Shearer's Plumbing & Electrical

Took a couple of trips out due to the need to create an access to the second floor shower drain. At the end of the work everything was fixed and no leaks were detected.

unknown

The story starts out great! We were recommened from a family member on their services so we called them up and explained what needed to be done. I'm new to the whole services being done on your home as we normally do these types of projects ourselves (but we have very little knowledge on plumbing) so when they asked do you want us to pick up the new toilets or would you like to have the new toilets there, I said that would be great if you can pick them up as I don't have a vehicle to carry two toilets.
I asked on what the charges would be to do the install (as best as they could estimate) and I was told they charges $78 / hr. and the job would take approx. 1hr - 1.5 hrs. and that there would be some misc. charges for the new bolts, wax ring and new flex line.
This seemed fair to me so we set up an appointment for Wednesday August 8th at 8:30 - 9:30 am.
They arrived at 8:45am. So (mean being green to the whole service thing) I started the clock at 8:45am. It was a little shocking to me that there were two people that hopped out of the van. It did not seem to be a two person job to me and if there was a time that the service guy needed help (normally, Im the guy kinda standing back watching so I can learn what goes on) I would have assisted.
They were nice enough the second service guy was probably 16 - 18 years old tops (It was the service guys son, would be the 3rd generation) The main service guy said,and quot; I brought help today so he could help out and observe a little bit, hes jsut starting to learn the ropes.and quot;I replied by saying, thats fine, the best way to learn is to be a part of the job rather than just reading the books. You can apply what you learn from the books if you actually see it being performed in life.
So, moving on...... The younger guy stood around and the only time he helped was to remove the old toilets and put together the new ones (about 15 minutes)
The job was completed in 1hr and 15 minutes.... they were gone by 10am. The job performed was quick and the quality of the work itself was fine (it was replacing toilets, not replacing pipe of something) but there was a mess left on the floor that was left and I felt this was kinda of a bad thing (what would have it taken to clean up the floor a little bit where the new toilet sat)
So two days later the bills arrives. I had a dollar amount in mind of $100 per toilet for a total of $200. Now heep in mind the toilets were being purchased at their supplier and those costs were $207.48 each for a total of $414.96. So add in my $200 plus misc. charges and I was thinking in the ballpark of $600 - $625.
The bill came to $735.46.
So, I was a little sticker shocked and I had a few questions on how the bill came to be over $700. I had called their number and Steve ( this business is owned by two brothers, if I understand it right) one of the brothers answered and asked if I could hold because he was on the other line....... so a couple of minutes went by and he came back and asked how he could help me (everything was fine at this point) I told him of the services that were performed and that I had a couple questions about the invoice.
Instantly, he was very upset / irritated he asked my name so he could bring up the invoice on his computer. He was reading off the invoice to me (which I had in my hand) and said and I quote and quot; I see absolutely nothing wrong with this invoiceand quot; and I suppose you don't want to pay for your bill now! I said that was never my intention and that I just had a couple questions.
I was charged for 2.5 hours at $78 / hr for the main plumber Mark (which is the other brother) and also charged 2.5 hours at $24 / hr for the kid that stood around and watched his dad work. That was $255. There was nothing else on the invoice that I disagreed with but I knew that the two were here for 1 hour and 15 minutes not 2.5 hours.
It got to a point with Steve that I could not get a word out of my mouth without him barking back at me so I hung up the phone and figured I would go to his place of business and try to discuss this with him in person. He called back but I was to upset and he was upset so I figured we should both cool down a bit before we tried to talk things out again and see where the 2.5 hours of service came from.
My other half was listening to my side of the conversation (which was really nothing) and saw I was upset and decided to call and try to talk to Steve. Steve answered and she explained on who she was and I could hear him yelling at her over the phone from across the room.
So in the meantime I notice I had a voicemail on my cell phone. I really wish I could actually place the voicemail here for people to hear. I will some it up in a few words....... His business is great and people like me always take advantage of and quot;lowly plumbersand quot; and I would never be able to find anyone that does the job with the quality of craftsmanship that they do. There was a few curse words in there and I was told to pay whatever I felt was a fair price in my perfect little world and to never call him again for any services needed in the future.
All I had a a simple question on where the invoice came up with 2.5 hours of service time when the services took 1.25 hours (double the time they were here)
Come to find out the clock starts when they leave the shop (which is about 15 minutes from my house) then they had to wait 30 minutes at their supplier to get the toilets and drive over to my house. That is roughly an hour before the job was actually started.
In all what really should have happened in my little mind is when I asked how much the services would be roughly.... the yshould have said right then and there that there would be TWO people showing up and the rates of those two. and that the job would take roughly 2 hours ( a little more or less) and include the drive time.
Had that been said over the phone at the start there never would have been any issue at all.
It was a learning experience for myself and I will in the future will have more detailed questions ahead of time to whatever contractors that I have a need for.