Robbery ! plumber style!

[soarkrebel]

Well i bought my house one month ago. home in the country. i had to run right at 1000' of water line for city water because VA required it. yep because i was relocating from 80 miles away me and the seller split the cost of having someone put it in . i wanted to buy it and he had to sell it.
Last evening i was sitting down to spend a little time on this contraption and heard a sucking sound from my wash room. i checked it out and found no water pressure. i started checking to make sure i didnt have a problem and hoping it was a water company problem . So i rode down on my four wheeler to my meter box to find water running everywhere. i shut the water off and called the water company to advise them i had a break.
I went back to figure out what the problem was and started digging. a water company man showed up and we found that the dresser coupling had just ruptured. so i tried calling the plumber who had installed it. no answer! so what do you do at midnight on a saturday night? NO water!
I saw in the phone book a plumbing company ( i won't call the name) stated " no overtime fees" 24 hrs , 7 days a week" " reasonable rates" . i needed water with three kids and one that is two. so i called them a lady said she would have someone call me. ( remember no lowes open at the time)
So a guy calls , real nice, says he will come right out and give me an estimate.
I am at the meter digging to see what i need . the guy shows up and see's my problem. say's " your going to save money by all ready having it dug up"
So i ask the big question" how much? " Now i was willing to pay a service charge and parts. i figured around $90.00 to 100 bucks.
The guy says $258.50 cause i had it dug out all ready! i said how much if you had dug ? $325!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm stunned!!!!! i told him that was robbery without force. he said you need the work and you want it right don't you. and you'll have water in about an hour.
I told him he could go on and find another sucker cause this one can and will fix it . tommorow!!!!
I fixed the problem this morning for WHAT , HOW MUCH? $ 21.66!!!!!!!!!!!!!! got it all from my local LOWES!!!
I can understand making a living but WOW i should go into plumbing. now this was a chain plumbing company. but people actually pay this.
I had it fixed in about two hours including drive time and of course a little shopping.
How do people afford to pay these companys and have enough to live?I realize not everybody is a handyman type person. but whew digs deep into ones bank account.
anyway i will never call one of those companys again!!!!!!!!!!

 

[njrqs]

Hey their price will have to increase for the next sucker now to cover all their night-time callouts where people reject their quotes !!!

Cheers

 

[soarkrebel]

Yep , i pity the next sucker!

My wife says being a jack of all trades and a master of none has it's benefits sometimes. i have this habit of trying to fix anything. i figure if people let me tear up and fix there high dollar airplanes i can fix anything!
But those poor folks who can't even wash there car right get the shaft alot.

And i also like to going to lowes all dirty , looks like your really a handyman! and walking around talking to others trying to find what they need.

 

[dourobob]

This plumber would love to be my brother-in-law's handyman. Fortunately he has a "handyman" friend he calls whenever anything goes wrong and I mean anything. A couple of times the handyman actually had to just put the plug back in the recepticale. My brother-in-law is a great guy but has no inclination toward anything that involves tools - not even a screwdriver or a hammer (always has a cold one in the fridge for those that do however). In fact he drove a Toyota 4 runner for 15 years and took it to the dealer in the fall to have it put in 4WD and took it back in the spring to have it taken out of 4WD. As a friend of mine used to say "They didn't see him coming, they phoned for him." /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bob

 

[jasonf]

This reminds me of an incident in High School. I have always enjoyed working with my hands, and am always challenging myself with new projects. Anyway I knew 2 brothers in NYC who were Westinghouse science finalists. They were unbelievable bright and knew physics at the college level. Their parents would pay me to go over to their house because none of them could change light bulbs. Can you believe it ? I just don't know how people who don't do their own repairs/installations could afford to pay someone else to do household projects. Every time without exception I have been disappointed with either the quality of the work, or the lack of pride in what they do. /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif

 

[Turfman]

A local doctor, a brain surgeon, had a toilet tank that kept running. He tried to fix it and the darn thing just kept running. He called a plumber to come and have a look. The plumber arrived and listened for about 10 seconds. He removed the top from the tank, took a screwdriver, turned one screw a quarter turn and PRESTO, the running stopped. Total time on the job, 2 minutes. The plumber looked at the surgeon and said, “That’ll be 80 dollars.” The surgeon was stunned, he said, “Eighty dollars for 2 minutes work, that’s 2400 dollars an hour. I am a brain surgeon and even I don’t make that kind of money!!!” The plumber replied, “I didn’t either, when I was a brain surgeon.”

 

[TimSullivan]

I hope you share your experience with all the people in your community that you can. The only way these guys get the picture is when their phone stops ringing.

I had a problem with a contractor and I made sure everyone knew about it. There were plenty of others not satisfied and the message got around. I ran into this guy in Wal-Mart a few months later and he wanted to know why I was bad mouthing him. I explained why I was unhappy with him. He listened then walked away.

A week later I got a letter from his attorney telling me to stop talking about him or face a slander suit. I asked my son who is an attorney to see what he would do. He called the contractor’s lawyer and told him that all communication were to go to his law office. I never heard another word. All I wanted was for the contractor to fix his work. He had installed a sewer pump incorrectly and the line repeatedly plugged. The solution was to replace a 90 degree elbow with two 45 degree elbows. It was his not my problem, that will cost you extra attitude that got to me. It took me 30 minutes to make the repair.

I don’t know what it is in most of my building projects there is usually a problem with the plumber. I now have a wonderful young man who has just started out. He is twenty-two and actually asks questions to make sure he understands exactly what you want. He is very busy in our area is making money the honest way.