Following the installation of a new counter-top in our Powder Room we required a plumber to:-
> Install the pop up stopper
> connect the down tube of the sink to the existing drains
> Install new taps, and
> install cut-off taps in the water supply lines
Because the new sink was in a slightly different location to the old sink it was necessary to rebuild the trap portion of the existing drain.
I called three plumbing companies to get quotes, and received a very prompt call-back from the subject company. I was informed they did not give quotes over the phone, but that they could send a plumber out to provide a quote. The cost for them to attend the house would be $70.00, which I agreed to.
When the plumber arrived, he advised they work off a fixed price schedule for each of the required tasks, and the price for each would be as per their schedule, regardless of how many of the individual tasks they undertook. The prices quoted were:-
> Install mechanical pop up stopper —— $301.00
> install single drain assembly —— $301.00
> Install new taps, — — $301.00, and
> Install cut-off taps on the water supply lines —— $223.00
A total cost of in excess of $1,100.00 seemed to me totally out of proportion to the required work to be performed. However, but only because we were time constrained, since we were leaving for a few days, we had the plumber complete the first two items on the list for a total cost of $600.
I then installed the taps myself, a job which took me less than 25 minutes, for which I had been quoted $301.00. I suspect a competent plumber would have been able to complete the job in half the time it took me. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, and using 15 minutes as the time to connect, the “per hour”’ cost would have been over $1,200!!
I appreciate that when a plumber is called out to undertake a job, some part of the cost must cover the overhead and administrative costs of running the business, that is fair, as is the “call-out” fee to attend at our home, provided that cost is not also built into the unit pricing. What seems to me unreasonable is that the unit price remains constant regardless of the number of jobs being completed.
In summary, we were certainly satisfied with the quality of the work performed, at least, as best as I can judge, the politeness of the employee, Jason, and the way he cleaned up after himself. He was also very helpful in giving us a quick overview of our plumbing, and heating systems, and suggested house-holder maintenance I can perform.
I am extremely dissatisfied with the company’s pricing policy and strategies, it appears to me to prey upon the urgency with which most individuals find themselves facing when they call out a plumber. For that reason, I certainly cannot, and would not, recommend this company.
In the interest of fairness I e-mailed a copy of this report to the Company for their comments in case I had misunderstood the technician who came to the house. I received no reply to my e-mail.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $600.00
- Company Response
Thank you for this detailed report of your experience with our company. I’m sorry that it has taken so long to get back to you regarding this matter. I’m glad that your technician, Jason, was polite and cleaned up after his work and represented our company well while he was in your home. Those are things we pride ourselves on, and I’m glad that those were a good aspect to the appointment you had with us despite the unhappy outcome thus far.
You were informed by the office personnel that the call out fee was $69.95, and what was missing from that part of the appointment booking was that we work from a Straight Forward Pricing Guide. That would be the pricing schedule that you were referring to.
Now, the reason that we use a Straight Forward Pricing Guide is because we don’t want to charge our clients hourly, as a company we want to provide all the information to our clients upfront, before we start after we do a short assessment of the situation. Each home is very different and they all have different needs, so our plumbers address that by applying their knowledge and expertise to each plumbing problem. The reason we don’t charge hourly is that in case your problem or needs is more difficult due to, say a set of valves in a small cupboard, we don’t want your wallet to feel the pinch just because our plumber takes his time to provide you with the best service possible.
Obviously, this isn’t your circumstance, and in your situation as you’ve clearly stated this method of upfront pricing didn’t work for you and you felt pressured into getting the work done. That’s the last thing we want you to feel, so I encourage you to call the office directly because we have a 100% satisfaction guarantee for all of our work and we would like to discuss this for you directly.
Thank you for your review of our company, we always have room to grow, to improve and we thank you for all of your information. Everything that you’ve told us, shows us that we have things to work on and we look forward to speaking to you soon to resolve this.