Plumbing Force
reviews and complaints

the website site says no call out fee. when you book the information is different. i was told the job would be done in an hour, plus the cost of the replacement part. they turned up, weren't sure of the diagnosis, then said they couldn't get the part until later had to come back the next day, so another call out call... i panicked and accepted.. charged me £300+ a replacement fan.. it didn't do the job, still have the same problem £760 later. the engineer assured me he had solved the problem.
my neighbours are fed up with the whining noise, as am i.
how much do i have to pay for this problem to be repaired. help!
chris cunnigham,

AWFUL! Booked in for boiler service. Instead, plumber decomissioned boiler, saying it was unsafe because there was a tiny amount of rust on top. You could not poke a hole in it - he was lying. He ripped up the kitchen boxing surrounding the gas pipe in order to cut it without due care. He left the property without any hot water or heating after checking thermostatic element on the tank was "faulty". However, when another plumber came to quote for the boiler replacement, this plumber said the thermostatic element was absolutely fine and just needed to be reset. Plumbing force guy also incorrectly advised that refilling the air gap in tank requires replacement of temperature / pressure relief valve when it doesn't. Overall, the service was unprofessional, uncourteous and cold, with an eye on alarming customers into paying thousands more for work that is not necessary. Found a local based plumber who quoted half of what plumbing force quoted to replace boiler and much more knowleadgable and polite. REFUND DUE BECAUSE BOILER HAD LIFE IN IT!

Job Number 311647 - Incident date 23/11/2021 Callback from 30/10/2021

I would like to request a refund following a callback from Plumbing force in which they have taken an unauthorized payment from my card after an engineer had given a dishonest write up of what he did on site. The Callback was to correctly tighten a loosely installed toilet seat that we had notified the company about following the installation on the 30th of October. Company was emailed repeatedly about the issue between the 30th October and the 12th of November but nobody seemed to want to help. After having sent a video giving full detail about the issue (loose toilet seat needing tightening correctly as each time you would sit on it, it would slide out of place and come off) an engineer (Joe Maynard) was sent out to us on Tuesday 23rd of November who came and viewed the job and assured us that the toilet unit had not been installed correctly by the previous engineer and also notified us that there was a leak in our system. He said that the other engineer had failed to let us know about this and went as far as to say that he would put a job on for this engineer to return and do the job correctly (a lie). The engineer (Shaun/Sean) told both my Son and I that he had tightened the toilet seat as much as he possibly could and said he was going to do a write up and send a copy to us. The Gentleman did not mention to any of us in the household that we were going to be invoiced for anything as he came and fixed the exact issue we had raised our concerns about (a loose toilet seat that had not been installed correctly. It is clear to see that the engineer here has acted dishonestly and the company itself has taken a debit payment without my consent as before this callout I had been asked for my debit card details which I refused to provide due to lack of trust in the company after them having failed to refund the consultation fee from the first initial visit till we asked for it. This means that the company also stores customer debit card information and can take payments at any time without the customers informed consent which is wrong (as they must have still had them from when I paid for the job in the first place). Sean/Shaun has filled out a report of this call out dishonestly and made it seem as if the issue was a fault of our own when he himself explained to us that his colleague had simply not tightened the toilet seat in correctly (which he did during this callback). The funny thing about all this is that the Engineer had left our home giving us the impression that he was the (Good Guy) but he has actually done us over himself, If we had known that we were going to be invoiced for something, the callback would not have been booked in as we had sent a video in an email which I will also attach stating clearly that we were hoping to avoid the fee that for the callback because we feared that exactly what has happened...would happen.
This is not ethical business practice and is manipulation from both the engineer on site and the company itself on the whole. I would like to ask for a refund of the money taken following the callback as the engineer has stated that the toilet seat was REMOVED by us which is un-true, it was not fastened tightly which is shown clearly in the video attached about the faulty work completed by Joe Maynard initially on the 30th of October. Had the job been done correctly in the first place there would have not been any need for a callback nor any of the stress I have had to endure over the last month and now the unauthorized debit payment. Once again, plumbing force I would like a refund of my money as your engineer has fixed the issue that was due to an incorrect installation as he told us himself and has not communicated correctly on his write up to justify this debit payment. I have attached the email my son had sent to you on the 12th of November and before but you kept saying you had not received. This email explains my distrust with submitting my card details for the callback so we are confused as to how a payment had been taken without my consent. I also have attached a voice recording my Son took in which the engineer stated he would be wanting to "Sort out the leak" and states that he has now tightened the toilet seat as tight it can be (which clearly shows that this was not the case to begin with.

I have had to copy and paste the context from the email message my Son had sent as it did not allow me to upload the email itself.

Tj
Nov 12, 2021, 11:39 GMT
Good Afternoon,
I am emailing on behalf of My Mum (M B 285 Address removed) who would like to submit a complaint at this time for what to me seems to be a poor job from one of your plumbers unfortunately. The work was completed on Saturday the 30th of October, We have called multiple times to speak about the matter but unfortunately my Mum is uncomfortable with the potential of being charged £135 for someone to come out and tell us there is no issue so I have attached a video explaining our concerns at this time. I would also like to add that on top of the £600 she was invoiced (invoice number: 193025) she was also charged an additional£30 consultation fee which was supposed to be deducted after the job was completed (Invoice number: 192948). The consultation fee was not deducted from the overall charge of £600 which doesn't seem to be correct, could someone please call us and provide an explanation for all this and let us know what you plan to do to sort this all out as it has caused my Mum a lot of unneeded stress.

Kind Regards
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Got them round to fix my boiler. They quoted to fix or replace. We got a second opinion from British Gas who said the boiler had loads of life, no need to replace it so we got PlumbingForce to come back to fix based on their suggestions. They charged us for 7hrs labour and a few parts which came to over £1800, the boiler worked for 1 day then broke again. Plumbingforce refused to come back and fix it! British Gas said it needed a flush, PlumbingForce replied, "well you didn't ask for a flush" - no we asked for it to be fixed! Dreadful company, rude and unhelpful when i complained. We're £1800 out of pocket and the boiler is still not fixed

Booked Plumbing Force nearly 2 weeks ago and they immediately took a payment on my debit card of £118.80. Engineer came 2 days later to tell me he couldn't fit fire until I had chimney swept. He did no work on that occasion. I had chimney swept the next day and arranged for Engineer to return next day, Friday. The next day he turned up but left immediately without doing any work to my fire because he couldn't lock his van and was afraid it would be stolen. I tried to book engineer again and he was booked for next day, Saturday but his office rang me in the morning to say his van wasn't fixed so he wouldn't be able to come to me. The office then booked him in again to come to me on the Monday, but yet again the office cancelled me about 11am on Monday saying his van still not fixed. Meanwhile I noticed Plumbing Force had taken another amount of £118.80 from my account and when I queried this was told it was pending. I asked why another engineer couldn't attend but was told no one was available. They arranged for him to come for the 4th time today, Tuesday 28th September. He did actually turn up and took 4 1/2 hours to fit my gas fire, but I had previously been told it should take no more than 1 1/2 hours to fit. The engineer had to continually refer to the installation book to fit said fire. Finally, I was told there was a final amount to pay of £475.20, making a total amount paid of £594.00. This sum is extortionate and cost more than my fire. Plumbing Force took the £475.20 from my account immediately, before I had a chance to check my bank balance. I've phoned Plumbing Force to complain about the poor service I have received, also complaining about being over charged, but they wouldn't let me speak to anyone and said I should send an email. I've contacted my bank who have been very helpful and recommend I contact Banking Ombudsman if I receive no satisfaction from Plumbing Force. Over the past week I have had gas fire parts all over my lounge, a large opening in my fire place, and my white Persian cat climbing in and out of the fire recess spreading soot everywhere. This whole situation is extremely unacceptable. I am a vulnerable high risk pensioner living alone and have found the service I have received from Plumbing Force very stressful. Please help me get satisfaction with a refund of £475.20.

I was booked in for a call out to see a shower leak only to get the plummer arrive at 14.52 stood there in front of the wall and telling me about a quote for a job that would cost me £700+VAT when I already paid them £118.80! for a 1 hour work call out. He didn't even touch anything. Just blatantly gone to talk 20 minutes about a job that would cost £700+vat. Are these people for real! I phoned customser service 15.22 to complaint the plumber left and did nothing! She says nothing but gives me a wrong email for complaints of course it bounces back when I email it. [protected]@plumbingforce.co.uk A total waste of money and my time.

Furious customer

Hello,

I had a engineer come out yesterday to have a look at my boiler as I have no hot water and I have been told by the engineer that he won't charge me for the service as I've already had another engineer come out to check my boiler on Monday but yet I've still been charge £118 for a service where they didn't do a proper check and said I need a new boiler and would send over a quote for a new boiler which I haven't received.

Had engineer out from plumbingforce to rectify a diverter issue, was quoted fix price of £465.60. Agreed to price without knowing breakdown prices. One looking into the costing after being advised i was overcharged I saw that the diverter cost was only £186.49 inc vat labour charge should be £118 which was charged previous. So I have had an extra charge of £161.11.
I have since requested a breakdown price of invoice which has been ignored.

My wife called Plumbing Force as our toilet macerator was making a funny noise constantly, We had to switch it on and off when using it. Plumbing force said there was an initial call out of £118 for the first hour. When he arrived he took out the cover to the macerator and said it was not blocked but the microswitch controlling the level was probably blocked. He suggested I use a de-scaler to try and free it. If it didn't then we would have to renew it.

I asked him if he could get a quote anyway for a new one and he said he would let the office know.

The irony about this so called engineer was he was looking at himself in the bathroom mirror while talking to me.
The company didn't come back with a quote even after ringing them first thing in the morning. Had to get another company to finish the job after paying an hours work for a guy who just fancied himself and done nothing

I contacted a plumbing fuse to connect my stove to the gas supply.I explained to them on the phone that the plug was broken and that we had stopped the gas from the gas reader. they explained to me that an engineer should come to my house and see. they also told me that they charge £ 120 for a smaller job and if it is something bigger, the amount will be higher. when he came the engineer explained to us that all the pipes should be replaced and we did not agree to that. he stayed for about 10 minutes. and will be charged. The next day I was notified by email that I was charged £ 144 for an hour of work. I think it's wrong. The engineer did nothing about what he was called. the gas had already been stopped and he had no need to take such action. I will repeat, he should have informed us in advance that if he puts a cap in the pipe, he will have to pay for it.
My name is VioletaTaneska
email v.[protected]@gmail.cim

My central heating was not working properly, I asked for their help. Someone came and spent 90 mins airing my radiator, identified the problem but did not fix the true problem.

I was working, I did not need someone to air my radiators and pay them 90 mins to do this. I asked for a refund but was refused.

Job carried out at 69 Edgeworth Close, Hendon, London, Nw4 4hn
They fitted a new shower in August 2020, the plumber said that he had upgraded the shower. I asked as to whether it was compatible with the current wiring, he said it was.
February 2021, there is a melting smell coming from the shower and the smell of smoke.
I called out the plumber who turned up and said that my wiring was faulty.
He said he would get back to me in two days with a quote for parts and wiring.
After hearing nothing for a week I called an independent electrician who said that the shower was too powerful for the existing wiring
I then called Plumbingforce at their office.
The owner was extremely rude and slammed the phone down on two different occasions claiming that I had shouted at her, which is what she was doing as well as talking over me.
On three occasions March 12th, then 13th and then 15th the plumber was due to visit to rectify the problem and failed to show up for any of those dates. He claimed that he couldn't come on the 15th as he had to order the shower.
He wanted to book for the following day but by then I had had enough of their unprofessional service.
I sent them another email again detailing all the issues, but with no reply.
I called them, again getting a very rude tone from the boss. I consequently asked for a refund to which I was refused.

Waste water in my washing machine
I had a new side-by-side dishwasher and washing machine plumbed in (via the waste under my sink.) The first visit the plumber had to get parts to combine the hoses together into a bigger waste pipe connection. £140 later. Three months later I noticed waste water in my new washing machine. After asking the company to send someone out to check the original plumbing - I was disgusted to be charged yet another call out fee of £90 and £28 for some "clips" to fix what should have been done correct the first time around. Rip-off, immoral traders!

On 12 December an engineer came to deal with my boiler as the pressure had dropped to near zero. He identified repairs saying the boiler needed certain parts which PF could order. I paid £300 for his visit. I was told they would be back. Since then I have tried repeatedly to get them to return as my boiler is on its last legs again with the pressure having fallen.

On every call, I get told that "Michelle" needs to sort it but she never does and, having got her number, she does not respond to calls.

Very poor service and a rip off.

Lynde

Boiler Repairs.

I am very disappointed by the service and advice I have been given over a recent problem with a Worcester Boiler that was fitted by one of your engineers in February this year.

I arranged for an engineer to call last week. The appointment was for Monday 7th December between 10am and 3pm. but despite getting my tenant to be in all day the engineer failed to arrive between the times stated. A new appointment was made for Thursday 10th December and like the first appointment the engineer failed to arrive within the agreed time slot. A new appointment was arranged for today and I am please to say the engineer arrived on time.

The engineer quickly diagnosed the fault to be with the remote thermostat. Evidently when the boiler was installed the Plumbingforce engineer didn't recommend for a new remote thermostat. I am now waiting for an estimate for providing a new thermostat.

I am absolutely amazed that when a new boiler is fitted it doesn't automatically involve installing new controls. As I understand from the comments made by the engineer today if he had fitted the boiler he would have fitted a new control. When I agreed to have a new boiler fitted by Plumbingforce I expected all parts to be covered by the guarantee. It now seems that I will have to pay for an expensive new control and to pay for another call out.

I would like someone to contact me to explain why I have received such poor advice and service by Plumbingforce

Bob Cross [protected]

Had a problem with the 3A fuse supply to my Worcester Bosch boiler blowing. An engineer arrived and proceeded to disconnect the main water pump, 3-port valve and other electrical connections to try and isolate the problem. The engineer was unable to find the problem but I was still charged in excess of £500. To make matters worse I believe the engineer also accidently disturbed the rear cold water pipe of the shower pump in the same cupboard as the main water pump etc. causing it to leak, so a couple of days later I notice the living room ceiling has sagged and the fire place wall is also wet. The company claimed they had no liability. Avoid them.

I booked an appointment with them a week in advance. It was booked on a Thursday afternoon between 2pm & 6pm, I got a call at 5.30pm to say his job was overrunning and could they come the next day between 9am & 1pm, I said that was fine.
At 12.30pm I get a call to say he is running behind again and could they come between 3pm and 6pm, I said ok but it needed to be done today.
5.30pm I get a call to say he's not coming today. At this point I had enough and have told them not to bother.
It was a simple job of just them fitting in a new gas hob as we were having a new kitchen fitted, it was a 30min job.
Not impressed!

I have outlined below the main problems I had in relation to a visit by Plumbing Force. Having escalated this within Plumbing Force, I was then asked to document my problems/concerns, which I have done (as outlined below) on 30 August and sent to the address requested. I heard nothing at all and having allowed a month for response, I sent a 'chase' email on 7 October, to which again I had no reply, then I sent a further chase on 13 October, to which I eventually had a reply on 22 October, but which only asked for more information! I feel this is utterly ridiculous, having started this journey back in June, and feel I have no option but to escalate my complaint further, outside the company.

Please see below details of my initial problem (notwithstanding all of the difficulties in communication since then):

As requested, please find outlined below a description of the problems I have had in my recent dealings with PlumbingForce, and the resolution that I am expecting.

On 23 June 2020 I had arranged for a visit to my property in White Hart, Oxford, as my tenants had alerted me to a recent leak that had occurred in the bathroom. James, the plumber, duly visited the property, removed the bath panel and telephoned me to inform me of the nature of the problem and his suggested resolution. He told me that the bath mixer tap was leaking under the bath and proposed to replace this with a new mixer tap and to cap off the link to the shower and instead to connect the shower hose link directly from the new mixer tap. I agreed to these works and had been advised of the cost of a basic mixer tap at c.£80 (the fact that I have since found significantly cheaper versions available to buy, is an annoyance, but that is another matter).

Following completion of the works, James 'phoned me again and advised that the total cost of the works was £327 - a fact which I questioned as it seemed quite steep for simply replacing a tap & capping off a pipe, but was told that that was what it was and I was duly charged.

James then also told me that to 'make good' the bath area he recommended a new shower screen, and a new area of tiling as some of the sealant was loose. I asked for a quotation for this work, and this was provided, at a cost of £1, 170. I asked for this to be further broken down (into its component parts, as this again seemed quite expensive), but I received no further information about this, despite asking several times.

I agreed to go ahead with the work as I felt that a new shower screen was definitely needed and I could see that the box-tiling was also not ideal. There was then a delay in arranging for this work to be done, I was told due to difficulty in getting hold of the tiles. James eventually arranged to do the additional work on 14 July, having procured the tiles. Since this time I have received no further direct communication from James at all. I was told by my tenants that James arrived on 14 July as planned, and simply removed the bath panel and said "Oh, this needs a whole new bath - I will have to call Natalie", and he then left the property - with the bath panel not replaced. I reiterate - I have not received any telephone calls or voicemails or emails or any other form of communication from James about any of this at all, at any point.

Having been informed by my tenants that James would call me to discuss the matter, I then tried to get hold of both him directly, and anyone else through Plumbing Force on countless occasions between 14 July and last week. To hold a direct conversation with anyone that held any information at all, took over one month - a fact which was not only highly annoying and unprofessional, but also compounded the problem that existed as when I returned to the property myself to investigate the situation further, on 24 August - I found that for all of the intervening time, not only the newly-fitted bath mixer tap but also the capped off shower pipe, had both been leaking, and causing more damage beneath the bath.

Fortunately, I attended the property with my father, who has considerable experience in plumbing himself. We managed to investigate the situation together and resolve both issues. There were two faults with the work that James had done on 23 June: firstly the cap to the shower pipe had been fitted without a thread tape, so this was then continually dripping. Significantly, however, a joint within the original shower unit was faulty and leaked. Water was therefore dripping down from the shower control on to the bath surround and possibly to under the bath. Secondly the new bath mixer tap had been fitted by James without a washer to the cold tap joint and this too was leaking, underneath the bath.

My concerns are fourfold: firstly that James had returned to the property on 14 July and I presume found evidence of these two leaks, but informed no-one about them and did nothing about them, so that they continued to leak and cause more damage. Secondly that he had performed such shoddy work in the first place. Thirdly that he informed my tenants that he would contact me to discuss what was needed (which he never did). And fourthly that it has taken such a long time for anyone at all at Plumbing Force to return my calls or emails in order to a) understand what was and had been going on and b) to try to resolve such matters.

The fact that the work that James did on 23 June was not only incorrect (leaving me with two ongoing leaks) but also not followed up, means that I expect some compensation for the huge inconvenience that I have had at varying points in this 9 week journey, but also that I expect near-full refund of the £327 that I was charged for this initial visit by James. I am happy to pay for the mixer tap (although again reiterate that the price I was quoted for a 'basic' mixer tap seemed over-inflated), but all other elements of this invoice I expect to be refunded.

To further illustrate how poor the analysis of the various issues by your employee were, my father chose to simply fit new unions beneath the bath to bypass the original shower control, fit a new washer to the cold water tail beneath the bath, to clean up all traces of the previous leakage, and to properly clean the tiles and replace the bath panel. The unit is now perfectly useable.

I am happy to discuss any of this further should this be necessary. Otherwise I will have no choice but to escalate further if no response is forthcoming.

With many thanks for your understanding and response.

Yours sincerely

Dr Natalie Lee
[protected]

I called this company and they informed me the could deal with the saniflow system, the engineer came out and said it was broken and this company didn't deal with this or couldn't give me a quote, he also said that he couldn't pump out the toilet as this would damage his hoover. I have sent a complaint to them which they have said I paid for an engineer and that I was told they didn't fix this type of system so why would I have paid up front if they had informed me of this on the phone, I want a refund and paid over £100 for no service.

Booked plumbing force to look at an issue with a leaking tap and heating, was told the call out fee would be £99. Yet they charged £198 and never even fixed anything! On the day they turned up and said we would need to order some parts and they would send us a quote.

2 weeks later and still no quote - despite emailing them 4 times and calling them 3 times, they never responded.
Ive contacted them to find out why i was charged £198 and again no response.