Plumber ignoring me.

bob7bob

Brouts said:

As a plumber myself, I hear of this thing happening a lot and it's people like this that give us all a bad name.  I would try calling and keep on trying.  You've paid them for a service and what they've done is not satisfactory.  If they refuse to respond or to put it right, then I would explain they will be getting a very poor google review (if they're on google) and you will be taking them to court to recuperate the costs you'll be charged by others to put it right.  I would also give them a timeframe for this.

Everyone makes mistakes.  I'm not perfect, but if something wasn't done right on one of my jobs, I would be straight round there to put it right for them.

Hope this helps and good luck!

I had an online chat with the CAB so now have a case number. I contaced the manufacturer of the heating mat. They were very helpful and told me what tests needed to be carried out to confirm what the problem was. We have a repair company coming in next week. They have equipment to pinpoint the damage. Trying to find a tiler to be there at the same time wasn't easy. They repair company will give us a warranty once the tile/tiles are in place.

I now know we should have had a certificate from an electrician when the heating mat was installed. Something else to include in the letter we'll be sending.

As for calling the plumber. He has now deleted the WhatsApp messages from his account so obviously has no intention of dealing with me.

It's sad that it has come to this. We are not unreasonable people. We made no fuss despite the major inconvenience and added expense of my husband having to move out while they fixed the first problem. We would probably have worked with them if they had at least got back to us after the second issue.

I'll send the letter, see what happens. If it gets resolved, all good. If not, bad reviews.

I'll post the outcome.

bob7bob

An update. I remembered we have legal expenses cover on our home insurance. One telephone call to them, a tranfer to the legal team for some questions. Email received, information sent. Telephone call with a paralegal to explain the situation. Evidence sent. Looking hopeful but it will take time and we can't have any work done in case they need to send an expert to look at the bathroom. 

MunchCat

Hi, I'm a newbie and have just read this with interest. Firstly,  I like the sound of Brouts? The plumber, he seems to have excellent customer service! We recently had a carpenter in to build us some bedroom furniture and it was dreadful. It was so bad that even one of his colleagues refused to touch it and along the way he managed to cause enough damage that we had to get the bedroom completely re-decorated again. We ended up taking him through the small claims court, and we won, after speaking to the wonderful people at our local CAB/consumer rights office. They sent us a letter template to send to the company and told us how to fill it in, and we also completed the online court forms. There is a court fee to pay for this. What i am saying is, make lots of notes - day, date, time, place, who you speak to, when you ring them, if they do/don't ring back, take photos,  videos etc. It not only jogs your memory but if you are asked to provide your notes/evidence it helps and you have it there, ready. The consumer rights people I believe also share the information with Trading Standards. I could not fault them. I hope it does not get this far and you get it sorted. I send my best wishes to you and your husband.

bob7bob

@MunchCat

I took lots of pictures during the work as my husband was away, so I sent him progress reports. I also took pictures when they took the floor up the second time and when we had the tests done. Everything was documented as I still had all the emails, Whatapp, video and other messages. As long as we have a 51% chance of winning, it will probably go to court.