Plumbing Force
Reviews and Complaints

My husband booked a plumber through Plumbing Force to sort out a leaky bathroom sink. He was asked to pay £99.00 up front. Chap turned up, removed piping, took it away and said he'd be back with a replacement pipe, he was here for all of 5 minutes. Never seen him or the pipes again! So now we have no bathroom sink and we're £99.00 out of pocket. IT'S A SCAM!

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY

This company will arrange a time to come and do the job , then cancel

They will then squeeze you in between jobs with no intention of doing the job , they then come up with an excuse why they cannot do the job and are back out of your door in 5 minutes saying they will come back tomorrow . the call out charge of £118 will then be taken from your account for the 5 minutes they were there .

Its a SCAM Stay away

August 2nd 2023. Called this company and it was explained about the £99 +vat charge and subsequent charge per extra half hour etc and card details taken.

Plumber came and took a look at the macerator and plugged it in turned on the shower and with a few minutes said I needed a new pump and would cost approx £501. He would give me a quote and if accepted would be able to come back in 2 days to replace the pump.

I was shocked when within the hour I got an email with the quote and was astonished to find that the price had almost doubled.

I am sure a competent DIYer could have replaced it easily. Anyway got a proper Saniflo plumber to give me an quote and after sharing a few photos gave me a fixed price including fitting and VAT for £530.

I got the invoice for the call-out of £118 later the same day I replied that asking for this amount is daylight robbery considering my issue wasn’t fixed and they replied saying i agreed to the T&Cs and therefore the invoice is valid.

Provided photos and explanation of issues to 2 showers . Inspection by Plumbing Force engineer. On premises a total of 5 minutes , just viewed showers and stated they needed new cartridges. Left saying company will contact with estimate of parts and work required. Nothing heard and £120 charged. Since then new plumber viewed and stated you can't make such assessments, without checking what type of cartridges are needed

On 23rd May 2023 at about 10 a.m., a plumber came out to install a water butt, an outside tap, and remove a radiator. I spoke to the person when I was booking the appt and was told Saturday the 21st. That morning, I received a call saying that the plumber called in sick (did I mention it was a lovely day about 20 degrees?). Rescheduled to today. I was told the charge would be £99 + VAT. The guy on the phone said to go get a water tap for the outside so the plumber won't have to. B&Q said what we had was the right thing (it wasn't). Now the plumber has to go get the part. He also said we had to have copper pipe which NO ONE told us about. That was £20 for a meter, and he kept the rest. Instead of going to the local hardware store 5 minutes away he said he had to go to Ripon because that is where he had an account (which is 20 minutes away EACH way). He finally makes it back. The charge turns out to be £440! I was quoted £118 and then because this company does not have the plumbers carry parts with them (how absurd it that?) I suddenly had to pay an extra £322. I will NEVER recommend this company. My husband has to work 7 DAYS to make the amount of money this company did in 3 HOURS.

Terrible business practices. Not professional.

My partner and I recently contacted plumbing force requesting for work to be done moving some gas pipes in our home. We described the work we wanted done, and were called back soon after being given a date and time (3rd December 2022) for the engineer to come out and do the work.

We were informed the engineer would come between the hours of 8am and 12pm, with a phone call 30 minutes prior. By 12pm on the day he was due we had still not had any news, so I called the company number, where they told us the engineer had been delayed and would now be coming sometime before 4pm. We had been waiting in for him since 8am, but we wanted the work done so we were satisfied to wait with the idea that it would be done that day.

The engineer eventually arrived at 3 pm and decided that the job would take too long (2 hours) for him to do that day. He gave us a quote for the work and told us to book in for another day that suited us. Whilst we were disappointed, we understood that these kinds of complications can happen.

Next week we attempted to rebook the engineer but had a lot of difficulty in getting through to somebody that could help us with our case. During this time we also noticed that a fee of £144 had been charged on our payment card, despite no work having been done. When we eventually managed to get through (on 14th December) to the person responsible for our case, she was rather rude and abrupt with my partner. When queried about the fee we had been charged she called this a ‘call-out fee’. We argued that we had been eager for the work to go ahead but had been let down, and that we were reluctant to pay for a 10 minute visit to only be provided a quote. She was very unapologetic and unhelpful and refused to refund the fee, even though we were consistent in our wish to get the work done and pay for the amount quoted by the engineer. We did rebook for the work to be done on the 20th December and paid for this but we now would like the extortionate ‘call out fee’ to be refunded.

Paul Truscott. GU299HL. 68 Heathfield Park.

A plumbing engineer attended our property on Monday 12/12/22. I had asked for a connection to be tightened and for advice on the type of waste unit supplied with the sink. It becomes blocked regularly and requires to be disassembled and cleaned frequently.

The engineer tightened the joint that was leaking and commented on the sink being blocked. I asked about the possibility of replacing the unit under the sink with a U Bend, but he did not seem to understand and showed that he had to be on his way. When I booked the appointment, I said that I thought the call-out price was high but was happy to pay for expert advice which we did not receive.

So I had booked an appointment on Friday for today, Monday the 28th November.

Had a call and a message to say he was stuck on a job and it would now be Tuesday.

This however is not ideal for us as we have builders in, and in order for them to continue these pipes etc had to be moved. Hence the swift quick service of plumbing force.

To add to misery, the partner had also taken the day off work, unpaid to be in.

As these times are hard financially this was a big blow for our household having paid £120 for the call out.

WARNING! I'm currently engaged on a case with trading standards about this company. Having requested a service for a radiator install, the plumber arrived on site for 10 minutes and stated the work could not be completed. he then left with no services having been delivered. No qualification questions were asked to scope the work over the phone. I was then charged £118.80 without consent. No services have been delivered and I still have a radiator waiting to be installed. When I called to question the charge, I was aggressively told that any further work would be charged on top and that there was nothing I could do. I feel conned by PlumbingForce and I hope others will be aware of this company trying to capitalize for charging call out fees and delivering nothing.

Engineer Albert came out£118 told me to order part from Aqualise £403. Called him back to refit £118. I called. When part came. He soaked landing carpet then said new part faulty called a mate then said you need new controller on shower from Aqualise. He Washed his hands of it, left house with new part he fitted flashing showing red light.

Told me to get Aqualise out. I Called Aqualise on12/9 they can’t get anyone out until20/9. They said if the engineer who fitted part has done it wrong the warranty won’t apply. I will need to pay for it again plus controller and their time. Will be two half weeks without being able to shower. I am76 registered disabled disgusting service.

Dear Sirs,

Monday 1st August, I phoned plumbingforce as my Grohe shower was barely getting warm.

A plumber was called out to look at the shower, he asked me to order two cardridges and gave the number of Grohe, I spoke to a very surly person who said I have to email, ne gave the email and I duly did and they gave the ref numbers, I was then told I needed a Grohe supplier, I emailed the technical & warranty and also bathrooms. and spare, I was given different ref numbers. I was also told to take off the face plate so I knew exactly what I needed! the plumber never removed the face plate which would have saved a lot of my time. Having different ref numbers, rendered it impossible for me to buy, for obvious reasons. I emailed the [protected]@plumbing force on Tuesday 2nd and again on Friday 5th and they still haven't replied.

Kind Regards

Mags Ashley

Leak under kitchen sink on xmas eve. Plumbing force responded promptly so i accepted their exorbitant charge for coming out as i was desperate. Their technician spent about 15 mins her and simply unscrewed and re-screwed the pips. We then thought nothing else about it until we discovered the leak was still there. The same technician came out again and said it would cost a second amount of £176 to address what he should have sorted in the first place. I refused this as he should have put right his misdiagnosed issue from the first visit. I got another local plumber out who fixed the issue by replacing a part in minimal time for £50. Plumbing force refuse to stand by their terms and conditions where there say their work is guaranteed for 12 months. Any emails are constantly fobbed off. They should not be allowed to get away with these practices.

Plumber turned up to repair the flush on my toilet and initially told me that a new Syphon needed to be fitted. He then proceeded to yank out a pipe without first explaining what he was doing and why, giving me no choice in the matter. Apparently the pipe was corroded but my dad who works with metal looked at it later and said that there was no corrosion on the pipe and that this would not have affected the flush anyway. It was only the flush that I asked them to repair.

In the process of yanking the pipe off, the "plumber" caused a huge crack in the toilet and that he'd be back tomorrow to fit a new pipe and toilet pan and quoted me £750 for it! I should have told him I wasn't going to proceed at that point but I felt like I had little option. The whole thing cost £1000 for something which he broke.

Plumber did not even apologize for damage and left the old toilet in our hallway

I rang them to complain and was misinformed about the complaints procedure

On June 9th.(22) I booked a Service to repair a faulty clock on my boiler.

I am 95 years of age, have head Cancer wounds which are inspected and dressed weekly, I have an incurable auto immune condition, Myasthinia Gravis.

These conditions require a warm bedroom in mornings to enable me to become mobile.

A fitter arrived next morning (10th) and the situation was made clear to him. A FAULTY CLOCK!

He said ok and removed front panel. I left him then in the hope he knew what he was doing. I noticed the front panel was back on in about 35 minutes and he was standing side on to the boiler motionless, thought he was on mobile.

About 20 minutes later he was in the same position and I asked if he was nearly finished, he said won’t be long “any chance of a cup of tea” This was the first time he had shown any real animation.

He had his cup of tea and my phone message said £230 had been taken from my account for work carried out.

At this point I asked if the clock was repaired. Seems to be working ok he said I set it a while ago and it’s still going. I pointed out it had stopped at the wrong time. Oh I probably set it wrong ( you couldn't write the script).

I then asked if he had found the fault and he said “YOU CANT GET AT THESE THEY ARE SEALED UNITS AND I HAVN’ T ONE ON THE VAN”

So he had started and charged me for work and a fault he was unable to rectify!

That is sharp practice approaching fraud.

All this was reported to Jake the complaints operative. I understand known as Jake the Fake as nobody had ever heard from him. Certainly not me!

So here I am 12 days later without a functioning boiler and dreading a cold snap and having to call emergency services

~~~~~~~~~~~

I have sent endless emails to a Jake Hurley who is supposed to handle complaints. All to no avail. A member of staff agree the second withdrawal using my card should not have taken place

A charge of £232.20 for work which was nor carried out. Malpractice.

I have had a Vailant engineer replace the timer (10 minute job) today.

Said my treatment bordered on fraud

Awful experience, avoid this company at all costs! I paid £30 for a plumber to attend my house to give me a quote, he was rushed and kept telling me he needed to leave and would send my quote the same day. Instead, later that day my card was charged £426 without my authorisation.

I then spent 3 hours of my time calling Plumbing Force customer service to establish why this was taken and get my money back. Customer service was poor, and it took me 5 days to have my money refunded. After this I sent in a complaint and received an incredibly rude and unapologetic response, and I was then ignored. A nightmare and no remorse from Plumbing Force for the issue they caused.

I booked an appointment for remove off old shower fit in new what l myself bought, and had already taken all my card details before they would let me book appointment, first they came a few hours late and then first came through my front door made me sign another on his phone, then l went upstairs to to him the shower I wanted fitted and had one look and send this is not straight forward and easy, l can’t fit this shower get somebody else but we still are charging you full price off just coming wether it be two minutes or an hour which is our hourly rate for the work we do and plus v.a. t and before he ent out off the door my money was gone. I rang the company straight away while his worker was still here on my property he refused any payment back, that money l saved to get shower put in, now have to wait and save before l can get our shower installed. Could you please help me and I have also contacted my bank thanks

I called this company as they were advertised on Google as being specialists in immersion heaters. My parents immersion heater had broken over the Easter weekend so I called them on 22nd April and a call-out was booked for 23rd. The engineer turned up, took a look at the heater and advised that he needed to call the office - he went outside to do this so that I couldn't hear what was said. The cylinder has 2 heaters and he advised that I needed an electrician for the booster but the bottom heater was fine - he got it working and said that it would work ok. I asked if I needed to sign any paperwork but he said he'd sort that out later. When I got the invoice, his notes were completely different from what he had told me. The heater broke again later that evening - I called the office and they refused to accept what I told them and said I needed an electrician. I did call one out who advised it was a problem with the thermostat - a fairly basic problem with immersion heaters - and fixed it in 30 minutes. I called the office again to complain - surely if they're sending someone out to look at an immersion heater, they should have a basic knowledge of how they work! I have send in 2 complaints and they are just ignoring me.

Annabel Gear telephoned you on 26/03/122, you took my credit card details on the 26/03/22 and stated that your PLUMBING FORCE will definately turn up on the 27/03/22. I have sat here since 13.00 - 17.45 pm. I have telephoned three times and have been assured that your member of staff will turn up today. When I last phoned you finally admitted that you could not make it today.

You were very retiscent to make another appointment despite my repeated request to find out when then next available appointment will be. You finally agreed to an appointment on Monday between 9-12 am. You have failed to keep the customer informed that your engineer might not turn up.

URGENT. FORMAL COMPLAINT. YOU HAVE FAILED TO TURN UP. I expect you MONDAY 9-12 AM. I believe this is disabiliity discrimination. I need a right handed persons sink to be able to use this sink in conjunction with my cooker.

You have already tried to steal money on my credit card without doing any work. WORK IS REQUIRED to get payment. I have sat here all afternoon for you to finally admit at 5.45 pm that you can not possibly do this job today. Your telephone operator is most unhelpful and positively rude. He finally explained that he was covered in law as he had a gas leak etc. to deal with which was a real emergency. He did not want to accept my booking. He was very reluctant to even offer another appointment, despite the fact that it is PLUMBING FORCE's problem that they have failed to turn up. I have just sat here patiently waiting and wating so that I can get on and cook Sunday dinner. Which I can not do. I am a very disabled lady and cannot use my current sink with out tremendous pain and distress, and I can not tip large pans of water into it as it a left handed persons sink. I need my new right handed persons sink putting in and this badly plumbed sink removed. I appreciate that you have made another appointment for Monday 28/03/22 between 9-12 am BUT EXPECT FAST PLUMBING ACTION BEFORE PAPYMENT IS TAKEN

Gas engineer came on the 11th February to inspect boiler Straight away he said the isolation valve was closed then filled boiler with water and boiler stared again five minutes job cost £ 153.00 buy the 25th of February the pressure started to fall on 28th of February I called Plumbing force and told them the problem and they said an engineer will call you Wednesday afternoon no one called onThursday the 3rd I called again they said sorry and said some one will call you on Friday 4th March no one called I called back Saturday 5th and said no one has called me I waited three days for an engineer to call me and they said they would hold a holding fee and send an engineer sat afternoon Saturday was no good to me I am out all day

I recommend that PLUMBINGFORCE should be avoided at all costs. My experience with them started when I was contacted at 5am via a neighbour of my 94 year old mother, that a water pipe was leaking to the flat below. I will highlight that my mother lives in Bristol and I live 260 miles away in Norfolk.
I contacted several emergency plumbers in Bristol but the only one to respond was PLUMBINGFORCE Limited. They informed me that they would attend that day between 9am/1pm and the cost would be £200 plus VAT and parts. However, the plumber did not turn up. I contacted them to highlight that my mother was 94, hard at hearing, easily confused and sat in a flat with no water, toilet or heating. The plumber eventually arrived a t 1pm the following day. Before the plumber had arrived, I noted on my mobile phone that my credit card company pinged me that £220 was deducted from my account.
The problem was resolved by the fitment of a simple adapter. However, I was then shocked by a further withdrawal from my credit card of £248, making a total of £468! On querying the costs I was told PLUMBINGFORCE charged £130 per hour labour for 2.5 hours work. They also told me they had reduced it from £200 per hour, as they did not turn up when they promised. That would have cost £693 for the fitment of a simple adaptor. I also queried the 2.5 hours to complete the job plus £65 plus VAT for parts. As a retired mechanical engineer dealing with pipe systems on complex aero engines, I could have fixed the problem in less than an hour with parts from Screwfix for less than £20! But, as highlighted above, I was 260 miles away and had no choice but deal with PLUMBINGFORCE. In my opinion, this company takes advantage of vulnerable people such as my 94 year old mother or anyone who is in need of an emergency plumber. Fortunately, I have since made enquiries and found local plumbers who are reliable, professional and considerably less expensive. But as is said, hindsight is a wonderful thing.
If you feel the £200 per hour labour is acceptable than by all means employ them. Although it's perfectly obvious that I will not be