A Sydney plumbing company is under investigation over a flurry of complaints about overcharging elderly customers, including a 98-year-old World War 2 veteran who was billed $37,000 for a broken toilet.
Australian Trades Pty Ltd, which was recently renamed from Point Plumbing and uses a variety of Anglo trading names including Fergusons Plumbing and Dan’s Plumbing, and its director Charbel Alha had their operating licences suspended for 60 days by Building Commission NSW this week.
Some of the plumbing entities including Dan’s and Fergusons were previously owned by Jason Aboukalam, who was the subject of multiple similar overcharging complaints before having his licence suspended by NSW Fair Trading.
The suspension came after John Rose, 98, revealed he had been quoted $37,367 to fix his “glugging” toilet and paid $6,000 in deposits after being told the toilet needed to be removed, and that major remedial work was needed on the sewerage system beneath the house.
Mr Rose eventually cancelled the work and hired another plumber who repaired it for $550 and told him it was a “routine maintenance task”, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Mr Rose told A Current Affair he Googled “local plumber” and initially assumed he was dealing with a honest tradesman.
“I trust people, you know, I think ‘he must be honest’, he said ‘you won’t get it any cheaper’, and it’s a lifetime guarantee. I’m 98, lifetime guarantee – how long’s it got to last?” he said.
Other elderly customers then came forward to 7 News with similar stories about being overcharged by the same companies, including 95-year-old dementia patient John Pace.
Mr Pace’s daughter Jane said she also found the plumbing company through Google, and was asked to pay a 10% deposit for a quote of $1,400 and told them “under no circumstances, do not engage with my mum and dad, they have dementia”.
The plumber called back and said her parent’s deck needed to be torn up to fix cracked pipes, quoting her $16,000 and offering a payment plan, but Jane got a second opinion from a plumber friend of her husband and ended up paying $550 to fix the problem.
“Mum was really distressed, Dad was absolutely so confused and really upset,” Ms Pace said, while Mr Pace described the company as “absolutely dreadful, absolutely disgusting”.
Disabled retiree Karin Lewis said she paid Fergusons almost $45,000 after calling about a toilet that was gurgling.
“They came out and allegedly put the camera down [the toilet] and then turned around and told me it wasn’t a blocked toilet,” she said.
“[They said] my sewage pipes were smashed because of a tree that was beside the driveway. I just thought, okay, I’ve got to get it done, I can’t have a blocked toilet.
“So I agreed to the over-$31,000 bill. Then they [added] another $8,500 to realign the pipes.”
“I still feel sick over it.”
On Friday Mr Alha’s barrister tried to overturn the suspension, arguing consumers were being “impacted” and saying that 3,765 of 3,830 reviews online were five stars, but a tribunal member noted there were 62 complaints, and the court will rule on the temporary suspension next week.
The suspension applies to Australian Trades Pty Ltd, Fergusons Plumbing, ANDERSONS PLUMBING AUS, BOB’S PLUMBING NSW, Dan’s Electrical AUS, Dan’s Electrical NSW, Dan’s Plumbing AUS, Dan’s Plumbing NSW, LLOYD’S PLUMBING & GAS, and Willson’s Plumbing NSW.
Header image: Left, John Rose, right, his toilet (A Current Affair).
