Sams Local Plumbing

Do not use this Company, charged a $53.90 fee to quote on a job they say will cost $8000.00, job completed by another Company for $2,500.00, they sent a 92 year old pensioner a reminder to pay the $53.90 Now they have sent another reminder advising its going to a Debit Collector, surely with the prices they charge they could absorb the $53.90 .. Do these people have any MORALS at all, how dare they!! how many other aged pensioners have they ripped off

Predatory Pricing - should be investigated by Plumbing Industry Association

In short, Sam’s Local Plumbing (Sam’s LP) charged a $108.90 call out fee and had the gall to look me in the eye and quote a staggering $1,850 (including GST) to rectify a leaking pipe (see below), which after I rejected Sam’s LP quote, another plumber subsequently quoted and fixed for $400 (inc GST).

At 4.5 times higher Sam LP’s quote was both predatory and their conduct therefore unconscionable. In hindsight I think when you are subject to a callout fee, how could any reasonable person (or Industry Association) even call this a quote? And on that basis is the callout fee, even legally enforceable? I’m not a lawyer, but I reckon the verbal contract when I booked Sam’s LP’s attendance was that I agreed to pay a call out fee and that Sam’s LP agreed to provide something in return i.e. a service or a quote. The quote provided was so far beyond the pale I contend a reasonable man would not even deem it a quote, rather it was a predatory fishing expedition and a complete waste of my time and money.

Clearly I am not alone, judging by the high number of similar predatory quotes and poor workmanship documented in all the 1 star “Product Reviews” and “Google Reviews”. This type of behaviour erodes client trust and hurts the plumbing industry, and the vast majority of its hardworking members.

Note you will see from the reviews of Sam’s LP that virtually all of them are either 1 star or 5 stars. Statistically the absence of 2, 3 or 4 star reviews is unusual. Other reviewers have commented that the 5 star reviews appear to be fabricated, and the glowing praise but generic tone of the 5 star reviews just does not jell with the level of detail, cost escalations, hurt and anger described by those who are perhaps Sam’s LP’s only ‘real’ customers those who have penned the 1 star reviews. At the time of writing, there was a total of 238 reviews across the 2 rating platforms, of which there were a total of only FIVE ratings that were either 2,3 or 4 stars, this is not statistically plausible, possible yes, but very very unlikely, especially given the divergence of view from the remaining 233 reviewers. With 82 clients rating them 1 star and the remaining 151 rating them 5 star. The other twist, is that the average rating in Google Reviews (from 169 reviews) is 4.3 stars, whilst Product Reviews (from 69 reviews) has them at 1.8 stars.

Detail on my water pipe leak:

Leaking Hot Water Pipe to bathroom Vanity sink (refer pics) - Before calling Sam's LP, I identified location of leak, behind back wall of cabinet and therefore not directly accessible. However I could see there would be relatively simple bypass options of drilling through floor of cabinet to connect with the feeder supply pipe that I had located below floor level and that I had also enabled good access to after small excavation (refer pics). I then requested Sam's LP attend, suggest remedy, and quote.

Sam’s LP agreed with both my diagnosis of where the leak was located and my suggested bypass options to re-plumb and connect approximately 0.8m of copper pipe. So given Sam’s LP were prepared to quote such an excessive price to a person who had a handle on both where the leak was located and a viable solution, speaks to the level of greed and profiteering by this player.

Anyway, left with a torched $108.90 call out fee and a still leaking pipe, thankfully I thought of another interim solution..... “Please cut that copper supply pipe, above ground level but below the level of the leak and Cap it”. For which I had the pleasure of paying another $108.90 for less than 10 minutes work.
If I had my time again, I would NOT have paid the call out fee, and would have defended any subsequent action by Sam’s LP to claim it.

You live and learn, I write this only to help others, good luck to all. Oh and please don’t be shy or embarrassed documenting your own experience with SAM’s LP especially on Google Reviews to help warn others.

Note - callout was during normal business hours, subsequently shuffled 4 times by Sam’s LP before they finally attended, and the leak intensity was ‘dribbling’, i.e. not a burst gushing pipe. The pictures are after the fix.

I can not understand how these people sleep at night when they are out there ripping people off. I called and ask them to come give me a quote for new guttering and down pipes on my 3 b/r home (not a mansion). I was quoted $20,000.00 and when he told me I told him he was crazy, he then got really defensive trying to justify the price. I have since booked this job with another company for $5,400.00 !!!
Do not hire these rip off merchants !!

Had one of their plumbers out to replace a 250 Ltr hot water tank. Quoted $3,700!! Because it was a Sunday I expected some penalty charge but was told they don’t charge one. Also said they have to say they are not allowed to tell you the price of the actual unit, but “they need to make some money out of it”. Disgraceful. Got a legitimate plumber to do the job professionally the next day for $1,500.

I had someone come to unblock a drain but the day after the problem re-appeared. Called back twice but got the run around from reception staff, one of who reminded me that there was no guarantee the job would be successful. Asked to speak with a manager who told me it would be a 'bad business model' to come and check on work they had done and suggested it was the problem of our drains. When I tried to insist that he have someone check and whether we'd be charged, he said only if it was under warranty and hung up on me!!! Very unprofessional A plumber friend took pity on us and came and re-did the job a couple of weeks ago and we've had no problems since. Sam's is a total rip-off - they're fine if everything goes their way (had used them twice before - was hoping my loyalty would be rewarded by at least descent service) but if it looks like they'll be put out, they'll happily leave you high and dry. Don't trust them.

My elderly friend was quoted for installation of new cold water pipes at a cost of over $10,000 and for installation of a gas hot water service and gas renewal at over$10,000. Both invoices the prices were almost identical, they also didn't state the work to be carried out or the date. The work was completed this week. My companion paid the deposit at the beginning of the work $7,500. Near completion of the work I found out the reasonable cost for this type of work by three honest plumbers after I had become curious about the cost of installation and the new system I checked on Google. At the completion of the work, the plumber asked for the remaining balance. If I wasn't there I'm sure my companion would have lost over $10,000. The young plumbers are not the criminals, it's the one's that originally come out. Stay clear of Sam's Plumbing, do not let them on your property. My companion only paid the deposit which is what we were told is probably the actual total cost.

Sam's local plumbing Melbourne. Came out to replace gravity fed hot water system with new Reece system. The plumber who quoted and secured the job was different (and, evidently, much smoother) to the plumber who ended up fitting the unit upon the second visit. Second plumber was a lovely young man but admitted he'd never done it before (!) after water came through the bathroom ceiling...spent a lot of time on the phone asking questions. We were assured afterward all was ok (everyone needs to learn, as long as there aren't any ongoing issues). Began using system and it ran out of hot water after 2 showers...long story shorter, afte Sam's plumbing failed to respond, Reece came out and replaced the unit under warranty, saying it hadn't been installed correctly (had been turned on before it was filled and the element had fried). Rang Sam' local plumbing asking to speak to a manager to let them know what had happened, got put on hold then hung up on. Three times. I'm not one to post a bad review but I was really shocked about their behaviour. We were always polite, very understanding and treated like rubbish once we paid the bill (on time). Have found out since we were also ripped off at least $300. Disgusting.

Recently had a plumber from Sam's Local Plumbing come to clear our shower drain. He was on time, very friendly and had the drain cleared up much quicker than I expected. Thanks for the great service!

I was really impressed with the service from Sam's Local Plumbing. A very friendly and professional team who went out of their way to help me in my situation. Had a hot water system malfunction and they came to the rescue the same day which I really appreciated.

While I could not fault the plumber on his professionalism, I can not say the same for the office who booked the job in. While I can appreciate that the timing was not great on my part (between Christmas and New Years), I was very clear in my request to seek their availability and whether it fell within the ballpark of my budget. I was very clear in that if they were not available or their fees were too high, this was no issue and I would keep calling. I was provided a time and told of the cost for similar jobs.

The original booking time was not able to be kept as earlier jobs ran over with the plumber rescheduling to the weekend. Ordinarily this wouldn't have been an issue however due to the timing it meant that I had no recourse to find an alternative plumber when the quote came in over double what I had expected and had previously discussed with the office.

I was deeply disappointed by this and to make matters worse, when the invoice came through for the 'call out fee' it appears the fee quote over the phone was GST exclusive.

I contacted the office regarding my concerns for the service and requested a refund, though apart from a phone call advising they would look into it and get back to me and a request to pay the residual left on the bill I have received no further advice.

Phoned Harry at 1 pm and he reached my place. Very pleased with the result. The plumber explained the situation of my blocked sewer drain through CCTV camera footage and photos. The situation occurred due to tree roots and sanitary products dumped in the toilet. He cleaned the sewer drain by taking away the sanitary products and cutting the tree roots. It was a heavy job so he called two other people to help him. I am very impressed with the level of communication, service and overall manners of guys who came. Thank you!

I had Sam's plumbing come out to fix a blocked drain $770 dollars later the problem was still not fixed
He then said is was going to cost $5500 to fix the problem because he had to dig out the main water line.
I then contacted another plumber and he fixed the problem with ease for around $200.

I was pleasantly surprised by the service from Sam's Local Plumbing when our oven stopped working and I tried the usual tricks to get it started again. when I called them, they said they could have a plumber out to me the same day. The plumber turned up on time, was polite and went through all the parts of my oven to find the problem. He spent about 15 minutes inspecting it before he found there was a damaged part which needed replacing. As it was late in the afternoon, he went and got the part and came back first thing the next morning and replaced it for me. The oven works just as new and I was happy with the reasonable price and they were flexible in me paying the invoice in parts rather than the whole thing in one go.

Sam's Local Plumbing repaired our leaking taps in our house recently. They were on time, professional and very friendly too. I will e happy to call them for other plumbing problems in the future.

I was worried about our roofing and gutters as they were always blocking up and we had begun to notice leaks through the roof on days with heavy rain. Sam's Local Plumbing were very professional in their whole approach with us, they arrived on time, gave us a few options on how they could repair the problem and then finally had the job all done and cleaned up very quickly. We have used other plumbers in the past, but we were very impressed with Sam's Local Plumbing's service, and will be using them again if anything goes wrong with our plumbing again.

I called Sam's Local Plumbing when our hot water unit started playing up and would only produce lukewarm water. The whole team was very friendly and polite, even when I had to call to change the time of the appointment at late notice. The plumbers who repaired our hot water system were professionals and were able to have it working again very quickly. I was very happy with the service we received from Sam's Local Plumbing.

I called Sam's Local Plumbing to request a quote for a leaky tap. I was told that they could not give me a quote over the phone, as the plumber would need to come out to do an 'assessment' of the tap first. The cost of the quote was $50 which would be incorporated into the final price if I decided to go ahead with the service.
I agreed.

The 'assessment' took one second, no less- the plumber looked at the tap from afar and quoted me $500 ! I told him that was outrageous as the tap was relatively new and wouldn't take him even 0.5hr to repair. I declined the service though he insisted on his $50 for the quote- I gave it to him just to get rid of him.

Even though I obtained a receipt for my payment, I now also receive regular emails/letters asking me to pay the $50, just so that they can get more money for work which they never did. Their tactics should be illegal .
My Advice: Don't believe the positive reviews and if you value your back pocket, and most of all, your sanity, steer well clear.

First they cancelled on me after requesting a 7am visit, refused to give quote over the phone, clearly didn’t know about the gas heater as they claimed and then wanted to charge $500 to service it (double the standard) plus a $100 call out fee which was not included in their price. Absolute disgrace. I did not hire them nor will I ever.

Charged around $600 to clear a pipe and said another $500 to use the optic fibre to find the blockage. Call out fee $50 and a discount of $50 what a joke, they quoted $100 less not stating the GST. The guy was asking a lot of personal questions and we long we lived here. He was also trying to scare my Mum. He was in a hurry just to get to the next job. Overpriced and the pipe still leaks. They were very quick to respond to discounts but not to coming back and fixing the leak for free as we were already charged for it. He talked rubbish to my frail old Mum but not to me. They are not Local they from Coburg and I'm on the other side of the city that's why they are in a hurry. He was like a used car salesperson even saying you should sell the house if you can't afford it.

Had a 10-12pm spot me to window on day one, to have them call after 1pm to say the gas plumber was running late, rebooked for the following day, (9am-11am), with no issues, at 09:30pm the night before they ring and ask if they could change it to 7am, no issues
Plumber was on site about 7:05, no complaints, presented himself polite and professional.
No issues with the worker at all,
But the quotes were through the roof....
$550 for gas cooktop installation, when the other 3 quotes were ranging from $180-$260 inc certificate....
Gas heater service was around $350 witch was also the most expensive quote, but only buy $40 so closer to the rest of the playing field....

Only reason I hadn’t gone with the other plumbers was the wait time....

Lastly, I asked when chatting the the girl at Sams, what’s the cost of the quote/obligation free etc, and was told it’s $49 to quote the heater as they have to test the gas pressure and check for leaks, but that’s what they charge for that service...
As this wasn’t done when quoting the jobs I didn’t feel it was right to be asked to pay a $49 fee for quoting a job.....
...so I didn’t pay it... at no stage did she say it’s a $49 quote fee that comes off the works carried out.
Disappointed...
Only reason I rated customer service 3/5 is how the plumber represented himself, or it would have been lower