Hi. First off just a public service announcement for those who do not know. Metropolitan Plumbing were picked up by A Current Affairs for preying on the vulnerable and are known to pay off people to delete negative reviews.

https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/metropolitan-plumbing-a-current-affair-tracks-down-plumbing-boss/4b343d99-3c14-4a36-8fa4-53f53168636c

For our job we needed a pre bought rainwater tank installed to existing plumbing work and investigation into a smell from the bathroom. They were pushy with coming on site at a time that we were not in a good mental space (2 year old just home from hospital which they knew). On site they advised of their fix priced approach and then identified the work that would need to be done with minimal investigation. We queried a number of elements but were assured all the work was necessary so went ahead and signed the contract.

The bulk of the effort quoted was around connecting the plumbing to the street which the plumber quickly advised was not required work as it was already done by our builder. The work done was of average quality including installing a soft close toilet seat that doesn't properly connect to the toilet. Installation of a rainwater tank pump without installing a strainer which is mandatory for warranty. The plumbing connections were average (including use of gas fittings instead of plumbing) and we have been experiencing regular overflows.

As the quote was fixed price they did not offer to reduce the cost until significant effort on our part assess comparable quotes, high end hourly rates for plumbing contractors and, eventually, bring in the ombudsman. Even still the price eventually paid was more than $1,000 over the highest comparable quote received (after about a $2,000 reduction).

We didn't take any action with Metropolitan Plumbing as we have no desire to re-engage them after the way they treated us but in the wake of the above news we did query them about compensation / returning to fix the issues to which they replied "Due to the age of the job itself and it has been heavily discounted in the past, there is nothing we can do at this time". No attempts to resolve or apologise.

We have since had other plumbers attend the site and our experiences have been great.

Approximate cost: $3500