PlumbingforceReviews 405

Where do I begin!?

Fraudulently taking money from my account after closed case!?
Swearing down the phone?
Failing to turn up on an emergency call despite promise after promise of turning up?!

I don't know what I can say to discourage any further customers from using this unprofessional cowboy company? They will promise you someone will turn up, then cancel on you while it is too late and tell you you'll have to pay an emergency call out fee. When you tell them you'll use a different firm they will just casually swear down the phone then 4 days later take additional unauthorised money from your account! Lets hope they read my letter (because complaints and refunds can't be taken over the phone) and actually get my £357 back to me before Christmas... oh and someone else had to fix our leak.

This company has charge my card £118 without my permission, no invoice or receipt and no work done. They have recorded my phone calls without telling me they have recorded them and the customer service is a joke. Rude, unhelpful, dishonest and money grabbing. The plumber came round and couldn't do the job and rang the head office to tell them not to charge me. They charged my later anyway for a random amount with no invoice receipt email text or anything. Can't be legal. Do not trust or use this company, get a local plumber.

Wanted a cooker connected. Gave me a standing price of £99 plus vat. Told them there needed to be adaptions. Chap turned up within the hour. Did not have 15mm copper pipe or fittings. I offered him a length of pipe I had. Wouldn't show me his Gas Safe Certificate. Asked for a torch. Seemed flustered. I asked for a price which changed three times during the conversation. Price ended up nearly £300. Told him to leave which he did. Knocked on the door half hour later waiving a quote which I told him I didn't want. Oh dear and they have debited my account £118. Small claims court I think.

Dear reader, I sincerely hope my experience here would help others in the same situation to make a better decision than the one I made. My boiler was down, it was getting cold and I was desperately looking for someone for a quick repair. I would have gone for SSE's all inclusive package, only to find that it would take more than a week before they could send anyone. So I went for plumbingforce because they could send someone immediately. They claim to be transparent with the way they charge with no hidden cost. I will describe what exactly happened to me and let the reader decide.

I arranged the appointment online, that was easy enough. They told me the charge would be £ 99 + VAT for an up to one hour session if it's not on the same day and the plumber would arrive within a half day time slot. So I waited and waited and the plumber arrived an hour after the time slot. He spent about 10 minutes checking the boiler and suggested that in the longer term I would need a new boiler. Meanwhile he'd carry out a repair which would involve replacing the external filling loop, which may or may not resolve the issue but it would cost me a further £280 + VAT regardless. Then off he went, £118 gone and I was no better off. Had I agreed with the suggested repair, assuming the best case scenario that the repair did resolved the problem, I would have spent £118+336=454 for the repair. If the repair didn't work, then I would have been £454 out of pocket and I would have been no better off.

Instead, I waited out the week for the SSE plumber, which charged an all inclusive one off £75 + a 12 month cover of ~£14.50 per month (total ~ £250). Not only that the price covered the parts and however many hours of labour [Note: this is only true for simple repairs though, see later], it also came with a 12 month cover and money back guarantee if they fail to repair the boiler. So my recommendation to people is not to rush with these things. Go to a friend for a shower if you can, get a hot air heater for the time being if necessary etc. For me, the final diagnosis is that there is too much sludge in the system so it would need a thorough flush (which is not covered with the plan) and that was not worth doing because my boiler is rubbish and old. So, I had my money back from SSE and I am getting a new boiler (not from SSE) which would include the system flush as part of the installation.

Some companies think they can charge people a fortune whether they can do the job or not. I think it's wrong. I am sure most people would agree.

I had no hot water and no heating and a leak. Called them was given a time slot between 1pm and 4 pm was changed £144 which was taken straight from my account.At 3.30pm I received a phone call from them saying they could come but would come on Monday!' to which I declined I needed it fixing today. I asked to lady for my money back in to my account she said they had not taken it the back hold it. I immediately phoned my back and was reassured it had gone straight into their account and I would have to open a dispute with them. I called this cowboy company back up and stated my bank said the money was in their account, at this point communication broke down no way was I getting my money back. So trading standards here I come! And rough traders! You have be warned stay well away!

Failed to show up 4 times over 3 days despite claiming same day service on the website. Where unable to make sure I was first job of the day even after 3 failed appointments- Why? They either have no engineers in my area (in which case they lie) or they just don't care- both of which are reasons to never use this company. The supervisor was rude, aggressive, unhelpful and sexist.
They also take money from your card immediatly despite claiming to only do so when the job is done- DO NOT USE THEM

Never use these people. 1-3 hours service is the biggest joke in the world and probably a trade descriptions infringement. They couldn't even manage 1-3 days let alone hours. I cannot even rate their service because they entirely failed to appear when promised - four times in a week. My tenants boiler had broken down in cold weather - no heating, no hot water and a toddler. They strung us along saying someone would be there between 8.00 and 12.00 from Tuesday to Friday and no one ever appeared. They said it was their system, he was on holiday, he was ill etc. They were also very bad at communicating once the appointments were made but of course very quick to take the booking. Luckily a local Corgi registered man took pity on us and solved the problem. Never again.

We had a leak in our ensuite which needed immediate attention. Plumbing Force quoted £99 plus vat for the callout and an hour's work. After 15 minutes we were told we needed a new toilet. The quote for the toilet plus two hours labour was £525 plus vat. What we did not know was that we were being quoted a fixed price irrespective of how long it took.
The work was completed within an hour but the plumber wrote just short of two hours.
So in total, with the call out, we have paid for three hours labour when only one hour twenty minutes was used. Final bill was £748.80 with vat.
When we rang to query this amount the person taking the call said "oh, that's too much" but we needed to email our dissatisfaction.
This was done. But nothing was done to refund some of the labour.
Caveat emptor! Let the buyer beware!
Better still don't use this company unless you want to pay well over the odds.

I called them out to do an urgent plumbing job and they came, they charged a ridiculous amount and didn't do the job.
They were asked to repair a leaking joint behind tiles in a bathroom. They repaired the top shower unit but left the lower hand held shower unit leaking. When I phoned them they said they were ONLY asked to repair the top shower. It was the same mixer unit. They wanted to charge again!
I decided to not use them. Still cost me over £600 to NOT get it fixed.
THEY ARE JUST NOT HONEST SO AVAID THEM

Avoid, Avoid, Avoid this company. I booked a plumber on Friday morning and was given a slot, they took my payment details. I had to call 3 times for an update to be told oh don, t worry the engineer is coming to you next. I called again at 5pm for a further update and was told it could be up to 6pm. At 6pm they called me to say that the plumbers job had over run and they would book him for first thing Saturday morning between 9am - 1pm I called every hour and was told that they could not give me any updates but the booking is fine. At 12, o, clock I rang and asked for someone to contact the plumber and find out approx what time he was due to arrive. I was told that they couldn't contact the plumber as they are not allowed to have their phones switched on while working, I asked if they could send him a text just to confirm. I was told that they don, t do texts! I rang again at 12:45 to be told that they would be re-booking the job for the afternoon between 2-6pm. Again I called every hour to Ben given even more pathetic excuses why they couldn't contact the plumber " he's working on a boiler and not allowed his phone to switched on" next time "he's dealing with a gas leak"! I rang again at 4 pm and said that I would stay on the phone until they called the plumber to find out if he was coming or not to save me waiting another two hours after already wasted the whole day. To be told " oh your job in next in the queue, it hasn't been assigned to anyone yet but not to worry as there is still 2 hours. I asked if the plumber would definitely turn up to which they assured me they would. At 5pm they called to say that they would need to re -schedule for Monday.
This company is so badly run which reflects terribly in the level of customer service which is virtually non existent to give you bull $#*! excuses every time you ring.

Disgraceful customer service - do not bother with them.

I booked an engineer to attend the following day to look at the boiler in the house of my late mother-in-law. I drove 60 miles from my home to be there for the 3-6 slot. At 5.15 I enquired about the location of the engineer and I was told that my booking had been moved to the 9-1 slot the next morning. I wasted a day's holiday, drove 120 miles and waited for 3 hours in a house without heating. Completely unacceptable.

When I complained I was told that "appointments are not guarantied (sic)".
Not sure they understand the meaning of the word "appointment".

I tried to change my taps, turns out the waste on my sink has entirely perished and was no longer attached to the sink. I called plumbing force to fix it and also do the taps while they're there as I realised I didn't have the right tools.

They were here for 10 minutes, and gave me a quote for the work, said someone will be in touch to arrange a time. Charged me £118.80. Then left.

3 days later no one has been in touch and I can't use my kitchen sink so I phone them and arrange them to come on the Saturday morning before 12.

Saturday comes and I check my bank account to find out they have charged me for the call out, and also another £160. They phone to say they will be late and should arrive before 4. I ask why they have charged me when the work hasn't been done.

They say it's for the 2 pumps they fixed.

What pumps.

The pumps they fixed when they turned up on Saturday.

I tell them that didn't happen and the bloke was there 10 minutes, said he didn't have the parts they needed and left.
They say they will have to look into it.

They call back at 4 to say they aren't coming today. I ask them about the money again and they say it's for the pumps they changed.

After going through the whole thing again they said they need to check with the engineer and he isn't in until monday. I offer to email them the quote as proof of what he actually did/gave us, and I email it over. They say they're look at it and get back to me.

I hear nothing until today when I have to phone them because they STILL haven't been in touch, and they say the charge is for the pumps they fitted.

Apparently her manager wasn't in. Yet miraculously they managed to put me through to someone that could help.

After having to go through the whole thing again with her and saying I had sent emails etc and got nowhere she said, oh, that person doesn't work in the aftersales so he coudn't help.

I tell her I'm not speaking to aftersales, and noone has ever mentioned aftersales because i NEVER GOT PAST BEFORE SALES!

Anyway... the money should now be going back in my account and I fixed my sink myself instead.

Moral of the story, don't use plumbingforce.

Absolute rubbish. I booked a call out last week for a faulty d h w sensor and the guy managed to get water over my floor whilst draining the boiler so spent most of the time mopping up. He then said part didn't need replacing after all as it was just fitted incorrectly? (Not sure how it had previously worked then). As he left he said work had 12 month guarantee anyway. Week later same problem plus now I also have water dripping from boiler so I called them only to be told I'd have to pay another call out charge as it was in working order when the engineer left? Why guarantee then? He hastampered with my boiler to cause it to drip. I did not have this problem before. So I have taken the afternoon off and now the same engineer is conveniently held up and can't make it. I think he is trying to get out of the job he did badly and there is no one else available. So now I am stuck. I told them to cancel everything I do not want anything more to do with this company.