-quote you

Sunday eve. 20.00pm, what difference would that make? Look up emergency rates for Sunday, all day all night. It's the same.

Not necessarly every company has different rates

Really? The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, look it up. Charges have to be reasonable, along industry standards, so other quotes are exactly what a small claim court would refer to

what do you not understand ? there is no industry standard rates, just because 1 plumber charges one rate another will charge a different rate, ie BG advertise £79 this is for 30 mins work which inc filling out the paperwork which normally takes 15 mins, so you will get 15 mins of work time which isn't long enough to fix anything, so you then go upto the next price tier which is upto 2 hours & the price goes up to over £200 (they don't tell you that on their harry potter flying car ad do they ?)

zigglewigler wrote: »

Wait till Monday? She wanted it done, out all week working.

maybe so, so your mum wanted it done there & then because it wasn't convient for her to take time off of work, so she has to pay for this

Turn stopcock? What do you think happens when she turns it back on when she needed water?

she could have left it off over night, but didn't want to because of the above

But I wasn't there to help.

& that is exactly the crux of the matter, you weren't there, you didn't hear the phone call, you only have your mothers word (now I'm not calling your mother a lier but you can't stand up in court & say they said this & they didn't say this because you don't know)

It will be your mum's word against theirs, maybe instead of reading the consumer rights page you should read their t&c's, because if you read mine you will find that it says


[FONT=&quot](2) Jobs on an hourly rate: The total charge to you will be the time taken by our representative to do the work. It will include all reasonable time spent in obtaining materials. Work will be charged at the published Standard or Emergency rate with a minimum of an hour and thereafter per elapsed quarter hour. For example: if a job takes 1 hour 15 minutes to complete at the Standard Rate (plumbing not gas) the charge will be:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][£50] + [£50 x ¼] = £62.50.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Standard plumbing rate £50/ph (8am – 6pm Monday - Friday)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Standard gas rate £60/ph (8am – 6pm Monday – Friday)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Out of above hours plus emergency rate plumbing/gas plus 50% on above prices. We at our sole discretion reserve the right to extend the above hours or reduce the hourly rate.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]While we do not charge a callout fee, emergency callouts will be charged on an hourly rate from time of start of travel to end of return travel plus time spent on site.[/FONT]

baldelectrician

zigglewigler wrote: »

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, states that call out charges etc., have to be declared upfront, the law doesn't set out what reasonable charges should be,

£60 per hour is quite cheap for Sunday

Just to put things in perspective- and to make you aware of standard industry practise
I own my business, so any discounts are off my income- I do not have to answer to others

If I employed an electrician through the JIB national industry contract he would get 4 hours at time and half for an out of hours call.

This equates to 8 hours at normal rate, say £30.

At standard rates it is usual to charge upon arrival, until job complete
Out of hours it is normal to charge from leaving base to return to base.

I prefer not to do call outs as I have a family, but I have done in the past.
In 1996 I got 4 hours at time and a half for call outs from a company I worked for.

It's all up to you, but your mum could end up with a ccj if this went to court.

I'd say the law you quote says call out charges have to be declared up front- that's why the plumber didn't charge a call out charge. This you admit as he has charged you an hourly rate of £60

The cost of materials is possibly slightly high at £20, but you don't moan at Tesco or ask how much they pay for a tin of beans.
Your mum chose to call a plumber from 20 miles away.

nickj_2

my nieghbour locked herself out of her house , rang the locksmith who turned up , job took 10 seconds and cost £80 , yes it is expensive but that' the cost ,

evoke

£200 seems perfectly reasonable for an emergency callout on a Sunday.

keystone

Mmm. OP seems to have run away!

Cheers