Plumber Problems

mitsy1

Hi all,

Im new to these forms so i hope im posting in the right area!!!! i'm looking for some advice....i started building my house when i was 22. Im 25 now and the whole experience has really opened my eyes in the whole field of con artists. A lot of people were very good to me but the problem i have is with my plumber.

Im at the stage where the pipes are exposed in the floor (the pipes were put down for radiators before i poured the floors and pieces of insulation put over the ends for ease of access). I received a quotation from my plumber initially for supply and labour. The house is 3,500sq ft. I had paid him €3,000 for 1st fix downstairs and €2,000 for upstairs. I very stupidly paid him €1,500 in April 2011 as requested to get the upstairs of the house ready for radiators i.e. pressure test the pipes, connect the copper to the ends so they stood upright, put in waste pipes for the main bathroom upstairs and connect all waste pipes at the back of the house.

The work still isnt done despite an unrecallable amount of phonecalls, text messages and even visits to his house. He promises he will be out on monday-tuesday-wednesday and so on but the day never arises. In order to keep me sweet he does say ill meet you at the house and hell go over the same stuff we talked about previous. On one occassion early this year he txt and said hell be out monday and to leave him out a key- i did so as i work full time and nearly died when i discovered he had taken 2 16ft lengths of copper!! I rang him immediately and he said that he needed bigger ones for my house and that he was exchanging them. I still havent received the "bigger" ones. I had my engineer ring him 4 weeks ago and the same story where he promised to have the work completed within the 4 weeks. Im wore out trying to get some good out of him and i have been more than fare in giving him time. I am not comfortable with him even finishing the house now giving the fact that he stole from my house and am worried about the other items i have.

I am left in a situation where 1) do i try get some other plumber to finish the house and forget about the money ive paid him and let the bad luck go with him or 2) legal proceedings to try get the €1,500 back?? I would love the guts to go the court and get what im entitled to back.

Can anyone inform me of my rights as i do not have documentation to prove i gave him the €1,500 but i can get a record of the phonecalls and txt messages. he also put €100 onto my account in the hardware (even though i am paying him for supplies) and i have this document also. I taped a conversation between us on my phone the last time he called to the house reassuring me he would be back to complete the job the following monday!!!!!!!!!!

I better stop writing now....Thanks to whoever reads this...much appreciated

Kosseegan

Its water under the bridge at this stage. Forget about legal action over €1500. You could complain to the guards about the stolen pipes. They will most likely do bugger all though. I always fire tradesmen if they let me down any more than twice.

mitsy1

thanks for your post. The guards will do bugger all as he socialises with some of them so i know whos going to come out the better person there!!! Ya i think its the better option to let it go. I want the stress free option but yet im so mad with him playing me along. Hell come out the worst as i am going to inform everyone of how he treated me.

I also intend writing an article of my experience as a young single woman building and peoples perceptions of me when i was looking for tradesmen and supplies.

1 bank manager in particular laughed at me once when i told him the size of the property i was building and his responce started "now little girl, you have a lot to learn about the cost of things....". needeless to say i didnt go back to him!!

jetsonx

mitsy1 wrote: »

I am left in a situation where 1) do i try get some other plumber to finish the house and forget about the money ive paid him and let the bad luck go with him or 2) legal proceedings to try get the €1,500 back?? I would love the guts to go the court and get what im entitled to back.

Go hire an Irish solicitor, then you'll understand what real trouble and frustration means.

mitsy1

jetsonx wrote: »

Go hire an Irish solicitor, then you'll understand what real trouble and frustration means.

Ya i live in a small town and unfortunately the local businessmen are all in the click together!!!! Sooooooo fustrating! :mad:

Margaret1

Why don't you consider making a small claim against the plumber it costs 18 euro.
See online at http://www.courts.ie/ or google small claims Ireland.

homewardbound11

mitsy1 wrote: »

jetsonx wrote: »

Go hire an Irish solicitor, then you'll understand what real trouble and frustration means.

Ya i live in a small town and unfortunately the local businessmen are all in the click together!!!! Sooooooo fustrating! :mad:

I have built recently also. And thank god I had only one person with a similar experience. Thank god he was only a supplier. Lost 450 euro but the headache was not worth the money. You need firstly to see if another plumber will take over the job for you.that will be difficult as any plumber who is good will not want to take the responsibility. For plumber recommendations. Local plumbers then word of mouth is the best recommendation you can get.
Reclaiming your 1500 might be more hassle but all ties must be broken with the old plumber before the new plumber takes over. That might have you firstly issuing a solicitors letter to have they job completed in a time set out by you and your solicitor and also reclaiming all monies owed and terminating all contracts with the old plumber.

mitsy1

ya my engineer had contacted him approx 6 weeks ago and gave him a timeline of 4 weeks to have the upstairs completed...he gave him the same bull as he did to me i.e. oh thats no problem at all ill have that done for you and so on!!!! i mean a days work and he would be done. I actually exposed the pipes myself in the hope it would hurry him on! I feel embarrassed to ask another plumber...How do you explain to them???:o

mitsy1

Margaret1 wrote: »

Why don't you consider making a small claim against the plumber it costs 18 euro.
See online at http://www.courts.ie/ or google small claims Ireland.

Hi Maragret

ya i have thought about this but i dont have any documentation to prove i gave him the money and also if he says hell come back and finish the job i have no stance. I dont want him back near the place because he stole from me and if hes this lazy initially-whats he going to be like when i need rads and stuff fitted??

CarrickMcJoe

Mitsy, you paid cash, report him to revenue if he doesn't sort your house out.

mitsy1

CarrickMcJoe wrote: »

Mitsy, you paid cash, report him to revenue if he doesn't sort your house out.

Thanks for your post, ya i def will check this out and report him.

Tawny Owl

Hello Mitsy1 I served my time as a Plumber and if it was me in your shoes be shut of him he is not fit to be a part of the Plumbing Trade I would bad mouth him as much as you can if he is local find out if he has any other jos on the go and inform them of the way he treated you as to getting another Plumber you will get one but Plumbers are very weary taking on a job that another so called Plumber did not finish firstly they think the person building the Property stung the last Plumber you have to assure them this is not the case so have your engineer on hand when meeting the new Plumber and the other thing is hoping he did his job and that what pipe is laid out for cold water is cold water and so on the new Plumber may be on site a couple of hours maybe the day just tracing pipes to be sure whats what but I wish you the very best in finishing your new Home and the best of luck and learn from it.

Cheers

Tawny Owl.

mitsy1

thanks tawny owl. ya i def learnt from it and i intend to bad mouth him as much as i can. i know he is doing other jobs but where and who im not sure. I intend to report him to the revenue.

jblack

You have rights here between various statute, implied terms and even what appears on face value to be a criminal act.

The problem is twofold:

Firstly your claim is small so that scales of economy would indicate it not being worth engaging a solicitor, (which is exactly what you need).

The second problem would be enforceability of any of these rights.

berrypendel

Kosseegan wrote: »

Its water under the bridge at this stage. Forget about legal action over €1500. You could complain to the guards about the stolen pipes. They will most likely do bugger all though. I always fire tradesmen if they let me down any more than twice.

twice? you give them two chances?. The standard of 'tradesmen' in ireland is disgraceful