verified email -
19 Dec 2019
On Tuesday 17th December 2019 at about 10am i heard a vehicle came up the driveway and there was a knock on the door. A plumber came down and said he was attending a job for housing SA/Trust. I told him there might be a mistake with the address as I didn't call any plumbing companies. He then left and i closed the door. As I heard the van reversing out, I heard a crash and screeching noises. I opened the door to have a look and the same plumber had hit the left colorbond gate, his side mirror and side of the van were against the colorbond gate. I didn't go out at this stage. Just looked and he came down and he looked down and at his van and then bent the side mirror back into place and proceeded to go back into his van. At this stage i quickly came out and told him that he had damaged my property. He then went on to looked and checked on the damaged colorbond gate and said that he would call his office, write up a report and they will contact me. After this he left.
I waited but got no response so i rang his company. His van had "Integrity Plumbing SA" and there was a phone number "8251 3000". Luckily i remembered this, otherwise i would never have heard back from them. I reported what had happened. The reception said she will asked the manager to call me. I received a call not long after that and she was very nice and asked me to send pictures to her number and said she will investigate which plumber that attended and had hit onto my fence. Later on the same plumber came back and said he received a call from the office and they have asked him to return to fix the gate and the owner of the company will come back later to check. He look up and down the fence and said the top part was done by by but the bottom part was not. The thing is, the dents in the top and bottom part of the fence have the exact same distance. My other colorbond gate (right side) was in do damage condition. There was also white markings on the pole of the gate and his van is white. His van's front bumper and side of the van had scratch marks which he said was there previously. The damaged colorbond fence that he hit is also crooked. He said he will try to fix by pushing the dents back into place and refuse to acknowledge that the bottom part or any other damages was done by him. At this stage I was upset and asked him to stopped and I insisited on a proper fencing contractor be sent out to repair the damaged fence. I rang Vicky the manager and explained to her and she said she will get the owner of the company to call me. The owner of the company called me and i insisted that a fencing contractor and not the same plumber who just wanted to try to push the dent back to place. I was thinking to myself, if i had hit his car would it be fair if i said let me fix it by pushing the damage back into place. The owner then said he will come by later to have a look and discuss with me. And the plumber left.
It is now Thursday and I have heard nothing back and nobody has come. I don't know what to do about the incident above. Luckily on that day, it was my day off from work. Else my wife who is looking after our premature baby would have to deal with this or worse still we would never have known what had happened.
For a plumbing company that is is hired by a government agency to do this, this really is unacceptable! I estimate the damage can easily be replaced with a 2nd hand colorbond panel and a proper repair would maybe be $100 to $200.
Approximate cost:
$1