I came home from work one night and my basement ceiling looked like Niagara Falls. In a panic, I called the only plumber whose number was in my phone - Siebold Plumbing and Heating. This was against my wife's advice. "He overcharged charged us last time he came for the heat!" she said. Lesson one: Listen to your wife's advice!
So, I reluctantly called Siebold with my basement flooding something awful. The phone rang and rang and there was no voicemail setup. After several tries, I got through. I explained that I had a serious leak in my basement and couldn't find the source. With absolutely no sense of urgency, the plumber says to shut off the water and he'll come by in the morning.
The next day, the plumber shows up about an hour after he said he would. I show him the leak, I show him the kitchen pipes above the leak and he shrugs and says he can't figure it out. He said he is working up the street on another job. He tells me he's gotta go, but that I should pull apart the cabinets under my sink and look under the fridge to see if I can figure out where the water came from. He said to call him back if I can figure it out and he'll come back.
After an hour of running the kitchen sink, pulling up tiles, taking out the baseboards and searching for the leak (all the shit one normally pays a plumber to do), I finally discovered a small leak under the kitchen sink.
I took a photo of the leaking pipe, texted it to the plumber and called him back over. He came in, looked in the basement and then told me that he doubts that little leak made all that water. Then he said the leak was probably a problem with my fridge. I explained that the floor under the fridge was bone dry and he shrugged. He said that the plumbing under the kitchen sink was definitely half-a$$ed, but didn't offer to replace anything or fix the obvious leak that I showed him.
He told me an amusing anecdote about finding a bag of pot during a plumbing job he did one time then paused and awkwardly stood waiting for me to say something. Then he turned and left and said to call him again if the leak starts again.
The entire experience lasted a total of about 15 minutes and that includes both trips to my house and the timid ask for weed. A month later I was billed $115 for this. The kicker is; the bill was sent to my father's house (he was the one who initially referred Siebold to us) and my Pops paid the bill as a gift to me. Had I actually received the bill I would not have even paid it.
This whole experience was adding insult to injury because about 6 months before this experience, we called Siebold Plumbing and Heating to help us with a heating issue. The plumber came for about 45 minutes and then charged us for TWO HOURS. When we complained about this, we were told that they added the time it took the plumber to go and get the part he needed for the job. The part was in his van which was parked in my driveway right outside!
I know, I know: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Don't let this lesson cost you $300+. Listen to my wife - CALL SOMEONE ELSE! read more
