Plumber overcharged

Peeweeontour

Hello

Apologies in advance for the long post, I've got an odd situation and not sure how to proceed..

I had a leak in the property i am renting out. My tenants phoned an emergency plumber at 4am who came out and and stopped the leak. This involved removing lots of tiles from a bath panel as my stopcock was jammed so he had to find the stopcock for the shower behind the bath panel. For this the charge was around £400. Quite high but it was an emergency etc so thought this was ok.

I phoned my insurers and they agreed for me to have the leak found and repaired and they will assess and cover the water damage. I am covered for track and access upto £1000.

The plumber returned the next day to find the source of the leak and repair it. This involved removing more tiles, fixing the valve which had corroded and replacing the tiles. He was there for 4 hours and charged over £400 for this.

My tennants paid the plumber via iZettle as they were there and I reimbursed them.

The plumber said he would send a report for me to claim for the track and access from the insurers but I have yet to receive this. It was over 3 weeks ago. I have phoned him numerous times, he has always answered and claims its with 'the office' with various excuses as to why its taking so long. I have phoned the office which either goes through to the plumber or no answer.

I've now looked into him further online and there is 1 bad review saying he is a liar and a cheat, and a few other good reviews which are most likely fake.

I am not sure what redress I have? I think I have been overcharged however as it was an emergency and we had no idea where the leak was there was no way to agree a price before. Would I be able to do anything via small claims? or claim from iZettle?

Thanks for reading if you have got this far!

Marktheshark

You are talking a plumbers rates here, a highly skilled tradesman who managed to stop a water leak wrecking your house, not some wet behind the ears kid who flips burgers or works in a shoe shop.
A serious leak stopped at 4am, then the damaged repaired next day and all back working and you have change from a grand ?

I would post his number, thats a cheap plumber.

Peeweeontour

yeah I know I wasn't bothered by the initial £400 call out charge but the £480 for 4 hours work when he returned (it was 2 days after the initial call out not the day after so not an emergency) I thought was a bit steep however as you say the leak was fixed so I was ok with it initially.

My main concern is that I haven't received the report and so cannot claim against my insurance for any of this and looking into him further it seems he isn't quite what he seems (fake addresses, bad review, good reviews look very dodgy etc)

Is there any way I can force him to provide a report.

Peeweeontour

He also sent me an odd text on the day that he returned pretending to be from his boss saying I would need to arrange payment immediately. Upon looking into the company he is the sole proprietor so he doesn't have a boss? its just all very strange!

mije1983

What do other plumbers in your area charge for the same job?

naedanger

Peeweeontour wrote: »

My main concern is that I haven't received the report and so cannot claim against my insurance for any of this ...

I think you should concentrate on this (at least for now) rather than being concerned about the charges.

How did you pay the plumber? (It may be relevant.)

Peeweeontour

The tennants paid via izettle so either with their credit card or debit card.

wealdroam

naedanger wrote: »

How did you pay the plumber? (It may be relevant.)

In the opening post we are told:

Peeweeontour wrote: »

My tennants paid the plumber via iZettle as they were there and I reimbursed them.

naedanger

wealdroam wrote: »

In the opening post we are told:

True enough, I missed that bit.

As I don't know about iZettle I cannot comment if that helps the op.

wealdroam

Peeweeontour, I'm pretty sure that no payment method will help you get the necessary document.

It looks to me that you are asking for the report after after the work has been completed, and unless 'the report' was part of the work that has been paid for, then you are relying on the goodwill of the plumber to supply it.

Maybe asking the plumber how much he wants to supply the report will achieve your objective.

Peeweeontour

I have also been charged vat but have not been provided with a vat number or invoice... Just looking into whether that's an avenue to pursue. Any thoughts?...