You guys here are great...this is in reference to local kinda stuff...
My mother in law had a blocked bathroom sink. Me, the son of a contractor and all around handyman, took my 25' and 50' snake up there and could not get the problem to resolve after exhausting all resources I had with me that day (I have other ones at home, etc.). I even tried to snake from the roof stack since that is a straight shot down next to that specific sink. No dice. Given that this same drain has been giving them (she and my father-in-law before he passed away) problems for a few years I decided...
much to my own dismay...to call a professional service and just let them hit it with their commercial grade tools and maybe we would be resolved of this slow drain issue for good and it would be worth a couple hundred bucks or so.
Who you gonna call? Well, I almost went to work for this multi-service company a few years ago that had started a satellite office in my city. I knew frm interviewing with them that they were good honest people and I as well have gotten to know the guy that runs the local branch. I called customer service (followed the process and didn't call my friend directly) and scheduled an appointment.
Well, FIRST they didn't show up when scheduled and after an hour
I called and then they explained their tech went where he shouldn't have that morning and was in the adjacent city and they could reschedule to that afternoon instead. They knew it as soon as he went wrong and completely failed to notify ME. I was pissed but agreed to the reschedule. Eventually they called and said someone else came available and they would waive the "diagnostics fee", and we agreed to have him come ASAP. He showed up, and I explained to him by phone what I had done and to kindly do his standard snaking and hopefully he would fix the issue, but if not call me before getting too involved and running up my bill with additional services I was not anticipating.
So, he called a while later and said no success. Said he ran his small snake in about 25' and put the pipe back on about 3 times and the sink was either draining extremely slow or not at all, but EVERY other pipe drains fine to include the tub and stool next to the sink as well as all other toilets, showers, sinks, etc. I'm not an idiot nor was he, and we were both stumped. He told me at that time that my bill for snaking and reattaching the sink pipes, which literally takes 2 minutes or less, was a total of $434. YES, $434 for snaking a drain 3 times...because their pricing dictates that every time they "snake" the pipe and every time they have to "reaffix" the pipes its an additional fee. But wait...he did offer to scope it with his camera equipment and noted that this would be an additional $300, and that based on the tight turns and small pipes he could not even promise he would be able to find and see the issue, but I would still have to pay as soon as that camera came off the truck.
WHAT A CROCK OF SHART! And I mentioned that the drain ball valve was worn and needed replacing, and he said they would just replace the whole drain assembly which would cost $240.
YES, $240 to replace a part I can buy for $20 and install in less than 15 minutes or less. SERIOUSLY.
WHAT ANOTHER CROCK OF SHART!I told him that $434 nearly had me in the floor, and there was no way I would agree to any additional charges, and had I known that every time his tool touched my pipe that I was being charged I probably would have told him to stop after the 1st try.
I called back today and talked to the customer service manager (still not asking for or mentioning my friend there) and was very professional and polite, but noted the above and how disconcerting it was to know that I now have a $434 bill with NO solution to my issue, and if it was fixed MAYBE $434 would be easier to swallow, but even then that was still a bit aggressive to say the least.
She said she would email me a copy of the ticket and if I had questions I could call the service manager to discuss. Not sure what I will do from this point forward, but if my "friend" didn't work there I would probable cancel and contest the credit card charges until they agreed to reduce the bill to something logical. Unfortunately I am involved in local civic groups and associations and showing my a$$ and it being observed by people that know me isn't a situation I need to create for myself.
In the interim, I did just go online and buy a 45' borescope camera that I can hook to my snake (to get it in the pipe) and phone or PC for viewing for only $20. See here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-5-7-10-15M-6LED-USB-Waterproof-Endoscope-Borescope-...If I go in there and find and resolve the issue that they wanted to try and charge me $800-$1000 to
TRY and solve, it is going to be hard not to raise hell at someone. Maybe by this weekend I will have calmed down a bit, but whatever happened to common sense and people running an honest business, well, I don't know. I guess this explains why they all have nice houses on the lake and drive $70,000 trucks while the rest of us struggle to keep a $3000 motorcycle on the road
Thanks for listening.