Sick of being ripped off by emergency plumbers

evoke

My buildings and contents insurance will only pay out if there's an emergency and damage is caused to my property and/or contents.

Being the over-cautious type of person that am, I regularly check for leaks around the house and ensure everything is in working - thereby trying my best to minimise the risk of an plumbing/electrical emergency.

Last year I had a tiny leak from the sink tap (solder issue with copper pipe from tap to isolator valve). My insurance company refused to help as it wasn't an emergency. I had to call out an emergency plumber and was fleeced off to the tune of £270 for a leaking tap repair.

Yesterday I noticed my push-fit green Scalemaster had a small leak on the pipe that is the cold water feed to the boiler. All I wanted done was the Scalemaster removed and replaced with a small piece of copper pipe. Once again my buildings and contents insurance were of no help. I had to call an emergency plumber out and the 15-minute repair ended up costing me £140. That was one hours work and 35 minutes of that was him going shopping to buy a 15mm straight compression coupling (for which he charged me an extra £21 for).

On both occasions the plumbers decided to go shopping for the parts required - very standard parts that I know every plumber should carry in his/her van. The time they took to go shopping was costing me.

So, is there any type of maintenance/insurance plan that I can take out that will fix small leaks, minor electrical issues, issues with the toilet cistern and any other things that could go wrong but are not emergencies?

I simply don't want to go through the experience of calling out emergency plumbers and being stung.

martinthebandit

1. Diy, or;

2. Realise when things are an emergency, both the things you called out an emergency plumber for weren't, and react accordingly, by giving the tradesmen you have researched previously a ring.

darrensurrey

I am confused. Why are you calling these emergency plumbers and not a normal plumber? When I see things, I just call the normal plumber, he comes that afternoon and fixes stuff at his usual rate.

SailorSam

When i've had things like the gas bill or water bill they've sometimes had leaflets in them offering emergency cover for jobs around the house. I normally try to Diy most things so don't know what it cost but it may be worth your while checking.
I agree with you about that guy who needed to go the shops for a simple part, i'd feel ripped off something like that wasn't in his van.

Rosemary7391

Invest in a bucket..? A minor leak isn't an emergency. And locate the stop tap for your property in case you do have a major leak - your insurance company will probably expect you to be reasonable about mitigating the impact of the leak.

evoke

darrensurrey wrote: »

I am confused. Why are you calling these emergency plumbers and not a normal plumber? When I see things, I just call the normal plumber, he comes that afternoon and fixes stuff at his usual rate.

One issue I have is that I'm sometimes not at home for random days in the week so I never take a risk with any leaks.

What I'm after is some sort of home service plan that I could call to get small leaks fixed.

firefox1956

I would have a word with your neighbours & find out who they use for small plumbing / household repairs & go on their recommendations.
Any sort of 'Service Plan' is going to cost you way over the cost of small jobs done by your local guys.
HTH

darrensurrey

evoke wrote: »

One issue I have is that I'm sometimes not at home for random days in the week so I never take a risk with any leaks.

What I'm after is some sort of home service plan that I could call to get small leaks fixed.

Sorry for not replying earlier.

My elderly mum uses British Gas' Homecare. It might not be the cheapest but it gives her peace of mind so is worth it. Plus her son is rubbish at DIY. :rotfl:

ispookie666

After paying out a few times for calling out plumber - I took service plan with a big energy company.
Have used their emergency cover - I think it's worth it.

martinsurrey

evoke wrote: »

One issue I have is that I'm sometimes not at home for random days in the week so I never take a risk with any leaks.

What I'm after is some sort of home service plan that I could call to get small leaks fixed.

Anything like that you buy would not send out an emergency same day plumber for a dripping tap, or if you could find one it would cost £000's as they would need plumbers sitting around all day not doing much...

if you find a small leak, get a normal plumber in, and if you are leaving the house for a few days, turn the water off before you go.

[Deleted User]

Home serve are quite competively priced, about £6 a month I think and will cover you for leeks, broken toilet etc. I've well had my moneys worth with our old plumbing.