Cire D.
02/06/2018 12:00:00 SA
I called and spoke with the owner regarding my outside water system spurting out water since 1/1/2018. Now, I have to admit, I know nothing about plumbing, at all! Please follow along closely, because it gets very interesting...
I stated to him the issue as well as provided pictures, upon his request, and let him know I found the main water valve and shut it off, and our home has been w/o water since New Years, yep, that's right! Perfect way to bring in the new year you're thinking, definitely not. So; after sending pics and him telling me what the issue was, he then quoted me $700 to fix it. I was shocked! Now, like I said, I'm no plumber. But, I'm also not a complete idiot either! I knew my unit was above ground, and that it wouldn't require any digging. I didn't share my frustration just yet, because I wanted to do my research first, and find out if that inner feeling of being taken advantage of was correct. And yes, it was! I called around and spoke to a plumbing company to get a idea of the price for parts, and what I found out was astonishing. They informed me, the parts to fix my issue would cost me roughly about $160. So, now I'm really feeling upset at this point. How in the hell could a so called reputable company want to charge me over $500 in labor!? I begin to make excuses for them. Like, maybe they use a special type of piping, or tool that's needed that's crazy expensive, and only licensed plumbers can use, pathetic I know smh. Well, readers. That wasn't the case, at all. Keep following me here, it gets worse. A gentleman by the name of Mycal (Michael) showed up and he was very professional, and I can tell he was extremely knowledgeable in his field. I begin to explain to Mycal, if there was a breakdown I can get of parts vs labor before doing any work, so I can see exactly what I'll be paying for. To his defense, it wasn't much he could tell me, being that his boss is a complete scam artist (My words, not his). He politely told me he's unaware of pricing, and his job is to only do to the work. I replied, I respect that. And asked if he could get his boss on the line to re-negotiate this absurd quote. After speaking to his boss, in which I was very surprised the so called boss wouldn't want to speak with the customer himself, if that wasn't already a red flag. He begins to tell me, that the same top valve pc I found for $150, they're charging $300, and the labor would be $400. I asked him, how long would he expect to get this job finished. He replied, in about an hour. At that moment, I realized I've been lied to my whole life. Why go to college and work in corporate America?So, for any lawyers that's reading, you're wasting your time and money. Clearly, being a plumber, earning $400/hr is where it's at. So, after hearing this ridiculousness. I politely told him, I'm uninterested and apologized to him, and him only for wasting his time. About 15 mins pass by, and I receive a call from Truit Strickland aka Lee yapping off about how I cost him X amount of money, and wasted their time etc...and I'm cheap, and blah blah blah. I replied, have a good day:) that's right, kill em with kindness people. So, if you think that was the worse of it, you're sadly mistaken. I then get a call back from another plumber I left a vm prior, and sent the same pictures, as well as described the same issue. His name is Leonard on behalf of LG Plumbing btw (Stand Up Guy). And what he said next had me fuming! He goes, sir; you don't need to replace your sprinkler valve right now, it can wait, being it's the winter time. I said, excuse me? And he stated, yeah it's only the sprinkler valve. Turns out, all I needed to do was to turn two levers off on my top valve to my sprinkler unit, and I can still have running water to my home; just not to my sprinkler unit. So, Lee (Owner) knew my family didn't have any running water, and wanted to capitalize on my ignorance of plumbing, and to over charge me, on something that wasn't even crucial to begin with. It's sad tbh, that there's good workers out there working for such scam artists! **I advise anyone who is thinking of hiring this company, to do your research first, as well as ask all necessary questions upfront**. Or save the headache and hire someone with a heart and a pulse! On the other hand, thank you Mycal for being polite and professional, and thank you Leonard for not wanting to take advantage of people, and chose to help me vs making a quick buck.
**Update 2/19/2018**
I have been harassed countless times from the owner to recant my review. He's even went to the extreme to threaten me with a SLAPP lawsuit if I didn't. If he would put as much effort on doing the right thing, and treat customers with the respect they deserve vs using all his time on threats and intimidation, I'm certain he'll prosper. There was nothing I wrote that wasn't true. Be aware Yelpers! God bless!