Plumbing Force
Reviews and Complaints

I called a plumber from this company for my mum's boiler
He came out asking for £102 to see what was with the boiler check it for 5 minutes and said the boiler is un repairable you need to change the boiler. Which gave so much stress to my 78 year old mum.
So it took a while looking for a boiler which my mum could not buy because they were expensive.
So I thought we should call another plumber out so we did he came out and looked at the boiler straight away and said it can be fixed so he did fix it for under £100. How come a company like plumbing force said it can't be fixed giving my mum so much stress I want my mum to be refunded back because of plumbing force giving all this stress I be wrote to the head office a month ago have not heard anything back. So please contact me on [protected]
Thank you

Hello,

I made an appointment, the plumber came to diagnose a loud vibration noise every time I used any taps. We have a combi boiler. He began by spending an hour getting into the roof space looking for the water tank... to find we didn't have one. Then he came downstairs looking under the kitchen sink at the pipework. He said it was a calcium build up on the stopcock, said we probably needed a new one. He went away saying that it probably wouldn't last, and he would put our job on the 'reserve list'. This meant to me that he knew the repair wouldn't last and that he would return with a new stopcock. As soon as he had driven away, I used the tap in the kitchen and the loud banging noise was back.
I am a single 70 year old mother of two special needs sons who are autistic and home bound. This noise was terrifying to all three of us. I called the office again, and eventually got the plumber to ring me. I told him that the problem had not been solved and could he come back with the new stopcock. He said it would be expensive as it would be a new call out charge, plus the cost of him having to go and find a new stopcock and fit it. I told him I could not afford it, and so had to leave it at that. A day later, after my neighbour found us in distress, unable to use the taps to toilets, turned on the kitchen tap and recognised the problem. He said it was air in the pipes, and we needed a new kitchen tap. This we arranged, got fitted and the noise has never come back.

My question is, how did this plumber ever get a job with Plumbing Force. He should have looked at the boiler first to realise that there would be no water tank. He should have looked at the tap and felt the vibration for himself... he mis diagnosed the problem, didn't fix it, and the company neither gave or left me with any paperwork. It cost me the call out fee, plus VAT and work for over an hour... for nothing. After I left a review, Trustpilot emailed me on behalf of Plumbing Force suggesting that it was fake, and asked me to prove it actually happened. This I did
but have heard nothing back.

Hi can you please look in to my complaint regarding this job number: 141082 as a matter of urgency please.

I would like my £180 that I paid yesterday to be refund back to me please. as you can see from the evidence I have attached on the email

I paid £180 for a plumber from plumbing force to come to my house to unblock a saniflo system, as your website states you specialise in unblocking saniflo systems, which was the main reason I contact and booked a plumber from your company, when he arrived (Oli) he only spent in the house 8mins max! only looked at the toilet and then to came to conclusion that the blade is dislodged, I cant repair it, it needs a part ordering and I cant get that till next week nothing is open today.

1: my first issue was how did he come to the conclusion that the blade was dislodged without opening the lid or even moving the pan out of the way to look inside. it was clearly blocked he didn't even investigate the blockage, on your site it states you specialise in unblocking saniflo systems. he did not even attempt to even investigate what the issue was. 

2: he left me with no options on the next steps and what to do next, I went to speak to my mum to update her and discuss what to do next, it was less than a min, by the time I had come back to the room he had already gone and was already driving off, I went outside to find out what was going on, he had already driven off!. that was disgraceful service, I was soooo upset, I was in tears, he literally stole my money, my father is 86 years old vulnerable, and with disabilities and limited movement in his legs, this toilet was essential to him, at the time of booking I mentioned it was an emergency (they charged me extra for this I was happy to pay this) and that was the only access to the toilet for him to use. I was left in complete limbo, lost for words on what to do next. my dad has had to use a bucket to use the toilet since last night, which was not convenient or dignified at all.

3: I managed to get hold of another plumber who was local and came round this after noon at 13.30 on the 28.03.2020, he pulled the toilet forward, took the pan front off and the blockage was clear, it was just some wipes that had got stuck on the blade, he cleared this, as you can see from the image I have attached (on the email). the blade was absolutely fine, nothing wrong with it what so ever, this plumber also confirmed there was no way the plumber from the plumbing force (Oli) could have come up with the conclusion that the blade was dislodged without having a look inside which was so easy to do by pulling the pan forward. there was nothing wrong with the saniflo system because it is brand new, and I only had this installed less than 4 months ago. this plumber I found locally managed to unblock my toilet in 45 mins and all reconnected up, fully working

I have also attached a video clearly demonstrating my toilet is working fine and no parts was required and no blade was dislodged like your plumber stated and lied about.

can you please look in to this for me please as a matter of urgency, I would like my money refunded back to me, and an apology from the company.

I will be taking this matter forward to trading standards if this is not brought to a satisfactory conclusion.

I have spoke to someone called Jordon, who said she waould pass this on to customer services, and said she will look into this and get back to me yesterday - i am still waiting for that call

you have my contact number on file

I look forward to your prompt reply

Thank you

Waheed Miah

Charged me £360 just to clean a heat exchanger plate and put it back. An hours work but as they charge hourly labor the job was heavily milked by the engineer. My card details were taken before the job so I should have just put the phone down then. Once he had taken the heat exchanger out the engineer offered to replace the part for £187 on top of labor but as soon as I said I just wanted it cleaned he slowed right down. He ran the bath taps for an eternity and spent ages trying to clean the plate itself using the kitchen sink and then the garden tap - he should have had the equipment necessary already with him. He also explained to me that he couldn't get inside the filter as the lid was on 'too tight'... A qualified engineer! Absolute rubbish. After the job he then said that he needed to check the gas and spent another 40 minutes doing that trying to tell me that the pressure was coming in at 0.3 over the bar it should be. He could see that I was busy with my baby in the house so he knew I couldn't check what he was doing all the time.

An hours job that should have been £150 maximum but I was charged over double.
The boiler had already been serviced in January 2019 so I'm not even sure if cleaning the heat exchanger was the issue or not. I feel totally ripped off and feel that the company are fraudsters.

Promised 3 hour callout from midday but did not turn up until the follwing day at 11.50. After already taking the £94 call out charge the gas engineer started quoting £60 for parts and £30 for extra labour. I told him that was unreasonable and unnecessary and when I was on the phone to the company to query this he packed up and left. This company Took money without doing the work. terrible customer service.
I eventually managed to get the cooker installed by a local firm for £80 all in so know i was being deliberately overcharged by plumbingfarce .

Avoid, Avoid, Avoid this company. I booked a plumber on Friday morning and was given a slot, they took my payment details. I had to call 3 times for an update to be told oh don, t worry the engineer is coming to you next. I called again at 5pm for a further update and was told it could be up to 6pm. At 6pm they called me to say that the plumbers job had over run and they would book him for first thing Saturday morning between 9am - 1pm I called every hour and was told that they could not give me any updates but the booking is fine. At 12, o, clock I rang and asked for someone to contact the plumber and find out approx what time he was due to arrive. I was told that they couldn't contact the plumber as they are not allowed to have their phones switched on while working, I asked if they could send him a text just to confirm. I was told that they don, t do texts! I rang again at 12:45 to be told that they would be re-booking the job for the afternoon between 2-6pm. Again I called every hour to Ben given even more pathetic excuses why they couldn't contact the plumber " he's working on a boiler and not allowed his phone to switched on" next time "he's dealing with a gas leak"! I rang again at 4 pm and said that I would stay on the phone until they called the plumber to find out if he was coming or not to save me waiting another two hours after already wasted the whole day. To be told " oh your job in next in the queue, it hasn't been assigned to anyone yet but not to worry as there is still 2 hours. I asked if the plumber would definitely turn up to which they assured me they would. At 5pm they called to say that they would need to re -schedule for Monday.
This company is so badly run which reflects terribly in the level of customer service which is virtually non existent to give you [censored] excuses every time you ring.

Disgraceful customer service - do not bother with them.

I booked an engineer to attend the following day to look at the boiler in the house of my late mother-in-law. I drove 60 miles from my home to be there for the 3-6 slot. At 5.15 I enquired about the location of the engineer and I was told that my booking had been moved to the 9-1 slot the next morning. I wasted a day's holiday, drove 120 miles and waited for 3 hours in a house without heating. Completely unacceptable.

When I complained I was told that "appointments are not guarantied (sic)". Not sure they understand the meaning of the word "appointment".

I booked a 10am-2pm slot early in the morning, 24/9/18, to fix my boiler. When 2pm arrived and they hadn't turned up I called them and they said they had tried to call me several times for a payment before they arrived, this was a lie as I didn't have any missed calls on my mobile and I question why if they required a 'pending payment' why they didn't ask for that on my initial call. They then took my bank details and said they would be with me by 6pm. At 5pm they called and said they couldn't get to me after all but said they would try again the following day between 9am and 1pm and when they realised I was not happy about this they offered to cancel the appointment, which I did. They didn't care that I had already taken a whole day off work, had no hot water or heating and also that they had taken a 'pending payment' for work not started - If the money gets taken out of my account I now have to file for a dispute to get it back. An absolutely disgraceful way of doing business . . .

I was very close to losing my tenants because of the unprofessional way this company acted.
Plumbingforce cancelled my appointment 4 times in 3 days and the reason they gave me for cancelllation was the exact same every time "engineer stuck on previous job due to a gas leak".
My shower wasn't working and I also had shower cubicle drainange problem. My tenants been washing up in the garden where there is an external tap for more than 10 days now. I am appalled by the way this company acted.
I finally had to cancel my appointment as I did not trust the companu anymore and booked it somewhere else. A total loss of time

We called a plumber to fix our boiler which stopped working on Thursday. The plumber that came on Saturday did not seem to have much experience and diagnosed the issue to be a broken air pressure switch. it took him half an hour to diagnose this issue and charged us £94.8. we were time he will source the part and get in touch with us on Tuesday to arrange a time to come and fix the boiler. We would obviously have to pay for the part and any labour (£94.8 per hour). While we were waiting my friend recommended another plumber who had really good reviews on checkatrade and we called him out on Monday. He fixed our boiler in 10 mins and charged us £50. The issue with the boiler was not a broken air pressure switch but the tubes just had to be cleared which is a routine thing for boilers. This level of incompetency was really unexpected and I would tell you to avoid going for them if you don't want to waste your money. I have requested a refund as I feel paying £94.8 for a wrong diagnosis of the problem is unacceptable.

The following is what I sent to Plumbing Force re work carried out in May 2018. Despite repeated attempts to contact them, they have simply ignored me - this despite their commitment to a reply within 14 working days:

No 131740
5 hours work carried out on 1/5/18
Address:
39 Virgins Lane
Battle
East Sussex
TN33 0JH

The vertical flue installation was corrected by your representative but he left gaps through which rain then penetrated. This required me to bring back the roofers who had initially identified the fault with the flue while doing other work for me. The roofers ‘corrected' the problems (see below) and billed me for this work.
The purpose of this communication is to seek a partial refund from you for the defective work carried out by your representative. This is because his work resulted in rain penetrating into the roof space/attic where none had done before.
The picture below shows the state of the roof after the work done by your representative. Note the large exposed area and the broken/missing tiles and ‘wrap-over' seams which let rain enter the roof space

The second picture shows the roof after the remedial work - the roof is now water/rain-proof and its appearance is significantly improved

I certainly do not expect you to refund me the whole of the £175 charged by the roofers I brought in, as your man certainly made a very good attempt, but I think it would be both equitable and reasonable for you to refund me 1 hour (plus VAT) of his time as at the very least that amount was wasted/wrongly applied effort.

That would be £79 plus VAT (£15.80) = £94.80 out of your total invoice of £576 (which has of course been paid in full).

I look forward to hearing from you.

Avoid this rip-off company. I have been charged £94.80 by Plumbingforce for an emergency boiler repair which has not been repaired nor attempted to be repaired on 25 June 2018. The heavily tattooed 'plumber' simply walked in and out of the house and said that the boiler was not accessible due to a cupboard. By the way, the boiler was accessible although the access was restricted (lower boiler panel did not drop all the way down). Most annoying is that he did not even attempt the job and even tried to put me off removing the cupboard and said that I need a kitchen fitter (really?), though he was very swift in presenting me with a bill of £94.80. I don't think he was in a mood to work that day. When I contacted customer service and asked for a full refund since no job was attempted I was told 'no' but they can offer half-price discount for the first hour next time round. Thank you, rip-offs, no. When I asked for a half a bill refund since this person made an effort to arrive, I never received a response. Also, when I hired an actual plumber (different firm) the whole job took 20 minutes. Avoid Plumbingforce, they are there to take your money, not to fix boilers.

Our central heating boiler had a leak about three days ago. first time we noticed it as boiler is in cellar. Had a friend who is a registered engineer look at it. He advised us of the leak and said that although he could stop it, water had got into the manifold/electrics. Suggested that we get someone familiar with Worcester Bosch to carry out the repair - which we did.
Engineer turned up, took less than five minutes to inspect problem and said that the manifold had gone and cost of repair would be in the region of £900. I got the impression he wasn't interested in carrying out the work as the area around the boiler was wet and and he seemed to be struggling to move around the cellar.
He was polite enough but stated that difficult to repair and cost high. Like I said, spent less than five minutes looking at the problem. Was then charged £94.80!

I get the impression, rightly or wrongly, that Plumbing Force, charge you the" labour rate" even if they decide not to do any work/cannot carry out repair. The invoice sheet clearly states that this is a "labour rate" - not a call out charge. This gives no incentive for Plumbing Force to carry out any job if they don't feel like it/too onerous and to charge £94.80 just for turning up and quoting a prohibitive figure for repair.

I now have a quote for the work to be carried out in the region of £375!

I feel that Plumbing Force should refund my money as
- no repair was carried out
- wasn't advised that there was a call out charge
- the amount of £94.80 was for labour rate for the first hour. But as no work was carried out how can I be charged for labour rate.

Would like a refund/explanation

Thank you

Came out within half an hour. Told me I'd need a side entrance valve put on and he did not have the part. Told me it may take him 2 hours to find a supplier and then he'd have to come back and fix it. Would charge me for the time. I said I'd leave it and get the part myself as the charge could come to 100s for what seems a very easy standard plumbing job. Feel ripped off. Paid £94.80 and still have a broken toilet and no water as I have turned it off. Husband abroad. Have been out and got a new part but cannot get the old one off. Its too tight for me. The least he could have done is slacken this. Surely plumbers should carry basic replacement parts?

As with many customers on this site, my payment card was debited even though PlumbingForce did not turn up when booked and they then cancelled on me. I discussed my experience with a) a barrister friend specialising in consumer law, and b) Citizens Advice Bureau (who are now the first point-of-call for Trading Standards). A report is now being submitted to Trading Standards, who will investigate PlumbingForce to see whether basic consumer law is being followed or whether the company has acted in any way improperly or illegally. If so, they can take action to protect ordinary consumers like us, up to and including prosecution if required. The more genuine complaints Trading Standards receives about this company, the more informed the investigation will be.
the number to call is: [protected].
It's not enough for us to simply leave reviews on websites like this, as helpful as they are. Proper action needs to be taken if and when a company has a history of appalling customer service that may or may not be improper or illegal (if you think the reviews on here are bad, try several other review sites). One simple call to the CAB number above, to explain your experience, is all that's required.

Charged nearly £500 for two hours of work and part to change a faulty PCB on a combi boiler!

They entice you in with a cheaper price but then stretch out the work and charge you higher price for the parts.

Better off paying a higher hourly rate with say British Gas but knowing that you won't get ripped off as the final price will be a lot less than Plumbing Force.

i emailed plumbing force of a leak in gas after gas board had turned it off plumbing force said it would be £144.03 which I paid on credit card they done the job in less then half an hour . when I received my statement it had two £144.03 I emailed their company and was told one pay for ordering and one payment for job .When I first emailed them there was no talk of any more to pay and they refuse to reimburse me and were quite rude and un helpful

Had been quoted for boiler repair before Christmas and job has been done, no problems here. However when it came to invoicing by them I found out that VAT was not present on the invoice and no particulars for the service was listed. All main amount for £2650 was seating in labour and no VAT was calculated. The service was provided for Ltd company and as such VAT was expected to be deducted from company expenses. It seems like serious scam in VAT department and HRMC should be aware of the practices. I have contacted Plumbingforce several times by email and requested proper VAT invoice as per presented worksheet with VAT. I have not received satisfactory answer. I am rising this issue as potentially large VAT abuse by Plumbingforce.

Despite the good reviews there are numerous reviews demonstrating that my experience was not a one off
" Their policy is to:
• Take your card details so they can take your money with little or no interest other than their engineers spending as much time on site as possible
• Provide the estimate for works upon completion of the works
• Make you pay for engineer to wait for National Grid to repair damage on external meter that the engineer broke
• Scare a vulnerable person (a lone parent) by stating there were 5 leaks within the system but not stating the total of the leaks were less than 0.5MB
• Agree to one additional hours work but takes nearly 3 hours
• The date and time of the warning advice notice issued by the engineer upon completion of his works is 18:10 20/1/18 yet the work report has been amended from 18:10 to 18:30 another 20 Minutes that I have to pay for what was he doing for 20 minutes after he had completed his works and issued the report?
My tenant left a gas hob on overnight in error resulting in a strong smell of gas throughout the building and smelt by other tenants. National Grid woke my tenant, turned off the hob and also tested the system recording a 3MBar pressure drop and turned off the gas to the premises
I called a local gas boiler repair man who undertook repairs to the boiler and the pressure drop was reduced to 0.5MBar.
After the gas boiler repair man left my nervous tenant who has a young child thought she could still smell gas within the premises and called National Grid who revisited the site and recorded a 0.5MB drop in pressure and because there was a smell of gas report within the premises again turned off the gas.
To reassure my tenant I called Plumbforce instead of a local gas engineer and requested that they check the boiler and pipe work.
The engineer arrived at 1:38 and called me an hour and 15 minutes later to confirm there was a 0.5MB drop in the system that I already knew and that he had identified a small leak in the boiler but had to wait for National Grid to repair a switch to an external meter that he broke whilst doing his work before he could retest the system and would be finished within half an hour of National Grid arriving, taking the total time spent working on the boiler including 20 minute wait for National Grid of circa 2 hours 04 Minutes.
He also stated in the same phone call he that there was also an additional leak to the hob (the only appliance attached to the boiler) and it should n't take long to check to put my tenants mind at rest.
The Engineer then spent another 2 hours 50 Minutes investigating leaks to the 1M of copper pipe from the wall to the hob, telling my already nervous tenant that there were three leaks in this 1M length of pipework and that the hob was also leaking (as confirmed in his work report that states "found leak coming from Hob" before eventually capping off the pipework in the adjacent cupboard.
There is no recording of the gas installation tightness test on completion of the works other than the last line of the engineers report stating "found leak coming from hob internally unable to repair disconnected retested gas now all o.k. & turned back on".
So the total 05Mbar of leaks included the Hob.
So if you are desperate enough or stupid enough like me just ring plumbingforce who are only middle men (the only time you get to see their terms and conditions are at the conclusion of the job) and give them your card details and free access to your bank account instead of ringing a local plumber direct.
P.S.

After they have cleaned your bank out they e-mail you requesting a review via email that states "Thank you for using the services of PlumbingForce.In order to improve the satisfaction of our customers, we would be grateful if you could leave us a review and feedback by clicking the link below." When you click the link and want to give a bad score they direct you to [protected]@plumbingforce. So I emailed them with the above review and their response was:

• You have been charged correctly for the work carried out, and Richard advises you was aware of the additional time required to trace and repair the multiple leaks found on the gas pipework to the hob, as he states you were in contact with the tenant throughout his working time.

•
There were multiple leaks on the copper pipework leading to the hob, which resulted in each leak being repaired and then re-tested to confirm safe. Only once the pipework had been deemed safe were we able to test with the hob connected to confirm the hob was also leaking. At this point the hob was disconnected and a warning notice issued under 26.9 of the gas unsafe situations procedure.

I am sorry to see you are disappointed with the service received, however we have conducted our work safely and ensured no unsafe situation was left for you or your tenant. At no point did we attempt to scare the tenant as you claim, and unsure why you would make this statement.

Their response is untrue that in that I was not in contact with the tenant and I was not advised of the additional time and they do not dispute the pressure drop or that the pipework from the wall to the hob was to only 1M in length.

You have been warned!

Called Plumbing Force and I was guaranteed a plumber would visit today between 9-1 pm. They called at 12:40 to say engineer was delayed will be arriving between 2-6 pm. Of course, the engineer never showed up. They took £96 from my credit card. Base in other comments I can see Mr Gary Manning and Miss Tabby Manning are used to play with money that is not theirs.
Glad to know that I can report these to Trading Standards as well. DO NOT USE THEIR SERVICE EVER.