What’s the longest you have waited for a plumber to arrive after making an emergency call? Can you beat our wait yesterday of more than 14 hours?
I was mystified as to why the bathroom carpet was wet in places on Friday night, and it worsened yesterday morning. We called Anglian Water who we are insured with for emergency plumbing and drainage and they promised to send a plumber round. That was at 8am.
Later that day the water started seeping through the ceiling and dripping on to the dining room table. We called again and again. They said they were very busy, there were lots of other plumbing disasters, not once did they even give us the basic advice to switch off the water mains, but kept saying they would get back to us. They never did.
This company made £109 million profit last year, they didn’t even have the common sense to call out a few more plumbers to help them cope with their huge backlog. Or were they too tight-fisted?
Pl
umber Pete eventually arrived, tired and weary, at 10.15pm and sorted out the problem within minutes, tightening up some loose fittings on the ball valve and elsewhere around the loo.
It seems our problem was not high priority, it was regarded as a “controlled” leak because we could catch the water in a bowl, it was irrelevant that the ceiling with its light fittings might be soaking wet too. Surely every leak is important, water is a precious commodity in short supply right now.
Just like airlines pay out to customers for lengthy flight delays, companies like this making obscene profits should be forced to compensate customers they have considerably inconvenienced for unacceptable long delays and poor service. They would soon sharpen up their act.
That is appalling. It’s especially worrying and frightening when you don’t know what to do in the meantime. And what about when they don’t come when they say they will and you have to go to work? I agree with you that these companies should have to compensate their customers.
Haing said that, I have sworn to myself that if I ever come back to the UK, I will never grumble about the water situation there again, given the problems we have with the supply in Sicily!
You’ve been categorised for ‘low priority’ because of the seriousness of your leak. They would soon come if charges were lessened for the length of time it took to get to your house.
Did you have to choose that particular plumber? I would have called someone different!
Hopefully the damage is covered by your insurance, but they may get narky if they realise you didn’t turn off the water…. you will most likely have clauses for limiting the insurers liability if you didn’t do something that limits the damage…. and it’s usually a decision made solely by the insurer.
Ellee,
Your should have given me a call. I’d have been there in a couple of hours and I only charge £50/hour.
Trust you to get a picture of the poor man. Brilliant!