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[gina2000]

It took the plumber 3 hours to figure out he didn't have the right equipment to clean out a standard 2" pipe?

Yeah, right.

 

[Imzadi]

It took the plumber 3 hours to figure out he didn't have the right equipment to clean out a standard 2" pipe?

Yeah, right.

NO. He didn't even diagnose it the first time. He figured it out during the second visit, after the mom flooded the basement again and there was evidence what was wrong. (So he never turned on the water when he was there the first time? )

He never left any description as to ANY sort of problems still existing, only that he was there 3 hours and the charge for that.

I'd like to know what town does someone leave a stranger unsupervised in their house and goes off to work? I thought the days of Main St., Mayberry were over. A stranger, who may be proven now to be untrustworthy. Unless the basement is separated from the house and has an exterior exit, the mom should be checking around to see if there is evidence that things have been rummaged around, especially credit card statements which may have the card number on them.

 

[fortheluvofpooh]

We are very lucky to have an awesome plumber, we kept having trouble with sewage backing up into the laundry tub, called the plumber, he snaked the drain, 1 week later same issue. He was at our house 3x in 3 weeks, then he suggested to call in rotorooter and he met the guy at my house together they found the block with a camera down the pipes. Rotorooter unblocked it and I NEVER rec'd a bill from my regular plumber. and only paid $280.00 for RR. SOOO if anyone lives in NEPA and needs a plumber. LMK. If I were your mom I would not pay that full bill. He did not do the job. He did not fix the problem. I would pay him $50.00 an hour for his time. No more.

 

[golfgal]

I would contact the state department that issues the plumbing licenses and file a complaint. They could be doing this to other people as well and they may very well have a file going on this company. If not, they will now.

We had issues with a plumber similar to this-laundry drain backed up the day after we moved into our house. We called a plumber to come fix it (we were not sure what the problem was at the time). His first diagnosis was that the pipe under the house leading to the sewer was blocked and they would have to rip up our basement to the tune of $20,000 . Then they said, well, maybe not, maybe it is just the main line and we can snake it out. Ok, how much is that, only a "couple hundred". Ok, lets see. They "snake it out" and "broke" their snake and I was going to have to pay for that now--um, no I am not. He kept pressing me on the issue and I said "fine, then I want to keep the broken one". No, I have to "recycle this by law". I called one of those companies with a camera that can go into the plumbing lines and the line was totally clear. Turns out there was some lint build up in the drain from the laundry tub.

The first plumber tried to hand me a $650 bill and I laughed at him (it included the new snake). I told him I would pay for the time (an hour) which was $75 or he could get nothing. He chose the $75--but he left his coat at my house too. I put it on the knob on the garage door, left it there for a week and then tossed it. He wasn't coming back to my house.

 

[bicker]

Not always!

I find the "I'm not happy so I'm not paying" attitude to be utterly offensive. Sometimes, it seems that some folks assume, or insist, that everything on the face of the Earth must be "satisfaction guaranteed", instead of applying what is the actual standard that applies when there isn't an explicit satisfaction guarantee: conscientious and professional performance of the service contracted-for, in accordance with generally-accepted standards.

I had some arguements with the owner, but he really didn't have a leg to stand on

Presumably because they promised to fix the problem, rather than just promising to do plumbing work for you. Satisfaction guarantees differentiate premium suppliers from the rest. They assume more of the risk, that the problem you have is bigger than expected (and of course that risk is even larger when all they have to go on, to give you a promise, is your word about what's wrong, the word of a lay-person rather than a recognized professional in the discipline, as was the case in the OP). However, consumers pay a premium when the supplier takes that risk onto themselves. Consumers pay more for the service, itself, to gain that assurance, to compensate the supplier for the cases when the job is bigger than what was implied by the quotation, which was based on a very early guess about what could be wrong. For some things, the low-cost providers - the ones that don't provide such assurance - can't even stay in business, because enough people are willing to pay the price for, and insist on, that assurance. By the same token, for some things, consumers are maniacally fixated on the price tag, and in those cases it is the premium suppliers who are unable to stay in business.

It took the plumber 3 hours to figure out he didn't have the right equipment to clean out a standard 2" pipe?

That's probably not what happened. Rather, what probably happened is that it took the plumber 3 hours to discover what the problem actually was, and two or three seconds to figure out that he didn't have the right equipment to fix it.

I'd like to know what town does someone leave a stranger unsupervised in their house and goes off to work?

I don't think it is worthwhile questioning the rationality of either the plumber or the homeowner. Almost surely, they both did what was proper, and all the criticisms of them are without foundation. The most likely scenario is that it's just a bad situation, without any need to lynch anyone.