just wanted to see if any other homeowners get very annoyed trying to get a plumber, electrician, gardener, diy or anything like this?..

i mean fair enuff if your busy but why do people say they will come to do something when they have no intention of coming. and no phone call to cancel? just leave me sitting here waiting..cheers!.

i have had this trouble with many a person and seems only way to get anything done is to ask around and find friends of friends to do any work you need doing.

i currenty have some new guttering which is leaking so much it is like a waterfall outside my door when it rains. and it took me 7 failures to turn up and 1 to quote a rip off price to get it done by someone my dad knows. who now has dissapeared and seems to have not secured it well enough. now i have the option of phoning all same people and getting fobbed off for work that no doubt is no more than 10minute job.

i will NOT accept any rubbish from them anymore. its brand new. just poorly fitted. its 10minute job, seems every1 is driven by the £££'s these days and will gladly stuff you to go to a better job and then never contact you again.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Sad to say but it seems to be true. I worked for a plumber for 5 months as his unofficial apprentice and some of the time his attitude towards people waiting for callbacks seemed to be '***** em, I'll call them when I get time'. Not a good way to make money I wouldn't have thought and gives a bad impression of tradesmen in general. Obviously it wasn't my place to tell him this though as I'd probably have knackered my chances of working with him from that point on. No great loss though cos he paid peanuts and I'm much better doing what I'm doing now than I was with him.

Tell u what mate, if and when I go solo I'll make sure I always call if I'm going to be late and try to make my jobs on time. :D

I'm not going to lie - sometimes I can't get to appointments due to work running over, traffic or any other number of reasons but I always let the customer know as soon as I can. Bad business sense not to....

I agree with you there and im sticking my kneck out here because ive done several jobs for people on this forum. I always try and keep my appointments which i cant always manage because of work running over etc but i always let the customer know.

I never just don't turn up, basic manners is a key step to a successful business and do my best to communicate with the customer as much as possible.

I know there are a lot of tradesmen who dont care but i can only speak for myself and won't recommend anyone unless ive seen there work and the way they work because it reflects on my business if i recommended them.

Coggy

i recently had my bathroom done...and it was only through someone at work i got his number. he turned up on time, quoted, left without pressuring me, i agreed, a date was set, he turned up, and job was done from monday to thursday. i paid. sorted.

this is only time ive had success with anything along these lines.

and i will recommend him and pass his number on.

whereas i will now post bad remarks/reviews of any1 that messes me about again. and i will be sure to let them know.

and next time i phone anyone for any work i will keep their number and if they dont turn up and dont let me know then i shall phone them for the next ten years at 3am and just scream.

not too harsh me thinks :0)

There are some excellent plumbers, joiners etc out there. Equally, there are people who will let you down, and attempt to pull a con trick on you. The best thing to do, in my experience, is go by wordof mouth. I know tradesmen who are so much in demand [a plumber and a decorator/painter] that they never advertise. Their reputations are unassailable. I wouldn't ever take "pot luck" with a name taken at random from the back pages of a newspaper, although some genuine people do advertise their skills that way. Always ask for a written estimate before allowing them to start any work. This might seem like stating platitudes, but I know so many fools who have been caught out with an unreasonably high bill like this.