£100 for a 2 minute job?

Mickey666

To be fair though, it's a free country so perhaps people should be able to opt-out of lockdown:

MalMonroe

matticus7 said:

Hi,

We recently purchased our new home and noticed a leak stain on the kitchen ceiling directly above the bath.

The previous owners had sealed the bath panel in with the floor tiles and wall tiles which meant having to rip the bath panel off to get underneath.

After doing some checks myself I thought it was the overflow pipe causing the issue and went out and got a new one and replaced it myself. 

As the bath was still leaking when just draining water normally I realised it must be the pipes themselves and noticed that the rubber seal of the pipe had snapped.

After many hours of working on it myself I gave up and contacted a plumber with good ratings on checkatrade and advised there was no rush as the shower (seperate) still drained fine.

3 days later I've just had 2 lads walk in (with no PPE but that's a different gripe!). He sent the lad to the van to get a rubber seal for the pipe, was done in 2 minutes and invoiced me £76+vat for the trouble.

When I booked the job in I wasn't given a price or callout charge as I thought they would come out, see what needs done, give me a quote and we'd go from there.

What they did was give me an appointment, turn up, do 2 minutes of work without mentioning costs, told me it was done and gave me a £100 bill for 2 minutes work.

I paid them as I've got the kids at home on my own and didn't want to dispute it in front of them but that feels like an awful lot for what it was and if they charge based on a callout then surely that should have been mentioned up front?

Not from choice but I am a single mother who has learned a lot by some really bad experiences. In the first instance now I always ask at the first point of contact what I'm going to be charged. If I don't like said charge, I move on. 

It sounds as if you didn't even ask them when they turned up what they were going to charge either. First thing I'd do. PLUS it's YOUR property and if you want people to use PPE before they come in you need to tell them. Don't risk your family being infected with a deadly disease because you are too embarrassed to say. If they won't use it, tell them to go. I live in a council property where workmen turned up during the first couple of weeks of the first lockdown to replace the shower, without any PPE at all. I said they were not coming in without it and to their credit they did fetch some - because the council had actually given them some but they had 'left it in the van'.

You say this "I've got the kids at home on my own and didn't want to dispute it in front of them". But why on earth not? You shouldn't ever be afraid to challenge, haggle, question tradespeople and stand up for yourself in front of your children. It doesn't matter how old they are, if they see that their Mum (in my case) is not someone who just lies down and rolls over, it's all good for them. I'd never use my kids as an excuse for workmen to rip me off exactly as they pleased.

I think they've charged too much, yes. But there's not a lot you can do about it now and the job's done. Hopefully, a good 'un! Next time, ask questions, though. That's my advice. Always ask (relevant, obviously!) questions.

abc987

Always hold back 40% of the payment for approximately a fortnight, to allow you to check the work properly.
Usually, once they have your money, they loose interest and don't even bother turning up when things go wrong. (not all of them thou)

matticus7

So I just (like right now, 10:36pm) got around to checking the overflow and no wonder it was still leaking... I could move the overflow drain around extremely easily without any resistance so there was no seal formed between the drain and the pipe behind!

I did a better job at screwing it onto the bath the first time around before they took it off and screwed it back on themselves.

Thankfully they didn't put sealant on the overflow and top drain so I'll just replace that part and the overflow pipe if needed.

southcoastrgi

They looked at the job, went to the van, repaired or tried to repair the leak, that took all of 2 mins 🤔
what about the time it took to drive to your house & drive back, what about the fuel, what about the cost of running a business, the vat isn't theirs it's the tax mans, on a side note a hairdresser is more skilled 🤣🤣 

southcoastrgi

abc987 said:

Always hold back 40% of the payment for approximately a fortnight, to allow you to check the work properly.
Usually, once they have your money, they loose interest and don't even bother turning up when things go wrong. (not all of them thou)

Do you go to Tesco & say I'm not paying 40% of my shopping bill in case I don't like your lettuce 

Jeepers_Creepers

abc987 said:

Always hold back 40% of the payment for approximately a fortnight, to allow you to check the work properly.
Usually, once they have your money, they loose interest and don't even bother turning up when things go wrong. (not all of them thou)

No, not all of them. I'd hazard actually a small minority. So wouldn't that be punishing them all for the sake of a few?

matticus7

I fixed the overflow. As I thought they put it on way too loose and it was letting water through the sides that should form a seal between the overflow drain and the pipe behind the bath. 

southcoastrgi said:

They looked at the job, went to the van, repaired or tried to repair the leak, that took all of 2 mins 🤔
what about the time it took to drive to your house & drive back, what about the fuel, what about the cost of running a business, the vat isn't theirs it's the tax mans, on a side note a hairdresser is more skilled 🤣🤣 

You're arguing that a hairdresser isn't more skilled than 2 plumbers who had to return to a job they didn't fix the first time (despite being told exactly where the fault was) and didn't fix it the second time only for their customer to end up finishing the job for them?

I can't recall at time when I've asked for a haircut, paid for it, walked out with half of it done and then had to get the clippers out and finish the job when I got home

abc987

southcoastrgi said:

abc987 said:

Always hold back 40% of the payment for approximately a fortnight, to allow you to check the work properly.
Usually, once they have your money, they loose interest and don't even bother turning up when things go wrong. (not all of them thou)

Do you go to Tesco & say I'm not paying 40% of my shopping bill in case I don't like your lettuce 

Tesco. That's not a fair comparison of services.
That's like comparing Apples with Oranges.
I know so many people this has happened to. The tradesman take your money, and when things go wrong and you try and get them back to fix it, they just stop answering the phone.
What's the objection to being paid 40% 2 weeks later. Simple bank transfer of the said 40%, job done (as they say in the trade).

Emmia

abc987 said:

southcoastrgi said:

abc987 said:

Always hold back 40% of the payment for approximately a fortnight, to allow you to check the work properly.
Usually, once they have your money, they loose interest and don't even bother turning up when things go wrong. (not all of them thou)

Do you go to Tesco & say I'm not paying 40% of my shopping bill in case I don't like your lettuce 

Tesco. That's not a fair comparison of services.
That's like comparing Apples with Oranges.
I know so many people this has happened to. The tradesman take your money, and when things go wrong and you try and get them back to fix it, they just stop answering the phone.
What's the objection to being paid 40% 2 weeks later. Simple bank transfer of the said 40%, job done (as they say in the trade).

They are of course relying on you to pay the 40% later on. Chasing non payment is time consuming and not without cost - so taking this approach would make them charge more overall.

Would you work for an employer who withholds 40% of your salary until after your annual review, on the promise they'll pay you if they deem it is satisfactory?