Half of plumbers believe their training should incorporate more guidance on customer services, in new research by the Water Regulation Advisory Scheme (WRAS) in collaboration with WaterSafe.
A similar number, 45%, said training lacked guidance on handling and avoiding customer complaints.
Over the last 12 months, 38% of plumbers had experienced a customer dispute about payment that resulted in a late or partial payment, or not being paid for their plumbing services.
The same number reported cash flow problems as a result of delayed or non-payments, while 23% of the plumbers surveyed had to resort to the small claims court to recover costs from a non-paying customer.
Plumbers surveyed reported that the main reasons for these disputes were customers not being able to afford the work, in 45% of cases, a fifth of customers not expecting extra costs, while one in ten believed some of the work was unnecessary.
Julie Spinks, managing director of WRAS, said: “At WRAS we work hard to protect public health and encourage water efficiency. WRAS always advises that consumers employ suitably qualified plumbers, such as WaterSafe approved. These approved plumbers have been trained in water regulations to keep water safe. Plumber training is an important topic and WRAS was keen to ask our network of plumbers about their views on training to identify any areas for improvement.
“Based on our survey findings, it is clear that many plumbers believe that they would benefit from additional training on managing customer services effectively to avoid losing out on precious income. We are encouraging all plumbers to use WaterSafe’s document with simple advice and guidance to help them avoid any customer service issues.”