Was I taken for a ride?

[singingintherain]

I live in a house that has very old piping. The bathroom has no hot water shut-off upstairs.

I needed a new single tap hot water faucet, so purchased one from a hardware store and called a plumbing company to come out and install it since I had no idea how to do so. It was replaced years ago and I was able to find the matching faucet.

Well, the plumber came, charged me to drain the system and install the faucet with no glitches and gave me a bill for $600 plus.

I did pay it, but really want to send feedback to the company that the price I was charged was outrageous. But...I know nothing about plumbers and their fees.

Does this seem way way out of the ballpark to you?

[pushkins]

It's hard to say exactly what your cost should or shouldn't be for the replacement of the single faucet as the "actual" work performed or time it took are not mentioned.

I do have to say though, that I think $600 is extremely high.

The "whole system" shouldn't need draining (no shut off valve at faucet location), especially as you mention the faulty faucet was upstairs, with the house's main water turned off the system would need only to be drained to below the faucet height itself. The actual act of replacing the faucet isn't all that difficult and depending on accessibility shouldn't take all that long.
You didn't mention the actual time the plumber spent on the job or the day that they came, if they need to make an out of hours call (nights or weekends) then naturally the per hour charges are increased.

As I mentioned above, I believe that at least on the surface from your given information $600 seems very high, a maximum three hour window for a simple faucet swap out (you supplied the faucet) would seem reasonable.
Even at $100/hour with three hours including travel (if charged) would make the bill $300.
If you have a record of the actual time the plumber spent on the job (plus some companies will charge a "service call") this will give you an hourly rate, this will give you a better idea (and arguing point) with the company.

[jnaas2]

The going rates where I live are around 100.00 an hour if it took him or her 3 hours, plus everybody is charging a truck charge and parts, its possible they could get up to 600.00. How many hours were you charged for ?

[singingintherain]

I had called for a simple basin cock single tap water faucet to be replaced.
They sent 2 servicemen who proceeded to go through the basement and house doing an itemized review of things that needed to be done in the house . They then went out to the truck and wrote up an estimated invoice.
They came back in and tried to get me to have 1900 of work done that day ..even though I specifically clled for a simple repair. The other repairs had nothing to do with the repair..even checking furnaces and water heaters!

Finally, after convincing them that I didn't want any further work done that day, they went back out to the truck for about another half hour to write up a true invoice for the faucet.

ONE MAN installed the faucet in a matter of minutes and that was it.
$613.00

I did send in a customer feedback invoice to the office telling the boss that I was not interested in calling them for more business or referring them to friends.

[pushkins]

If that is the case then I think you have very reasonable grounds for a grievance, You should contact the company owner via a phone call and talk it through with him. Don't call all heated and storming into an argument, cool, calm and collect, but don't be afraid to mention that you feel duped and your looking to the company to either explain the cost to your satisfaction or come to a credit agreement.
If you called specifically for a faucet replacement and they spent time (possibly billed time) working up a quote for all sorts of other repair work, this would constitute unfair trade practices, the ONLY work you should be billed for is the faucet replacement. Ask the owner/manager of the company to give you an ITEMIZED bill, you are entitled by law to ask for and be given an exact record of how the cost was derived (labor, materials, travel time if applicable). Make sure when you call to speak to someone in authority that you document the time, date, who you talked to and the conversation itself.
If you still cannot reach a suitable and mutually agreeable solution you always have the right to take your grievance to the Better Business Bureau in your city/state.

One thing I must add is don't be disillusioned by a bad contractor, for every one bad company there are 20 great ones.

[jnaas2]

Pushkins is right, but another thing to think of is that this may be company policy to drum up more business, so complaining to the boss may get you a lot of lip service but no real satisfaction. So in that case report them to the better business bureau

[Redwood]

Sounds like you had a couple of pirates visit your house!

[singingintherain]

Ironically,they actually have the BBB sign on their site!
I have not received a reply from anyone after sending the email..I do not expect to.

I did a search of reviews and found 1 small forum on which 3-4 other customers complained of the same problems/approach/bill.

I don't believe the BBB can help because I opted to have the job done, there is nothing refundable about the work as there was no warranty.

They just stink when it comes to pricing and drumming up business...puts the Mary Kay cosmetic pyramid gals to shame! LOL And they earn pink Cadillacs for doing it.

I won't be calling them any more . I will post if I hear a reply from the company at all.

Last year the brother of the owner came out and put in a new flange and a cold water shut-off. It was a big job, but he didn't use the high pressure tactics. I am happy with what he did, and the job was fair when I compaired it to prices over the internet.

But it seems like small jobs call for making it worth their while to come out to the house(local).

Sorry I am venting...I am still angry....and 613 bucks shorter of my retirement pension last month!...FOR A FAUCET!

[pushkins]

Your mislead if you think the BBB cannot do anything, they are "the peoples advocate" they are there to protect consumers from disreputable acts from companies or contractors. They will if you prove your case take direct action against the company in the form of trying to negotiate a settlement, if this cannot be achieved they then list the said company as not trustworthy, the company must remove any BBB signage etc..., this helps future clients.

[jnaas2]

Pushkins speaks the truth the BBB will make them answer or they will pay the piper

[onlinehandyman]

yes!!!!!!!!!

I live just outside New York City and yes that price sounds "high" As soon as you mention the price going from $1900 to $600 one word pops up in my mind "SCAM" They tried to get you to bite high and when that didn't work they made it look like you were getting a deal - still high, but a deal. Unfortunately, it happens all to often and you can at least file a complaint with the BBB. I am sure if they tried it with you they are trying it with others and I am sure enough complaints will get something happening.

[Redwood]

I think you guys place way to much faith in the BBB!
Some of the biggest scam companies there are hide behind the arbitration of BBB.

[singingintherain]

Well, I was just over at the BBB site and there was only 1 other complaint in 36 months regarding practices.

When I tried to file re: pricing, the next window said that the BBB does not accept complaints about pricing.

I suppose I could fole under high pressure tactics, but the bottom line is price.
They will say...If you didn't like the price, you didn't have to accept the service...which is true. I learn from my mistakes and......Buyer Beware!

As far as the BB is concerned, this company is pristine squeaky clean.

I think next time, rather than going to a well advertised BBB co., I will contract with the local guy with 10 kids looking for work. Forget big companies!

[pushkins]

Whatever your future contracting choices, ask a couple of simple questions BEFORE allowing any work to commence.
1. Cost of work requested.
2. Are you a licensed contractor in this city ?
3. Are you insured ? (ask to at least sight a copy of these documents if your still unsure)

[onlinehandyman]

Excellent point Pushkins. I cannot tell you how many times I have lost jobs because of uninformed customers. I have always considered it one of my most important jobs to educate customers - Excellent point!