Blocked sewer-price?

jules2021

Hi all,

So my aunt has a water meter that's leaking-called Severn Trent and they said best get a plumber to look at it as it's on your property. Called around plumbers and only one got back to her (think we found out later the reason he was available!) So he came out and one of the sewers was filled up as well so he decided to tackle this first-quoted over £700 for unblocking this!  I appreciate it's not a pleasant job, but still !!!!!!. However he didn't even fix it as it just filled up again the next day. He quoted over £1k  to fix the water meter leak. So my aunt said "better get onto Severn Trent again first" and thought this was hugely extortionate. She's already paid the sewer fee unfortunately which he didn't even fix.

Severn Trent finally decided they could come out after all and managed to unblock the sewer with the rods (it was tree roots) and it didn't even cost anything (fantastic service only wish they'd come out before!) and are going to look at water meter next week.

I'm pretty upset my aunt got ripped off like this-happy to be corrected as I'm clueless how much this should cost, but it's a complete rip off right? Not much we can do except leave a review saying "way too expensive and didn't even do the job". My aunt is out nearly £800 when Severn Trent did it for free, gutted...

getmore4less

Joint sewers are the responsibility of the water companies even if on your land.

Plumber should know that, might be worth a claim.

jules2021

@getmore4less Hi thanks! How do you know if they are joint sewers, sorry bit dense when it comes to plumbing...

getmore4less

It's not always obvious, location of the manholes and access points can be a clue.

Ask the people that come to look at the leak.
The can probably access the maps.

jules2021

@getmore4less I see, thank you!

jules2021

I just checked reviews for the guy and he has almost zilch on his facebook page and yet a review basically every day (almost all praising him except one or two that mention how expensive he is) on another review page. I dunno seems dodgy to me, do plumbers get THAT many reviews. Unfortunately my aunt paid him for the work thinking he had fixed the blockage but turns out he hadn't as it just blocked up again. I guess he thinks he fixed it as well, but sadly not. Ugh I hate to see her upset about this she feels like she's been fleeced.