Grrrr - plumbers 'no show'

sagalout1954

What is it about the plumbing profession! :huh: (Sorry to tar you all with the same brush.)

I appreciate they are busy, skilled tradespeople, but to advertise "no job too small", agree a day and pm (for a job you say will take 1 hour) then simply not bother to either show up or even ring/text to cancel is infuriating.

Yesterday I took the whole afternoon off work (unpaid) because he said he'd be here at some point in the afternoon, wasted 6 hours waiting for this "Gas Safe, fully insured, work guaranteed, gas/plumbing/bathroom installation, no job too small" advertising numpty to unprofessionally let me down.

So AM PLUMBING located in Milton Keynes, you can feature on my facebook page (at the very least), as an unreliable, unprofessional, time waster.

I have arranged for a washing machine to be delivered, connected and old one taken away - the latter 2 tasks cannot be done by the supplier (until a plumber has fixed a problem) so a further £20 for those paid for services down the drain.

Rant over.

Sooler

Try DIY, you'll probably be able to do a better job.

sodukoman

Totally agree. We came home in January this year to broken central heating. I called a so called gas safe guy who told me it was an obsolete boiler and parts were no longer available and that a new boiler was the only solution.

A bit of online research and I found what caused the breakdown and that the part was (and is still) available for £85 delivered, I repaired it myself within an hour of delivery and 10 months later heating is still working. No I shouldn't have fitted the part myself....I wouldn't have had to if the Gas Safe Engineer hadn't lied to me.

unclebulgaria

sorry to hear you were let down by this plumber.
Can I just ask if you had any form of written confirmation of this visit?
If you have I'd send him a bill for your timer off. I'm a self employed plumbing and heating tradesman and I often invoice customers who miss appointments and they don't do it again! I specifically tell them be in or be invoiced for my time!
Whats probably happened is he's found another job to do thats more profitable so has dumped you. Post on lots of review sites his company name and what he did, he won't do it again.

gilly1964

Just checked the Gas Safe Register and AM Plumbing are not on it so hope he is not advertising as this.

Really ticks me off as my OH and his colleagues go through so much stress and expense every 3 years to renew their certification.

cutandshut

sodukoman wrote: »

Totally agree. We came home in January this year to broken central heating. I called a so called gas safe guy who told me it was an obsolete boiler and parts were no longer available and that a new boiler was the only solution.

A bit of online research and I found what caused the breakdown and that the part was (and is still) available for £85 delivered, I repaired it myself within an hour of delivery and 10 months later heating is still working. No I shouldn't have fitted the part myself....I wouldn't have had to if the Gas Safe Engineer hadn't lied to me.

I thought it was OK to carry out work on your own installation, without being registered, if you are competant.

sagalout1954

gilly1964 wrote: »

Just checked the Gas Safe Register and AM Plumbing are not on it so hope he is not advertising as this.

Really ticks me off as my OH and his colleagues go through so much stress and expense every 3 years to renew their certification.

He's using the Gas Safe logo in his local paper ad, though I think there is supposed to be some sort of registration number below it - can't quite make out his (too small). I think I will investigate that further.

I really do understand that a job worth more money probably came along, I don't exactly begrudge him that (though he had made a commitment to me), times are hard for people and Christmas is approaching and all that, but he should have had the professional good manners to text and postpone/cancel.

Job done now, got a guy whose ad contains home address and makes no claims regarding qualifications, offers "free advice" & clearly been plumbing for donkey's years. Popped in the day I rang, exactly when he said he would, job done in 15 minutes. Did redeem my negative view of plumbers somewhat :T Thanks for comments all.

shaun_from_Africa

cutandshut wrote: »

I thought it was OK to carry out work on your own installation, without being registered, if you are competant.

This is correct.
If it is your own property and it is not being used for business purposes or being let out, then there is nothing in law to stop you working on gas appliances or gas installations provided that you are competent. (although this word isn't defined in the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations.)

In most cases, it certainly isn't advisable for people to work on gas systems in their house, but there are some cases where they may well be able to do the job as safely as a suitable qualified person.
However, it may well be a requirement under household insurance policies that only suitably quilified persons are allowed to do this work otherwise the policy may be voided.

abandonded

You can check the gas safe register here:

http://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/help/report_an_illegal_gas_engineer.aspx


If they are not on the register and are advertising that they are gas safe registered, report them on:

0800 408 5500