Is this 'normal'?

[Amy]

Got charged £225 for an hour and a half for a plumber to look for and fail to find the source of a water leak somewhere in my flat????

That was last night and by this morning the damp patch had spread from under the kitchen floor into the lounge, the hall and into downstairs flat...

Got a plumber from the flat management company who managed to locate the area the water is coming from and shut down all water (good job my neighbour is in today ) and am now waiting for a 3rd one with more experience to arrive later today

Oh well, maybe get some money from the insurance towards having the kitchen and bathroom redone...

[John G]

[quote="Amy"]Got charged £225 for an hour and a half for a plumber to look for and fail to find the source of a water leak somewhere in my flat????

That was last night and by this morning the damp patch had spread from under the kitchen floor into the lounge, the hall and into downstairs flat...

Got a plumber from the flat management company who managed to locate the area the water is coming from and shut down all water (good job my neighbour is in today ) and am now waiting for a 3rd one with more experience to arrive later today

Oh well, maybe get some money from the insurance towards having the kitchen and bathroom redone...

[Phil H]

Sounds a bit rich. I think last time I had an emergency plumber out it was £180 but that included 2 hours of work. That was a Sunday during the day. Boiler guy who I called out recently was £90 for callout and first half hour.

[url=http://www.checkatrade.com/]Check A Trade[/url] appears useful.

[Ronnie]

With the amount of club members we have there must be a good plumber out there, trust a cyclist or something.

[Amy]

[quote="Ronnie"]With the amount of club members we have there must be a good plumber out there, trust a cyclist or something.

[Roy Green]

You have my sympathy, Amy. I thought I had a rough deal when I returned from Tenerife, to find a burst pipe on turning the water back on. No probs, I thought, I have Homeserve's Plumbing and Drainage emergency service. Wrong thinking! They sent out two guys who said they hadn't been told it was an inside problem, and they 'only dealt with outside emergencies' took a full day to get another 'plumber'. H was worse than useless, insisted on me signing indemnity in case of property damage. He walked away without starting. to my annoyance, when I demanded another man, I got this same geek, another day later; Same result, walkout. Rage on phone. My fourth callout fixed leak quite simply in half an hour, no damage. He was a brilliant guy. Despite this, after three days to fix a simple leak, you can image my views on Homeserve's pathetic service. Still at least such travails only cost us stress, not hard cash. You really got a raw deal there, Amy; sympathies.

[Amy]

That sounds awful, Roy. Snoop should be on their case

Anyway, it's a job for a builder - any one want the job? Just got to dry everything out to see what the final damage is - apart from the obvious holes knocked in walls and bits missing off the fixtures in the bathroom and kitchen.

And if I'm going to have to have work done, I may as well put in a new bathroom suite and better storage and maybe even do the kitchen if the damage is sufficient there...

Good job the new carpet wasn't down yet

[Dombo]

Supply and demand am afraid. You have a leak that is ruining your flat; so the man who might fix it can charge that sort of money. How much would you pay for a bucket of water? Fifty quid? Too much, you say. What if you're on fire?

[Bo-Gilly]

[quote]Supply and demand am afraid.

[quote="Bo-Gilly"][quote]Supply and demand am afraid.

[Bo-Gilly]

[quote]I wholeheartedly approve

[quote="Bo-Gilly"][quote]I wholeheartedly approve

[Dombo]

Figure of speech, Bo. Fairly meaningless, like "yer know, "actually", "like".
Often used to attempt to soften bad news, "i'm afraid we're going to have to let you go," "I'm afraid you were right, doctor, he did only last six months."
But as ever feel free to start another argument.
As to my original post, i'll rephrase it:
Supply and demand.
It isn't monopolistic or greedy. There are plenty of emergency plumbers who charge what seems like a lot because they can. Those who charge "too much" will eventually go out of business.

[Bo-Gilly]

[quote]But as ever feel free to start another argument.

[RachelB]

was the plumber English