Help with plumber problems!

[fremsley]

Hi,

I hope I've put this in the right place....

I've had some problems with my plumber and I just need some help figuring out where I stand from other professionals. The situation is a bit more complicated than I've laid it out, but these are the basic facts of the situation:

Our plumber was hired to do a lot of work in our house, basically all the plumbing, installation and central heating. It is almost finished - there there are a few small bits left. He got really angry/put out over a simple misunderstanding, which I thought that we had sorted in a friendly and fair way last time we spoke, and vanished for a while - didn't turn up when he said he would and didn't answer his phone or return calls. He has now returned saying that he wants to get someone else in to finish the job.

He has also added extra money onto the outstanding sum of his original quote - recharging for work we'd already paid him for, that we were able to get reimbursed on our insurance.

As a side note, I'm fairly sure some of his outstanding work has already been paid for in the last invoice, since the remaining part of his invoice probably wouldn't cover it.

How I see it we have 3 options:
- Sack him and walk away, find another plumber to finish up
- Try to renegotiate the costs - risking him walking away as a result anyway
- Just give him what he wants and get it done

There are two issues that are making me feel hemmed in:
1. He would have certified his work, and I don't know if a different plumber would be willing to come in and do that for work started by someone else? It has to be certified.

2. Though I've been assured the people he wants to get in are good, I feel weird about him arranging someone else to come in and finish up, especially given that he doesn't seem to want to resolve the problem. There's only a maximum of 2 days work left.

Like anyone I don't enjoy feeling like I'm being bullied, and won't stand for it. But ultimately if we can't get the work certified any other way, then common sense says we'll have to let him pull the strings.

Can anyone help me figure this out please?

Thanks!

 

[Bosswhite]

" The additional money from the Household Insurance Claim is to be split between all the Tradesmen as a bonus payment"

Isnt that tantamount to Fraud ???

 

[fremsley]

no, I wasn't clear enough in my post (will edit), and the way you've written it (not really fair to put that in quotations when that's not how I wrote it) makes it sounds like fraud.

When you have a radiator leak you have to get it fixed whether insurance covers it or not, which means you need to pay for it either way. Luckily in our case, the insurance did, so even though we'd only broken even, it was basically was like having our kitty topped up, so we were thinking of giving our tradesmen a bonus when they finished. His view was that we should *also* pay him the insurance money.

 

[cajar]

I'm interested to know the reason for the fall out, did you put a nice cube down his bum cleavage for a laugh.

I'd be inclined to sack him and get a new body on the job, since he doesn't want to complete the contract.

 

[Johnmelad]

Sack him, and get someone to finish the job off. Any Gas Safe can do a test.

 

[wyseass]

Sack him, and get someone to finish the job off. Any Gas Safe can do a test.

He is probably in "breach of contract" if he pulls of the job so don`t sack him, threaten him with small claims court action for HIS breach of contract. You could then let a Judge allow a mutually agreed independant surveyor inspect his work, and value it with the looser paying his costs, generally. He won`t want that unless he has done a very good job and not overcharged you.

 

[Bosswhite]

no, I wasn't clear enough in my post (will edit), and the way you've written it (not really fair to put that in quotations when that's not how I wrote it) makes it sounds like fraud.

When you have a radiator leak you have to get it fixed whether insurance covers it or not, which means you need to pay for it either way. Luckily in our case, the insurance did, so even though we'd only broken even, it was basically was like having our kitty topped up, so we were thinking of giving our tradesmen a bonus when they finished. His view was that we should *also* pay him the insurance money.

But you did not pay him specifically for the Insurance job, If the Insurance Company chose to investigate and ask him for an copy of the invoice for the job that THEY paid out on, he would be unable to produce it, so that puts him in the position of being compliant to fraud,
so IMO he has a point, he should have been paid for that specific job as a separate item.

 

[cajar]

Perhaps, but certainly not paid twice for it.