They're like the "shady car mechanic" stereotype you keep hearing about. I called to replace some water lines. The plumber replaces them and then calls to tell me a faucet is now clogged and needs replaced (the faucet was fine before he started working on the water lines). I agree to have him replace that as well. Next day I find out they had also removed, and never replaced, the water line leading to the outside spigot (I never agreed to such a thing, nor was I ever told it would be necessary). I call to have them replaced. They give me the run-around for a couple of weeks then give me a $500 estimate to fix something they shouldn't have done in the first place. The plumber then tells me that my old spigot won't work with the new water line so I need a new spigot as well. Whenever I call them about this issue they tell me the plumber will call me back. Days later he calls, but he tells me he needs to talk to the plumber who actually did the work and then he'll call me back. He never calls me back so I call and we start this merry-go-round all over again. It's been a little over two months and the "plumber" still hasn't called the other plumber, which apparently needs to happen before the first "plumber" can give me a straight answer.
Lastly, I had also asked for an estimate on electrical work. I needed some outlets replaced. The guy tells me two of them are standard, but the other two are a special project. For one of these supposedly "special project" outlets he tells me tales of having to rewire the entire thing and it will cost about $600-$700 dollars. The other, he says, is similar but easier, so that will cost about $400-$500. So I called another electrician and he changed all four outlets for $225 and said there was nothing "special" about any of them. read more
