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

ThumbRemote

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. 

I have never, ever heard of a plumber (or any other tradesman) charging for giving a simple quote for a job. Can you find a single example of a plumbers website that states a fee for quotes? 

shiraz99

ThumbRemote 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. 

I have never, ever heard of a plumber (or any other tradesman) charging for giving a simple quote for a job. Can you find a single example of a plumbers website that states a fee for quotes? 

There are plenty, a simple Google will show you. I'll let you do your own research.

london21

I hate when they do this, I always ask before someone comes round and prefer for the issue to be fixed than just diagnosis or having a look. 

BestOfTimes

Hi,
Thank you all for your replies and suggestions.

I wrote back to them a couple of days ago, as many of you suggested.  I listed out the problems I had with what happened; (call out charge not made clear; no work done; no quote received or further contact at all) and asked them to cancel the charge.  I have not heard back from them since and so I'm guessing they see my point or it was a mistake in the first place.

To answer a few of your questions:
- I was expecting the work done when I called the plumber, but would not have been put out if he needed to go and get parts etc.
- I new what was wrong with the toilet in the first place, just couldn't fix it, and wouldn't mind if it had involved a bit more work than expected.
- Had he sent a quote, and i didn't get him to do the work, I would understand the charge.  But to never hear from him again after he said he would.

Thanks again for all your replies.  If any more happens I'll let you know.

Appliance_engineer

The op should have received a quote and the plumbing firm is at fault. However, saying that no work was done is nonsense.

The plumbing firm spent money on sending out a plumber who then uses his skill and knowledge to provide a quote. Yes, unfortunately that wasn't sent, and the firm need to rectify that, but once done, the call out charge is perfectly legitimate.

Tradesmen have costs for

Fuel, insurances, admin costs, website costs, training, accountancy, trade association subs, etc, etc. They are not charities. 

A £60 call out fee is not exactly huge for expecting a firm to visit you and to provide a quote.