£120 callout fee charged by "saniflo" plumber - is that the going rate or expensive ?

Inigo_Montoya

My elderly mother had a problem with her saniflo system so had to get a plumber in to look at it
apparently she had to ring up about 5 different plumbers before she found one that was willing to work on saniflo systems - they also had to travel a fair distance from blackpool to lancaster
as it turned out the problem had disappeared when the plumber checked it possibly due to the weather getting warmer
So the plumber said he would charge his callout fee which was £120
Is that expensive or not ? - given that he was willing to work on saniflo systems & had to travel a bit out of his local area ?

edit : also it was not really an emergency or out of hours callout which I assume would make a difference - he did come out fairly quickly though with a couple of days of first contact  

southcoastrgi

Did your mother ask if there was a callout charge or what his rates were before booking the job ?

Doozergirl

That's exactly what we used to pay for an annual service on a Saniflo.


When it's very cold, the pipe can freeze outside and so the Saniflo pumps to try and get the waste out, but it's blocked so the pump continues almost endlessly.  As soon as it thaws, it behaves as normal.  Does that sound familiar? 
  

Inigo_Montoya

to southcoastrgi 
very doubtful as shes a bit clueless when it comes to money & more specifically trying to pin tradepeople down on price before they do they work
Of course she should have but Im just trying to gauge whether on not hes overpriced &/or taken advantage of her  so I can help her find a different plmber next time 

Inigo_Montoya

Doozergirl said:

That's exactly what we used to pay for an annual service on a Saniflo.


When it's very cold, the pipe can freeze outside and so the Saniflo pumps to try and get the waste out, but it's blocked so the pump continues almost endlessly.  As soon as it thaws, it behaves as normal.  Does that sound familiar? 
  

Yes her saniflo drainage pipe travels quite a long distance across a loftspace so thats my suspicion that it froze in the loft causing a blockage & then unfroze when the weather warmed

£120 for a proper service sounds OK but apparently he didnt really do much at all - just checked it was operating OK & said thats £120 please (didnt dismantle anything, clear out the macerator etc ...)

Smithy99

It seems pretty standard in my experience. A lot of plumbers won't go near saniflos. We used a certified saniflo engineer who charges that. We found another who was cheaper (not officially a certified saniflo one) but even he now charges a similar call out rate. 

Doozergirl

Inigo_Montoya said:

Doozergirl said:

That's exactly what we used to pay for an annual service on a Saniflo.


When it's very cold, the pipe can freeze outside and so the Saniflo pumps to try and get the waste out, but it's blocked so the pump continues almost endlessly.  As soon as it thaws, it behaves as normal.  Does that sound familiar? 
  

Yes her saniflo drainage pipe travels quite a long distance across a loftspace so thats my suspicion that it froze in the loft causing a blockage & then unfroze when the weather warmed

£120 for a proper service sounds OK but apparently he didnt really do much at all - just checked it was operating OK & said thats £120 please (didnt dismantle anything, clear out the macerator etc ...)

Yes, but I expect that is their minimum call out. Parts are extra.  

Might have been an idea to service it to get value for money.