Plumber not Finished Job

Wyrmbald

Hi all,

I'd really like to figure out what I can do about a situation that I'm currently facing.

Last Thursday I had a plumber come to relocate the combi-boiler in our house. He arrived about 9.30am as he said he was finishing a job from the previous day. Then, when I came back at about 2pm to see how he was getting on, he told me he'd been locked out for 2-3 hours as he left the door key and his phone on the inside of the door. He told me he'd be done by 6pm, so I brought my 2 year old daughter back then to a freezing cold house, and had to sit on the sofa with her wrapped in a blanket until about 8pm when he said that he'd done enough and would be back the next day to finish things off. I took him at his word - especially as he'd apparently arrived a bit late to our job after finishing another job. No sign of him on Friday so I spoke to his office at lunchtime and he finally called me at about 2pm to tell me he wouldn't make it over, but would come at 11am on Saturday. Then, on Saturday I heard nothing from him all day despite sending a text and calling at lunchtime, and today he's off sick. Not to mention the fact that this has all been in the middle of a cold snap, and it's been snowing. I understand that there was an accident with the door locking him out, but I just can't get my head around the fact that he didn't either bother to let us know when he'd be back, and four days later we still have a hole in the wall of our house where the old flume was removed.

Anyway, I'm just wondering about the best way to get things resolved now, and would appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Olinda99

Have you paid him, either in full or in part?

SergeantBaker

Wyrmbald said:

Hi all,

I'd really like to figure out what I can do about a situation that I'm currently facing.

Last Thursday I had a plumber come to relocate the combi-boiler in our house. He arrived about 9.30am as he said he was finishing a job from the previous day. Then, when I came back at about 2pm to see how he was getting on, he told me he'd been locked out for 2-3 hours as he left the door key and his phone on the inside of the door. He told me he'd be done by 6pm, so I brought my 2 year old daughter back then to a freezing cold house, and had to sit on the sofa with her wrapped in a blanket until about 8pm when he said that he'd done enough and would be back the next day to finish things off. I took him at his word - especially as he'd apparently arrived a bit late to our job after finishing another job. No sign of him on Friday so I spoke to his office at lunchtime and he finally called me at about 2pm to tell me he wouldn't make it over, but would come at 11am on Saturday. Then, on Saturday I heard nothing from him all day despite sending a text and calling at lunchtime, and today he's off sick. Not to mention the fact that this has all been in the middle of a cold snap, and it's been snowing. I understand that there was an accident with the door locking him out, but I just can't get my head around the fact that he didn't either bother to let us know when he'd be back, and four days later we still have a hole in the wall of our house where the old flume was removed.

Anyway, I'm just wondering about the best way to get things resolved now, and would appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Why not ring the office and ask?

Wyrmbald

Olinda99 said:

Have you paid him, either in full or in part?

Nope not paid anything yet.

Wyrmbald

SergeantBaker said:

Wyrmbald said:

Hi all,

I'd really like to figure out what I can do about a situation that I'm currently facing.

Last Thursday I had a plumber come to relocate the combi-boiler in our house. He arrived about 9.30am as he said he was finishing a job from the previous day. Then, when I came back at about 2pm to see how he was getting on, he told me he'd been locked out for 2-3 hours as he left the door key and his phone on the inside of the door. He told me he'd be done by 6pm, so I brought my 2 year old daughter back then to a freezing cold house, and had to sit on the sofa with her wrapped in a blanket until about 8pm when he said that he'd done enough and would be back the next day to finish things off. I took him at his word - especially as he'd apparently arrived a bit late to our job after finishing another job. No sign of him on Friday so I spoke to his office at lunchtime and he finally called me at about 2pm to tell me he wouldn't make it over, but would come at 11am on Saturday. Then, on Saturday I heard nothing from him all day despite sending a text and calling at lunchtime, and today he's off sick. Not to mention the fact that this has all been in the middle of a cold snap, and it's been snowing. I understand that there was an accident with the door locking him out, but I just can't get my head around the fact that he didn't either bother to let us know when he'd be back, and four days later we still have a hole in the wall of our house where the old flume was removed.

Anyway, I'm just wondering about the best way to get things resolved now, and would appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Why not ring the office and ask?

Yup, I've spoken to the office and they're looking into it. I'm just trying to get an idea of where I stand with it all.

macman

Give him a deadline (maybe 48 hours) to come back and complete the job, otherwise you will ask another contractor to finish the job. Are you saying that the boiler is still decommissioned, or has he relocated it and simply not yet repaired the void left by the old flu? Do you have heating or not?
BTW, a plumber is not qualified to do this work. Is your plumber a GSR RGI? Have you checked that he is registered? To leave you for 4 days with a non-working boiler is not acceptable.

diystarter7

Wyrmbald said:

SergeantBaker said:

Wyrmbald said:

Hi all,

I'd really like to figure out what I can do about a situation that I'm currently facing.

Last Thursday I had a plumber come to relocate the combi-boiler in our house. He arrived about 9.30am as he said he was finishing a job from the previous day. Then, when I came back at about 2pm to see how he was getting on, he told me he'd been locked out for 2-3 hours as he left the door key and his phone on the inside of the door. He told me he'd be done by 6pm, so I brought my 2 year old daughter back then to a freezing cold house, and had to sit on the sofa with her wrapped in a blanket until about 8pm when he said that he'd done enough and would be back the next day to finish things off. I took him at his word - especially as he'd apparently arrived a bit late to our job after finishing another job. No sign of him on Friday so I spoke to his office at lunchtime and he finally called me at about 2pm to tell me he wouldn't make it over, but would come at 11am on Saturday. Then, on Saturday I heard nothing from him all day despite sending a text and calling at lunchtime, and today he's off sick. Not to mention the fact that this has all been in the middle of a cold snap, and it's been snowing. I understand that there was an accident with the door locking him out, but I just can't get my head around the fact that he didn't either bother to let us know when he'd be back, and four days later we still have a hole in the wall of our house where the old flume was removed.

Anyway, I'm just wondering about the best way to get things resolved now, and would appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Why not ring the office and ask?

Yup, I've spoken to the office and they're looking into it. I'm just trying to get an idea of where I stand with it all.

Hi OP

What excuse did the office give and what are they doing to resolve this?

You sound like a good person but IMHO they are taking advantage of this



Tell them clearly and concisely if not done so, you have a babu

There is a chance the guys gone off sick etc and even if that is the case, as they have an office and they know you have a young child, they should come out and fix/dort it out
Do they have reviews on the net? Often reading the negative reviews gives you a good idea if the negs are one off's or routine.

Good luck

Wyrmbald

macman said:

Give him a deadline (maybe 48 hours) to come back and complete the job, otherwise you will ask another contractor to finish the job. Are you saying that the boiler is still decommissioned, or has he relocated it and simply not yet repaired the void left by the old flu? Do you have heating or not?
BTW, a plumber is not qualified to do this work. Is your plumber a GSR RGI? Have you checked that he is registered? To leave you for 4 days with a non-working boiler is not acceptable.

Thanks, we do have the boiler working and I appreciate that he stayed on until 8pm to make sure he at least finished this. Also, he is Gas Safe registered. Perhaps plumber isn't the best way to describe his work, I suppose he's a Gas Engineer.

At the moment, it looks like the remaining work is filling in the hole left where the old plume was removed, moving all of the electrics and controls to the new boiler location, removing some old pipework in the original location, a radiator in our attic that isn't on the system, and unfinished external piping next to the new location of the boiler: the holes through the wall don't look sealed, an outlet pipe needs cutting to length, and there should be a flume venting up over the garage. I think that's everything, but I'm not a plumber.

I will definitely discuss a deadline with his office when I speak to them again.

Wyrmbald

diystarter7 said:

Wyrmbald said:

SergeantBaker said:

Wyrmbald said:

Hi all,

I'd really like to figure out what I can do about a situation that I'm currently facing.

Last Thursday I had a plumber come to relocate the combi-boiler in our house. He arrived about 9.30am as he said he was finishing a job from the previous day. Then, when I came back at about 2pm to see how he was getting on, he told me he'd been locked out for 2-3 hours as he left the door key and his phone on the inside of the door. He told me he'd be done by 6pm, so I brought my 2 year old daughter back then to a freezing cold house, and had to sit on the sofa with her wrapped in a blanket until about 8pm when he said that he'd done enough and would be back the next day to finish things off. I took him at his word - especially as he'd apparently arrived a bit late to our job after finishing another job. No sign of him on Friday so I spoke to his office at lunchtime and he finally called me at about 2pm to tell me he wouldn't make it over, but would come at 11am on Saturday. Then, on Saturday I heard nothing from him all day despite sending a text and calling at lunchtime, and today he's off sick. Not to mention the fact that this has all been in the middle of a cold snap, and it's been snowing. I understand that there was an accident with the door locking him out, but I just can't get my head around the fact that he didn't either bother to let us know when he'd be back, and four days later we still have a hole in the wall of our house where the old flume was removed.

Anyway, I'm just wondering about the best way to get things resolved now, and would appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Why not ring the office and ask?

Yup, I've spoken to the office and they're looking into it. I'm just trying to get an idea of where I stand with it all.

Hi OP

What excuse did the office give and what are they doing to resolve this?

You sound like a good person but IMHO they are taking advantage of this



Tell them clearly and concisely if not done so, you have a babu

There is a chance the guys gone off sick etc and even if that is the case, as they have an office and they know you have a young child, they should come out and fix/dort it out
Do they have reviews on the net? Often reading the negative reviews gives you a good idea if the negs are one off's or routine.

Good luck

Hi, when I phoned their office on Friday they basically said that he shouldn't have promised to come back the next day as he was already booked for another job!?!? After speaking to them this morning, they have now asked for photos of the work left to do so that they can assess how much time will be needed to do it. They do know that I have a 2 year old as I mentioned it on the phone last week. I'm waiting to speak to the office at the moment, but so far it's been shocking to see the way that they do business - apparently just making up times to come and do the work, and then never getting in touch to let us know if things have changed.

Wyrmbald

Thanks very much to everyone who has replied so far.

So, the office have just got back to say that the earliest they can come out is next Tuesday (8 days from now!). I told them it was unaceptable and asked if I should get someone else in to finish the job

So I'd really like to know what my rights are in regard to paying them for what they've done already and getting someone else in to finish the job. If anyone has any insights, I'd be very grateful. Thanks.

diystarter7

Thanks, OP
Do they have feedback on Trustpilot etc? If so and it looks like they care about it, you can leave an honest review re the delay, lack of contact and left in the lurch with a 2 yr old.  Often gets results but keep it concise, honest and  factual. However, you could wind them up but I have done it to people did some windows and they were missing appointments, false promises and then i left a review got a call the same did and sorted the next. They wanted me to remove the review as they had fixed the problem. I refused and pointed them to the fact that I had updated the review as fixed but with the stress and waste of time that came with it. Then they offered mr 50 as a goodwill, i told them to stick it as behind the 50 was I had to remove an honest review. Just them harassing me like that did stress me out but as they were also rude to me initially is the main reason I did not remove it.

Good luck