Plumbers with blue and white vans in London
Discussion
Utter utter cowboys.
My downstairs tenant (who is lovely, but not exactly worldly wise) called a plumber to unblock the main drain. She didn’t tell me or run it past me first. She texts me to tell me she’s got a plumber for £90 an hour. A bit steep I think, but OK for an hour to unblock the drains, which frankly have not been done in a while. I did it myself last time, took me an hour and a half and was frankly a horrible job, doing it manually without the hose and high pressure probe, which makes things a lot easier.
The blue and white clowns turn up. I had no idea that these were the people she had called.
My wife, who is working from our home upstairs, lets them in. Lady F also did not know about them, so duly allowed them to start work. After the “plumber” messed around for 20 minutes plunging the drain, he them dug out a bit of grease, and then stated that for health and safety reasons, he needed more than one person on site, had to call another van, and pressured her to sign to authorise this immediately by signing a contract.
Lady F may not know much about dealing with tradesfolk, but she is a long, long way from stupid. She called me within 15 minutes of this idiot messing around, stating to me that “he isn’t doing anything”. She tells me the company name. I am immediately prepared for the worst (and cross with my naïve tenant). She pust him on the phone to me. Synopsis of conversation:
Clown: “yeah, it’s free metres down mate. Helf & safety mate – I need a couple more guys here to spot me so it’s safe mate. And I need to get into your house as I don’t have a water source in the van. And I can discount the hourly rate for £340 to £240 mate”
Me: “ Why do you not have a pressurised water source in the van as you were called out for a blocked drain? Also, I was under the impression that your control centre quoted £90 an hour. And give me a fixed price please.”
Clown “Well I can’t give you a fixed price mate – I reckon 3 hours, but if it only takes 2, you’ll get annoyed. Or if I quote you two and it takes four, I’m out of pocket. And it’s a really difficult technical job – it needs several of us and specialist equipment”
Me “I will take it from here. And we will be paying your call-out fee and less than £90 for your time, as quoted”
They presented us with a bill for over £300. Tenant has paid it as she gave these people her credit card details over the phone. I have advised her to dispute the bill, but this may be difficult for her, contractually – she will need to prove that they quoted her £90 on the phone, and charged her £340 (!!!!!)
I am currently paying mid-level associates from Norton Rose Fulbright less per hour for complex M&A work. It’s ridiculous.
My downstairs tenant (who is lovely, but not exactly worldly wise) called a plumber to unblock the main drain. She didn’t tell me or run it past me first. She texts me to tell me she’s got a plumber for £90 an hour. A bit steep I think, but OK for an hour to unblock the drains, which frankly have not been done in a while. I did it myself last time, took me an hour and a half and was frankly a horrible job, doing it manually without the hose and high pressure probe, which makes things a lot easier.
The blue and white clowns turn up. I had no idea that these were the people she had called.
My wife, who is working from our home upstairs, lets them in. Lady F also did not know about them, so duly allowed them to start work. After the “plumber” messed around for 20 minutes plunging the drain, he them dug out a bit of grease, and then stated that for health and safety reasons, he needed more than one person on site, had to call another van, and pressured her to sign to authorise this immediately by signing a contract.
Lady F may not know much about dealing with tradesfolk, but she is a long, long way from stupid. She called me within 15 minutes of this idiot messing around, stating to me that “he isn’t doing anything”. She tells me the company name. I am immediately prepared for the worst (and cross with my naïve tenant). She pust him on the phone to me. Synopsis of conversation:
Clown: “yeah, it’s free metres down mate. Helf & safety mate – I need a couple more guys here to spot me so it’s safe mate. And I need to get into your house as I don’t have a water source in the van. And I can discount the hourly rate for £340 to £240 mate”
Me: “ Why do you not have a pressurised water source in the van as you were called out for a blocked drain? Also, I was under the impression that your control centre quoted £90 an hour. And give me a fixed price please.”
Clown “Well I can’t give you a fixed price mate – I reckon 3 hours, but if it only takes 2, you’ll get annoyed. Or if I quote you two and it takes four, I’m out of pocket. And it’s a really difficult technical job – it needs several of us and specialist equipment”
Me “I will take it from here. And we will be paying your call-out fee and less than £90 for your time, as quoted”
They presented us with a bill for over £300. Tenant has paid it as she gave these people her credit card details over the phone. I have advised her to dispute the bill, but this may be difficult for her, contractually – she will need to prove that they quoted her £90 on the phone, and charged her £340 (!!!!!)
I am currently paying mid-level associates from Norton Rose Fulbright less per hour for complex M&A work. It’s ridiculous.
Do you know what, if they were amazing, you'd accept a premium (but not ridiculous) price.
But the only thing these people did right was to turn up. No other part of their activities were either effective or honest. Frankly, they are exploiting the general unreliability of the trades to gouge customers.
My tenant told me that she booked them because two other plumbers let her down (did not turn up). So in desperation, she fell into this organisation's claws.
There HAS to be an opportunity for someone to set up in between the flaky end of the trade and these criminals at the other? If I were a tradesman, I would be looking at this seriously. In London and the home counties, demand is off the scale.
But the only thing these people did right was to turn up. No other part of their activities were either effective or honest. Frankly, they are exploiting the general unreliability of the trades to gouge customers.
My tenant told me that she booked them because two other plumbers let her down (did not turn up). So in desperation, she fell into this organisation's claws.
There HAS to be an opportunity for someone to set up in between the flaky end of the trade and these criminals at the other? If I were a tradesman, I would be looking at this seriously. In London and the home counties, demand is off the scale.
Ashtray83 said:
I just looked at the pricing on there website how do they get away with the hourly rates? £90 ph for a carpenter and a plumber,
That's + VAT too.Come on PHers, there must be enough honest, reliable plumbers out there for us to start a rival company that actually charges premium rates for doing a good job, without ripping people off!
Harry Flashman said:
My downstairs tenant (who is lovely, but not exactly worldly wise) called a plumber to unblock the main drain. She didn’t tell me or run it past me first.
I might be reading too much into this, but are you saying you live in the same building and it didn't occur to her to mention it to you first?Sheepshanks said:
Harry Flashman said:
My downstairs tenant (who is lovely, but not exactly worldly wise) called a plumber to unblock the main drain. She didn’t tell me or run it past me first.
I might be reading too much into this, but are you saying you live in the same building and it didn't occur to her to mention it to you first?She is a very nice tenant, but has the common sense of a broom handle.
Sheepshanks said:
Harry Flashman said:
She is a very nice tenant, but has the common sense of a broom handle.
Maybe you need to leave her to pay the bill and hope it will teach her a lesson.She agrees it was her fault, I have won "nice landlord" points for meeting her half way.
austinsmirk said:
Their plumbers were on an easy £100k PA and more in some cases.
This is the reason you won't get many take them in the market between your plumber with an estate car charging £20 odd an hour (no qualifications just having a go) and the SW1 lot. If you're any good, you choose your work wisely or go work for them or other large firms.OP my advice is blast their Twitter with damning (honest) feedback. Same with their plumbing supplies business on Twitter, they aren't too fond of bad reviews being out there and are big enough to take social media seriously.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
I contributed - I have had to threaten my own plumber with legal action to get my money back after he scarpered off on holiday with my cash rather than doing the job he was paid for! But the chap who turned up this morning and did his job well, courteously and efficiently has restored my faith in tradespeople, despite the PP lot doing their best to lower it even further.
I am considering starting an emergency plumbing business as it happens, my plumber has asked if I will go into business with him as he isn't interested / capable of running a business just wants to do the plumbing part.
The problem with the London jobs is that you can earn a decent rate near London without having all the hassle of LEZ, Congestion Charge, being unable to park etc I know some trades who have a guy to just keep the van constantly circling the area whilst they are working.
Admittedly if you are charging anything like £200/hr you can afford to do so.
The problem being how many of those jobs do you get in a day ?
The problem with the London jobs is that you can earn a decent rate near London without having all the hassle of LEZ, Congestion Charge, being unable to park etc I know some trades who have a guy to just keep the van constantly circling the area whilst they are working.
Admittedly if you are charging anything like £200/hr you can afford to do so.
The problem being how many of those jobs do you get in a day ?
Harry Flashman said:
Do you know what, if they were amazing, you'd accept a premium (but not ridiculous) price.
But the only thing these people did right was to turn up. No other part of their activities were either effective or honest. Frankly, they are exploiting the general unreliability of the trades to gouge customers.
My tenant told me that she booked them because two other plumbers let her down (did not turn up). So in desperation, she fell into this organisation's claws.
There HAS to be an opportunity for someone to set up in between the flaky end of the trade and these criminals at the other? If I were a tradesman, I would be looking at this seriously. In London and the home counties, demand is off the scale.
Dunno if thats possible. Anyone skilled enough to be a good tradesman and motivated enough to set up and run such a biz has a lot more profitable and easier oppertunities than being a trade, they wouldnt have gone down that route in the first place.But the only thing these people did right was to turn up. No other part of their activities were either effective or honest. Frankly, they are exploiting the general unreliability of the trades to gouge customers.
My tenant told me that she booked them because two other plumbers let her down (did not turn up). So in desperation, she fell into this organisation's claws.
There HAS to be an opportunity for someone to set up in between the flaky end of the trade and these criminals at the other? If I were a tradesman, I would be looking at this seriously. In London and the home counties, demand is off the scale.
The big co's rely on their huge advertising budgets bringing in a steady stream of mugs/desperate people. The form your tenant signed will ensure you'll have a big fight on your hands trying to get your money back- they're very motivated and equipped to handle disputes.
Does Lady F know? 
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