Advice on plumbing +billing situation

Kieran01

1. I got this issue looked at by a plumber.

2. It turns out the unit in my apartment (to regulate hot water and act as a meter due to district heating system) was junk. When he opened one of the pipes was nearly rusted through so could have leaked. The thermostat on the unit was also not working which we thought was the issue with the water.

3. Anyways we got a new unit (2000e worth) which I paid for via management company and then I found a plumber to install it.

4. He called out twice to assess the situation for free.

5. He then sent one of his other lumbers out to fit the new unit at a price agreed of 700e + vat.

6. The installation took best part of 1.5 days and I could see from the guy doing it that it was a nightmare of a job.

7. As he was doing it he knocked off my heating and couldn't get it back on. My heating is a nest and he didn't know how it worked. (The heating wasn't the issue in the first place and was working before this.)

8. The water issue has improved but still not fixed - it's still really hard to regulate the temperature of water so the initial problem isn't solved.

9. The plumber has been ringing me back and forth to arrange a time for him to call back out. We've been going back and forth a lot but I travel a good bit for work so don't blame him here. I'm also probably last on his list. It's difficult to find a time that works but equally as much as my fault as is his.

10. Today he asked me to make payment and I reluctantly agreed to meet him halfway over the phone. He wants for me to give my credit card details over the phone which I am uncomfortable with (I held him off for now - said I didn't have my card with me) as he could charge me literally anything. He does seem legit etc. but I always feel weird making payments like that.

I feel like he is being reasonable asking me to pay something and he did do a lot of work already but the issue is not resolved.

Does anyone have any advice for this situation please? I think I have 3 options:

Option A - Tell him to call Saturday to fix once and for all and I will give him cash (I am gone for next 2 weeks after this)

Option B - Pay him half of the money but insist I do it over bank transfer (rather than credit card). Hope that we can find a time in 2 weeks when I am back.

Option C - Pay him nothing until he calls back out. I think this may inflame the situation and piss him off.

antoinolachtnai

It sounds like you think you have a competent plumber and that he has been reasonably attentive.

I would do Option B right away. Get some money in his hand. He is likely stuck for cash.

I would then do Option A. Get him out and if he can't fix it completely on that day, give him another 200 euros there and then and get a receipt.

Talk to him and find out what else it is going to take to get this working completely to your satisfaction.

if the problem is still there then he might need new components to get this to work properly. You need to discuss this with him and figure out what needs to be done. Realistically, you are going to have to pay for the extra bits.

Separately, if there is rust, it means there is a leak somewhere or some similar problem.