Been having a problem with a drain smell in my bathroom now for years. Kept meaning to get it sorted but as it's only intermittent once its gone I just plod on. Anyway on Sunday my wife said the smell was really bad. Once we flush the toilet the smell goes. One time I could smell it in the bedroom directly above the bathroom. which is downstairs. So I rang a Drains man who came out yesterday. At about 10.00 a.m. he undid the access point on the soil pipe stack and pumped some smoke into the drain He asked me to check behind the toilet in the bathroom and the smoke was coming from where the soil pipe goes into the floor. My toilet is all boxed in and he said that he couldn't fix it I would need to get a plumber to remove the toilet etc. in order to access the joint and put some cement around it. He then loaded everything back on his van and said he had finished I looked at the time and it was 10.25 He said that it would be £100. Anyway today I went to B&Q and got some ready mixed cement and managed to cement around the leaking pipe, by a certain amount of ingenuity. I got a piece of 2" pipe about 3 ft long and made a PLUNGER I then filled the pipe with cement and then pressed the plunger so the cement was directed into the location of the leak then by means of another contraption I made, I managed to smooth it all off. Hopefully it's problem solved. After all this diatribe My question is Is £100 the going rate these days? To be honest I was expecting him to say £60.00 I'm still living in pre decimalization times and still think £10.00 is a lot of money<g>

Some of these trades people charge a call out fee on top of the fee for the work. Did you check the t&cs, discuss the fee beforehand?

Why did you ignore it for so long?

I would have asked how much it would cost before he did the job.

I would say you've defo been ripped of, £100 for half an hour and he's not even fixed it, thats terrible service,

name and shame him, warn others,

I should have said well that's £20.00 for the cup of tea. I was given his number by a guy who has done some work for me a few years ago. I'll have a look what his name and number are I know he came from Leigh. Sods law after I put this message on the board my wife shouted "THERE'S WATER COMING THROUGH THE BACK KITCHEN CEILING" Checked the water tank and it seems the ball cock is faulty and not cutting the cold water supply off when the tank gets full and the water was running through the overflow pipe So it looks like I have a leak on that pipe now. So tomorrow my mate is coming to fir a new Ball Cock and I will have to get everything out of the attic to find the leaking pipe... Things happen in threes so no doubt something else will happen soon..

You need to get a quote and say things like,"what do you think, base line?" but have someone with you. A son, neighbour. Not a apouse. Hope your mate loves you.

Its O.K. in hindsight I suppose But as you say in future I'll be asking for a Ball Park cost. If he had fixed the leaking pipe I wouldn't have cared. Off to Screwfix now for another Ball Cock I have only had this about 9 months so I'll be asking for a free replacement.

Whenever I go away I turn the water off. On return from my most recent jaunt I found no hot water. Calling a neighbours recommended plumber he fixed the problem, a simple low pressure thing. He asked for £10, I gave him £15. He also pointed out where the little tap was so that "You can do this yourself in future." Good man, he will be given recommendations from me.