[7777]

If you encounter issues with your plumber, call The Building and Plumbing Commission (BPC) that came into effect as of July 1st 2025. This is a new regulator with new powers. The department has the power to investigate any complaints made by consumers regarding plumbers who are not doing their job properly or are over charging their customers.

 

[EJJ]

You're not going to ask for an invoice when you are only seeking prices a plumber would not supply one, you ask for an itemised quote.

 

[7777]

You're not going to ask for an invoice when you are only seeking prices a plumber would not supply one, you ask for an itemised quote.

Dear member EJJ, good morning. Thankyou for your post. I agree with you. You don't ask for an invoice before the job is done. An invoice will indicate what HAS been done to fix the problem. It is an itemised quote, as you mention in your post, that should be requested, before work comenses, that will provide the customer with information, of how much they will need to pay for the plumbing work be conducted. Have a great week.

 

[advocate]

This Has been ongoing in every state of Australia for years more prevalent now ,promises of government departments investigation leads to more well paid positions with minimal response

 

[Sammihp]

A friend of mine recently moved to a new house and need some locks changing - she called a number that she thought was a recommended locksmith - but it was an ‘emergency only locksmith’ - he was there within 10 minutes and took all day replacing 4 locks and updating 2 others - and charged a whopping $3000. the next day the lock to her sliding doors fell off so she called him back but while there he ot called out on another ‘emergency’ and she hasn’t seen him since - he has blocked her number and her daughter’s number and she’s had to get another locksmith in to complete the job and put right 2 other security locks that weren’t fitted either correctly or with the right type of system. Just don’t call these so called ‘emergency only’ people.

 

[Suzanne rose]

I think the government should make a list of tradesmen for pensioners to use.

Add it to eg The Centrelink or MyGov website. Only add those tradies who have been checked out and who agree to do work at a pensioner rate.

 

[Colette 3799]

My son works for Reece plumbing and when we moved house and needed a plumber he advised us to call in the local Reece shop and ask about their recommendations for a trusted plumber. We got a great guy who we have used for a few jobs. Much better than looking on line at someone who has fake recommendations.

 

[7777]

A friend of mine recently moved to a new house and need some locks changing - she called a number that she thought was a recommended locksmith - but it was an ‘emergency only locksmith’ - he was there within 10 minutes and took all day replacing 4 locks and updating 2 others - and charged a whopping $3000. the next day the lock to her sliding doors fell off so she called him back but while there he ot called out on another ‘emergency’ and she hasn’t seen him since - he has blocked her number and her daughter’s number and she’s had to get another locksmith in to complete the job and put right 2 other security locks that weren’t fitted either correctly or with the right type of system. Just don’t call these so called ‘emergency only’ people.

Dear member Sammihp, good morning. Thankyou for your post. Sorry to hear your experience with this locksmith. Call VCAT a department who will investigate, and order the locksmith to pay back the money that he has charged for the bad job, and order any overcharging that may have occurred, to be paid back to you. Just make sure you have the receipt that shows the cost that was paid, and photos of the faulty repaired job on the lock. Wishing you success with you communication with the department of VCAT. Have a great week.

 

[7777]

My son works for Reece plumbing and when we moved house and needed a plumber he advised us to call in the local Reece shop and ask about their recommendations for a trusted plumber. We got a great guy who we have used for a few jobs. Much better than looking on line at someone who has fake recommendations.

Dear member Colette 3799, goodmorning. Thankyou for your post. Thankyou so much for letting all members know, how they can locate a trusted plumber through honest recommendation by Reece. Good Karma to you always. Have a great week.

 

[kenrconn]

This story smacks of the scams which were done by Metropolitan Services. Apparently they have now gone out of business (according to A Current Affair) but who knows will probably pop up as another name in the future. Certainly someone who needs to be avoided At all cost.

 

[Littleboy8]

This story smacks of the scams which were done by Metropolitan Services. Apparently they have now gone out of business (according to A Current Affair) but who knows will probably pop up as another name in the future. Certainly someone who needs to be avoided At all cost.

Probably will! but that’s the good thing about having shows like A Current Affairs on the idiot box isn’t it.

 

[Tata]

2 years ago my dishwasher broke. A young fellow arrived, looked for 1 second, claimed, nothing could be done, as mother board had failed and was gone in 5 minutes. I tried to do a reset trick, and -voile!- the machine was back to work! I rang the company and complained, their reply was, ' He still came to your house, so our call out fee of $120 were explained before you placed the order'. Even not a sorry about such an unacceptable low level of skills of his employee.

 

[Ellev]

Everyone's ripping off everyone at the moment. As stated in the article it's not just plumbers. You can't even get a quote now I had a gardener out the other day he wouldn't give a quote just said he charged by the hour. Two gloves a gardening company here in Perth wanted to charge me a $55 fee just to come out, then it was $121 an hour per person and they wanted to send out a minimum of three people. This was to cut a very small front lawn and cut some palm leaves off. The house painter for inside wanted $250 dollars per hour to paint the house! People have gone mad with greed.

 

[Littleboy8]

Everyone's ripping off everyone at the moment. As stated in the article it's not just plumbers. You can't even get a quote now I had a gardener out the other day he wouldn't give a quote just said he charged by the hour. Two gloves a gardening company here in Perth wanted to charge me a $55 fee just to come out, then it was $121 an hour per person and they wanted to send out a minimum of three people. This was to cut a very small front lawn and cut some palm leaves off. The house painter for inside wanted $250 dollars per hour to paint the house! People have gone mad with greed.

unbelievable

 

[Colette 3799]

2 years ago my dishwasher broke. A young fellow arrived, looked for 1 second, claimed, nothing could be done, as mother board had failed and was gone in 5 minutes. I tried to do a reset trick, and -voile!- the machine was back to work! I rang the company and complained, their reply was, ' He still came to your house, so our call out fee of $120 were explained before you placed the order'. Even not a sorry about such an unacceptable low level of skills of his employee.

A similar thing happened when I was working in the disability field. It was mid winter and the heating stopped working so we rang the people who organised repair men for the house. A guy came out and looked and said he needed to order a part. We managed to borrow a couple of portable heaters which didn’t do much. The staff and the people we supported were rugged up like Eskimos for three weeks and then the boss of the repair man came in and changed the batteries in the remote control!

 

[Littleboy8]

A similar thing happened when I was working in the disability field. It was mid winter and the heating stopped working so we rang the people who organised repair men for the house. A guy came out and looked and said he needed to order a part. We managed to borrow a couple of portable heaters which didn’t do much. The staff and the people we supported were rugged up like Eskimos for three weeks and then the boss of the repair man came in and changed the batteries is the remote control!

fair dinkum

 

[7777]

Everyone's ripping off everyone at the moment. As stated in the article it's not just plumbers. You can't even get a quote now I had a gardener out the other day he wouldn't give a quote just said he charged by the hour. Two gloves a gardening company here in Perth wanted to charge me a $55 fee just to come out, then it was $121 an hour per person and they wanted to send out a minimum of three people. This was to cut a very small front lawn and cut some palm leaves off. The house painter for inside wanted $250 dollars per hour to paint the house! People have gone mad with greed.

Dear member Elle, good afternoon. Thankyou for your post. Have you thought about talking to members of the RSL or your local Bingo venue, to ask if they know if a trusted person, who would be willng to do some gardening, at a reasonable price, for a pensioner. Most often you would have people from the community, offering their services to do your lawn at a very low price, when you tell them that you are a pensioner. My sister did this and interestingly, the people who offered to do her lawn, were actually living in her neighbourhood, who charged her a minimal price for the work. I hope this can bring you some assistance for future garden maintenance work. Have a great week.

 

[Miss Chris]

It’s definitely a case of trying to navigate murky waters out there isn’t …..I usually go by word of mouth but often ask for recommendations for this that or the other from my local community website…..