Thankfully these are far and few between but their sloppy attitude toward solving a customer’s plumbing
problems cause unnecessary frustration, more expense and time wasting.
In this real case recently, the client's concealed cistern inner mechanism (flushing system) had seen its
best days – over 10 years old. The plumber spent some time establishing this fact and then announced to
the customer it was likely there were no spares and left the customer hanging.
Now the cistern was a local one, but the customer was not to be taken with this flippant response. We
establish from the local manufacturer who readily assured us that the spare part was indeed available
and the manufacturer sent his plumber out to install the mechanism and charged the customer a fair
price.
The first plumber now sent in his account which was not paid because all he had to do was phone the
manufacturer, get the part and install it. Not only would he be paid for his labour but also a reasonable
loading on the part which he would have had to collect. The customer saw no reason to pay twice and
quite rightly so.
So, beware of this lazy and un-customer-orientated plumber. He was just there to make a call-out fee and
anything after that was just too much trouble. Of course, one does face the situation where spares are
no longer available – but the plumber must check first. This fellow was probably hankering for the
customer to tell him to replace the whole concealed cistern which would have meant more bucks for
him but that would have been bordering on cheating!
So, as a guideline check your plumber is a member of IOPSA and is a PIRB plumber or is at least a good
reputation for completing the task. This does provide a means of comeback and protection.
