Preston Plumbing & Septic Tank

Positive all the way!

Our toilets started leaking around their bases. We had a plumber come out and he said that the toilets needed new seals, but the real problem was that the septic tank needed to be pumped. He said that he would come back and replace the seals after we had the septic tank pumped. He was nice and we had no problem with him. However, we made the mistake of going to the phone book to find someone to take care of the septic tank problem. It was a Saturday, so we were afraid that we might be taken advantage of, but not to this extent! We called Preston's Plumbing and Septic Tank Service. We asked how much to pump a septic tank and were told "between $120 and $160". He indicated that coming on Saturday was not a problem and that he would even give a senior citizen discount. We are new to the area, but everyone that we have dealt with up to this point has been honest and gone above and beyond our expectations for service. Preston's Plumbing said they would come out that afternoon and even called back and said that they could come even earlier. All was well until he handed my husband a bill for $525.00!!! Oh...that included a senior discount of $10.00 !! We have never had a septic tank before; we didn't realize that there are actually 3 tanks involved and apparently he charges for *each* tank in the system, but he didn't bother to tell us beforehand. In a state of shock, my husband wrote him a check. (Which was, by the way, cashed immediately.) We started talking to our neighbors about it; one said, "oh, no! you can get that done for $75 a tank!" another said, "that should have been less than $300". So we started checking with other septic tank companies and found that their rate would have been between $225 and $285. The original plumber came and fixed our toilets...even he said that we should never have been charged $525 just to pump the septic tank. Ouch! I feel so violated!! However, I don't feel like I have any recourse other than letting others know. That...and using Angie's List from now on!