Bill for emergency plumbing work

TheRealSpiderman

Hi, this isn't a quote, but an invoice.

Last week my downstairs toilet was blocked. I phoned a local plumbing company, who have 3 offices all of which are around 30 minute drive from my house. They sent someone within about 2 hours. He tried to plunge it several times, took the toilet off to see the issue and refitted it, and said he would send a colleague who would be out soon to high pressure jet the drain. He was at the property for about 30 minutes and left.

That was on Monday. No-one came so on Tuesday I called and they said someone would be out - but nothing happened. On Wednesday I called again, they said someone would be out and would call to give a time - they called back and said it would be Thursday afternoon.

On Thursday afternoon two people came, high pressure jetted the drain and fixed the issue. They were there for around 45 minutes.

I wasn't told any prices at any stage. I'm in Central Scotland. I imagined it would come to around £300, give or take. I've put the job in the Checkatrade AI cost estimator, which says an average of £186 and top of a wide range is £299.

The invoice has come today, for £860.

They have charged me £360 for an emergency plumber call out fee. They were there for 30 minutes and didn't use any parts.

They have charged £500 for the high pressure jet drain. This was about 45 minutes and seemed like a standard job for them.`

Looking locally, it seems an emergency plumber should be around £120 per hour (not £360), while a high pressure jet drain should be £100 to £300.

The invoice just has two lines with no explanation - just 'high pressure jetting' and 'plumber'. It saves if I don't pay within 7 days they will charge an extra £150.

I see vans of this company everywhere but the invoice looks like they have just plucked figures out of the air. Is this a reasonable invoice for the job, or are they chancing it?

Mark_d

Surely you asked them for ball park figures before instructing them to visit your property and get started on the work?

MyRealNameToo

TheRealSpiderman said:

Hi, this isn't a quote, but an invoice.

Last week my downstairs toilet was blocked. I phoned a local plumbing company, who have 3 offices all of which are around 30 minute drive from my house. They sent someone within about 2 hours. He tried to plunge it several times, took the toilet off to see the issue and refitted it, and said he would send a colleague who would be out soon to high pressure jet the drain. He was at the property for about 30 minutes and left.

That was on Monday. No-one came so on Tuesday I called and they said someone would be out - but nothing happened. On Wednesday I called again, they said someone would be out and would call to give a time - they called back and said it would be Thursday afternoon.

On Thursday afternoon two people came, high pressure jetted the drain and fixed the issue. They were there for around 45 minutes.

I wasn't told any prices at any stage. I'm in Central Scotland. I imagined it would come to around £300, give or take. I've put the job in the Checkatrade AI cost estimator, which says an average of £186 and top of a wide range is £299.

The invoice has come today, for £860.

They have charged me £360 for an emergency plumber call out fee. They were there for 30 minutes and didn't use any parts.

They have charged £500 for the high pressure jet drain. This was about 45 minutes and seemed like a standard job for them.`

Looking locally, it seems an emergency plumber should be around £120 per hour (not £360), while a high pressure jet drain should be £100 to £300.

The invoice just has two lines with no explanation - just 'high pressure jetting' and 'plumber'. It saves if I don't pay within 7 days they will charge an extra £150.

I see vans of this company everywhere but the invoice looks like they have just plucked figures out of the air. Is this a reasonable invoice for the job, or are they chancing it?

So when you first called them you asked what the costs were? Or at least the basis for costs?

It's likely there is a minimum time and/or an emergency call out fee. The one time I had an emergency call our it was something like £300 and that included the first 2 hours of labour and it was then £X per hour if you went above that. 

Where there offices is one thing, the guys doing the jobs are likely on the road and coming from their last customer not the office. 

TheRealSpiderman

I never asked about costs when booking them. There wasn't anything on their website and I wasn't going to shop around and expected just a reasonable price.

I was only told by the first plumber that the problem was in the outside drain and someone else would come to fix that within a hour. I'd imagined that would essentially be the same call-out, even if a different hourly wage obviously, but no costs or explanation of the size of the job were discussed.

Albermarle

Probably the best you can do is respond to the bill, saying you think it is excessive. You have asked around and a fairer price would be £350 ( or whatever) . You large local whatsapp group was shocked when you mentioned the price that a local company was trying to charge and advised I contacted Trading standards at the council etc etc

TheRealSpiderman

I phoned them today, saying I wasn't sure the price was right.

They accepted the first plumber stayed slightly less than they billed for, so reduced it by £114. That most be the hourly rate. It doesn't explain why it's £256 for the visit.

They claimed that £500 is the standard rate for drain jetting.

I've asked around and it seems £300-£350 is what other companies would charge for the entire job. I'll put together some evidence and send them an appeal. I'm happy to pay a reasonable price for the work, but what they have billed me for is clearly excessive.

MyRealNameToo

TheRealSpiderman said:

I never asked about costs when booking them. There wasn't anything on their website and I wasn't going to shop around and expected just a reasonable price.

I was only told by the first plumber that the problem was in the outside drain and someone else would come to fix that within a hour. I'd imagined that would essentially be the same call-out, even if a different hourly wage obviously, but no costs or explanation of the size of the job were discussed.

Then here is your problem, costs vary significantly between companies and had they said it was £300 an hour I suspect you would then have decided actually you would shop around. 

You can't pick up a Rolex in a shop then complain at the till that is more expensive than a Swatch given both just tell the time (and the Swatch most likely more accurately). Some will think there are good reasons to pay more for one company over the other, some won't and they are better off checking the price and going with a firm they think offers better value. 

My own company is the same, we charge twice what many charge and third more than most our peers. We believe we bring more to the table and thankfully our clients agree because we turn people away. Others simply say no thanks when they hear our rates and thats fine too.