Complaining about tradesmen....

Hi everyone

I recently employed a local plumber to install a shower enclosure using materials that I supplied i.e. quad enclosure, shower tray and wetwall panelling. The shower looks great.....but the enclosure leaks.

To be fair to the plumbers they have returned several times to re-silicone the joints but everything so far has failed. Trouble is they are now obviously fed up and have decided to go AWOL. They promised to come out on Wednesday but they didn't show - not the first time they have done this. The buggers are now ignoring my phonecalls.

Unfortunately I paid them after it was installed (in cash of course) - now that they have their money they seem to have given up on customer service. They have complained that I got the stuff in "from the internet" - but I had everything in advance of the work starting so that they could check it all through as requested. Of course, they didn't bother. My position is that they had the opportunity to check the materials before they started - if they didn't like them they could have turned the job down.

The leak appears to be coming from between the shower enclosure and the top of the tray. More worryingly it now seems to be leaking somewhere at the back because I have started to see some water coming from under the tray. Obviously I need to get this sorted before more problems set in...

Any advice on how I can take this further? Is it worth pursuing this or should I just bite the bullet and pay for another plumber or tackle this myself. Now that all the pipework is in place I am confident enough to tackle dismantling the enclosure and re-siliconing everything as it is reassembled. It is more the principle - I paid someone to do the job and I would expect not to have to clear the mess up after them.

I seem to remember a website that has a database of tradesmen and customer comments - does anyone have any links??

Thanks for the advice

M
Reply to
magpie
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So where is it leaking from...the siliconed joints, trap, door?

The fact that they came a few times suggest that they weren't out to rip you off. Did you ask for and get a receipt for the work?

Did they complain that they didn't supply hence lost on profits or that internet goods are sometimes truly rubbish?

That's a fair point but sometimes you can visually inspect things and only when it's fitted together the poor design and manufacture really shows.

Do you have any access to under the tray? Shine a light under and see where water is running down.

If you're confident then do it yourself. That way you'll may see for yourself what the problem is and not end up with another potentially dodgy plumber (who will no doubt moan about the previous guys work and your materials).

to have to clear the mess up after them.

Fair point again but a little to late for that unfortunately... unless they come back.

Is that to find a plumber or complain about the one you dealt with? :)

Reply to
cucumber

Thanks for the reply cucumber! I have tried to answer your points...

It is leaking between the bottom of the enclosure and the top of the tray. Looks as if the join between wetwall panel and tray is also leaking.

I am sure that they didn't set out to rip me off. I reckon that they have been out so many times now that they have decided that the profit margin on this job is now negligible. I asked for a receipt but so far haven;t received one. Naive of me, I know.

When I asked them round for the estimate they asked me to supply the materials. The stuff seems well enough made (to me).

Point taken...

I will have a look this afternoon.

That route is looking increasingly likely. The reason that I got a plumber in was a lack of time on my part and trying to ensure that the job was done properly first time. I reckon that I could have done the job myself but obviously it would have taken me three times as long as a plumber...

My original post was really trying to get at is it really worth pursuing these matters further? If so, how have people tackled their own problems? The absolute disregard for customer satisfaction in what is a service industry really bugs me sometimes. I know that lots of tradesmen are decent and honest but the naff few really cause lots of disruption. Not turning up for appointments without so much as a phonecall is my biggest bugbear - especially when you have taken the day off.

not to have to clear the mess up after them.

Point taken...again :-)

Both!!! It would be interesting to see if anyone has left reports on these guys. Anyone have any links?

Thanks again for the input. Would be good to hear others opinions.

Reply to
magpie

Just in relation to the last point really . . .

Since being ripped off by a rogue electrician, I decided to go ahead and set up a site to allow users to feedback on builders/handymen and the likes. I'm at the stage now where I need to build up the database so if you know anyone who may want to advertise for free, tell them about it!!! (However its only based in the north west uk at the moment)

Obviously I don't want to be lynched by the google crew for advertising the site on here (I'm not sure exactly what the etiquette is for advertising websites on groups!), but if you are interested in knowing more, please feel free to mail me.

PS - Its not for profit, its all free - even for posting adverts on. Just want to try to only get the good builders to get the work and stop what happened to me happening to others.

Martin

magpie wrote:

not to have to clear the mess up after them.

Reply to
glovema1981

The message from snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com contains these words:

What the hell's it got to do with Google? They're nothing to do with newsgroups.

Reply to
Guy King

Good enough idea as it would be in a many other areas too.

The only problem would be the abuse of your website. Dodgy builders leaving themselves many good reports or someone with a grudge leaving a decent tradesmen many bad reports. If you have a way of filtering the fake reports then you're on to a winner, otherwise......

Reply to
cucumber

Thanks for the comments folks -

geoff (with the small g) - Not sure how I offended you but apologies on me posting something that has caused you to react the way you have done. I wouldn't want you to be offended any more so please do not read on.

Everyone else who kindly got back to me - thanks for your ideas.

Cucumber, I've got a restriction where it's only one IP address per feedback comment per company and it records this address so its possible for me to see who has posted what. I understand your points - with manual verification occurring before the ad goes live though, this should hopefully reduce this (although I'm aware it will not eliminate abuse). I'm also working on an appeals process that will allow declined ads to be reviewed.

It's only just going live, so the first month or so will decide whether it will work or not. It is done more of as a hobby project rather than a business venture so nothing to lose if it goes belly up.

Constructive criticism/feedback is definitely welcomed so if I've no objections by folk, I'll post a link to the site. Obviously if this is not the done thing - I'll leave it. Please let me know though - I'm relatively new to Google groups ( as pointed out - advertising is not my sin.)

cucumber wrote:

Reply to
glovema1981

The message from snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com contains these words:

One thing you really need to understand is that usenet - the system which propogates all these groups, is absolutely nothing to do with Google or Google Groups at all.

Let me just say that again in case it wasn't clear.

Google is not newsgroups, newsgroups are not Google's.

Reply to
Guy King

People with very basic technical knowledge could post from over 100 IPs if they wanted. How do you know whether that one post is fair or abuse?

What about appeals re tradesman comments? How do you know if youre even dealing with the tradesman concerned, let alone whether the complaints are genuine or not?

Other than threats of being sued left right and centre by professional tradesmen pissed off with debateable complaints, sometimes followed by the complainant pretending to be them on another IP and giving even more reason for complaint.

There are people & sites that will take these kind of issues on board but people dont do it for nothing as a hobby.

posting a one link link to it in your sig is fine. You can do this on every post if you want. Waving it about in the body of your posts is another matter, one that could get you into trouble in some cases. Sigs should be limited to 4 lines and preceded by dash dash space.

Google groups is just a portal to newsgroups (usenet). This is a newsgroup, and is not owned, run or regulated by google. Google does however have its own T&Cs that govern use of its portal.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

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