? Ripped off hob extractor fan like for like replacement £885

Hi, I got my intergrated hob extractor fan replaced last week. To cut long story short it took the electrician 7 hrs, it cost £885 .it was like for like. My issues not just his lack of speed & general buggering about - but the job itself. I supplied the new unit & duct the unit was perfect size.
1. He asked for duct tape - i thought just to reinforce the fittings of the ducting ring - fair enough ( old one had that) - turns out it seems he has used 3/4 roll to fit the ducting to the wall outlet only with duct tape.
2. The old wiring was hidden - i asked when seeing what he was doing - said expected it to be hidden like old wiring was. His idea of hidden turns out to be plastic moulding covering wires stuck onto top of plug socket. Not hidden enough for me.
3. He's pierced through the laminate of the cupboard door where he screwed in the fan cover/door.
4. Whilst fiddling with wiring everything went ‘bang’ he said oh **** - & scuttled to my fuse/circuit breaker cupboard. Told me it was faulty - its not but my kitchen has 2 circuit rings - he must have turned off only 1 switch. Ive had same company here before installing leds in hall,bedroom & new bathroom & other electrical work - never any mention that there was a problem. Hes written on invoice new work not guaranteed as ‘eirc’ does not comply with regulations.
5. 4 hrs in i could see he was nowhere near finished - i said to him im concerned about cost & time - he said if he calls office he will be told to leave. I feel i was held over the proverbial - im going away tues have housesitter coming - have the sockets in the kitchen at that stage were off with wires everywhere.
6. He took 45 mins for lunch ( kept saying it was 1/2 hr- it wasnt) He also spent 20 mins in outer communal hallway on ph ( i wondered where he had gone & timed him) I asked him about this - i was ignored. Btw i dont normally sit timing tradies but after seeing him in action I was worried about lack of anything happening above snail pace at £100/hr.

The company the big expensive one everyone knows in London - name starts with a P. why did i choose? Because they have done multiple big jobs for me in the past & i was very pleased with the jobs & professionalism of tradesmen. Never ever had any probs with work or time taken before.
This time i feel sick - i still owe £525 - i dont think i should have to pay all of it.
Any advice or thoughts before i ring company to complain. See photos.
Thanks

Come on!
£885 to fit an extractor???
WTF???
Do they think people are stupid?
Tell them to do one.
This guy owes you a new panel and the bodgers of this company should send a real electrician to fix all of that mess.
Tell them that unless they fix everything you'd call a real electrician and bill them to put everything right.
Forget about the £885, what you've already paid is already over the top.
I am not an electrician but I have never used duct tape to hold an extractor duct.
I've never touched a circuit before actually testing and confirming it is off and I've never used a screw without checking that it is of the correct size.
8 hours to do this bodge???
He's taking the pi$$ or he was pi$$ed.
Or simply he's a labourer attempting to do something out of his reach.

Thanks so much I knew id been ripped off - he truly took the p out of me. other jobs ive had done by pp no complaints at all- but this fella - he said he used to have his own company - i fully understand now why he doesnt anymore! & ****ed he went to the loo multiple times - so he has a dodgy prostate or may well have been ****ed

millym said:

Any advice or thoughts before i ring company to complain. See photos.

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A like for like swap should have been done and dusted easily in a couple of hours. The duct tape looks like a complete botch. I did a like for almost like, in an hour here.

Get back in touch with the company, ask them to send someone out to discuss the poor standard of the job and to do it again to a work man like standard, plus revise the bill to a sensible cost.

If it was like for like, where was the wiring previously? And why new ducting?

The cost is excessive for sure.

Can't understand why existing wiring was not used - perhaps he drilled through it?

We all have bad days, but this is just unbelievable.

He's either very inexperienced, or just a one man disaster area.

You shouldn't have to pay anything, what with the damage, the shoddiness, and the unnecessary (we think) surface trunking.

The real **** take is to say that he cannot guarantee HIS WORK because the EICR is not 100%.....

Pimlico Plumbers was sold last week to an American company

333rocky333 said:

Pimlico Plumbers was sold last week to an American company

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Bingo!

I knew it had been sold. Thanks all for your comments - much appreciated will tackle them today

I take it that there is a FCU installed somewhere in the wiring between the socket and the extractor.

Didn't the horse in the front garden give you a clue?

Andy

Wow.

Are you expected to pay for his lunch break?

You say "like for like", in my head that means swap a faulty unit with the same model of unit. A "similar" model? An hour or two. The fact that he had to replace the ducting is confusing me, why did he?

Pimlico has always struck me as being the kind of company used by people that have no idea about what the job entails. That probably sounds condescending, it really isn't intended to be, please bear with me... Forgetting about call out charges/etc, at two hours of labour it would have cost about £50/60 for a skilled tradesman to fit it (assuming that there was a socket to plug it in to). Just because the device is electrical, it doesn't need an electrician at £100p/h to do the actual fitting. I know electricians that I would recommend as extremely competent electricians but I would never consider asking them to cut a bit of timber or hang a door. That isn't a sleight on them. I know extremely good plasterers who would struggle to change a fuse in a plug.

If Pimlico, and their ilk, are on 10% commision, why would they have a general tradesman on site that only earns them £2.50 per hour for 2 hours, when they could nick £10 per hour from an electrician (who may take hours longer to do the job)?

I am not intentionally accusing Pimlico of wrong doing. They exist to make money. I would like to think that they will send someone one around who agrees that you have been massively overcharged for what looks like a pretty shoddy job., and that they compensate you for the damage to the end panel.

Please do let us know how you get on.

Their commision is normally 50-60%. No call out company would charge £60 per hour, try doubling it.

Andy

HERTS P&D said:

Their commision is normally 50-60%. No call out company would charge £60 per hour, try doubling it.

Andy

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In my case, as a subby to many companies, I'm fully aware that my cost is frequently charged out at more like 200% or 300% especially if it's a really quick job.