Plumber stayed 10 mins, didn't quote, but sent a bill.

BestOfTimes

Hi, not sure I'm not here just to vent!

Called a plumber out to look at a broken toilet.  He told me what the hourly rate would be and never mentioned a callout charge.  When he arrived he took one look at it and spent less than 10 minutes in my house.  He just said he would send a quote as he left.  The quote never arrived and I never heard from him until the bill for his call out charge arrived.  £60 for 10 mins and no intension of doing the job.

Is it just me or is there something wrong with this?

Thank you to all who reply.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hello OP

Did he actually fix the problem? Re-reading it suggests he didn’t, if so why not?

There is certain information that should be given and how it’s required to be given depends upon the type of contact. 

How did you engage his services?

BestOfTimes

Hi,
No repair was made or any work done.  He took a picture and left.  
They are a local firm, I found them on the internet and contacted them via their website.  We set up the appointment by e-mail.

Thanks for your reply.

ThumbRemote

Giving the benefit of the doubt, could they possibly have made a mistake - perhaps forgotten to send the quote, then realised there was a job unaccounted for so sent an invoice instead?

Maybe go back to them and say they were only coming out to give a quote, which you haven't yet received. Certainly don't pay the invoice. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

BestOfTimes said:

Hi,
No repair was made or any work done.  He took a picture and left.  
They are a local firm, I found them on the internet and contacted them via their website.  We set up the appointment by e-mail.

Thanks for your reply.

It’s a bit odd as I’d expect a plumber to fix something like this in one visit, unless it was a complicated issue?

Generally you wouldn’t expect to pay for a quote unless it was clearly stated.

Did they tell you what the problem is? Are they coming back to fix it? 

DullGreyGuy

What was the hourly rate?

Putting aside the no work done bit, any company that comes out to your home will have a minimum time charge, often 1-2 hours, as whilst he may be in your home for 10 minutes unless you live above his shop the job has cost him much more time than that. 

Jumblebumble

BestOfTimes said:

Hi, not sure I'm not here just to vent!

Called a plumber out to look at a broken toilet.  He told me what the hourly rate would be and never mentioned a callout charge.  When he arrived he took one look at it and spent less than 10 minutes in my house.  He just said he would send a quote as he left.  The quote never arrived and I never heard from him until the bill for his call out charge arrived.  £60 for 10 mins and no intension of doing the job.

Is it just me or is there something wrong with this?

Thank you to all who reply.

I personally would not pay.
I suspect the company are trying it on and should be told to jog on.

pinkshoes

BestOfTimes said:

Hi, not sure I'm not here just to vent!

Called a plumber out to look at a broken toilet.  He told me what the hourly rate would be and never mentioned a callout charge.  When he arrived he took one look at it and spent less than 10 minutes in my house.  He just said he would send a quote as he left.  The quote never arrived and I never heard from him until the bill for his call out charge arrived.  £60 for 10 mins and no intension of doing the job.

Is it just me or is there something wrong with this?

Thank you to all who reply.

Dear Plumber,

Thank you for your invoice, but I'm not sure why you are sending me this. I contacted you via email to come and quote to fix my toilet, so please could you send the quote to so I know how much it will be to get the toilet fixed and compare it to other quotes?

Thank you,

BestOfTimes

I'm assuming as you contacted him via email it wasn't an emergency come out immediately sort of job? Also, was his hourly rate £360 an hour??

shiraz99

pinkshoes said:

BestOfTimes said:

Hi, not sure I'm not here just to vent!

Called a plumber out to look at a broken toilet.  He told me what the hourly rate would be and never mentioned a callout charge.  When he arrived he took one look at it and spent less than 10 minutes in my house.  He just said he would send a quote as he left.  The quote never arrived and I never heard from him until the bill for his call out charge arrived.  £60 for 10 mins and no intension of doing the job.

Is it just me or is there something wrong with this?

Thank you to all who reply.

Dear Plumber,

Thank you for your invoice, but I'm not sure why you are sending me this. I contacted you via email to come and quote to fix my toilet, so please could you send the quote to so I know how much it will be to get the toilet fixed and compare it to other quotes?

Thank you,

BestOfTimes

I'm assuming as you contacted him via email it wasn't an emergency come out immediately sort of job? Also, was his hourly rate £360 an hour??

Did they though, my reading of the OP suggests they called out the plumber to "look at" the toilet with an idea to fix it. It doesn't sound like it was made clear that they were just asking someone to come just for a quote, plus whenever you ask a plumber to come out it's common that a callout fee will exist regardless if they actually do any work or not.

Also, as an aside, hourly rates don't work like that, you're billed up to the full hour (half hour if you're lucky).

Having said that, it is a legal requirement for any tradesman to inform you of any callout charges prior to visiting your property. If the plumber didn't do this then they can whistle for their fee.

user1977

shiraz99 said:

pinkshoes said:

BestOfTimes said:

Hi, not sure I'm not here just to vent!

Called a plumber out to look at a broken toilet.  He told me what the hourly rate would be and never mentioned a callout charge.  When he arrived he took one look at it and spent less than 10 minutes in my house.  He just said he would send a quote as he left.  The quote never arrived and I never heard from him until the bill for his call out charge arrived.  £60 for 10 mins and no intension of doing the job.

Is it just me or is there something wrong with this?

Thank you to all who reply.

Dear Plumber,

Thank you for your invoice, but I'm not sure why you are sending me this. I contacted you via email to come and quote to fix my toilet, so please could you send the quote to so I know how much it will be to get the toilet fixed and compare it to other quotes?

Thank you,

BestOfTimes

I'm assuming as you contacted him via email it wasn't an emergency come out immediately sort of job? Also, was his hourly rate £360 an hour??

Did they though, my reading of the OP suggests they called out the plumber to "look at" the toilet with an idea to fix it. It doesn't sound like it was made clear that they were just asking someone to come just for a quote, plus whenever you ask someone to come out it's incumbent on you to check whether any callout fees exist.

Also, as an aside, hourly rates don't work like that, you're billed up to the full hour (half hour if you're lucky).

Having said that, it is a legal requirement for any tradesman to inform you of any callout charges prior to visiting your property. If the plumber didn't do this then they can whistle for their fee.

Well, what is his fee for, if he neither fixed it nor even provided a quote? The pleasure of his company for 10 minutes?

shiraz99

user1977 said:

shiraz99 said:

pinkshoes said:

BestOfTimes said:

Hi, not sure I'm not here just to vent!

Called a plumber out to look at a broken toilet.  He told me what the hourly rate would be and never mentioned a callout charge.  When he arrived he took one look at it and spent less than 10 minutes in my house.  He just said he would send a quote as he left.  The quote never arrived and I never heard from him until the bill for his call out charge arrived.  £60 for 10 mins and no intension of doing the job.

Is it just me or is there something wrong with this?

Thank you to all who reply.

Dear Plumber,

Thank you for your invoice, but I'm not sure why you are sending me this. I contacted you via email to come and quote to fix my toilet, so please could you send the quote to so I know how much it will be to get the toilet fixed and compare it to other quotes?

Thank you,

BestOfTimes

I'm assuming as you contacted him via email it wasn't an emergency come out immediately sort of job? Also, was his hourly rate £360 an hour??

Did they though, my reading of the OP suggests they called out the plumber to "look at" the toilet with an idea to fix it. It doesn't sound like it was made clear that they were just asking someone to come just for a quote, plus whenever you ask someone to come out it's incumbent on you to check whether any callout fees exist.

Also, as an aside, hourly rates don't work like that, you're billed up to the full hour (half hour if you're lucky).

Having said that, it is a legal requirement for any tradesman to inform you of any callout charges prior to visiting your property. If the plumber didn't do this then they can whistle for their fee.

Well, what is his fee for, if he neither fixed it nor even provided a quote? The pleasure of his company for 10 minutes?

It's a callout fee, nearly all plumbers charge them.