h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I had a new washing machine delivered a few days ago. I'd arranged for the company who delivered it to fit it and for the old machine to be taken away. Before the mcahine arrived, I was pleased that the delivery company phoned ahead (twice) to confirm that it was coming that particular day and once on the day to say they were half an hour away.

I was less impressed when the delivery man said he couldn't fit it as he didn't have the right connection part and wouldn't take the old machine away as it wasn't on his ticket, and no amount of phoning the company I bought it throough would change that. I was not happy.

I phoned a local plumber, who quoted me £65 plus parts to fit it. When the plumber he arrived, he said £90 all in. That meant that the part - a small ridged piece of plastic - cost £25. I reluctantly agreed to this. Then it appeared that the old hose connector was blocked and needed to be replaced. The plumber said that he didn't have a piece of hose in his van and would have to go to a plumbers supply shop (about 10 minutes away) and get one and because of the extra time, the cost would now be £150. I felt trapped and agreed to it. He also said I didn't need the connector pipe that came with the machine and took it away.

I was a very unhappy person. I felt I'd been taken advantage of and ripped off. I phoned the next day to ask for a justification of the charge and to ask for my connector hose back. I didn't get a reduction in price - or a good explanation - but I did get the connector hose back.

In retrospect, I realised that I hadn't challenged the price hike at the time because I was feeling very off balance because of what had happened with the delivery. What I should have done is said, "I was quoted £65 plus parts - how much is the part?"

I don't know if the plumber had the part in his van or not. It was about one and half metres. As the whole job took about 3/4 hour, including getting the part, I reckon he was charging about £180 an hour. Nice work if you can get it.

Again, I should have challenged the quote of £150. However, if I need work done again, I won't just roll over. As they say, once bitten, twice shy.

Prices quoted were 65GBP - then 90GBP all in - then 150GBP. Ugh! h2g2 is getting very nanny in automatically deleting prices!!

This was just to 'plumb in' a washign machien?; I.E., connect the hot and cold water pipes/cables from teh washign machien to the connections on the wall? I've always done that myself as its pretty easy or is this somethign more compoicated?

No - it wasn't that complicated, however on my own I probably wouldn't have picked up that the existing pipe was blocked - and that was why my previous washing machine packed up - the pump failed because it couldn't cope with trying to send water down a blocked pipe. I had already had a pump fitted previously and the part was very expensive, which was why I chose to have a new washing machine this time. I actually think the plumber charged the maximum he thought he could get away with. I'll not be such a sucker next time.

I also think I couldn't have done it on my own. Even the plumber struggled to get the jubilee clip off (one of those pressure fittings that you get off with a pair of pliers). And I also didn't know about having to have the pipe above the drain. The drain pipe was back-filling.