My £279-an-hour plumber did nothing then refused to leave

In May I noticed that my drain was overflowing on to my patio and spreading sewage over my garden. I did a quick search online and called a company called Swift Plumbers and was told the price for clearing the blockage would be £69. It was only when the plumber arrived at my home that I was given a lengthy contract that said there was an hourly rate of £279 on top of a call-out charge of £69. They pressured me to sign immediately, which I did, thinking it wouldn’t take more than an hour to clear the blockage.
The plumber then took a long time to access the manhole and kept stopping to explain why it was so difficult. As I was paying by the hour, I really didn’t want him to stop to talk to me. At several points I asked him to give up, but he wouldn’t.
He spent ages prodding the drain and after three hours still hadn’t found the blockage. He eventually gave up after achieving nothing. I don’t think it should have taken him three hours to realise that he couldn’t do the job.
He then gave me an invoice that came to an astronomical fee of £1,250. He pressured me to pay by refusing to leave the premises until I had done so. As an old lady living on my own, I felt very vulnerable and paid him so that he would get out of my house.
I have since called out Dyno-Rod, which assured me that the problem doesn’t lie in my house, but is an issue with the whole street. Dyno-Rod didn’t charge a fee to carry out the inspection.
I shall soon be retiring and am very upset by the loss of my savings. I feel that Swift Plumbers should refund the money I have paid. Name and address supplied
I was very concerned that the company not only failed to mention the astronomical hourly rate over the phone, but that it charged you a whopping £1,250 for doing nothing to fix your problem. I checked the Trustpilot reviews of Swift Plumbers, which uses the website swiftplumber.co.uk, and could see other people described having similar experiences to you. Many claimed they were not told about the hourly rate over the phone and that they felt pressured into signing a contract.
The company uses Swift Plumbers as its trading name, but according to your invoice its business is registered as Emergency Engineers Limited in Luton.
I sent the company screenshots of the reviews that showed that other people were having a similar experience to you and asked why it didn’t mention the hourly rate over the phone. It said: “We clearly communicate all charges to customers before any work starts and customers must give consent in writing before any service begins.
“We have strict policies against pressuring customers into decisions, and we make sure they have sufficient time to review all documents thoroughly. We are confident that we have acted appropriately in this case and are committed to continuously improving our services.”
• Your consumer rights explained
While it disputed your version of events, within an hour of my getting in touch it had called you to offer a refund of £832. You told me that, during that phone call, it had asked you to stop me from running this article. When I asked the company about this, it said that wasn’t true and that it “supports the right to free speech”. Either way, you weren’t happy with its offer anyway and said you would accept no less than £1,000, but it wouldn’t budge. You are now taking your case to the small claims court and are keeping me updated on the progress.
After a holiday in Bequia in the Grenadines, my now ex-partner and I were due to catch a flight to Barbados. But when we arrived at the airport, we were told that the airfield was closed to all traffic because the airport’s fire engine had broken down.
We were given no warning about this and there were no connecting flights that day, making it impossible to reach Barbados for our return flight home.
We had to stay in Bequia for an extra two nights, and I paid £196 for accommodation at a nearby hotel. We called Virgin Atlantic to reschedule our flight home and it charged an extortionate fee of £1,252.
Once we got back to the UK, I made a claim on my Allianz travel insurance policy for our hotel and my half of the flight change fee, so I am claiming £822 in total. But the insurer has rejected my claim and won’t give me a clear reason as to why. I think my claim is valid and the company is trying to fob me off. Gareth, Gloucester
Time and time again I hear from readers whose insurance claims are rejected because their specific situation isn’t spelt out in their policy. Allianz eventually told you that it had rejected your claim because the airport closure was not caused by weather or a natural disaster, so your circumstances were not covered by the policy. This was an unexpected event that you had no control over and which left you out of pocket, so you rightly expected your travel insurance policy to cover you.
After I intervened, Allianz reviewed your case and decided that you in fact should have been covered under the “travel delay” section of the policy.
It said: “We are sorry to hear of our customer’s experience with his claim. It falls short of the high standard of customer service we aim to provide. After reviewing the claim in greater detail, we have now paid it in full, together with compensation and an apology for the inconvenience. We are committed to improving our customer service, and as such we are updating our claims handling processes to incorporate additional reviews.”
You got your £822 refund and a £200 goodwill gesture, which you have donated to a charity.
• Best travel insurance providers
I also wanted to understand how Virgin Atlantic could justify charging you £1,252 to reschedule, which was more than a third of the £3,308 cost of your original fare. It charged a £500 change fee, £658 for the difference in fare and taxes, and £94 for your seats. The airline sometimes waives these fees, but it depends on the circumstances and passengers must provide evidence to show why the flight was missed.
Your partner had rearranged the flight and paid the fees, but you said she hadn’t been told that it may be possible for the airline to waive the charges if she provided evidence of the airport closure.
Virgin decided to refund the fees, but since you had already been reimbursed by Allianz and didn’t want a duplicate payment, your ex-partner has donated your share of the fee to charity.
Virgin Atlantic said: “We would never want to disappoint our customers and we are sorry for any distress caused.”
You said you have decided to take your complaint against Allianz to the ombudsman too.
£1,445,051: the amount Troubleshooter has saved readers so far this year
If you have a money problem that you would like Katherine Denham to investigate email [email protected]. Please include a phone number