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

ThumbRemote

shiraz99 said:

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.

Not for giving a quote!

shiraz99

ThumbRemote said:

shiraz99 said:

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.

Not for giving a quote!

Again, it's not established that that's all the OP asked for and secondly, I think you'll find that callout fees are charged by many plumbers, even for quotes. Maybe you're confusing standard callout charges and emergency callouts. 

user1977

shiraz99 said:

ThumbRemote said:

shiraz99 said:

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.

Not for giving a quote!

Again, it's not established that that's all the OP asked for and secondly, I think you'll find that callout fees are charged by many plumbers, even for quotes. Maybe you're confusing standard callout charges and emergency callouts. 

Yes, I'm familiar with callout charges as a minimum fee for actually doing some work, and I've also heard of charging a fee for providing a quote - but what is the OP's bill for?

Jumblebumble

shiraz99 said:

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.

Would you pay the plumber in this instance?
If you would you are every con merchants dream customer

shiraz99

Jumblebumble said:

shiraz99 said:

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.

Would you pay the plumber in this instance?
If you would you are every con merchants dream customer

As I already clearly stated, if the plumber charges a callout fee then he's legally obliged to inform the customer of this prior to visiting the premises. If this wasn't done, then no I wouldn't pay.

shiraz99

user1977 said:

shiraz99 said:

ThumbRemote said:

shiraz99 said:

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.

Not for giving a quote!

Again, it's not established that that's all the OP asked for and secondly, I think you'll find that callout fees are charged by many plumbers, even for quotes. Maybe you're confusing standard callout charges and emergency callouts. 

Yes, I'm familiar with callout charges as a minimum fee for actually doing some work, and I've also heard of charging a fee for providing a quote - but what is the OP's bill for?

Why are you asking me, you need to point your question to the OP. In fact, if you read the OP they already state the £60 bill is for a callout charge.

born_again

shiraz99 said:

As I already clearly stated, if the plumber charges a callout fee then he's legally obliged to inform the customer of this prior to visiting the premises. If this wasn't done, then no I wouldn't pay.

As OP stated they looked at their website. It could be stated on there.

It would seem odd to charge a call out fee if someone was asking for just a quote, but we do not know what the OP asked them. It could have been can you fix this. To which they may have said no & sent out a std callout charge,

shiraz99

born_again said:

shiraz99 said:

As I already clearly stated, if the plumber charges a callout fee then he's legally obliged to inform the customer of this prior to visiting the premises. If this wasn't done, then no I wouldn't pay.

As OP stated they looked at their website. It could be stated on there.

It would seem odd to charge a call out fee if someone was asking for just a quote, but we do not know what the OP asked them. It could have been can you fix this. To which they may have said no & sent out a std callout charge,

If that's the case then I don't see the OP has any comeback. I know it can be seen as pretty bad service to charge a callout fee for just a quote but the plumbing industry have been doing this for years so it's not that unusual.

pinkshoes

I've never known any plumber to charge a call out fee to come round and quote!

Only for an emergency call out, which is fair enough, but the OP said they emailed and asked for a quote, so not an emergency.

Otherwise turning up for 10 mins, charging £60 then not sending a quote would be quite a lucrative business!

Manxman_in_exile

The OP should just contact the plumber and ask for clarification of what the invoice is for as (1) he didn't fix the toilet and (2) he hasn't provided a quote.

I suspect it may simply be a ****up by the plumber (or whoever does his bookeeping).

But as @shiraz99 says, depending on the precise circumstances (and I'm not sure the OP has provided enough detail) I'm not surprised there's been a call out charge.  I would have half expected it and if I'd been the OP I'd have clarified it in advance.

As @born_again said, it might be clear on the website...