Totally ripped off by plumber

bethsmart

Hiya. I was charged £632 to change two small parts on our hot water tank. The engineer was shocked by the price but his office wouldn’t let him leave until we had paid. He gave us an indication it would be about a third of this amount. We have been totally ripped off. Is there anything we can do? 

MovingForwards

Was it an emergency call out / out of hours?
Did you have any quote (s) before the work was done?
Where did you find the company?

hollydays

Name the company.

Alfrescodave

How long was he there? It might be only 2 small parts but could have taken hours to fit if access was difficult.   More details if we are to agree with you or not 

hollydays

I think it's fair to say if it took hours, the op would have said, but I agree.

Undervalued

bethsmart said:

Hiya. I was charged £632 to change two small parts on our hot water tank. The engineer was shocked by the price but his office wouldn’t let him leave until we had paid. He gave us an indication it would be about a third of this amount. We have been totally ripped off. Is there anything we can do? 

What form did this "indication" take? Whilst an estimate is not an exact binding quote, it should nevertheless be prepared with reasonable skill and give a realistic indication of cost. So, "about a third of that" would be in the low two hundreds. So a final bill of £250 or so may be acceptable but more that that would need some proper justification and you should have had the opportunity to decline to have the work done and look elsewhere. 

Hasbeen

bethsmart said:

Hiya. I was charged £632 to change two small parts on our hot water tank. The engineer was shocked by the price but his office wouldn’t let him leave until we had paid. He gave us an indication it would be about a third of this amount. We have been totally ripped off. Is there anything we can do? 

No. Not at this time, as you have provided no details about nature of repair. Time taken. So no one can even start to give you any advice about your "totally ripped off" post?

fred246

It always intrigues me how these rip offs are normally done by male dominated jobs. You never hear someone say "I got a mobile hairdresser to do my hair and they charged £600."

MovingForwards

fred246 said:

It always intrigues me how these rip offs are normally done by male dominated jobs. You never hear someone say "I got a mobile hairdresser to do my hair and they charged £600."

Possibly due to the hairdresser taking cash and not costing as much as attending a regular hairdresser (I pay £15 for a home visit!)

fred246

They both come to your house with all their equipment and are similar skill levels. I would say plumbing is a lot easier than hairdressing.

hollydays

A prominent lawyer calls a plumber to fix a leak in his shower. After about 25 minutes the plumber hands him a bill for £400. The lawyer, enraged, says: “I’m a famous trial lawyer, and even I don’t make that kind of money for 25 minutes work!” “Neither did I when I was a lawyer”, says the plumber.