FRED'S REPAIR SVC

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My 80 year old mother-in-law was having trouble with her sinks and bathtub draining very slowly. I am a disabled veteran and unable to perform any physical labor so I looked on Angie's List for someone in her neighborhood (I also live 3 hours away from her) and found the name of Fred's Repair Service. He did not have any information other than his name on the website. No recommendations or warnings. I called him and asked if he would mind taking a look and if he could fix her problem, he could send me the bill and I would be glad to take care of it. He agreed to go by her house and take a look and see if it was something that he could fix for a reasonable price. He told me some price estimates for different options and I agreed that the estimates were reasonable. He went to her house and removed the commode and ran a "sewer machine." He then resealed the commode. After running the drain cleaning snake (or "sewer machine") and resealing the commode, he said that the job was done. The tub, commode, and sinks seemed to be draining better until the next morning when the drain seemed to be draining slowly again. It was just as if he had done nothing. He came back to the house when contacted but did no additional work. He said it was the city's fault/problem. He sent me a bill for $200.00 plus tax (total bill was $212.00). The bill would have been reasonable had it fixed the problem. My mother-in-law had to find someone else to come and fix the problem which required digging under the house and beside the house to find that the drain line was clogged in a different direction. Fred never did go under the house to see if that is where the problem was located. I am paying the man because I am upholding my part of the bargain that if he would do work for her, I would pay him. Too bad what I paid for was an expensive lesson to not trust Fred's Repair Service, WV Contractors License 001877. He talked politely but left the job undone. He is good at running the drain cleaning snake and charging $200.00 plus tax, but not at fixing the problem that required a little more manual labor.