I called New Water Plumbing because they are one of two plumbing companies that are contracted by our condominium in downtown Toronto, and they were recommended by the condo management. I called in and had two jobs that needed to be done: a plug-in dishwasher installation and replacing the rubber hoses in the washer/dryer with stainless steel braided hoses. I informed the company at the appointment time that I had no parts and would pay for the parts once they are supplied. I asked for an approximation of how long these jobs would take and was told 1.5 hours which sounded reasonable because hey, it was just installing a dishwasher and replacing two hoses right.
On the day of the job the tenants were in the apartment and the plumber was on time, but apparently did not know that he had to replace the hoses on the laundry/dryer and had no parts. I called New Water and they said it was fine, that they would source the parts nearby and I would not be charged for the extra time. Great.
In any case 3 hours later I received a message from my tenants who said that the plumber left an invoice of $458.78 for the two jobs, but the dishwasher was not fully installed because he did not have a certain electrical component. They also said that the plumber left multiple times during the job to get parts from his truck, did not realize the dishwasher was height adjustable and was about to leave at one point because "the dishwasher doesn't fit under the counter" (the wheels are height adjustable), AND in the end was somehow was unable to finish the job.
Needless to say I was shocked that these two very simple jobs would add up to such a high amount. Taking a look at the invoice, not only are the parts VERY expensive ($36 for a dishwasher hose), there were other charges that looked very fishy (G.P.S. $16.50? What in the world is a GPS charge? Are we not in the era of google maps and in any case, apparently this particular plumber has come to the condo many many times so please don't tell me that he doesn't know how to get there and is going to charge me for the GPS. That is just the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of), and you would expect that the person they send would actually know how to install a dishwasher when that's the job they were sent to do. What irks me even more is that I feel they were taking advantage of my tenants to some extent, leaving for 15-20 minutes at a time to get one part or another, not even completing the dishwasher installation, etc., which made them feel uncomfortable as I told them it should have been an easy job that took very little time (which it should have been).
Anyway, I have called New Water Plumbing and informed them that I would like to speak with them about the various charges on the invoice and for the time charged. I am still waiting on them to call me back.
