To feel robbed.

[Orchid1997]

My toddler DD put some wipes down the toilet and it was blocked. I had a plumber out today to unblock the toilet and paid £85. He was only there two minutes and it turns out he has only pushed the wipes back. Not removed them. I feel robbed. Aibu or is this standard?

Did he actually fix the problem though?

What do you mean by pushed them back?

@Lockheart im not actually sure because he claims there is a faulty fill valve that also needs fixing. He filled the top of the toilet with water from the sink. The toilet won’t flush yet as he says it’s slow filling

Do you mean they were just stuck in the u-bend? Did you not just try and pull them out?

@girlmom21 yes just stuck in the u bend. I did try with a toilet snake but wasn’t successful

When its something small like a few wipes, to unblick it he might just have had to push them bavk to a section where the pipes are bigger.
Its only things that wouldnt fit through the big pipes that need to get pulled all the way out

Hadn’t you already stuck your hand in?
my dn blocked my mils holiday home with wipes 5 hours before we arrived, unlocking my sils and bills morning deposits is an experience I will never forget but I wouldn’t have dreamed of calling a plumber for a blockage accessible with the toilet

Presumably most of that fee would have been a standard call out charge with the price on top for use of whatever equipment he used to push through the wipes. Was it an emergency call out? Did he have a minimum one hour call out fee? Did you query the bill, what's on the invoice?

You're mad calling a plumber out for that! It'll be a call out charge you paid.

Rubber gloves and/ or a coat hanger or lift the manhole and go in the other way. Or a set of drain rods is only about 20 pounds from screw fix

He unblocked your toilet and you paid him for the service.
It doesn’t matter how long he was there. You had a problem and he sorted it.

Yes coat hanger to pull it all back at my mils

’dh’ wad entertaining the children apparently as my sils poo appeared

Unblocking a toilet is easy enough.

We run a drainage firm, and I'd say the dodgy bit is that you haven't actually seen it fill/work after. As a plumber, could he not fix the fill valve? Often call charges are the first hour or whatever, so he could easily have done it. If not, they're easy to do so you could fix it.

I'm very dubious that he pushed them back in, no plumber worth their salt wants to introduce wipes to the system

£5 for the time to unblock the toilet
£80 for having the training and skill to do it

They tend to have standard minimum call out fees. What did you expect to pay?