Did plumber overcharge us?

sarkozy

Guys, I'm hoping you guys can help me work out whether we were seriously overcharged on a plumbing job.

We were charged €250 ex VAT, we queried the price, so this is the job description we got back from the plumber.

Emergency callout for broken down boiler
Problem was no pressure due to a leak and the boiler went into lock-out (it's an open system, not combi)
Leak was fixed, pressure topped up and vented
We're told the job took two hours, inclusive of travel (which is an open question, since we don't know where they were coming from).

What do you think?

Sleeper12

Emergency is more expensive than waiting for plumber to be able to fit you in after a few days.

What part of the country are you in?

What time of day/night was it?

antimatterx

Sounds reasonable to me. Tradesmen are in high demand, they're is not enough of them in the country. They can be picky with jobs and charge plenty of money!

RobAMerc

I've spent the last few months hanging around waiting for 5 or 6 builders, roofers and plumbers who didnt turn up to help me fix a leak - a relatively small but significant emergency - I lost a lot more than 250 taking time off etc for nothing.
Sadly the state of Ireland at the moment, I'd be happy you called someone, they turned up and they did something useful.

I dont think 250 is excessive either way if I am honest.

gnf_ireland

Did you arrange a fee when you contacted the plumber in the first place? Normally you would get some kind of a quote - e.g. 100 euro call out fee and it includes the first 30 minutes work. Anything over that is charged at x.
What parts, if any, were included
As another poster said, was this an emergency job, as there is a premium for this service in most cases? Time of day also important - no different to taxi fares

But to be honest, if you had no fee or quote up front, its really pointless crying over spilled milk at this stage. The work is done - what are you trying to achieve? Getting him to reduce his prices - hardly going to happen in reality. The time to do this is before the work is done

How did you find the plumber? Recommendation or randomly via a google search? What recommendations where given on them etc

Plumbthedepths

sarkozy wrote: »

Guys, I'm hoping you guys can help me work out whether we were seriously overcharged on a plumbing job.

We were charged €250 ex VAT, we queried the price, so this is the job description we got back from the plumber.

Emergency callout for broken down boiler
Problem was no pressure due to a leak and the boiler went into lock-out (it's an open system, not combi)
Leak was fixed, pressure topped up and vented
We're told the job took two hours, inclusive of travel (which is an open question, since we don't know where they were coming from).

What do you think?

No, perfectly reasonable tbh.

gnf_ireland

sarkozy wrote: »

We were charged €250 ex VAT,

I am just surprised you were quoted ex VAT for a small job. Any small jobs I have looked to have done in the last while, I am told its cash only!!

Might be worth considering LocalHeros next time (or similar)
MOD snip. I'll leave the name but remove the link.

Irish_peppa

I had a plumber out to sort out an airlock (not an emergency and took him 2 weeks to arrive as he was on holidays)
He appeared at door with a wet dry vacumn and sucked on the shower head. Within 30 Seconds the shower was running. He was gone within 5 minutes for the princely sum of 90 euro.
So maybe wasnt that pricey all things considered;)

Irish_peppa

gnf_ireland wrote: »

Did you arrange a fee when you contacted the plumber in the first place? Normally you would get some kind of a quote - e.g. 100 euro call out fee and it includes the first 30 minutes work. Anything over that is charged at x.
What parts, if any, were included
As another poster said, was this an emergency job, as there is a premium for this service in most cases? Time of day also important - no different to taxi fares

But to be honest, if you had no fee or quote up front, its really pointless crying over spilled milk at this stage. The work is done - what are you trying to achieve? Getting him to reduce his prices - hardly going to happen in reality. The time to do this is before the work is done

How did you find the plumber? Recommendation or randomly via a google search? What recommendations where given on them etc

GNF would you recommend getting quotes for even small things? Maybe im social awkward but i hate asking tradesmen to come over to quote for something small. Ie: I had some skirting and dado ((I supplied materials)) and needed to fit in understairs toilet. I had used the guy loads of times. And prices were allways decent and fair. I nearly died when he asked me for euro 240. he was finished in about an hour it was about 4 meters of skirt and 2.5 meters of dado
I didnt ask to quote as i knew the job was about an hours worth. So i kinda thought ahh hour 100 quid tops. 240 hourly wage is Brain Surgeon wages lol:D