advice regarding incompetent plumber

asdfrewq

Hi there, i am a university student renting a place with a few friends for the year and we had issues regarding our kitchen sink clogging up. After we called our real estate agency they arranged for a plumber to come over and unclog the pipes. however, he never cleared them out fully, just enough for the water to drain at a normal pace temporarily. Within the span of 4 days, had came over on 3 separate occasions to unclog the pipes when it would clog again simply hours after he has 'completed' his work. Considering the pictures he submitted in his job report of the pipe on the 3rd visit contained food that was only eaten before his first visit it is clear he never properly cleared out the sink and might be trying to exploit us. We have received an invoice of £600 pounds for this which is hardly fair considering the extremely poor standard of work. Any advice on what I should do to get a fair price?

Ayr_Rage

.asdfrewq said:

Hi there, i am a university student renting a place with a few friends for the year and we had issues regarding our kitchen sink clogging up. After we called our real estate agency they arranged for a plumber to come over and unclog the pipes. however, he never cleared them out fully, just enough for the water to drain at a normal pace temporarily. Within the span of 4 days, had came over on 3 separate occasions to unclog the pipes when it would clog again simply hours after he has 'completed' his work. Considering the pictures he submitted in his job report of the pipe on the 3rd visit contained food that was only eaten before his first visit it is clear he never properly cleared out the sink and might be trying to exploit us. We have received an invoice of £600 pounds for this which is hardly fair considering the extremely poor standard of work. Any advice on what I should do to get a fair price?

Time for you and your friends to stop putting solids where they shouldn't go.

As you have identified the food that blocked the pipe find whoever put it down the sink and give them a slap.

How is the invoice broken down into callout charges and labour?

If on each occasion it was cleared sufficiently for it to drain normally, as you have said, then subsequent blockages are likely to have been caused by the same person/people repeating the crime.

asdfrewq

like i said, food that was clearly put down the sink before the initial visit was still in the pipes as shown in the pictures from his 3rd job report, if he really cleared the pipes it would not have been there. the invoice is broken down into an hourly rate.

Ayr_Rage

"however, he never cleared them out fully, just enough for the water to drain at a normal pace temporarily"

Which suggests you and the plumber thought things had been cleared as the water was draining normally.

You can argue the toss that he didn't complete the job at the first attempt and try to get a reduced bill.

MeteredOut

Since the OP and their flatmates have recognised the food that caused the blockage, and know that was from before the first visit, they must know who caused the blockage (I don't think many students share food), so I'd be looking for that person to cover the majority of the bill.

I'd also argue the first two jobs were not fit for purpose and look to get a discount. But, if someone signed some sort of job sheet after the work was done those first two times, that might be difficult.

gwynlas

If food goes down sink hole without blocking then it should drain normally, any residue can be scooped out and binned. Fats and grease should be wiped out with scrap paper or towel.

In future you should try using a drain cleaning solution before calling letting agent for plumber.

Another quick fix that might work is to cup your hand over the plug hole and create a plunger affect, alternatively you could purchase a plunger.

You could argue that this is an unreasonable charge as x? food was consumed prior to 1st visit only so should not still be there on 3rd call out

melb

£600 is ridiculous - what is his hourly rate?