My toilet decided to start leaking into the crawl space this spring. I don't do waste water plumbing so I decided to hire it out. In my town there's 2 plumber options... the cheap guy who isn't great and charges by the hour. And the expensive company from a few towns over that charges by the job and guarantees their work for 30 days...
Well, I tried the cheap guy a month ago to fix my leaky toilet. He swapped in a new wax ring and called it a day. 1 hour of labor @ $100. It only slowed the leak and it was dripping again in the crawl space a week later.
So I called the expensive company who always tends to do it right and got on the waiting list... I mentioned my toilet was leaking, another guy replaced the wax ring, aand it still leaks. 3 weeks later is today. Roughly 8:30 in the morning.
They sent the new kid who looks to still be in highschool (I don't inherently have a problem with that... but it is important to the story, just wait.). He quotes me $100 service fee, $100 diagnostic fee, and $300ish repair just for the wax ring ($500 totalish). He tried to up sell me on a new toilet (not a bad idea, but I'm picky and want to choose my own toilet). It was higher than I expected but I reminded myself that I called them because the last guy didn't do a good enough job.
So it turns out that their inventory manager is bad at his job and didn't stock the kids truck with wax rings (yes, it's a plumbing service van, he's a plumber, on a job to fix a toilet). He had to wait until another truck of theirs could deliver the wax ring to him. So after he pulled the toilet and was still waiting I asked him about servicing my electric water heater while he was waiting. It'd been between 6-25 years since it had been serviced (previously my home was a seasonal cabin so it wouldn't have been turned on for more than a few weekends per year and drained every winter). He quoted it on his iPad and charged another $150 which I was happy to pay and he completed it before the other truck arrived with the parts he needed.
The wax ring arrives, the toilet still leaks, he does it again, and it leaks, and then he tried a different method, and it leaked. Turns out the flange is cracked and had actually been repaired once before (before I owned the place). So the scope of the work changed and so did the price, which I understand and tell him to write me up an updated quote. He goes on his iPad and asks me to okay another $100ish. I say fine and leave him be. I pop my head in 30 minutes later to see how it's going and new closet flange in hand he tells me that he quoted me the wrong price and he's working with his manager to update the price.... It's 1:00 by now, 6 hours on the job. By 1:30 he has the updated price: $950. Not $950 total, $950 on top of the $500 ($1450 out the door on the toilet + $150 for the water heater).
I asked to speak to the manager who gave him that price and get him on the phone. After an awkward introduction he explains to me that he needs to charge for the hour it took for the kid to drive to work, for the 6 hours he's been here, for his time, for gas/van/etc, and the additional time he'll be here.. He offered to take off $400. I told him I paid a diagnostic fee of $100 to diagnose the problem and if they didn't do a good enough job on that I shouldn't have to pay it again. And we already agreed on the price for the wax ring so if it took him longer than expected it was price by the job and not the hour. I asked him how long the new flange should take and he said 1-1/2 hours. I told him previously I've paid around $100/hour when I've had them out in the past, $950 for this job is over $600/hour and he could forget it and put the toilet back how it was before they got here and I wouldn't pay for anything (aside from the water heater service) because they didn't complete what we agreed upon. He changes his tone when he realizes that I'm serious and we settle on $850 for the toilet out the door ($1000 total for the day). This was 2:15.
Another 3 hours later, a trip to the hardware store for more wax seals, and the job is finished, I glance at the finished work, and I paid the agreed upon price. He walked out and I went to go use the toilet and it's wobbly! I tried chasing him down the driveway but he didn't see me.
How much of a jerk am I for calling the hotline and asking if they can have him turn around?
Well, I tried the cheap guy a month ago to fix my leaky toilet. He swapped in a new wax ring and called it a day. 1 hour of labor @ $100. It only slowed the leak and it was dripping again in the crawl space a week later.
So I called the expensive company who always tends to do it right and got on the waiting list... I mentioned my toilet was leaking, another guy replaced the wax ring, aand it still leaks. 3 weeks later is today. Roughly 8:30 in the morning.
They sent the new kid who looks to still be in highschool (I don't inherently have a problem with that... but it is important to the story, just wait.). He quotes me $100 service fee, $100 diagnostic fee, and $300ish repair just for the wax ring ($500 totalish). He tried to up sell me on a new toilet (not a bad idea, but I'm picky and want to choose my own toilet). It was higher than I expected but I reminded myself that I called them because the last guy didn't do a good enough job.
So it turns out that their inventory manager is bad at his job and didn't stock the kids truck with wax rings (yes, it's a plumbing service van, he's a plumber, on a job to fix a toilet). He had to wait until another truck of theirs could deliver the wax ring to him. So after he pulled the toilet and was still waiting I asked him about servicing my electric water heater while he was waiting. It'd been between 6-25 years since it had been serviced (previously my home was a seasonal cabin so it wouldn't have been turned on for more than a few weekends per year and drained every winter). He quoted it on his iPad and charged another $150 which I was happy to pay and he completed it before the other truck arrived with the parts he needed.
The wax ring arrives, the toilet still leaks, he does it again, and it leaks, and then he tried a different method, and it leaked. Turns out the flange is cracked and had actually been repaired once before (before I owned the place). So the scope of the work changed and so did the price, which I understand and tell him to write me up an updated quote. He goes on his iPad and asks me to okay another $100ish. I say fine and leave him be. I pop my head in 30 minutes later to see how it's going and new closet flange in hand he tells me that he quoted me the wrong price and he's working with his manager to update the price.... It's 1:00 by now, 6 hours on the job. By 1:30 he has the updated price: $950. Not $950 total, $950 on top of the $500 ($1450 out the door on the toilet + $150 for the water heater).
I asked to speak to the manager who gave him that price and get him on the phone. After an awkward introduction he explains to me that he needs to charge for the hour it took for the kid to drive to work, for the 6 hours he's been here, for his time, for gas/van/etc, and the additional time he'll be here.. He offered to take off $400. I told him I paid a diagnostic fee of $100 to diagnose the problem and if they didn't do a good enough job on that I shouldn't have to pay it again. And we already agreed on the price for the wax ring so if it took him longer than expected it was price by the job and not the hour. I asked him how long the new flange should take and he said 1-1/2 hours. I told him previously I've paid around $100/hour when I've had them out in the past, $950 for this job is over $600/hour and he could forget it and put the toilet back how it was before they got here and I wouldn't pay for anything (aside from the water heater service) because they didn't complete what we agreed upon. He changes his tone when he realizes that I'm serious and we settle on $850 for the toilet out the door ($1000 total for the day). This was 2:15.
Another 3 hours later, a trip to the hardware store for more wax seals, and the job is finished, I glance at the finished work, and I paid the agreed upon price. He walked out and I went to go use the toilet and it's wobbly! I tried chasing him down the driveway but he didn't see me.
How much of a jerk am I for calling the hotline and asking if they can have him turn around?
