We are having our central heating refitted by a largish local company. As part of it, we have had a 200litres ish water cylinder removed, which contains a large tank made of copper. Having been made aware that the copper is valuable for scrap, I thought I will put it on one side and take it to be weighed in the hope it might be worth a small amount to offset the amount we are paying for everything to be done.
All of the waste generated so far has been left in the garden for the last 10 days with the company set to remove it presumably at the end. The copper tank was removed on Friday afternoon and unbeknownst to me, one of the workers has taken it straight away to their van at the end of the day. I know this because it is on my ring doorbell footage.
Having queried it with the boss of the company, she claims that scrap metal is considered 'plumbers perks' unless the customer specifically asks for it,and that its a misunderstanding as they did not know we wanted it. I was in the house at the time and had many interactions with the person concerned. I didn't realise I had to ask for it to be saved - I assumed i would put it on one side this weekend as none of the other waste had been collected, but it was barely in the garden a couple of hours before it was swiftly removed.
My question is, is this indeed a plumbers perk? I'm not a plumber so obviously have no idea. I feel awkward now like I'm trying to steal the workers 'tips' from the job. They have been great otherwise. But I also feel like there was the opportunity to ask.