Thoroughly dodgy plumber- who to complain to?

[unimpressed]

Right so to cut a long story short, am renovating a house and employed a plumber to totally replumb and to fit a boiler.

Got several quotes, chose one in the middle from what seemed like a genuine chap, who had someone else working for him to do boilers. Chap sent to do boiler, then the plan changed and he was apparently to do the rest of the plumbing too. Fine, ok. Until we saw the standard of his work and the mess he left behind. I won't go into the boring details but the problems included;

• messing up the painted wall (fine, maybe to be expected) then repainting without asking, but using a light blue paint on a lilac wall and not noticing! Stripy walls!
• spraying oily crap up the newly plastered walls
• failing to put pipes where asked (for no good reason) and consequently leaving the job looking a mess, pipes through new skirting needing to be moved and cracking a tile he shouldn't even have been drilling through in the first place
• attaching upstairs rads at heights varying by over 20cm- just looked daft, some far too high!
• leaving a general mess behind him including piles of brick rubble and pipe offcuts
• leaving us without a warranty on the installed boiler, despite the fact we opted for the more expensive boiler to get a longer warranty
• fitting push fit where his insurance insisted on compression fittings
• not finishing the bloody job!

So, who do I raise hell with? Most disappointed as he is related to the person we know who recommened him, so we hoped to get someone reliable. Fuming!

 

[SafeGasInstall]

There will be more to this story ...... I am sure

 

[TomLane]

Think we need to hear the p[lumbers version of events on here as easy to shoot someone down and criticise and i would guess you havn't had your boiler signed off because of a dispute between you both .

Agreed!

All to often we hear one side of the story & it's seldom positive!

Of course this situation should never have arose for the OP, but it's as much down to the customer to ensure the situation is managed properly as it is for the installer!

I'm sure most would agree also & some have actually mentioned it that before any rash decisions are made discuss with installer in a calm manner & reach an amicable resolution that both parties are satisfied with!

As a whole there are genuine tradesmen out there who do nothing but exemplary work, but also they are human ultimately & mistakes can be made!

Hope you get this sorted for all those involved! Keep us updated!

 

[RogerTheDodger]

I'm putting aside the fact there may be more to this story and imagining that this is in fact as black and white as it appears. If I was in the OP's shoes and the tradesman had failed to deliver what was quoted for and then disappeared without putting it right, I would get somebody else in to put things right. Then take the original tradesman to the small claims court and claim back what it cost you to put right. No expensive solicitors involved. I think you would have a strong case, since the contract between you and the tradesman was changed without your consent and the workmanship appears to be poor, i.e. dragging radiators across the floor and scuffing them.

Trying to get it resolved amicably is always the best option, but sometimes just not possible.