Overcharged and all-round substandard service!

I called Trojan Plumbing in Bellville for a small leak from one of the vacuum breakers of my solar geyser. When the plumber got on the roof, I asked him if it was still leaking, to which he rep**** he can't tell because it had rained earlier. What an utterly asinine thing to say. It wasn’t raining at the time. It would be evident if water was dripping out. He also did not bother to inspect the valve to determine if it was faulty in any way. So, without knowing whether there was in fact a leak or not, whether the part was faulty or not, or if actually needed to be replaced or not, he proceeded to change the part. I agreed to this at the time, since he was already on the roof, and to avoid maybe having to call a plumber again the next day. He was going to change the second vacuum breaker of the geyser, which he had no business doing, as it had no issues. I told him I didn't request that, so he agreed not to do it.

Subsequently, I complained about the quality of the new part and how the plastic would perish and break in no time. I was told by one of the plumbers that it didn't matter because the whole part wouldn't last that long. So why are they using poor quality replacements?

When it came to the bill, they overcharged something awful too. Firstly, they billed me for 30min when the job took only 15min. They also put an excessively high markup on the parts, in my opinion. When I complained to the manager about overcharging me, he had the audacity to imply that they did me a favour by fitting me into their busy schedule. What arrogant conduct!

The website says they offer affordable prices and excellent rates. Really?! This amounts to false advertising if they turn around and overcharge customers. They did in fact overcharge me for services and refuse to acknowledge it. The manager says he charges in 30min increments, and that’s that… accordingly, by his business model, does that mean that if they do a job for you that takes 35min, you’ll be billed for 60min? You can decide if you think that’s fair and reasonable. They also transfer all kinds of costs onto the customer through their billing structure, like “costs for vehicle maintenance” etc., in their own words.

The unskilled, dereliction in the service provided, coupled with their unabashed overcharging indicates unfair business practices and a contravention of the Consumer Protection Act – all in my opinion, of course.

I recommend you avoid this “Trojan” company. There are plenty of plumbers out there. The best advice is to call around, you’ll likely find a better one.