Premier Plumbers in Tooting - dishonest to the core.

I recently had an overflowing cold water tank in the loft which caused water to leak into the room below. This had been the first time this had happened in many years.



I climbed into the loft to investigate and found that the ball valve was malfunctioning - it was stuck in the down position. I pulled the ball up to close off the valve which seemed to do the trick. I also noticed that the seal between the tank and the overflow pipe was leaking - hence the leak into the room below.



I called Premier plumbing who at the time of writing have 2 registered addresses .. these are:



36, Rectory Lane,London,SW17 9PZ
Freephone: 0800 0858517



and



65, Tooting Broadway,London,SW17 8PB
Freephone: 0800 0280903



Their rates are not cheap. £55 per half hour + vat. that's around £130 per hour. But since i thought it was only going to take a short while i bit the bullet and called them in.



I wasn't going to be at home so I left a note with explicit instructions for the plumber to 1) change ball valve and 2) correct overflow seal and 3) replace a bathroom tap (an odd job i've been wanting to sort out for sometime)



They sent a plumber called Terry.



When i returned, Terry was working on the bath tap and told me he couldn't see anything wrong with the water tank. At this time already an hour had passed. I told him to replace the ball valve anyway.



Another hour later, Terry tells me that he has replaced the ball valve and says that he cannot guarantee the work because 'it is his professional recommendation' that my water in and overflow pipes need to be swapped around in order to prevent the leak from happening again (My water in pipe is about 1 inch higher than my overflow pipe). I thought this was odd seeing as he told me 1st time round that he couldn't find anything wrong with it. When asked about the seal i asked him to repair, he told me that he had put silicone sealant around the seal.



He said that he could come back the following day to swap the pipes around and that it will take him another hour to do. When asked whether his work so far will prevent the leak happening again, he said that it may.. but he cannot guarantee without further work.



Being put on the spot and not knowing much about plumbing i agreed for him to return. So i paid him £280 for 2 hours labour to install a bath tap, replace a ball valve and smearing some sealant on the seal. A tidy sum for 2 hours of work.



That evening, i did some reading up and realised that swapping the pipes around would not give me any benefit - after all, the system had been fine for 20 years! The most important thing was to ensure that the ball valve was functioning and that the seal to the overflow pipe was ok. Both of which Terry failed to identify. If the ball float was sitting too high, all Terry had to do was bend the metal bar downward so that the ball sits lower in the water.



But I suppose that wouldn't justify £130 an hour would it Premier???



I was infuriated when I discovered this. I promptly called to cancel the next visit.



I wish there was somewhere else i could name and shame this dishonest company. However, there seems to be none. I hope this blog will help people avoid these rogue tradesmen.

Avoid Premier Plumbing at all costs.