Plumbing company with 'no fix no fee' guarantee defends charging customer

Ace Plumbing Ltd said they couldn't unblock the drain because it was never blocked in the first place - the issue was with a soak hole. Photo/ 123rf

A plumbing company which says "if we can't unblock it you don't pay" has had a complaint against it upheld after it couldn't fix a man's drainage problem but charged him anyway.

A disgruntled customer made the complaint against Ace Drain Unblocking Ltd to the Advertising Standards authority (ASA) after calling the company to look at a stormwater drain in May.

Ace said they were unable to fix unblock the stormwater drain but charged the customer because the drain itself was clear and the issue was with an inground soak hole.

"They said it was because the drain led to a soak away/drainage pit which must have 'silted up'. I anticipated there would be no charge but they still presented an invoice for me to pay," the customer said.

Ace responded, saying they took their guarantee seriously, but in this instance they felt the charge was fair because they had sent machinery and manpower to the person's house believing they were dealing with a blockage.

"The owner should have known about the soak hole type drainage on his property and had they told us about this situation, we would have advised differently."

As such, they felt charging the verbally agreed quote of $170 was fair.

The website advertisement for Ace is for "a team of drain unblocking specialists operating in the greater Auckland area", and the company said it was a small, owner-operated business.

Each section of the company's website contains the words: "Ace Drain Unblocking Ltd. If we can't unblock it you don't pay," which the customer wanted removed from the website.

The ASA Complaints Board considered whether the statement in the advertisement could mislead consumers without qualification or a disclaimer.

The board said it appeared the owner did not know about the soak hole but
assumed the drains were blocked and accepted the advertised promise that every aspect
of blockage was covered "or you don't pay".

Many consumers would have limited knowledge about the type of drainage on their property and it appeared in some circumstances a fee may apply if Ace could not unblock the drain, the board said.

"Without a qualifying statement or disclaimer it was not clear in the advertisement that the advertised promise related only to the clearance of pipes and did not appear to include soak holes or other similar types of drainage issues."

Therefore, the complaint was upheld.