This was kind of a nightmare experience for me. Our kitchen sink became clogged, and we called these guys in to take a look at it. We got a few estimates and theirs was the lowest, and the man I spoke to on the phone was extremely friendly and nice.
When their workers got to our house, he spent a lot of time talking about how the pipes under our sink were installed poorly (to be fair, they definitely were). I told them that we were aware of that, but for right now we didn't have the money to re-pipe the whole thing and just wanted to unclog the drain. He said ok and started trying to unscrew the pipes. One of them broke (may or may not have been their fault), and he goes back to saying we should re-do the whole system. I asked how much it would be, and he said it would be several hundred dollars, so I again said no, and that I just wanted the drain unclogged.
He said he'd have to get rid of the broken pipe, which I understand, but the next thing I know, they're down there with a sawzall and cutting out every piece of pipe under the sink. In a few seconds, there was nothing left under there at all! I was extremely upset, but the man just kept saying that it would have had to be done anyway, blah blah blah... I was so stunned I didn't even know what to say, besides "I already told you, I can't afford it!" So he said ok and got ready to leave, but then said "well, I'd hate for you to have to pay the fee for us to come out here without getting anything out of it, why don't we snake your drain anyway?" I said ok, and they did, but then admitted that they couldn't test whether or not it had worked since they had CUT OUT ALL THE PIPES.
Then, they had the audacity to charge me more than I was quoted, for "extra work"-- I'm assuming the two seconds it took to cut out all my pipes. I did eventually get some (not all) of that money back, but really this was the worst experience I've ever had with a plumber. The only good that came of it was that, as I burst into tears on reading the bill, the plumber sighed and admitted that if we went to a hardware store we should be able to do the re-piping ourselves, which we did, though it took all weekend.
A few final things: the owners (of which there are several--the plumber talked to at least 3 of them) seem to hire out contractors, and there didn't seem to be much love between them and the contractors. Overall, I would not recommend these guys at all. read more