David Williams of DW Plumbing and Drainage came to look at a leak, as the cistern,
had leaked behind a vanity unit causing the floor to give way beneath the toilet. We rang him on 9th December and he said we needed part of the floor replaced, a new vanity unit, sink and toilet. We accepted a rather high estimate because he assured us that it would be completed by Christmas. After completing the floor, vanity unit and sink, he said he would fit the toilet after the tiling. At that stage he emailed his full invoice, then rang my wife asking if she would do him a great favour and transfer the money into his bank. He needed to buy a new bathroom for his next job and didn't have sufficient funds. I was away, but my wife, to help his cash flow problem did that. He re-assured us that he would fit the toilet before Christmas. He agreed to come at 9am on 24th Dec. We left a 2 hour window to complete a job he said would take half an hour. By 10.15 he still hadn't arrived, then he rang us to say he would be another half hour or so. We had to be elsewhere by 11.30, so he agreed to come at 2pm. By 3pm despite two frantic messages left on his mobile, he still hadn't arrived. Then we received a recorded text message on our landline "Dave the Plumber gone to Whitby for Christmas. Sorry" So with 10 people coming to stay that evening, including three children, we were left with no toilet in a bathroom that serves three bedrooms. We employed another plumber after Christmas, who said no isolation valve had been fitted and that the cistern was two inches out of alignment and therefore the overflow pipe would not connect with the toilet. He had to cut a new hole in the back of the unit and reposition the ball valve to the other side the cistern before he could fit the toilet. We would not recommend nor employ David Williams again. If you do, don't pay him a penny until he has completed the job to your satisfaction, since once paid, he may feel no obligation to finish it.
Dr Alan Cotton read more