To want my bloody money back?

[HeyThereDelilah1]

Horrible, violent leak from a burst pipe and a broken stop clock meant that I had to call out an emergency plumber to my home in the middle of the night. My husband was abroad and I was at home with a baby and a toddler with water filling up the bathroom at a rapid rate and pouring into the kitchen below. When I called the agency (head under a sink being covered in hot water) trying to soak as much up as I could, they said they’d be an £85 call out charge and the plumbers fee would apply thereafter - turns out it was £385 an hour and I could kick myself for not asking - but at that moment in time I just wanted the bloody thing stopped. When I spoke to the agent to complain about the £800 bill for an hours work (added loads of tax and other ridiculous charges - it also turns out they aren’t vat registered) he was quite menacing and said the plumber would stay in my house until I paid - it was midnight at this point and I couldn’t see any other option. I’ve since asked for their published rates and they’ve refused saying they can charge any amount per hour, they’ve refused a vat reg number and apparently don’t know the name or address of the contractor who came to my house, they just hold phone numbers which seems incredibly neglectful considering they send their contractors to peoples homes in the middle of the night. Who should I report this agency too? Trading standards seems a dead end thus far! Any advice appreciated as they are top in google for ‘emergency plumber’ and I want to avoid other people being conned if possible...

Bloody hell, that’s extortionate! Have you read the about us section of their website? Who the hell wrote that? It doesn’t make sense and the grammar is appalling!

The standard of writing / text on that website is shockingly bad.

Doesn't look at all professional and I quote... "So, you can rest assured inside your home and not run the risk of staying in the cold during the winter season. You can activate our services simply through a phone call. One of our team reaches you at the certain place in order to prepare a rapid and decisive emergency plan."

Er... what?!?

Clearly matches their unprofessional behaviour as experienced by the OP

I don’t think you can actually leave them a review on their website, funny that . I will try and do a Google review now, I just don’t want them being able to do this to countless other people too.

I know, it’s so clearly a cowboy outfit in the cold light of day! I literally called the first number that came up under ‘emergency plumber’ as was desperate to stop the ceiling falling through at the time, there was so much water!

Surely your landlord should reimburse you??

OP just FYI their top of google as it’s a paid ad, they bid on key words so they’ll be shelling out a fortune to get ranked at the top - obviously made from conning people. In addition to the advice you’ve been given I’d also report to the FCA as they absolutely aren’t allowed to charge card fees (unless it’s a corporate card?), so a nice fine could head their way too. Good luck.

Or claim under your insurance?

Ach, I’m so sorry. We had a near identical thing happen to us in London with an emergency plumber.
Right down to the ridiculous fee and having to pay under duress.

Didn’t get our money back but Trading Standards we’re building a case against them. Report report report.

Makes you feel bloody awful, does t it?

Wow!! report report report

OP can't add anything to what others have said except to say you have my sympathy. Women on their own with children are so vunerable sometimes. I had to take DD to the childrens hospital when she was little (2 or 3) and they helpfully discharged her at 4am. Took a taxi back and the driver insisted on me paying 4 times the going rate (should have been £5 maybe £7 at the most) He actually locked the doors and told me I had to pay up - no choice really.

Got back at him though by reporting him to licensing. I ended up at licensing committee with him there and he lost his licence (and I had no bl**dy sympathy especailly as he'd been reported before for similar thing)

Its a really horrible situation to be in - basically extortion and I really feel for you it must have been frightening - and yes charging you VAT was wrong - tell HMRC as they can be fined for that

DontCallMeCharlotte Why should a landlord pay for their tenant's mistake of not checking fees which results in hundreds of pounds for a call out? Fair enough if there is no OOH service and the tenant needs to get a contractor out as an emergency but it needs to be reasonable. If I were a landlord I'd never believe my tenant wasn't having me on and stitching me up with a friend with that invoice!

OP, try to cancel the payment if you can. Put a complaint in writing to them advising them you are now getting legal advice and will be contacting trading standards, etc then call citizen's advice's trading standards line followed by newspaper, Watchdog and whoever will listen. I don't often say that but I do feel sorry for anyone in your situation who will fall into the same trap. Sorry this has happened to you, I hope you've got a glass

We own the house and our insurance aren’t very interested even though we have emergency cover as well as water damage insurance because my first call should have been to them and not to the emergency plumbers. Oh paid ad, I didn’t realise at the time, that makes more sense! I’ll get in touch with FCA and HMRC and hope something gets put into action. Urghh just feel so gross about it all and hate the thought of them doing this to elderly / vulnerable people - I expect part of the reason the costs were so excessive was because I was alone with two young children and couldn’t put up much of a fight!

Is it covered by your home insurance?
Do you have legal assistance on your home insurance? Might be able to ask them about it.
Are you in a rental property? It could be that your landlord could help. Esp if you are in a flat and it came through via the flat above, that might be covered by their insurance and you could claim it that way.
Sorry to not be more help, but I do agree contact CAB and don't be put off by assumptions about what they might or might not say.. this really does sound like fraud.
Best of luck with this.

NononoLimit

I meant the Landlord should be paying for the plumber but as it transpires OP owns the property (I was thrown by the reference to an agency in the OP), it's a moot point anyway.

I've done a bit of digging and the company is Nexty Ltd. They have a few review on Google.

They may be registered for VAT, although I can't see a VAT number on their site. But the company comes up as a registered company on the Companies House site.

I can't understand their refund policy at all, perhaps someone cleverer than me can decipher it.

www.professionalsimmediately.co.uk/en/refund_policy.php

They sound like scumbags.

For future reference, lots of home insurance policies include an emergency tradesman service - obviously you have to pay, but it shouldn't be that kind of ridiculous price.

Try for a chargeback? It's not as easy on a debit card but might be worth a punt.

All ltd companies are registered on companies house. That's nothing to do with VAT.

Bloody hell. This is from their website:

‘Every single pipe or boiler will be repaired in laps of time that will be immediate, thus offering you the pleasure of a precise and perfect repair from every point of view, a detail that you should not underestimate. You may finally be able to use these particular types of objects again, which may have made you crazy in the past. With us, the accuracy of a repair is guaranteed to one hundred per cent, without there being indulged and problems of every type, a detail that you must not ignore.’

Wtf??

Op, so sorry. Leave a shitty review. I hope you get your money back.

I had this too, with an emergency locksmith, I made the mistake of using an agency, basically all they do is send a message to all Emergsncy lock smiths and the closest, first there claims the job.

I paid rhe agency fee then an emergency call out fee for the locksmith, spend about 300 quid. If I'd just taken five mins and found one directly who did emergency work, I'd have spent less than a hundred. It was during the day too. I felt such a twat.

These agencies are total rip offs, and the folks they call out charge you and arm and a leg,

yes they sound like cowboys i know u panicked and i do hope you can get something back-maybe next time just call the police and say youre being threatened

I hope your bank can do a chargeback. These shower sound an utter bunch of scumbags. How completely immoral they are.

The refund policy makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. We don’t have legislative decrees in England so heaven knows what it’s referring to. Utter tosh would be my legal opinion!
My sympathies - it’s almost like a rite of passage being scammed by a dodgy plumber. Trading standards really should sort out the industry.