Warning about bad plumber experience: ASAP 24/7 Plumbing ltd

[thefamilyO]

I often look for recommendations on the forum and so thought I should share a really bad recent experience we had with plumbing company ASAP 24/7 Plumbing Ltd, registered at 18 Burlington Gardens (there is a similar named company elsewhere that I don’t want to confuse these people with).

We had an horrible experience and would advise people to avoid this company at all costs. They charged over £650 for what turned out to be just turning off my the water at the mains, lied about the work they did, pretended this work took time, lied when they said I’d still have hot water from my tank (I didn’t ) and initially double- charged me for VAT (the bill was originally c.£800). I had to repeatedly call for that refund and felt they dodged my call. I could easily have tuned off the water at the mains myself but was led to believe the problem needed more complicated work, hence paying an extortionate amount. There was also lots of back and forth texting between the engineer and the company which made me uneasy and I wondered if they were agreeing ways to rip me off and lie to me- eg ‘she lives in a house therefore charge more’. A proper plumber came out 2 days later and confirmed the above plumbing points- I’d been told lies about the severity of the problem, about having access to water and the ‘work’ that had been done. I feel really stupid for falling for the scam. I expect to pay a higher rate for an emergency call out but this was extortionate and a complete rip off given all the lies and pretend work that I was charged for. Avoid!

 

[Sue]

That's really awful.

Is there anyone you can report them to? Eg are they in any trade associations?

Also, you could take them to the Small Claims Court. It's a very easy process.

They cover "faulty goods/services".

There's also a free mediation service which I wasn't aware of (see the screenshot below).

I don't know if there's any way you can name and shame them apart from posting on here.

How did you come to use them?

Edited December 18 by Sue

[thefamilyO]

Thank you for the advice and information- really useful. 
My usual plumber wasn’t able to come so I googled for companies in south London and thought the trustpilot reviews looked ok. How wrong I was!

I’ve posted a bad review on trustpilot but will look into where else I can complain. 

[malumbu]

Try to report it to trading standards but as this sounds like fraud report to the police as well.  Gather as much evidence as you can.  What was the issue?  There are plenty on this forum including me who can give free advice. Perhaps you have a street WhatsApp too.

[Sue]

2 hours ago, malumbu said:

Try to report it to trading standards but as this sounds like fraud report to the police as well.  Gather as much evidence as you can.  What was the issue?  There are plenty on this forum including me who can give free advice. Perhaps you have a street WhatsApp too.

Agree with all that. Hopefully the second plumber would be willing to put something in writing for you.

It's just occurred to me to wonder exactly what was the first plumber's relationship with the company.

I assume your contract was with the company, but I guess there's a (probably small) chance the plumber was lying to them as well, unless he actually owned the company? In which case, who was he texting and why?

[ANDY B]

Hi what happens is that the company gets the jobs subs the job out to so called plumbers and they is a have to charge high to a percentage of the job because the main company take a 40% cut , I have been in plumbing and just Business for many Moons 

[Pugwash]

We had a problem last year with a roofing company. They had previously fixed the roofing on our exterior boiler house and we had no complaints.  They came back several months later and my husband foolishly let them in. They deliberately knocked down some guttering (I discovered this some time later) and  damaged some roofing slates.  We ended up going to Trading Standards who are investigating the company - they were registered at Company  House but operated from various addresses  which were used for mailing purposes only.