TERRIBLE, UNPROFESSIONAL plumbing company

The Plumbers In the past 3 months, I have had a section in my scullery damp-ridden so much so that the walls started having yellow mold marks. I decided it was time to get it fixed as I have kids in the house and can’t afford to have them impacted by this issue. I proceeded to get a quote from a company who specializes in damp. I approved the work and the job began. The damp proofing was going really well but the manager on site was insistent that there was a leak in the wall as there was water constantly dripping through the bricks which caused that they were unable to complete a section of the wall due to the cement constantly detaching and falling to the ground. He proceeded to open up the wall and fixed the waste pipe leak himself (which we thought was the cause of all this water). We left it overnight hoping they could come back only for touch ups the following day. Unfortunately the next morning, the manager remained steadfast that there must be a leak as the floor underneath the dishwasher had made a puddle even after being cleaned up the previous day. The area was always wet, hence the rising damp and the reason for getting the damp fixed. So we did the next thing and called The Plumbers where I spoke to a man named Johan. He said his plumber could come do leak detection that same day. My first thoughts were, “great” and “hopefully we’ll be done with all this by the end of the day”. He advised that his pricing was R1800 for leak detection and R850 thereafter for the work. The plumber Rudi arrived on site, by himself, no team to assist. I showed him our concerns. 1. There is water coming out of the brick on the outside 2. There is water leaking through the tile on the inside of the house (causing the water below the dishwasher and all the damp that I had to get repaired). He said he needs to do a leak detection using his equipment but before he could start I had to pay upfront via Yoco. This was an amount of R1800. Having been sure that there must be a leak, I went ahead and paid the amount. The guy used his equipment on the outside wall and did not pick any pressure leaks up however when he checked the water meter he said there is definitely water running. Together with the damp site manager we agreed that the wall should be opened up again to expose the pipes. Rudi the plumber said that he didn’t want to open up the wall himself as he didn’t have the tools and that he wanted to “save me money”. He also proceeded to tell me “Don’t tell Johan”. Rudi said that the men working for the damp company can open up the wall but they need to leave 110mm on the top and bottom of the waste pipe which he wanted to replace. On top of this he investigated the toilet upstairs and said the inlet is causing the overflow which explained the leak on the waste pipe. He then left the site and said he’d come back as soon as the wall is opened enough for him to work. The men from the damp-proofing company diligently opened the one side and saw the back of the waste pipe was releasing a minimal amount of water. They said that they couldn’t open the back part to expose the whole waste pipe as the tiles on the inside in my scullery would be damaged. I made a call to my husband and we said we’d sacrifice the tiles because we need to find the problem and there are also spare tiles that we could use on the wall once the wall is closed up. As it was, once the tile released from the wall, there was a copper pipe with the leak where water proceeded to spray out of. I immediately called Rudi the plumber and told him there is indeed a leak that would need to be fixed. He asked for photos which I sent, thinking he’d get parts and come fix it as he had nothing on hand stating “we haven’t received stock”. The damp guys hung around as we waited for him to return to fix the leak. We switched off the main water and drained the pipes so that the plumber could just fix the leak. Time passed, eventually it was 16h30 and the damp site manager said that he had to go, he would return the next day to complete the closing of the wall. The plumber only returned to the house at 17h10 and seemed in a rush to fix the leak. He said that the damp site people did not open the wall up big enough for him to replace the waste pipe seals. He went on to fix the leak on the copper pipe. He used a blow torch and some metal wiring but it did not take. At 17h50, he left me without water and said he’d be back at 8am after he gets parts from Builders Warehouse. I agreed as the damp people said they’d be back at around midday the following day to close up. That morning at 8h30, I whatsapped Rudi to ask where he was. No reply. My husband tried to call him at around 9am, no answer. I tried to call Rudi at 9h13. No answer. I sent a whatsapp to Johan at 9h14 asking if he knew where Rudi was. At 9h15 I received a call from Rudi’s colleague Craig who said he would come to the house after he is done at another job. I sent Johan a message telling him not to worry because I got a call from Craig. At 9h52 I asked Craig for an update on the ETA. No reply. At 11h22 I heard from Rudi for the first time that day saying he was on his way. At 11h57 Craig rep**** saying “Hi sorry I think rudi should be there shortly. Sorry for the inconvenience”. Rudi arrived at 12h11. By this time the damp company had been back on site for about 2 hours. Rudi came and hastily fixed the leak using a curved pipe method. The damp site manager questioned him on his method and Rudi’s reply was that it is “much easier this way”. He didn’t have the right tools again, he struggled with the cutting of the pipe and did not insert a proper wedge method to pull the copper pipe away from the one next to it. Rudi said he was done, got in into his vehicle and left without greeting. At this point I was under the impression that he was putting his tools in his car and coming back to ask for a code and to give me the invoice. As we stood pondering the next move, the damp site manager noticed a leak lower down. It did not spray out but there was water coming out. I immediately went outside to where Rudi was parked and the vehicle was gone and so was Rudi. I immediately phoned him and the damp site manager spoke to him saying there’s a leak, he needs to come back to fix it. He returned shortly after, I’m assuming he didn’t get out of the complex without a code. He came in, looked at it and said to me that the previous work was free but this is going to cost me. This was when I phoned Johan in frustration and explained to him that his leak detection machine didn’t pick this leak up in the first place. We found the leak. Rudi “fixed” the leak but created another leak by forcefully pulling the pipe away to cut it. Rudi denies all of this and Johan blames the damp site people for damaging the pipe. I made it clear to Johan that regardless of everything, the leak needs to be fixed. He then said to me he would phone Rudi to ask what happened. He wasn’t happy that Rudi didn’t do the chopping of wall/brick. Rudi then received a phone call, I don’t know what was said or discussed. Rudi comes to me and asks for a code. My response was “Why? Where are you going?” He then said he was heading out to buy parts. Needless to say Rudi never returned. I phoned Johan again after Rudi didn’t reply or answer my calls. I wanted to know where he was as it was getting late and the damp people were STILL waiting. Johan said I must send photos because he doesn’t understand what is happening. I explained to him again and his reply was that he would phone Rudi. Johan didn’t call back. He sent a whatsapp saying Rudi says he didn’t work lower and the people who did the chopping did the damage. I then lost my temper and said to Johan that this was not communicated to me and that I take it he **** to me about getting parts and returning to the house. Johan then proceeded to comment on my use of language and said “no wonder he doesn’t want to come back”. I tried calling him to sort the matter but my number was blocked. A company that prides themselves as working with “honesty, integrity and excellent client service” is surely supposed to complete what they were asked to and communicate honestly about the next steps, not leave the client hanging up in the air with a water leak. Their means of communication and service delivery was unprofessional. Since the incident I’ve had the opinions of three plumbing companies all of who arrived at my home with three members in their team, not like Rudi who operates alone with no one to hold him accountable. Without knowing the background of the situation, I was told that the pipe was in fact bent, not hit. The comments of all three companies were that they would’ve taken the pipe out and replaced it with a straight piece. They also commented that the welding done by Rudi was abysmal and the leak would’ve been a problem in the future on the work he did. The work was fixed by another plumbing company who spent under an hour in my home. The Plumbers messed me around for two whole days on something that was a quick fix. The Plumbers refuse to take accountability for their staff members and has done everything they could to blame shift their mess up.

Terrible customer service Not highly trained nor certified