There was heavy moisture on the carpet outside our wardrobe and we discovered that inside it was flooded. Rang plumber on Monday morning and the plumber responded in good time. However the job he did was unsatisfactory. He fixed a leak on a pipe and replaced a valve in the cistern. All in was on the premise for no more than 1.5 hours and gave me an exorbitant bill of $495! Plus the bill was not detialed; only wrote "Labour+materials".

2 days later, we rang to explain we suspect it wasn't fixed properly as the leak must still be there as the carpet was still drenched and that we could hear a faint hissing sound. Same plumber then claimed he had checked the water meter to make sure that water wasn't still flowing before he left. However, we had done that experiment as well and the meter didn't move. Later we would find out that the pinhole was so small that it wouldn't make a difference on the meter in less than 2 hours.

He then reminded us that there is an outstanding invoice (which was actually authorised for transfer the night before but the bank hadn't sent through) and that additional charges would apply to a second visit. Whatever happened to after sale/post-job service?

Because of this sort of attitude, we decided to ring up another plumber who in the end found a second leak, removed bricks surrounding the outdoor tap which was connected to replace a portion of the pipe which had the leaks, patched the bricks up, replaced my water heater valve; all in spent a little under 4 hours on the job and charged me only $418 including GST. He even told me to give him a ring if any problem persisted and that he'd be happy to come by again. Those were reassuring words that gave me some relief in my time of distress having lived through the week with an almost flooded bedroom and enduring water restrictions in the house.

Now we feel disappointed that this company had overcharged us (since it wasn't a weekend or night job) and they have certainly lost a customer. This is a perfect example of once bitten twice shy.

Approximate cost: $495