No-Call-Out Charge Plumbers

wimblewomble_2

When is a call out charge not a call out charge?

I had reason to need a plumber to look at a leaky shower.
Not being an expert, I thought I should get someone in who knows what they're doing.

Anyway, the two quotes I got were similar, £89 plus VAT.
My first irritation is why they just didn't say £107 including VAT.
They are trying to make it sound cheaper.
Anyway....

They guy comes along, decides it needs replumbing.
(The water had gone through some tile cracks and waterlogged the plasterboard, so the tiles were coming loose.)

It took him 20 minutes to draw this conclusion.

But, when asked for remedial action, while I organised a new shower, he would not offer any solution.

But, when it came to pay, he expected to be paid for the full hour.
He didn't even spend any time or effort to make things better even slightly. No materials were used in his examination.

Now, whilst the plumbers website had a big star against "No Call Out Charge", as if it were some virtue for the benefit of the customer.

Now my point is, if he effectively stopped working after 20 minutes, and expected to be paid for the full hour, isn't that to all intents and purposes a call-out charge?

PS: Wish I had asked him to spend the rest of the hour hoovering or doing the washing up so I got some use out of him!

bris

Normal practise, do you really expect him to travel to you and only get paid for 20 minutes.

You are being unrealistic, they work on the basis of first hour for x price then billed per hour after that, did you really expect a bill for a fiver?

somethingcorporate

Seems pretty standard that if they are there for less than an hour they will round it up to one - otherwise they just won't bother for jobs like this.

Still, he doesn't sound particularly helpful.

earthstorm

Anyway, the two quotes I got were similar, £89 plus VAT.
My first irritation is why they just didn't say £107 including VAT.
They are trying to make it sound cheaper.

that will depend on how he has set up his VAT accounting, either inclusive or exclusive.

Anyway....

They guy comes along, decides it needs replumbing.
(The water had gone through some tile cracks and waterlogged the plasterboard, so the tiles were coming loose.)

to come to that conclusion he must of examined the shower

Now, whilst the plumbers website had a big star against "No Call Out Charge", as if it were some virtue for the benefit of the customer.

well he has not charged you for him calling, he has charged you for looking at the job and examining the shower to the conclusion it needs replumbing

Now my point is, if he effectively stopped working after 20 minutes, and expected to be paid for the full hour,

well all trades will charge like this.

anytime upto the first hour you will be charged for the full hour, then hourly after that

John_Jizzle

I've had a similar issue. Now if they take less than an hour and want to charge an hour I give them other jobs to do to fill the hour up.

earthstorm

John_Jizzle wrote: »

I've had a similar issue. Now if they take less than an hour and want to charge an hour I give them other jobs to do to fill the hour up.

you do that too. last time i go plumber in to replace a bath tap ( 20 mins) i got him to bleed radiators to get him to work the full hr

wimblewomble_2

bris wrote: »

Normal practise, do you really expect him to travel to you and only get paid for 20 minutes.

You are being unrealistic, they work on the basis of first hour for x price then billed per hour after that, did you really expect a bill for a fiver?

It was his manner. He decided it needed replumbing.
As far as he was concerned, that was the end of the matter.

He quite simply offered no remedial action alternatives to minimise the matter until I could organise a new shower.

I asked for temporary solutions while I organised a permanent fix.
He said he wasn't prepared to put mastic (whatever that is) on it, to reduce the leak, as it wouldn't last permanently.
I said I accepted that a new shower was needed, but could he offer a temp solution?
He was simply disinterested in discussing anything.
I asked if there was anything such as waterproof duct-tape that I could put on the tile-cracks!!
He didn't know. At this point, I felt he was being simply unhelpful.

Guess who won't be asked for a quote for a new shower?

wimblewomble_2

Rant over. Just needed to get it off my chest.

Thanks for replies.

frugal_mike

I feel lucky with my plumber now, he's visited on a few occasions and not charged a penny because it turned out to be a very quick fix. It just guarantees that he gets my money whenever something does actually need doing as he's always the first person I would call.

mattyprice4004

If it was a rant, it should have been in the Praise, Vents and Warnings board.

It's common knowledge most trades do this - when I worked in PC repair people were shocked to find I didn't. Quite often the paid the full hour anyway and then asked for my help again, so I more than made the money back.

hgotsparkle

And this is why I'm thankful my step-dad is a plumber and will come out anytime to help me and won't charge me

But yes, this is normal. The charge doesn't just include the time he was there, it also has to cover his hourly pay or daily rate (if part of a ltd company) and his travel needs to be reclaimed so thats what the charge will cover.