I found a 2 foot patch of mold on my kitchen wall, under a plaque. My homeowners insurance determined it was caused by a leak, and sent Servicemaster out to evaluate.They recommended this plumber.
The crew of 2 showed up on time, and were professional in their demeanor. I explained that I had a similar leak a year before, and I was concerned about whether the repair was done correctly, since I believed my plumber usually did an excellent job. They took a quick look with a flashlight through an outside access door and told me it looked like the work was shoddy. I was given an estimate of about $200, and they told me they would be done in 15 minutes.
I was shocked, first of all, because I didn't believe it COULD be properly evaluated, much less fixed from the access door, and second because they would charge $200 for 30 minutes!
They proceeded to try to patch the pipe but after the15 minutes repair, and 15 minutes to run the water through it, they reported that they now believed they needed to get at a section they couldn't reach. I told them for the second time that the plumber had to open the wall and ceiling in the kitchen the last time, that it was quick work after doing that, but the man insisted it would be easier if he went and bought an extension for his tool, and tried to drill it from the outside access door. However, now it would be 3 days from now, since it was Friday, and he had another call and also had to buy the part. And by the way, it would now be about $450.
On Monday they showed up and within 20 minutes they had cut a section of the pipe out and replaced it. But then they ran water for a while and noticed that using the extension they had nicked the pipe on the other side of the fitting, which was now leaking, so they finally informed me that they were going to do as I suggested, and as the former plumber had done, and open the wall about 3 feet, and the ceiling adjacent. And by the way, it was going to be a few hundred dollars more. (It had taken about 15 minutes for the repair and 15 mintues of running the water). They used a Sawzall and removed the drywall, and cut open the ceiling then replaced the fitting they had nicked with a new one, and were done within another 30 minutes.
Overall the amount of time they spent at my house was about 2 and a half hours, and half of it was spent running water and standing around waiting to see if it was leaking. After they were done, they wrote up the order and it was about $890.00. When I asked if they would document on the paperwork that the former plumber had done an inadequate job, as they had claimed initially, the foreman recanted, saying that it actually looked great when they looked at it closer.
Had they not misled me initially, I would have opted to use my own plumber to fix this similar problem, as I had the previous time. The prior repair, which was almost identical--just a different connection--took less time and cost $600. Overall, I felt I was being "shaken down." The manner in which they kept inflating the price seemed like it was not tied to any real measurement--they just gauged how much they could get away with and went for it. Overall, I felt extremely taken advantage of. I tried complaining to my claims adjuster, who also thought the price was too high, but Hansen's Plumbing is a subcontracter of Servicemaster, so they were twice removed from my homeowners insurance, and no one could do anything on my behalf. read more