ROGUE TRADERS
Britons waste TWO WEEKS of their lives waiting at home for rogue tradesmen who fail to turn up, according to a new survey.
Plumbers head a list of shame of Britain’s most unreliable workmen, keeping people waiting for hours on end.
Builders were second worst for letting people down.
People in three homes out of four - more than 18 million - said they had waited in for a tradesman who didn’t arrive.
And a third of adults - around 15 million - said they had lost a WHOLE DAY or more waiting for that knock on the door.
More than half of people surveyed by community website thebestof.co.uk said it had happened to them twice or more.
The average wait of six hours 48 minutes occurred on average every five years, adding up to over 80 hours in a lifetime - the equivalent to two working weeks.
The North East is the hot-spot for being kept waiting - almost nine out of 10 (87 per cent) of people in Newcastle said it had happened to them and 86 per cent in Sunderland.
But the problem crossed the country with 83 per cent waiting by the phone in Plymouth.
Hot-under-the-collar householders also branded tradesmen liars when they gave an excuse for not arriving.
Less than 10 per cent of people thought they had been told the truth, the vast majority saying traders had lied, exaggerated or told them ”total codswallop”.
More than 15 million people said they had been put to “major inconvenience” by no-show traders, with leaking pipes left gushing, hospital and dental appointments missed and holidays from work wasted.
Nigel Botterill, founder of thebestof.co.uk, said: ”These results are shocking“ It’s a terrible way to treat customers but it’s also bad news for tradesman because they are not going to get called a second time.
”We exist to find the best workmen around the country and we will be asking our customers to review the level of service they receive. That way we know the tradesmen that we list are reliable.”
There was even more bad news when the work was eventually done.
A third of homeowners said they believed they had been charged for work that didn’t need doing while more than 23 per cent thought new parts had been fitted unnecessarily.
Word-of-mouth was the most common way of finding tradesmen though 64 per cent of people said they would prefer to have an independent review of the standard of service provided.
Top 10 tradesmen that keep you waiting
1) Plumber
2) Builder
3) Deliveryman
4) Electrician
5) Gas man
6) TV repair man
7) Plasterer
8) Gardener
9) Removal man
10) Carpet stain remover
Top 10 places for having to wait
1) Newcastle
2) Sunderland
3) Plymouth
4) Manchester
5) Aberdeen
6) Liverpool
7) Swansea
8) London
9) Bristol
10) Southampton
(article submitted by 72 Point PR)
August 9th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
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I couldn’t understand some parts of this article, but it sounds interesting…