Plumber overcharged through service company

Kav1234

Hi,
I am looking to escalate a complaint to the Ombudsman but not sure if I that's correct because I can't see an option to complain about a service provider on their website.

As a summary, I moved property last year and decided to rent my existing flat.
I used a reputable high street estate agent (service provider) to manage it after spending 10k on refurbishment.

Last December, the estate agent contacted me about a next to nothing leak under the kitchen sink and advised that they have plumbers that can readily go to fix it.  I agreed and the estate agents then sent an email about them putting a reserve fund of £250.  I didn't pay too much attention to that expecting that the plumber will charge according to their effort and time spent doing the work.

4 days later from the date the leak was reported, a plumber, booked by the estate agent, came and fixed the leak.  It was only a 25 minutes job and from speaking with the tenants.  No pipes were cut, no furniture dismantled.  Just unscrew some plastic pipes, put some sealants and screwed in back.  What I am getting at is that it wasn't anything hard, complicated or time consuming.  Also it wasn't an emergency.

Then I got charged 250 + vat = £300
I thought it was excessive.
I contacted 2 other plumbers that I worked with in my new place and they came back with estimates averaging £110.

I feel I got overcharged massively and I complained to the estate agent but the last reply from them took 2 full months and because I was just waiting for their reply, they kindda thought I had forgotten about it and stating that "I'm raising the issue again" when it was never resolved.  I have been communicating with them for 6 months now.

I contacted the plumber and I was trying to get their callout and hourly rates and they are refusing to give this out.  In effect, they are refusing to give a breakdown of their invoice.  They are just stating "that was the charge" without giving any breakdown.
The plumber also pretended it was an emergency and when I questioned it further, then he agreed it wasn't but became very rude.
The estate agent also pretended that I agreed to a "quote" but from reading the Ombudsman's website, a "quote" can not be made offsite ie on the phone, email etc.  a "quote" can only be made onsite.  I emailed the estate agent 4 times to find the email where I agreed to the pseudo quote but never received anything.

What I strongly suspect is that the estate agent disclosed the "reserve fund" to the plumber and the plumber just added vat and charged me.  The reserve fund, from my understanding, is the amount allowed to charge the landlord without authorisation, on an emergency.  But there was no emergency and that reserve fund amount is a confidential amount between the estate agent and the landlord.

I wish to take this further and get a regulator to look at this.  Please could someone help me out.  Otherwise I think I need to go to court

Jenni_D

You might be better off asking an Ambassador to move this thread to the House Buying .... board. The guys over there are much more clued up about landlord/renting/agent type of things.  

Peter999_2

Is there a regulator for business to business non-financial purchases?    I'm not sure if there is.

Mr.Generous

The agent - who get the plumber the work - take a cut. That's why the bill was so high. The plumber has to factor in the agents share.

Aylesbury_Duck

You don't have consumer rights here, because this is a business transaction.   Your contract is with the agent, so hassling the plumber isn't going to get you anywhere.  I don't think there's an ombudsman for this situation because it's a business contract.

Does the agent's agreement with you say anything about a complaints policy, and if they're registered with any sort of regulator?  That would be the first thing to check.

Otherwise, I agree with the poster above who mentions the agent charging a fee, which sounds likely.  Again, consult your agreement to see if that's covered.  I'd have thought this is one of the downsides to having an agent managing things for you.  It's great most of the time, but I'm sure you'll always be able to source services cheaper yourself, but presumably you haven’t got the time and don't need the hassle which us why you engaged an agent.

Finally, what does your "loss" look like when set against the net annual income from the rental?  I suspect it's pretty trivial.  Isn't it better to have services someone else organises and which keep a good paying tenant happy, rather than scrabbling around trying to save a bit here and there when things go wrong?

cannugec5

Location is also terribly important these days. Some tradesmen have huge costs associated with Emission zones and parking costs regardless if the task could be completed in 25 minutes. 

You will not get on very well with the Estate Agent managing your property if you insist on Micromanaging. Remember the next leak might be more significant and nobody will want to fix it. 

msa1204

Does seem a little steep , but if you want hassle free renting , they allowing the agent to manage repairs they normally are more expensive as they need to find trades people that attend quite quickly. 

The other issue is access to the property , if the tenant can’t be there they have to collect and return keys to agent , or agent has attend to let plumber inn. 

You have a choice as landlord you can tell agent you want to manage or your maintenance or you can have hassle free time and accept this cost more than if you do it your self. 

user1977

Kav1234 said:

Otherwise I think I need to go to court

For how much? Hardly worth going to court even if you are entitled to an "overcharge" of £150-ish (and I don't think there's a great case for that anyway).

Mr.Generous

Surely better to find another agent that you trust or do/organise the repairs yourself.

Vectis

Always ask for an estimate first, it at least gives you a chance to think of an alternative if necessary.

As others have said, they'll be a markup on the plumbers price by the agents, so it's always going to be more expensive than if you went directly to the plumber.

But, don't give them an open chequebook, as for a price first and then decide.

saajan_12

Ultimately this is a contractual issue between you and the agent, so you would need to complain formally to them, threatening to terminate the management relationship if they are not employing funds appropriately. 

Kav1234 said:

Hi,
I am looking to escalate a complaint to the Ombudsman but not sure if I that's correct because I can't see an option to complain about a service provider on their website.

As a summary, I moved property last year and decided to rent my existing flat.
I used a reputable high street estate agent (service provider) to manage it after spending 10k on refurbishment.

Last December, the estate agent contacted me about a next to nothing leak under the kitchen sink and advised that they have plumbers that can readily go to fix it.  I agreed and the estate agents then sent an email about them putting a reserve fund of £250.  I didn't pay too much attention to that expecting that the plumber will charge according to their effort and time spent doing the work.- what does your agency contract state.. will they authorise repairs etc themselves or would they submit to you for quote? If you were already consulted about this issue then why didn't you follow through to a specific quote and invoice rather than letting it be dealt with by the reserve if you thought it was for emergencies? 

4 days later from the date the leak was reported, a plumber, booked by the estate agent, came and fixed the leak.  It was only a 25 minutes job and from speaking with the tenants.  No pipes were cut, no furniture dismantled.  Just unscrew some plastic pipes, put some sealants and screwed in back.  What I am getting at is that it wasn't anything hard, complicated or time consuming.  Also it wasn't an emergency. 

Then I got charged 250 + vat = £300
I thought it was excessive. 
I contacted 2 other plumbers that I worked with in my new place and they came back with estimates averaging £110. 
- Remembering that there's going to be a call out charge so a 25 min job might be the same as a 2 hour job. But I agree with you that £300 seems excessive from that description, the other plumbers numbers seem more like it. 

I feel I got overcharged massively and I complained to the estate agent but the last reply from them took 2 full months and because I was just waiting for their reply, they kindda thought I had forgotten about it and stating that "I'm raising the issue again" when it was never resolved.  I have been communicating with them for 6 months now. - irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Make sure its raised as a formal complaint. 

I contacted the plumber and I was trying to get their callout and hourly rates and they are refusing to give this out.  In effect, they are refusing to give a breakdown of their invoice.  They are just stating "that was the charge" without giving any breakdown. - well not nice, but you're not (directly) their client. Ask the agent for this. 
The plumber also pretended it was an emergency and when I questioned it further, then he agreed it wasn't but became very rude.
The estate agent also pretended that I agreed to a "quote" but from reading the Ombudsman's website, a "quote" can not be made offsite ie on the phone, email etc.  a "quote" can only be made onsite.  I emailed the estate agent 4 times to find the email where I agreed to the pseudo quote but never received anything. - please quote exactly what you're looking at, as this sounds very odd. If you mean you and the plumber both had to be at the property then that's clearly impractical. The question is really whether the £250 was a quote for this job or a deposit of money for this and future jobs. Not how the quote was communicated. 

What I strongly suspect is that the estate agent disclosed the "reserve fund" to the plumber and the plumber just added vat and charged me.  The reserve fund, from my understanding, is the amount allowed to charge the landlord without authorisation, on an emergency.  
But there was no emergency and that reserve fund amount is a confidential amount between the estate agent and the landlord. - this isn't a law, and unless this is specifically called out in your contract with the agent, its unlikely to be somehting you can specifically enforce. In any caseyour point would just be that the agent didn't act with due care, attention and skill if they didn't get a reasonably competitive quote. 

I wish to take this further and get a regulator to look at this.  Please could someone help me out.  Otherwise I think I need to go to court