Feel ripped off by plumber

GDB2222

ThisIsWeird said:

You seem to have paid top whack, right enough KP, but whether it's 'overcharged' is debatable; it turned out to be a double-visit job, because - astonishingly - he didn't have one of these generic wastes in the back of his van.

Considering how quick and simple the actual 'repair' was, and how you'd removed the panel for him, I'd agree that it showed a lack of integrity/empathy/consideration/whatevs for him to have charged what he did - surely the max amount he could have 'got away' with! But, it's a fait-accompli, and you now know the guy's calibre.

And, yes, it's compounded by him trying to fob you off with whatever carp came into his head, now that you've actually challenged him - a £55 waste, indeed. The alternative would have been for him to have 'fessed up that it only cost him a £iver, and he's doing very nicely at your expense - thank you. So he ain't going to do that 'cos he'd expose himself as the exploitative wad that he is.

Leave honest feedback if you wish, but certainly take the advice given earlier - get some personal recommendations for good and honest tradesfolk in your area.

It wasn’t top whack. I called Pimlico Plumbers out for a repair, and their prices make this look pretty reasonable. 

ThisIsWeird

GDB2222 said:

ThisIsWeird said:

You seem to have paid top whack, right enough KP, but whether it's 'overcharged' is debatable; it turned out to be a double-visit job, because - astonishingly - he didn't have one of these generic wastes in the back of his van.

Considering how quick and simple the actual 'repair' was, and how you'd removed the panel for him, I'd agree that it showed a lack of integrity/empathy/consideration/whatevs for him to have charged what he did - surely the max amount he could have 'got away' with! But, it's a fait-accompli, and you now know the guy's calibre.

And, yes, it's compounded by him trying to fob you off with whatever carp came into his head, now that you've actually challenged him - a £55 waste, indeed. The alternative would have been for him to have 'fessed up that it only cost him a £iver, and he's doing very nicely at your expense - thank you. So he ain't going to do that 'cos he'd expose himself as the exploitative wad that he is.

Leave honest feedback if you wish, but certainly take the advice given earlier - get some personal recommendations for good and honest tradesfolk in your area.

It wasn’t top whack. I called Pimlico Plumbers out for a repair, and their prices make this look pretty reasonable. 

Ah, Pimlico Plumbers! Yes, a law unto themselves - the wee scamps.

Yes, the OP could also be in central London where different rules seem to apply. But, really, you remove the panel yourself, call out a plumber - who seemingly came out at a time that suited them (ie, non-emergency) - ID'd the issue very quickly, went off to buy a £5 part, and it's a two-minute job to fit.

Now, I fully accept that this plumber could 'justify' the charge if required to in terms of his standard charges, 'time' taken, and things like that, so there would be no chance of challenging him over it in any way that could 'force' them to refund any. But it isn't as simple as that, is it, or at least I don't think it should always be. 

I think it takes some gall to charge such a sum of a single-parent who has done half the job for you and caused you no sweat whatsoever. He can justify it to himself, but - if I knew this person - I'd have questions over his personal integrity. The fact that he claimed - when challenged - that the new waste cost an absurd £55 speaks volumes. 

He can 'justify' it, but I think he's a bottom. 

And he also claimed he 'had' to replace the whole waste (seemingly not true), and claimed he'd done so (ditto). An expensive double-bottom.

Section62

summer_daze009 said:

Having you bank transfer the money to his girlfriends account is highly suspect and tells you all you need to know about this plumber...

No it doesn't.  It is fairly common for sole traders to have a partner who does the books and looks after the money side of things.  Without knowing the details of the plumber's personal life and what arrangements he has with his OH, it is impossible to say whether or not having the payment made to her account is "highly suspect".

Doozergirl

Section62 said:

summer_daze009 said:

Having you bank transfer the money to his girlfriends account is highly suspect and tells you all you need to know about this plumber...

No it doesn't.  It is fairly common for sole traders to have a partner who does the books and looks after the money side of things.  Without knowing the details of the plumber's personal life and what arrangements he has with his OH, it is impossible to say whether or not having the payment made to her account is "highly suspect".

To echo, it happens all the time in our business.  Everyone is a registered sole trader and it all gets declared to HMRC.   They do good work but they are often not good at admin, so it's better that their other halves do that and get the bills paid first.  

GDB2222

Doozergirl said:

Section62 said:

summer_daze009 said:

Having you bank transfer the money to his girlfriends account is highly suspect and tells you all you need to know about this plumber...

No it doesn't.  It is fairly common for sole traders to have a partner who does the books and looks after the money side of things.  Without knowing the details of the plumber's personal life and what arrangements he has with his OH, it is impossible to say whether or not having the payment made to her account is "highly suspect".

To echo, it happens all the time in our business.  Everyone is a registered sole trader and it all gets declared to HMRC.   They do good work but they are often not good at admin, so it's better that their other halves do that and get the bills paid first.  

Unless the OP wanted to make a report to HMRC, it’s completely irrelevant, anyway. The report would have no impact on the bill, ofc.

Exodi

Honestly I'm lost for words at the pandering that has ensued through this thread.

I expect you'd find most plumbers would charge £100+ to replace a cheap £5 part. Virtually all plumbers will charge by the hour and have a call out charge.

Plumbers don't teleport to peoples houses, they don't teleport to the merchants, and they are probably not doing back to back jobs all day. A '5 minute job' does not only take up 5 minutes of the plumbers time.

I'm absolutely amazed that there has not been a bigger response to the OP suggesting that they think £20 labour + £5 parts was what they were expecting. I think those not calling the OP's expectations into question are in for a big shock when you need to call your own plumber out for replacement of the part.

KaratePigeon said:

Just wondering what an expected charge would be, am I just unrealistic? (I'd expect something like £20 to come out, £5 for the part, it literally took him a couple of minutes to fit. Maybe some PTFE tape to go around it though think that's about 10p!) 

In a completely different universe level unrealistic. Doozergirl seems to be one of the only people in this thread living on planet Earth:

Doozergirl said:

Our plumber charges £250 a day and we use him all the time, yet the minimum fee would be half a day because that's pretty much how long it takes to get something done by the time you've travelled etc, plus you don't know what you're going to be confronted with, so you can't assume to go to another person within a certain time frame.  

It certainly makes me careful what we call people out for, but the idea of £20 is a nonsense.

I'm probably going to rub people up the wrong way here, but I sympathize with the plumber. It's only tradespeople that get this - you don't hear of people complaining about surgeons getting too much money because the operation 'only took 10 minutes and he only used a scalpel and some stitches'.

Phil4432

Exodi said:

Honestly I'm lost for words at the pandering that has ensued through this thread.

I expect you'd find most plumbers would charge £100+ to replace a cheap £5 part.

Plumbers don't teleport to peoples houses, they don't teleport to the shops, and they are probably not doing back to back jobs all day. A '5 minute job' does not only take up 5 minutes of the plumbers time.

I'm absolutely amazed that there has not been a bigger response to the OP suggesting that they think £20 labour + £5 parts was what they were expecting. I think those not calling the OP's expectations into question are in for a big shock when you need to call your own plumber out for replacement of the part.

KaratePigeon said:

Just wondering what an expected charge would be, am I just unrealistic? (I'd expect something like £20 to come out, £5 for the part, it literally took him a couple of minutes to fit. Maybe some PTFE tape to go around it though think that's about 10p!) 

In a completely different universe level unrealistic. Doozergirl seems to be one of the only people in this thread living on planet Earth:

Doozergirl said:

Our plumber charges £250 a day and we use him all the time, yet the minimum fee would be half a day because that's pretty much how long it takes to get something done by the time you've travelled etc, plus you don't know what you're going to be confronted with, so you can't assume to go to another person within a certain time frame.  

It certainly makes me careful what we call people out for, but the idea of £20 is a nonsense.

I'm probably going to rub people up the wrong way here, but I sympathize with the plumber. It must be so frustrating dealing with customers who are blindsided by "it only took a few minutes to replace and the part was a couple of quid". It's only tradespeople that get this also - you don't hear of people complaining about surgeons because the operation 'only took 10 minutes and he only used a scalpel and some scissors'.

That's because a surgeon is a highly trained professional, who studied a hell of a lot harder and longer than a plumber.  Around 16 years after A Levels in fact.

A basic DIY job isn't the same as sewing someone's limb back on.  Even if the plumber has the challenging task of going to Screwfix.

Customers need to question why plumbers are charging near the same as solicitors, and rightly so.

GDB2222

Exodi said:

Honestly I'm lost for words at the pandering that has ensued through this thread.

I expect you'd find most plumbers would charge £100+ to replace a cheap £5 part. Virtually all plumbers will charge by the hour and have a call out charge.

Plumbers don't teleport to peoples houses, they don't teleport to the merchants, and they are probably not doing back to back jobs all day. A '5 minute job' does not only take up 5 minutes of the plumbers time.

I'm absolutely amazed that there has not been a bigger response to the OP suggesting that they think £20 labour + £5 parts was what they were expecting. I think those not calling the OP's expectations into question are in for a big shock when you need to call your own plumber out for replacement of the part.

KaratePigeon said:

Just wondering what an expected charge would be, am I just unrealistic? (I'd expect something like £20 to come out, £5 for the part, it literally took him a couple of minutes to fit. Maybe some PTFE tape to go around it though think that's about 10p!) 

In a completely different universe level unrealistic. Doozergirl seems to be one of the only people in this thread living on planet Earth:

Doozergirl said:

Our plumber charges £250 a day and we use him all the time, yet the minimum fee would be half a day because that's pretty much how long it takes to get something done by the time you've travelled etc, plus you don't know what you're going to be confronted with, so you can't assume to go to another person within a certain time frame.  

It certainly makes me careful what we call people out for, but the idea of £20 is a nonsense.

I'm probably going to rub people up the wrong way here, but I sympathize with the plumber. It's only tradespeople that get this - you don't hear of people complaining about surgeons getting too much money because the operation 'only took 10 minutes and he only used a scalpel and some stitches'.

I think nearly all the answers here have been along the lines that the bill was a bit expensive, but not at all unjustifiable. 

I would expect to pay very roughly £100 for a call out, to include up to an hour’s labour, plus any parts. That’s what the OP has been charged. 

Exodi

Phil4432 said:

Exodi said:

Honestly I'm lost for words at the pandering that has ensued through this thread.

I expect you'd find most plumbers would charge £100+ to replace a cheap £5 part.

Plumbers don't teleport to peoples houses, they don't teleport to the shops, and they are probably not doing back to back jobs all day. A '5 minute job' does not only take up 5 minutes of the plumbers time.

I'm absolutely amazed that there has not been a bigger response to the OP suggesting that they think £20 labour + £5 parts was what they were expecting. I think those not calling the OP's expectations into question are in for a big shock when you need to call your own plumber out for replacement of the part.

KaratePigeon said:

Just wondering what an expected charge would be, am I just unrealistic? (I'd expect something like £20 to come out, £5 for the part, it literally took him a couple of minutes to fit. Maybe some PTFE tape to go around it though think that's about 10p!) 

In a completely different universe level unrealistic. Doozergirl seems to be one of the only people in this thread living on planet Earth:

Doozergirl said:

Our plumber charges £250 a day and we use him all the time, yet the minimum fee would be half a day because that's pretty much how long it takes to get something done by the time you've travelled etc, plus you don't know what you're going to be confronted with, so you can't assume to go to another person within a certain time frame.  

It certainly makes me careful what we call people out for, but the idea of £20 is a nonsense.

I'm probably going to rub people up the wrong way here, but I sympathize with the plumber. It must be so frustrating dealing with customers who are blindsided by "it only took a few minutes to replace and the part was a couple of quid". It's only tradespeople that get this also - you don't hear of people complaining about surgeons because the operation 'only took 10 minutes and he only used a scalpel and some scissors'.

That's because a surgeon is a highly trained professional, who studied a hell of a lot harder and longer than a plumber.  Around 16 years after A Levels in fact.

A basic DIY job isn't the same as sewing someone's limb back on.  Even if the plumber has the challenging task of going to Screwfix.

Customers need to question why plumbers are charging near the same as solicitors, and rightly so.

That's quite a strong view, I think there's no reward for guessing you've had a bad experience with a trades person in the past.

Both of these jobs are skilled professions and require training.

I think it's funny you belittle plumbers with comments like 'basic DIY job' and 'the challenging task of going to Screwfix'. If these jobs are all so easy and simple to do, then we can immediately solve this problem by just all boycotting using trades people and doing everything ourselves right?

The OP's only mistake was not asking for an estimate beforehand whereby they may have learned of their call out charge, hourly rate and minimums, to set their expectations in the right place before the job. But this still would not have magicked the £100+ job into £25 like the OP had hoped.

GDB2222 said:

I think nearly all the answers here have been along the lines that the bill was a bit expensive, but not at all unjustifiable. 

I would expect to pay very roughly £100 for a call out, to include up to an hour’s labour, plus any parts. That’s what the OP has been charged. 

I think I should have considered location in this. In the South East, your wrist would be aching from high-fiving people if you managed to get a plumber out for a small job for £100 inc vat and parts. I'd say the cost of the OP is typical for Kent at least.

Tucosalamanca

Exodi said:

Honestly I'm lost for words at the pandering that has ensued through this thread.

I expect you'd find most plumbers would charge £100+ to replace a cheap £5 part. Virtually all plumbers will charge by the hour and have a call out charge.

Plumbers don't teleport to peoples houses, they don't teleport to the merchants, and they are probably not doing back to back jobs all day. A '5 minute job' does not only take up 5 minutes of the plumbers time.

I'm absolutely amazed that there has not been a bigger response to the OP suggesting that they think £20 labour + £5 parts was what they were expecting. I think those not calling the OP's expectations into question are in for a big shock when you need to call your own plumber out for replacement of the part.

KaratePigeon said:

Just wondering what an expected charge would be, am I just unrealistic? (I'd expect something like £20 to come out, £5 for the part, it literally took him a couple of minutes to fit. Maybe some PTFE tape to go around it though think that's about 10p!) 

In a completely different universe level unrealistic. Doozergirl seems to be one of the only people in this thread living on planet Earth:

Doozergirl said:

Our plumber charges £250 a day and we use him all the time, yet the minimum fee would be half a day because that's pretty much how long it takes to get something done by the time you've travelled etc, plus you don't know what you're going to be confronted with, so you can't assume to go to another person within a certain time frame.  

It certainly makes me careful what we call people out for, but the idea of £20 is a nonsense.

I'm probably going to rub people up the wrong way here, but I sympathize with the plumber. It's only tradespeople that get this - you don't hear of people complaining about surgeons getting too much money because the operation 'only took 10 minutes and he only used a scalpel and some stitches'.

Precisely, if you paid an Uber driver just for the driving part of this transaction it would cost more than £25.