Sam's Local Plumbing

Rip your money don’t ever give work to Josh or any of his cult – This people just take your money. I had water leak and asked them to go and investigate as its my rental property. They went charged me for an onsite visit but came back saying they couldn’t find any fault. But recommended me to seal the roof valley with some material that cost me another $2000. After this job is done, I was so happy that it would… Read more

never leak again. Unfortunately it was summer so no rain was to check except some slight drizzles. 2 days ago, it started heavy rain and the roof was leaking from the same spot. Asked them to go and look as their job is not good. I was told they would charge 150 + gst to visit. I wanted to have a second opinion as I at this stage was unhappy and in doubt of their service quality. The roof plumber went and told there are cracked tiles all over the work they’ve done. I have to spend another 350 for the plumber to seal the broken tiles until I find replacement tiles. Never ever use them again to do your work unless you are happy to pay your heard earned money to rip offs like Josh and sams plumbing for them to float and scam people more.

Do NOT use Sam’s Local Plumbing Group! – After 3 unsuccessful attempts to fix a roof leak I had to engage another tradesman to undo their unsightly work. He also fixed the leak for under a third of the cost charged by Sams. I then started a case with ACAT to obtain a full refund. After an ACAT hearing where all evidence is presented I was awarded a full refund plus interest. My advice is never to deal with Sam’s Local Plumbing who are a part of Your Local Plumbing Group!

A job done well – Sam's Local Plumbing aren't cheap, but they were helpful, prompt, and did a good job in repairing a Dutch gable that had a few issues. The main worker in the team of 2 who came out was quite a friendly and personable bloke. They put care into their work, and completed more than specified in the quote. They also thoroughly cleaned up afterwards. I was pleasantly surprised and appreciate what they did. Show details

Hardworking Plumbers! – 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… Read more

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!

Hot Water System Service – 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.

Disgusting customer service by call centre staff and plumber - They take your money and dont show up – Plumber never came to my house for a quote just did it via email but i was charge and after hours call out of $99.00 for no reason. Was booked in for 7.30am 10/06/2022 after paying half of the total bill and its now 6.50pm and no plumber has shown up. The customer service team is absolutely terrible i requested call backs and update on when the… Read more

plumber is coming and they still are yet to update me and call me back after 8 time speaking with them. PLEASE DONT NOT USE THIS SERVICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have put 1 star but they don't even deserve that.

Now they are spamming me – Since paying them off to leave my mother-in-laws house after bad workmanship and a faulty installation they have been sending me spam text messages and links. They just wont go away.

Faucet repair – I will give them a zero if possible. Don’t use them they are scammers. The plumber did not complete the job, was rude, irresponsible and left the job in the middle and promised to come back to finish. He did not complete the job even though he had the keys to our apartment for 2 days. I kept calling him on Monday , ignored calls despite we had… Read more

no water sac he had closed mains for 2 days then blackmailed that he can do the job if he was paid after hour charges. Our property manager intervened and got another plumber who fixed the faucet for $250. Sam plumbing was saying that I will have to get all connections changed in my kitchen to fix a faucet in my bathroom. They scam you. If you are not a technical expert they will use this to their advantage.

Poor workmanship, unethical and unprofessional. Very disappointed and terrified with the whole experience. Avoid them at all costs.

Service: Faucet repair

Massive Overcharge For 15 Minutes Actual Work To Disconnect An Old Heater – I booked them for b/w 10-12am, was advised of a $49 assessment fee that would be taken of the bill depending on what was required. They cancelled at 8-9am, then hubby received a phone call at 9.30am to advise they would be there in 15 minutes. Being 20 minutes away I raced to the property to find the plumber already disconnecting the gas line. … Read more

Apparently he had already harassed my plasterer for a cheap quote to line his mate's garage, then done the job he was supposed to quote before doing any work, then sat in his car whinging about his company, then charged us $278 for a 15 minute job. The assessment fee was included in the price. Emailed the business questioning this the day after (as I had to EFTPOS on the spot) and they have not even bothered responding. DO NOT use this company.

Shams Plumbing Beware !!! – Contacted these guys online about a blocked sewer and after providing a lot of detail arranged for them to attend. Noticed negative reviews on product review after booking - should have followed my gut and cancelled. They arrived on time and after that it went downhill. They plumber mentioned something about we normally charge $750 for this job… Read more

but I can do it for $550 when I said I had previously paid half this price he said if you can find a plumber for for that price good luck. Told him I was not prepared to pay this and cancelled paying a service fee $88 - don't no why - for his 10 minutes. Organised another plumber the next day great service with Drain Easy $330 for sewer clean and camera inspection.

Dont even bother – We had a 10 years old tap which came off and asked sam's to replace it less than a year ago. We were quoted $600 and was given recommendation to fix the hot water $400 even though we had no issue. Due to our limited knowledge we took up the recommendation and on the invoice we were given a voucher for $0 call out fee for future booking Its been… Read more

less than a year and the new tap is about to come off again. I called up Sam again to have it repaired and was told to pay an upfront fee to have it reassess and it will be up to the technician to decide whether its under warranty. I have spoken on the phone with 3 separate customer service officers and none of them was prepared to honour the voucher

To have paid $1000 for a poor workmanship and asked for more money upfront to have it repaired is unacceptable and very unprofessional to not honour the voucher when its clearly written on the original invoice

Very disappointed with the whole experience

Beware – Called them to check out our Hot Water System (HWS) and they advised that the system should be replaced and quoted $3,575, we asked about the element/thermostat and they quoted $990 to replace them. The plumber turned up in an unbranded vehicle with interstate registration ! We advised them we were going to get another quote as their quote seemed… Read more

excessive! They reminded us of their call out fee $53.90 and when the Invoice arrived it had all the actions listed that they would take if payment was not made ... very suspect. We had a reputable plumber come and complete the work, replaced the Thermostat for $209. they also quoted their cost for replacing the system at $1,785 (GST INCL) had we gone down that path. Beware there are better options then Sams Local Plumbing

If I could give them a zero I would – Worst experience with tradies ever. Charged in excess of $5k to fix our roof, took the sheet off didn’t even tarp it, got called to an emergency gas repair and didn’t come back. It rained that night and caused huge damage. Came back after me having to hassle them to finish job later in week. We spent all this money on new sheeting but they didn’t… Read more

add new flashing where it turned out leak is coming from so they didn’t fix the leak. They argued it was a “different leak”. My husband eventually fixed with silicon after we’d spent thousands on this company. They also put foot through plaster when walking through internal cavity as didn’t climb on joists. Totally hack job. I’d never use this company it was traumatic.

Bad service, untranslatable company – I booked the roofer on Saturday morning to repair couple of tiles for Monday afternoon, because they couldn't provide anything earlier. Monday morning, when my wife took day off they called and said that plumber will not come today, so they will reschedule job for Tuesday morning from 8 to 10 am. I had to take day off. 7.30 I've got a call from… Read more

plumber that he will be at 10. At 11 no one came. I called them every hour, they tried to find job in system and hung up the phone. Only at 5 pm someone answer and told me that they decided not to take this job. Probably because it is small job and they cant steal money on this.

No accountability and unethical – We used Sam's to put in stormwater system in our property. After a complex and drawn out experience that cost $20k during which they dug pits with an electrical pump on our property that already had a decline, we thought the job was finished. Less than 6 months later we discovered the pump wasn't working and therefore our pits and pipes were full… Read more

of water and front yard flooding. At first phone call to Sam's before we'd finished describing the situation they interrupted us to say we have a warranty issue. We had to call them twice to come and look at the pump, at which time they blamed us saying there was 'silt' in the pit. A put they installed with a large grill that allowed in soil and leaves. They then told us to speak to the manufacturer and the supplier of the pump, at which time we realised they hadn't given us the paper work for the pump (when pump was originally installed, our bad for not asking for it). the supplier advised they had no record of the pump being purchased by Sam's from them. The manufacturer said we need to go through Sam's and supplier to have them come out to look at the pump. We now have had to bring in a new plumber to correct the mess Sam's have made. It will cost us thousands.

AVOID! SCAM artists - don't believe the fake 5 star reviews – A family member, who is over 80 years old, saw their large, full colour ad in the Yellow Pages that said "reliable, local". For a significant leaking pipe repair, they quoted $8000 and demanded that over $5000 be paid up front. Smelling a rat (ie., reading all of the scam reviews online) we cancelled the job and asked for a refund. They refused… Read more

to talk by phone and only wanted to communicate by email.

They refused to refund the money, so we have commenced a charge back request with the credit card issuer.

Sam's isn't local. It is seemingly based in Canberra and subcontractors, but adds a hefty admin fee on top.

We used a reputable plumber who charged $4000.

Do an ABN search for "Sam's Local Plumbing" and you'll see they have 13 other business names using the same ABN. Search for "Sam's Local Plumbing" or "Local Plumbing Group" and read about $130,000 fines the ACT government imposed on them.

Don't take it from me, see this link on the ACT Government's website for full details of their misleading conduct: https://www.cmtedd.act.gov.au/open_government/inform/act_government_media_releases/access-canberra/2019/court-fines-canberra-plumbing-company-and-its-director-$130,000

All 5 star reviews are bogus reviews. They must spend a lot of effort creating fake accounts to post false reviews (and note that all the 5 star reviewers have only ever submitted one review ever).

AVOID!

Unprofessional plumbers to avoid – Unfinished Connected two ends of a disused pipe Disconnected actual sewer pipe so sewerage ran into soil Connected storm water into sewer drain pipe Did not return to finish A year later want more money

Incompetent – I rang Sam's Local Plumbing for a quote that was needed for my gas heater. I wanted the carbon monoxide to be checked. The plumber came on the 25 May. He had no idea of the tasks that needed to be undertaken. He had no equipment to test for carbon monoxide leaks. He asked for a deposit of $150 to confirm booking June 3. On the morning of June… Read more

3, they rang to say it's been cancelled. They said he could come the following morning which I reluctantly agreed.

The next day, he came and had no work information regarding the tasks that needed to be carried out. I told him if this cannot be carried out today, I will go elsewhere. He said, give him half an hour to sort it out.

After two hours of waiting, I rang them to cancel it.They asked me to email it. I requested my money back and they refused, as they already sent two plumbers.

They are very incompetent and I will not use them ever again!

Do not TRUST Sam’s Local Plumbing ( Sams Local Plumbing ).…They are not professional – I contacted Sam’s Local Plumbing ( Sams Local Plumbing ) through Hipages. I asked for a ‘’Thermography’’ and ‘’Sewerage Camera’’ check by a specialist. On Monday two staff came to our property ,from Sam’s Local Plumbing. The plumber told us that the Thermography is just for hot water... Then, he explained that we do not need it and that further… Read more

their equipment is not suitable for it and it is better to check the Sewerage and Storm water pipes. He convinced us that the water damage in basement floor is due to sewerage pipe and a part of the sewerage and also Storm water pipes need to be relined. Then he went to his car and created two jobs and quotations TOTAL $6,281.00 (INCL GST) and gave us discount for job number xxx ($198). After all, Plumbing contractor from another company attended to our house on Tuesday late afternoon and first asked for money to start the job!! We informed him that we have already paid more than $3000 and not paying more until work starts. Instead of working, he just wasted our time asking to get more money and creating new job for himself!!. He said that I do not have money to buy material! We told him to get money from Sam’s Local Plumbing to buy material and start the job. We told him that he can start with relining of the Storm Water Pipe on other side of the home and then sewerage as per Sam’s Local Plumbing’s quotation and proposal. It seemed to us that he did not know what to do and Sam’s Local Plumbing did not gave him any information!! We saw that Sam Local plumbing showed us some part of the pipe and their Contractor relined another part of the pipe!! Their contractor was in rush to go from one site to the other and not spending time to do the job ,the contractor was relining very traditionally, just one meter ready cut , we found out that could not trust them anymore to reline the Sewerage Pipe. We decided to stop the work, before they destroy the sewerage by neglect and lack of knowledge. NOW they claim the rest of the money instead of refunding our deposit!!...They did a wrong job and won’t accept! We involve another plumber to check the sewerage pipe with camera and he said ‘’ there is not any problem with the pipe’’.

Do not TRUST Sam’s Local Plumbing ( Sams Local Plumbing ).…They are not professional

Ripoff – We had Sam's Local Plumbing come to our property to quote to replace a broken hot water tank. They charged me a call out fee of $79 and they quoted the works at $4400. I got another company who quoted the exact same work for half the price! If you end up not using their service, they get paid their call out fee anyway. Either way you lose!! AVOID at all cost!!

Don't use! – Second time I have used Sam's Plumbing but won't again. The first was over the Christmas break so I cut them some slack. Both times I thought I had a small problem which became massively expensive, this time $11,500 for a call out for a blocked basin in the bathroom which turned into repacing the sewer line. My difficulty is they only use… Read more

contracors so a different person each time and each plumber comes in blind. No message when they don't come. I call the company to find out a time line who say they will call the plumber who will return my call. I have had a 1 metre trench across my back yard for 4 weeks which I have been trying to get them to backfill, maybe tomorrow if I am lucky but won't hold my breath. I have spoken to the office 8 times about this hole so far and received 2 calls back, one was for last week when they didn't arrive and second was today to arrange for work tomorrow. Their initial diagnosis of a blocked sewer, and consequent hole in my yard, did not fix the initial call out of a blocked basin in the bathroom. That blockage was due to be fixed this morning, no one arrived so it will be at least another 6 days. The individual plumbers seem ok but I am at the point I don't trust the cost of the quote either. This is my first ever bad review about anything.

DO NOT USE, DO NOT CALL, DO NOT!! – They pressured my elderly (non-english speaking) mother-in-law into unnecessary services. She wanted a simple toilet leak and heater service done and got fearful tactics applied about the water heater needing replacement - an overpriced install done, not mounted properly and pressure valves damaged and then would not repair when asked. They… Read more

(eventually) sent a (paid for) compliance certificate without inspection. The heater service had then mysteriously discovered a gas leak and the gas was turned off, before I could call them back they had got a cash deposit from her for another overpriced repair. Never did the heater service that was paid for and then got out the loan-shark terms and conditions out for the late payment fees (during our dispute), for an old lady who can't read. The range of plumbers to oversell their bad business instead caused damage to her house, failed to adhere to the VBA standards and licensing requirements and are (in many people's opinions) theives. Stay well clear.

Stay Away From This Company! Scammers! – Just want upright gas cooker installed for $560.00, demand $200.00 deposit. We are then conned to believe there is a severe gas leak and new gas line must be done $6000.00. No smell or any sign of gas leak, gas bill very low. Then forced us to relocate hot water system installed 11 yrs ago for $600.00 as they will not reconnect if not done so.… Read more

Cost of materials less than $1000.00. Charged $ 7,568.90 in total and what do we get? A stove not properly installed, unsightly hot water pipes connection, 12 meters of gas line not properly done, big holes on the brick wall filled with silicon, damaged walls kitchen and lounge room and damaged heater. Total rip off. Shame on them!

Feels like i have got scammed – Ive paid your invoice out of pity for your unprofessional service. It feels like a scam to me. Your plumber did nothing to try to fix the problem. He didnt even try....just gave a quote for a ridiculous unnecessary roof restoration. Thank god the next plumber i called fixed the leak immediately and i was happy to pay him in full on the spot. I… Read more

hope that the least i have done here is drawn attention to you that you have pretty hopeless plumbers working for you.

Fraudsters - Please Avoid – These tradies are currently holding a $1200 deposit from my elderly parents and have refused to return it despite not completing any work. Avoid at all cost particularly if vulnerable or elderly. Lowest of the low.

Untrustworthy – It’s taken me a while to write this but feel I want to say something. There was a sudden roof leak in our study and, as no one else was available before Xmas, engaged with Sams for a quote. While the bloke I spoke to was very affable, I was quoted $5k for roof repair, with a recommendation that another section of the roof was going & that this… Read more

also be included in this quote. Around $2700 was quoted for inside repairs. My partner hit the roof at the quote, found all the bad reviews on this website & we decided not to pursue. End result: husband went up the roof & found ONE tile with a hole. Replaced it and all is well, despite further deluges.

DON’T ENGAGE - RIP OFF!! – After being told the job would start two days after substantial deposit made, it took two months to do a small section of work (unsatisfactorily) and never came back to fix or do anymore work! Never returns calls! Also, be advised, Sams don’t do the work but instead subcontracts. I regret not researching first before engaging this shonky firm.

Stay Away Zero customer service – Booked in for Hearter Service paid $180 deposit, no one showed due to emergency, postponed to another day, then postponed again, 3rd time booked in, postponed again, 4th time booked in postponed again. not sure how to get my money back. will go to VCAT.

What a ripoff – No complaints about the work but the bill was a complete ripoff. The simple job (replace pressure relief valve on HWS) took less than 15 minutes but was billed $180 for labour, $165 for "testing and commission", and $95 for "documentation". The part was charged at $120 but is a lot cheaper elsewhere. My advice: Avoid this mob!