Hired Linek Plumbing to repair gas line leak due to failure to hold pressure per Laclede Gas Company. Eventually hired laclede gas to fix Linek's failur
During this time the plumber took numerous smoke breaks, cursed often, took personal phone calls, and complained how difficult his job was. I can't think of one professional quality _____ exhibited. During this time I noticed 3 leaks ___ repaired. ___ left by 1 pm because strong storms caused the power to go out. ___ said he'd come back the next day to fix the problem.
___ returned mid to late morning on May 24, 2011 to finish locating and fix the leak. ___ fixed another 4 leaks. I witnessed ___'s poor workmanship first hand. One time he cut out a section of copper and replaced the section with new copper and fittings. Once pressure was on the pipes once again and soaped ___, my father-in-law and I notice the repair leaked. __ once again cut it out and tried again.
At the end of four hours of working ___ determined the lines to hold pressure. The last determined leak by ___ was the 1.25 copper line shutoff (____ said this shutoff was for water only not gas rated. But later said it was rated for gas and water) located in the basement going out to the garage. ___ originally cut this section off and capped it to work on other areas of gas lines. ___ had cut this line off anyway because he determined the solder was not silver solder but lead solder, for water lines only not gas. ____ reinstalled the same 1.25'' copper shutoff and determined the leak fixed and the lines to hold pressure. I did not witness the pipes to hold pressure because ___ had already taken off the pressure and pressure gauge on the lines. This was the mistake the shutoff still leaked. I paid ___ $1243 for 9 hours of labor plus parts.
I called Laclede Gas May 24 to schedule the gas to be turned on. Laclede gas came out May 25 to turn on the gas. Laclede once again noticed the gas lines not holding pressure. I witnessed the drop in pressure as well. Laclede locked the gas box and recommended calling Linek back to find and fix the leak.
I promptly called Linek and alerted Linek of the failure. I spoke to the owner ____ and he told me he needed to talk to __ and would have him come back out. I told ___ I did not want __ to come out due to his inappropriate behavior but to send another plumber. After hanging up I reconsidered and called back to determine if there would be additional charges. The receptionist confirmed with ___ that they would not charge the service fee but continue to bill at normal 15 minute increments. I agreed but again later changed my mind not have Linek return to fix what is now clear due to Laclede Gas's repair Linek's failure to repair the leaking 1.25 copper shutoff valve. The shortcut/lack off detail to not retest the line after the last repair to the line was ___'s biggest mistake.
Instead of having Linek return I called Laclede Gas to schedule the repair. Laclede Gas came out June 31 at 4 pm soaped all the joints with no luck finding the leak and determined the job bigger than expected. Laclede returned the next day June 1 with two plumbers. May 1 the two plumbers quickly found the leak at the 1.25 copper shutoff going to the garage. Laclede Gas needed to get the parts and returned June 3 to replace the shutoff. The shutoff was repaired and the gas was turned on.
The total charged repair cost from Laclede is roughly $400.
