To expect the plumber to turn up when he said?

[AnonWasAWoman]

I honestly don't know if I am BU here. He said he'd turn up 8.30-9. He's not here now. The thing is, the later he turns up, the later he'll finish and the later I'll be able to get on with what I need to do (I need to get out).

Is it usual for them to be fairly vague about times?

The reason I ask is he's been in a couple of times before (he's a friend of the landlord, so we can't get someone else in), and each time he's either been late, or expected to do work he'd not told us he'd have to do (causing more disruption). He knows I mostly work at home, and I don't know if he therefore assumes it doesn't matter about timing, or if it's just normal for times to be approximate.

What would you reckon?

I'd ring him and ask where he is! Then depending on the time I'd say we'd agreed 8.30 - 9, it's too late now and we'd need to rearrange. If he's a friend of the landlord he probably feels like he's doing his friend a favour, and you might want to have a word with your landlord that you've been let down by this guy and would appreciate being able to have a different plumber if it carries on. With luck, the LL will talk to his friend and he'll start behaving!

I'm just getting voicemail atm but I'd expect that if he's travelling.

There's no hope of getting a different plumber - I just wondered, not having ever had to deal with them before, if maybe it's usual for times to be a bit vague.

I am tempted to tell the LL he's not wonderful though - they are mates and she goes on about how lovely he is. It's true he seems a really nice man, but what he's here to do today is fix a shower he put in that didn't work and ran cold after the first few seconds, so TBH I was partly wanting to get a sense of how much ground I've got to complain.

YANBU, but YABUnrealistic. This is very common, and exceptionally irritating. Trouble is, you need your shower fixing, so if you put him off because he's late, he'll probably get pissed off, tell you the next time he can come is March, and you'll be very smelly . If I were you, I'd give him a bit of grief when he does get there, might make you feel better,

Ah, ok, that's good to know MsV. I don't want to put him off - we've been without it for the best part of a month, that's enough!

i honestly can't think of many/any tradesmen who have turned up on time. i'm sitting around waiting for one now, over an hour late.

to be fair they've come a long way and probably stuck in traffic somewhere.

Ok, thanks natural. Hope yours turns up soon.

I'm always grateful if they turn up at all!

Can't bear to think of all the long hours I've spent imprisoned in the house waiting for tradesmen. Every now and then one turns up at the promised hour just to confuse you.

One of the many things sent to try us.

I work for myself (no, sorry I'm not a plumber) :) so I know how difficult it is to achieve a balance between having too much or too little work.

I am always reluctant to turn down opportunities even if I am very busy because it may be in a month or so I will run out of work so this means at times I am rushed off my feet. I have to admit, occasionally I have not completed jobs on time and been late for an appointment.

Most companies and self-employed have to do this so I suspect your plumber is rushing between jobs.

the guys i'm waiting for turned up nearly 2hrs late, after sitting outside to have breakfast!

at least the grocery delivery guys give you a 2hr slot, ours pretty much always arrive within the first 10mins.

Pendeen, I understand it's not always easy to stick to an appointment when they're really busy, but surely a phone call to say they're running late is reasonable/polite? I know it might be a bit difficult to phone when they're fixing a boiler/doing whatever, but a 20 second "sorry, I'm running late, will be here in half an hour, is that OK" call as they're getting in the car will appease most customers. OP, has he turned up yet?!

Absolutely!

With mobiles and texts, tweets and answering machines there really is no excuse for keeping people informed.

(Provided he has the OP's 'phone number with him - something else I have been guilty of forgetting).

not

Well, he's been and gone and the shower works! Yay!

Thanks for giving me a sense of what to expect - I'd have felt bad making a fuss as clearly he hadn't thought about time (I mentioned I'd been expecting him earlier and he said 'oh yes, anytime in the morning is what I usually manage' - which is ok so long as I know, as I will next time!).

Glad yours turned up in the end too natural.

This time of year is really busy for plumbers. People put on their central heating after the summer and find it doesn't work anymore.

This happened to us a couple of weeks ago and, after being completely let down by the first guy we tried, when we found someone else to come out I was glad to drop what I was doing and work around his hectic schedule. I work full time so this meant time off work at short notice but if that is the only way to get the boiler fixed so be it.

I guess your problem is that you are having to deal through a third party, your landlord.

Yes, that makes sense that it's busy. He'd cancelled once to go to an emergency, so I probably should have expected it. I'd much rather they do that TBH, because it could be us with an emergency next time!

Next time he comes I'll just plan to be in all day. I did manage to nip to my shop before it shut at 1, though, so I am happy!