Advice - Plumber charging for misdiagnosed leaks

Sean9666

Hi there, I am in need of some advice. Essentially I am at fault for a leak on my bathroom that was fitted by someone else, unaware of this they agreed to come and remedy what we both believed to be their fault. It was my understanding they would fix it and I would not pay. They came out initially to fix the issue but misdiagnosed it 4 times before finding the issue and fixing it.

All fine (if a bit annoying) except when I receive the invoice charging me for 5 visits to the property. Now its a little more complicated than that as the guy sent his newly trained employee to come and fix the leak, after 3 times we asked for him to come and he said he couldn't he would send the guy again. My argument is I'm paying for his employees incompetence? 

I didn't expect to be paying anything as it was never mentioned at any point that it went from remedial work to paid work. If I had known how much it would be I would have looked at the issue myself or at least looked for what I considered a fair price.

I went back to him with this argument and was met with someone who would not move, without really knowing how to deal with this I said I would take it to an Ombudsman and if they found it to be fair I would pay and if not we would negotiate a fair price. When I suggested this to him he immediately contacted his "debt collection team". I have never dealt with anything like this before and I dont know my rights or my best next step? I have not contacted an Ombudsman is this something I should still do?

I am worried that a debt collector will add money onto the debt meaning I will end up paying even more?

Please help!

Nobbie1967

Could you clarify please. Was the bathroom fitted by the same firm that you got to mend the leak? How long after installation did it start leaking? What was the cause of the leak? If the leak was due to poor installation then you are not liable to pay them to rectify a fault they caused no matter how many attempts they needed to fix it.

Unless they take you to court and win, you can ignore any letters from debt collectors as they have no legal basis to claim money from you, it’s just a bluff to get you to pay. How much are they after?

DE_612183

I don't think you have any contract with them at all ( apart from fitting the original bathroom ).

As soon as they knew it was not the original fault - they should have contacted you to see if you wanted it fixed or not.

If the guy fixed it without being instructed by either you or the owner on the basis that it was new work - then any thing  decide to pay is at your discretion.

I'd send back a standard "prove it" letter asking for the contract by which he is asking for payment.

That's what they would look for in small claims court.

Debt collectors can't do anything except send letters etc - they can only seize goods etc on instruction of the court

Sean9666

Thankyou for all the advice so far, to be clear yes the bathroom was fitted by the same people who I got to mend the leak. The cause of the leak was me drilling through a drain pipe (very dumb I know). I am not debating the work that needed doing was my fault just that I should have been given a quote to fix? and I should not have been charged for the newly qualified plumbers assuming something was wrong with other components? Also the plumber stated on the phone that 2 people had to come out 5 times. Now my bathroom cannot fit 2 people in it at once so I offered to pay half of the £240 and even upped it to £150 to try to avoid the stress of this.

Risteard

Sean9666 said:

Thankyou for all the advice so far, to be clear yes the bathroom was fitted by the same people who I got to mend the leak. The cause of the leak was me drilling through a drain pipe (very dumb I know). I am not debating the work that needed doing was my fault just that I should have been given a quote to fix? and I should not have been charged for the newly qualified plumbers assuming something was wrong with other components? Also the plumber stated on the phone that 2 people had to come out 5 times. Now my bathroom cannot fit 2 people in it at once so I offered to pay half of the £240 and even upped it to £150 to try to avoid the stress of this.

If the fault was as a result of your mistake (drilling the pipe) and not their work then you would be liable for the cost of repairing this, including diagnosing the fault. It's not a warranty repair issue.

Five visits appears excessive (although it's hard to say really), however £240 seems an entirely reasonable price for diagnosis/repair even with a single visit.

That said, I'm not a lawyer so wouldn't dream of giving legal advice.

Nearlyold

At what point did you tell them you'd been drilling in the vicinity of the pipework?

If you didn't tell them promptly then I'm not surprised it took a while for them to find the leak, experienced or not wouldn't most plumbers in the absence of a steer from you check the previous work ie the joints first?

Sean9666

So I didn't actually know I'd drilled through the pipe otherwise of course I would have said something. After their first fix I installed flooring and then they did their final fix. Being a small hole in the drain pipe it wasn't discovered until my roof was saturated. If I am in the wrong is my best case to crawl back with my tail between my legs and just pay it?

My main issue was that before the work was carried out I was told that it seemed like a hole in the drain pipe, I held my hands up and said it probably was and it was at this point I would have expected briefing on the fact it was going to cost me.

As I have tried to say from the start, I know the leak is my fault and I don't expect them to fix it for free but I didn't think it was right I was charged for all the visits and given no option to turn down the work I couldn't afford. Its starting to sound like even with no contract I am in the wrong

theoretica

I think it is entirely correct that you were charged a call out fee for the first visit - you called them for something which was not their fault.  But the time and visits they needed to actually identify the problem seems on the basis of your description to be high.

Nearlyold

Sean9666 said:

So I didn't actually know I'd drilled through the pipe otherwise of course I would have said something. After their first fix I installed flooring and then they did their final fix. Being a small hole in the drain pipe it wasn't discovered until my roof was saturated. If I am in the wrong is my best case to crawl back with my tail between my legs and just pay it?

My main issue was that before the work was carried out I was told that it seemed like a hole in the drain pipe, I held my hands up and said it probably was and it was at this point I would have expected briefing on the fact it was going to cost me.

As I have tried to say from the start, I know the leak is my fault and I don't expect them to fix it for free but I didn't think it was right I was charged for all the visits and given no option to turn down the work I couldn't afford. Its starting to sound like even with no contract I am in the wrong

Does that mean you did not mention you'd been drilling in the vicinity until after they'd more or less diagnosed the probable issue?

Mistral001

This is a DIY mistake and it looks like you will have to pay for it.   There have been cases of small holes being drilled in pipes causing  tens of thousands pounds of damage, so it could be argued that you are fortunate since you are only hundreds are involved here.  I would try to get the bill  knocked down a bit, or paid in installments, or both.   

housebuyer143

If they came out, spent time finding and diagnosing the leak and then subsequently repaired it, in my opinion it seems fair that you should pay. 
£240 maybe expensive but many plumbers charge £60 an hour or more and then parts. 
I personally would just pay it and count yourself lucky you didn't do more damage.