Plumbforce Direct review: misleading diagnosis 33

I have had exactely the same scenario with them!
I have won the court case now.

Absolutely right! Plumbforce Direct are a disgrace! They will NEVER give you a straight answer or a proper quote over the phone. They rely on the plumber to quote you on site and try to get you to agree to whatever they want to do. And they're actually based in Scotland, even though they say that they're a 'local' London business. Avoid like the plague!

I guess that the purpose of the company reduces itself to the pure money earning. Thy are not interested in clients' feedback.

I booked them and they said they would come between 4pm and 6pm At 5-30pm I called to check that the engineer would be coming. The girl was rather vague and non committal about confirming for sure that someone was still coming.When I asked for her to confirm for sure she gave me all the excuses possible and said they couldn't come that evening at all and would re-book for the next morning. I checked in the morning and was given more stupid excuses i.e they didn't have a specialist engineer as he was ill all complete NONESENSE this is a disgrace and you should not believe the smart website image as this is a tin pot outfit of COWBOYS

I too called them out after my boiler stopped working as they said they would charge £25 + VAT to look at the problem and then give me a fixed price thereafter. The plumber turned up with no tools, no uniform, simply took the cover off the boiler and ran downstairs to "get parts" for 20 minutes. He then returned with a practically empty rucksack (tools?) and quoted me £320 to fix it. So I asked him what that was for - in other words what is the problem and does he need parts to justify that cost. He didn't need parts and when I asked him how long it would take to fix he said "about half an hour".

I asked him again why it would therefore cost £320! To which he replied.. well how much do you want to spend!?

It's not meant to be how much I want to spend it's how much it should cost! Shocked I then said I had hoped it wouldn't cost more than £150 for a couple of hours work and he said ok we can do it for £200 inclusive of VAT. But again I said if it will only take 30 minutes why should it even be that much? Surely you can just work on it for an hour and I can pay you for an hour?

He then called his boss and who took 20 minutes to call him back (while he stood in my hallway) and when he came back he said - I'm just going to leave. And with that he disappeared!

Thankfully he didn't charge me, but wow - I've never seen anything like this. KEEP AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE. This guy had no idea what he was doing and I will never call them again.

WARNING ! I wish I had read these reviews first. Plumbforce Direct are the biggest rip off and scam artists I have ever experienced. Be careful, they say they will send someone over to check your work so that they can give an accurate and competitive quote, however the catch is that they will charge you 25 pounds (plus vat which of course they dont mention) if you reject the quote. So they came over and quoted me 240 pounds for a 30 minute job, just re sealing a sink and tightening some fittings, no extra parts. What a joke! Avoid this scam company at all costs!

They are GREAT! Professional, FANTASTIC Work, Curtious. I had a leak in my shower. It needed an extensive repair. The shower tray had been repaired wrong in the past. Lewis is a great guy and a skilled tradesman and did and fantastic job sorting the tray. The wall was completely water logged, He repaired the section with new plasterboard and resealed and tiled the area. He took his time and made sure he informed of the progress along the way and to show me the work he was doing at that time.
These guys are the best, and I plan to use them for any future plumbing services.

I wonder if the review above was written by Chris Rodgers in customer service at Plumbforce Direct! because that's the only way they would ever get a good review! They are the most dreadful firm I have ever come across. The engineer they sent out to us has falsified his documents saying that the system was tested and working when he let the property but in fact it wasn't even connected up. They are refusing to come back to look at the problem without charge and we have spent almost 7k.
The engineer has lied and blamed other trades for the ### up he has made. He is aggressive and rude and Chris Rodgers believes every word he says seemingly.
WARNING- DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. YOU WILL REGRET IT.

Misdiagnosed issue, over charged and offered no refund or attempt to resolve dispute. Don’t not use! Unfortunately once they rip you off there is nothing that can be done! Beware of them.
Their engineer tended to a blocked gully, he attempted to clear the blockage but did not succeed. About 5 minutes after he arrived at the property I received a phone call from the engineer prior to commencing any further work in order to advise me that he needed to use more specialist machinery to clear the blockage. He stated that the charge would be £75 per half an hour. No longer than 25 minutes later, he called me again to advise me that the block was caused as a result of the concrete walls in the drain collapsing. He proceeded to say that consequently, this would require excavating and rebuilding. During that conversation he quoted £700 +VAT as a provisional sum for these works.

Two days later I instructed two of my workers with all the necessary equipment to excavate the site and investigate the blockage further. Once on site they were reluctant to start digging unless they had attempted to unblock first. They bought a drainage rod from a local shop (totalling £10) to attempt to unblock the drain. After about an hour they managed to clear the gully. The reason they were adamant to attempt to unblock was because they could not see how it was possible for someone to ascertain whether the drain had collapsed as the cover underneath the water and soil had not even been removed.

The bad service did not stop there. After the engineer’s brief visit to the site, his misdiagnosis and his lack of achieving anything in the short amount of time in which he was there, I was irate to learn that I had been charged for 1.5 hours labour (totalling £225 +VAT). Furthermore, your engineer’s lack of expertise in the matter could have caused severe structural damage to both the aforementioned property as well as the neighbouring one had we followed his advice and dug up the site, which we thankfully did not do.

Over the course of 2 months, I had daily conversations with various other staff there office. I have also spoken to the engineer who attended the site and he confirmed that he was at the property for no more than thirty minutes. In addition he said, and I quote, “If I made a mistake I’m sorry, that’s what I thought the issue was.” This is not acceptable and not a consolation. It is most certainly not worth a single penny of the expenses that I have incurred.

After expressing my ongoing frustrations with the less than poor service, I made it explicitly clear that I expected a full refund for the following reasons:
• The engineer was at the site for no more than thirty minutes.
• The blocked gully was not cleared.
• The cause of the blockage was grossly misdiagnosed.
• I was overcharged.
• Substandard customer service and lack of desire to try to resolve this dispute.
Eventually I was offered a £90 refund but was later informed that the refund would not be paid as I has intended to make a formal complaint. As a consumer, I am entitled to make a formal complaint about the lack of care and skill taken, especially given that no attempt has been made at any stage to fix the problem or provide a full refund and offer a sincere apology.

In summary, you they failed to carry out their services in accordance with the “Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982”, by not demonstrating reasonable care and skill. Despite being present at the property for no longer than thirty minutes (as evidenced by the timeline of phone calls I received that day and verified verbally by your engineer, as well as the tenant who was present), they charged me for 1.5 hours labour, yet the gully was remained fully blocked.
In a final attempt to resolve this contacted them and the advised me that they will not be offering any form of refund!

This company is amazing they have plumbers who know what they are doing. I was so pleased with their workmanship that I have told family and friends. I called them out at 3 in the morning for a leak in my property. They traced the leak to a pipe under my bath which they repaired there and then. There was minimal water damage due to their efficiency. I was also given a 1 year guarantee with the work. I would not use any other company now. If you need a good plumber give these guys a call they are great.

DO NOT USE. I wish I had seen the multitude of bad reviews on line. They subcontract and apparently give the jobs to the highest earners, so they encourage overcharging. Get a decent plumber on a day or fixed rate from RATED PEOPLE. Much better. The main customer service staff NEVER returned calls or called back when they said they would. Were happy to charge over £500 just to change a simple gasket and charged a card without permission. JUST AWFUL unless you like being ripped off. There are great plumbers out there that price well. You expect to pay if you need an urgent job, but this took over three months and over £550 for less than 3 hours work. Now that's money for nothing.

The plumber came to look at my boiler, quoted £470 to fix it and ASSURED it would be working. Given the urgency, i agreed. The boiler was NOT fixed and when i complained, he said the boiler is broken and CANNOT be fixed and quoted me £2.2K for a new one! The customer service was as rubbish when i called to complain. Kept putting me off and ignoring me. Got a REAL plumber and issue was fixed immediately. SO PLEASE AVOID USING THEM. Pass message on! A company that does not value customers and so unprofessional and incompetent should not be allowed to operate. Plumber to avoid - Paul. Customer service manager - Sylvie.

The website is very deceptive. No call out charge is a lie. I asked for a quote on a small plumbing charge. The man wouldn't leave until I'd given him £102 in cash. So I had to go ahead and book the work. They didn't turn up on the day they said. No phone calls. I called the company. They promised to call me back. They didn't. A day wasted. Finally re booked plumber for another day. He was late again, despite repeated promises he wouldn't be. £25 compensation for the grief and the wasted day was an insult. PLEASE AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS. They are amateurs and they are incredibly deceptive. What they say on their website and on their looped blurb when you are on hold to them (I've heard that tape many times) is totally inaccurate

This company is built on lies and greed. There is meant to be a fixed price. Doubled when plumber arrived. Just walked off job when I wouldn't pay! Terrible service

Please, please, do not use this company. Whilst they claim to be one of the cheaper going rates on the market, the cost doubles (or in our case, almost triples) once the plumber has arrived, has made a gigantic mess all over your house and is knees deep in your plumbing work. They make it very difficult for you to say no to the 'new on the spot price'.

You may as well just stop here, because once you've paid it, you'll spend just in much on phone bills trying to get through to the company. Customer service staff are rude, uninformed and extremely frustrating. This company should not be trusted - please choose a reputable local plumber who may charge slightly more upfront, but with no hidden costs, quality repairs and an honest service you would use again, it seems like a fair price.

I can't stress enough, based on my experience and those above, this is one of the dodgiest companies out there, relying on a crook business model which won't go the distance long term.

...nothing has changed with these guys - still a bunch of CROOKS. Called them about my Saniflo which had stopped working - quoted £80 + VAT. So far so good. When the guy turns up he spends about 10 secs looking at the Saniflo - does not even touch it! Just says it's easy to access. Then turns around and says how old it was, I say 4/5 yrs and he says you need a new unit! They only last 5 yrs. Then quotes £995 + VAT for a new one... but the call out charge would be deducted if I paid half the fee that day. Eventually gives me a deal of £899 + VAT! On reflection he never intended to fix the Saniflo - ''a messy job'' he called it - left all his tools in his van to start. Then said I still had to pay the call out - which I did on credit card and now disputing. I called the office after to complain... naturally he never called me back.

Called a Saniflo approved plumber who turned up next day and fixed it!

Do not use these crooks.

Plumbforce Direct have to rank as one of the biggest scam artists out there. Every call out for them is a scam in waiting. I urge you all to avoid and book another plumber who will not turn up with the intention of running a scam. This is a case of buyer avoid at all costs. You have been warned.

Plumbforce direct said I would have to pay £295 + VAT (approx. £360) and that it would take hours. I got another plumber in, who did it for £140 including VAT. That's £220 cheaper!. And he did it in around 30 minutes! What a DISGRACE Plumbforce Direct are. AVOID! AVOID! AVOID!

Blow by blow of how Plumbforce Direct behaved:
Plumbforce direct said I'd pay £80 + VAT to repair the flush valuve on my toilet (concealed cistern) but that I was eligilble for a £25 discount as it was my first booking.

Plumber came almost an hour late. He said that the whole panel behind the toilet had to be cut away and that was a job that would take hours. I thought this was odd as I live in a new build, which was obviously designed to be accessible to plumbers etc.

Plumber said his office would need to "generate" a price for this. (Which is contrary to what I've read on this page about plumbers quoting the job themselves). Every time he wanted to call his company he would leave my flat. I found this very odd -- never seen someone do this.

As he had left the flat, I quickly went online and posted the job on a website which promises 3 quotes in 2 minutes.
True enough I had 3 quotes in 2 minutes. They were all around £150.

Plumbforce Direct plumber came in and quoted me £295 + VAT. (approx. £360). That's over £200 more than anyone else. Unbelievable.

Because I had been told I had to pay an £80 + VAT call out fee, whether or not I agreed to have the plumber do the job, I told him to forget the toilet and just install the new sink basin sprung plug for waste that, by coincidence I had ordered on line a few days earlier. I thought this would be covered by the call out fee. But, again, what should have been an easy job became a 3 act drama.

He emerged with the sink waste pipe in his hand saying it had snapped off. I now wonder if it really had.
Again he couldn't give me aprice but had to have his company "generate" one.

The price I was given was £150 + VAT (so £180 in total. For installing a basic plug hole waste plug!). But I needed it done and was fed up so I agreed. Woman from the company phoned to take payment -- how odd they do this over the phone.

They didn't even supply plumber with credit card machine, or even give him receipts, warranty or any paperwork whatsoever to give to me after the job had been completed. Never seen anything so unprofessional.

Woman from the company asked why I didn't go through with the toilet repair.
I told her I'd found someone for £140. The woman said of my new plumber "but he hasn't seen the job". "He will charge you more when he sees it."
Of course she was just a scam artist who was talking rubbish. Completely outrageous!

I then remembered I was entitled to £25 reduction. She began stumbling over her words and gave me some unintelligible and nonsensical answer. I didn't drop the matter, so she eventually said the price was normally £175 but I was being charged £150. A pretty strange round number to arrive at after a discount. Obviously they were just picking figures out of the sky. Unbelievable cheek of the woman.

Plumbforce Direct plumber left. New plumber arrived.

Charming and polite new plumber got that panel off in 5 minutes (Plumbforce direct said it would take ages to remove and replace), then went away to get the appropriate part from a nearby shop (which he didn't charge me for), and fixed the flush and replaced the panel -- all this within 1 hour. In total he spent 30 minutes working in my bathroom. I told him what had happend. The plumber said lots of his customers have complained of similar scam practices by Plumbforce Direct.

AVOID AVOID AVOID PLUMBFORCE DIRECT AT ALL COSTS. Worst experience with a company in my whole life.

Contact your bank/credit/debit card company for a chargeback. You will almost certainly be successful, and this may be the final nail in their coffin. Just notifying them is useful, let's sort them out for once and for all!

one of the worst company to deal with.
I call them to fix Heating with the fixed price of £84 (including VAT)
they will charge you £84 regardless they fix the problem or not.
They quoted me £538.80 to fix a boiler. I declined the offer. when they left, not just heating i was left without Hot water as well.
They promised to send engineer to fix hot water . I waited 3 days for them to fix the problem but Scott who dealt with my problem could not be reached anymore. I had to fix the problem with the local handyman who just charged me £60 to fix it.

This is a scam scheme. They make money either by putting pressure to accept exhorbitant fees when called out, or by threathing litigation thereaftee. IF YOU HAVE BEEN A VICTIM, PLEASE REPORT THEM TO ACTION FRAUD. [protected] so that the company and its Director, STUART HALL, can be brought to justice.

he service offered by this company is shockingly bad. It is sometimes hard to tell if they are crooks or just incredibly incompetent - but either way STEER CLEAR. The fact that for some of the fake positive reviews they have posted online they have forgotten to log out of their account so..

I don't understand how could the government allow such kind of scam business exist. I have checked a few review websites. Those guys at plumbforce have been doing this scam for years. Can anyone tell me if we can set up a group lawsuit against this company? No other customers should experience this awful business. Google should not allow such kind of company to post AD! It is helping the evil.

Bridgwater Drain Unblockers

TWILL
Unbelievable! I cannot believe I have had the very same negative experiences as so many others. The staff are rude
unprofessional and they hang up on me couple times. After giving inflated quotes to fix or repair a boilker. What the plumber said was wrong (PCB needed replacing) was a lie. They quoted about three times the actual cost for the repair. The man didnt know what he was doing, he even left the boiler without replacing the cover properly, we still cannot find the screws. Another company fixed the boiler for a fraction of what PLUMBFORCEDIRECT said and tole me there was nothing wrong with the PCB and the man didnt do a proper check etcetera. The story is a long one i am shattered espcially after reading the numerious other reviews that are identical to my experiences. I asked for a refund and "Scott" agreed after I explained the dilema, noticing no refund I called after few days "Graig" told me it says on the system I was due a refund he doesnt know why I wasnt paid; a few more days I called again and was told by Scott that I will not be getting a refund. This company shouldn't be trading, they are obviously con artists and actors pretending to be professional. Seems all the staff are in on the scams. I am now going through the process with Trading Standards to get my money back because they did nothing. Oh, I was also concerned when the repairman went outside to speak on the ph so I couldnt hear him discuss with his company how much the job would cost. It is all planned out, Why are they still allowed to trade?! What a total nightmare!

I recently used Plumbforcedirect Company to address a leaking dishwasher, and it has been a costly and frustrating experience. The plumber who initially visited claimed the leak was due to a blocked pipe and charged £540 to unblock it. However, within two weeks, the leak returned, and despite two additional visits from their plumber, the issue was still not resolved.

Out of desperation, I contacted another plumbing company, who identified and fixed the problem properly for £460. I provided Plumbforcedirect company with a video and a report from the other plumber, showing that their initial diagnosis was incorrect. When I requested a refund or compensation for their ineffective service, they refused, claiming there was “no proof” despite the documentation I provided.

This company not only failed to fix the problem but also refused to take accountability. I would not recommend them to anyone looking for reliable plumbing services.