Start howling ... loudly.  In my humble opinion, you’ve been severely ripped off.  We had a somewhat similar thing happen with an electrician and were reimbursed handsomely when we complained to the company.  Turned out that his policies weren’t company policies and I’ll bet that it’s the same in your case.  A reputable company cares about customer satisfaction, so go for it.

I agree with Eleanor. And I would also mention about when he had to leave and get the part that he didn’t have on his truck. Is he charging you for that time? He was gone long enough to just about grab a quick bite to eat lol. Most company’s will tell you when it is going to go over the estimate. If he is good, he would have known this before he finished the job. I just talked to my brother and he confirmed. He did say that the original estimate was about right.

I got to thinking about the bill some more. He said he left his house at 7:15. He was supposed to be here at 7:30 and I’d asked the other plumber to make a special note on the work order that I might not be back yet from taking the lad to school, so the plumber should PLEASE wait for me. But he didn’t show up until 8:00 ish. He didn’t make a note on the bill what time he arrived. For all I know he stopped at the ATM and Dunkin Donuts on his way here. The company may be of the opinion that he started working at 7:30. It does not take 45 minutes to get from Seabrook to here!

Yeah, there’s a problem with this bill. I am going to complain about it.

Jen, were you there when he told me sometime during the morning that the job was going according to estimate? Imagine my surprise when it turned out rather differently?

Talked with the office. The matter is now under review. I’m not holding my breath.

Getting hit for transit costs is not unusual, is it?  We pay for that too.  It always annoys me; after all, the appliance or whatever is at the house; it’s not like I can carry it into the shop.

Good luck.

Transit time is part of the cost. It annoys me, but oh well. However, he came from the next town over and spent 45 minutes of my time getting here. He could have ridden his bicycle and still gotten here in half the time. We’re talking 5 miles. So what the heck was he doing on my dime? And he left here, at the end of the day, 15 minutes earlier than he said he did. So, I figure we’re talking at least a 45 minutes over charge on labor costs. For the rest...well, we’ll see. I know that the other plumber who gave me the estimate is an old pro. He put in my water heater a couple of years ago. He’s been around for a while. He knew exactly what he was looking at and what it would take to fix it. He knew it was a big job. He outlined it in detail. He’s done it many times before. I still don’t have a good explanation for why the estimate was off by $300.

Yes I believe I was there when he made the comment to you. You started talking to me about what the estimate was. And was glad to hear that it was so much lower than what the other one was.

Sweetie is a plumber, and he says you were very badly treated.  If the labor cost was quoted to you at $50/hour, that’s what you pay; they don’t get to change that in mid-job. 

And at least around here, it is not the norm for the customer to pay for transit time.  Charges begin when he walks in your door.  You do pay for a full hour, no partial hours.

A reputable company will be concerned about pleasing the customer.  Definitely follow up on it.

Sounds to me like you got severely ripped by this guy.  I won’t post a link in here, but have you checked out Angie’s List?  Even if you never use it again, or at all, it would be a good place to report the experience you’ve had.  Costs a little money, but has proved invaluable to me in finding good contractors.  The BBB might be someplace you’d want to go, as well.

Yes, Terrilyn, I was wondering how the price per hour jumped like that. I could have sworn, too, that the office person told me that they charged by the half hour, but maybe I was hearing things. I am absolutely positive that she said it was $50 per hour. She did explain that my charges begin when the plumber leaves the shop for my house. Charges continue until he leaves for the next job, so the bill writing out in his truck is still part of my “job”. The next customer started being charged the minute he drove away from my house.

After my conversation with the office yesterday, during which I was very polite, I realized they will defend and back up their personnel to the hilt. Which is a good thing, I suppose. But I’m not hopeful that I’ll see any satisfaction with my complaint—other than having a furnace that works like a charm. I’m extremely pleased about that.

Although—I discovered yesterday that the new thermostat is off by about 4 degrees. While working around the house, I was working up quite a dew, and thought it felt a bit too warm for 68 degrees. I brought down a couple of the digital thermometers from upstairs and placed them under the thermostat. Sure enough, they said the temp in the house was 72 degrees.

I’m just going to go get another programmable digital one and put it in myself. I put the last one in and while they don’t have a long life span, I still like them better. I shouldn’t have let myself get talked into the little round mercury one.

Did you have a written estimate?  Here you must approve any work that would put the final cost at 10% above the written estimate.

Yes, I have a written estimate with a detailed evaluation of what was wrong and what needed to be repaired with a list of exactly what pieces and parts that needed to be replaced. No mention of approving anything above the cost of the estimate. The first plumber gave me an estimate range and said, in his opinion, it would probably come in higher than the lower range of the estimate, but, obviously, within the estimate range. There was about a 15% difference between the lower estimate and the higher one, which, I presume, is a way of providing for the unexpected.

One of the plumbers was wrong. Clearly.

The check I wrote them has already cleared, by the way. That kind of irritates me, too. With the check cashed, I think I’m less liable to see any real satisfaction with my complaint. They told me they wouldn’t be able to give my concerns any real attention until next week...after a busy Friday and the long weekend.