When a drain clearing job has nearly a 300% mark-up from a go-between...

JJAM

I had no idea that you can put a deposit down for an apple from Tesco based on the likely cost.

Sandtree

JJAM said:

Totally fine with paying the person who did it £85. 

My issue is with the go-between plumber who applied a near 300% mark-up to that amount.

First of all its a 200% markup...

0% markup = £85
100% markup = £85 + £85 = £160
200% markup = £85 + (£85 * 2) = £245

Secondly, you only have his word that he'd have charged you £85... its very easy when you have no commitment to say it'd been cheaper if you were direct or we'd have done something FoC if you'd bought from us - Apple are well known for saying they'd have fixed something for free if you bought from them but as you bought from Argos is a £300 bill.

Thirdly, you really dont want to look into how much markup other companies are adding to what they pay the provider, its vastly more than 200% (or 300% for that matter).

Have you actually asked the plumber what the final price is? You say the £250 was a ballpark figure and so it may well be less (or more) than this. Harsh to criticise over the final price without knowing what the final price is yet.

As you said, you paid him as you trusted his judgement... next time if you want to take a punt and choose someone at random from the yellow pages or equivalent then you may or may not get a cheaper price and your may or may not get a cowboy.