ComplaintsforTerry's Plumbing Inc

• Initial Complaint

  12/01/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Called to have one water shutoff valve repaired or replaced (under bathroom sink, sink bowl was removed by me before they arrived, allowing clear access) and new faucet installed (sitting in box on vanity) Person taking call (*****) seemed very distracted, and seemed to be not listening to why I called and what I needed. Next day Nov 30th...sent plumber Chris at 11am. Told him and showed him EXACTLY what I needed done Fix or replace One shutoff, and install the new faucet. He comes back from truck with estimate of $306 to replace BOTH water shutoffs (one was fine) and NOT including replacing faucet. Old faucet was already removed - all he had to do was mount new faucet and drop sink basin back in. Repeatedly told him - your estimate is NOT what I requested, and NOT why you were called here. Inexplicable - he refused to do the work I requested - an EASY plumbing job. He spent more time making up reasons why he would not do what I wanted, than he did working. Finally told him to replace only the faulty shutoff valve and to leave. Immediately called and asked to have Terry call me. He never called. after two days. Sadly - Terrys employees are absolutely poor listeners - or perhaps poor plumbers who dont know how to install a bathroom faucet. Ripped me off for $268 for one shutoff valve - less than 10 mins work - as clear retaliation.

  Business response

  12/13/2021

  December 10, 2021 
  *** *** ******** 

  
  We at Terry's Plumbing would like to start out by apologizing to our customer for the unsatisfactory experience they had with our company. Here at Terry's Plumbing we pride ourselves in our customer satisfactory and service. However with this particular situation we feel there is some misinformation in the customers complaint. 
  This customer placed a call too our company on Monday November 29, 2021 at 6:00pm, which is after business hours. He placed his call with our answering service which is a live person. We have no way of knowing what exactly was said by him to our answering service except for what was stated on the call sheet we received the next morning. Which was, his name, address, phone number, whether or not this was an emergency call and a description of the callers issue. 

  
  The description listed on the call sheet was "needs to schedule plumbing service (not urgent) bathroom sink shut off valve broke off". There was nothing written about installing a sink bowl or faucet or anything additional regarding this call. The next morning Tuesday November 30, 2021, our office received the overnight calls from our answering service they were entered into our system and the customer was called to schedule. Our secretary called the customer, read back to the customer the problem stated on the call sheet and asked when he would like to schedule. The customer at this point still had not mentioned anything additional about installing a sink bowl or a faucet. The only additional information he added was that he had turned the water off to his house. Our company scheduled the appointment with the customer for that same day between 11-3. 

  
  The customer was called prior to our plumber being dispatched to let the customer know the plumber was on his way. The plumber arrived on site at 11:09am. When the plumber arrived the customer took him to the bathroom the work needed done. The plumber saw at that point the customer had removed the sink bowl and faucet and it was at that point and that point only did he mention to our plumber about installing the sink bowl and faucet. According to our plumber the faucet that the customer wanted installed was some off brand faucet. Which if we would have known that ahead of time we would have told the customer we would not install anything like that, because in our experience faucets like that lead to installation issues and call backs on our end because they are poorly manufactured, and that would have all been explained to the customer upfront while scheduling if they would have mentioned the additional work to our office. Our plumber called into our office to verify no other information was given at the time of scheduling about installing the sink bowl and faucet. Our office knew of no such thing, because if they did they would have allotted the time to do such work and would have explained we do not install those kinds of faucets. 

  
  Our plumber then proceeded back into the home with a price to replace only the (2) shut off valves. He gave a price to replace both to save the homeowner some money down the road, 
  because we there at the time to do one, the customers was apparently doing some updating with the fixtures. In our professional opinion we thought it would have been in the customers best interest to have both replaced (apparently that was our mistake). Our plumber had written up on his receipt $227 to replace both plus our $79.00 service call fee (which the service fee was explained at the time of scheduling), that brought his total to $306. When our plumber presented the price to the customer the customer seemed overly pleased that he was willing to pay more than what the plumber quoted. So plumber thought that was odd and explicitly explained to the customer that this price was only to replace both shut off valves, nothing else. 

  
  Once the customer realized that, he started yelling at our plumber telling him he did not need both shut of valves replaced and that that price was ridiculous and so on. Our plumber then asked would you like to not proceed with the work. The customer said he only wanted the one valve replaced, our plumber agreed and told him it would be $189.00 plus our $79.00 service call, which brought his total down to $268.00. The customer then agreed to that and our plumber then proceeded with the work, which did not take long. We at Terry's Plumbing do not charge by the hour for repair work like this. We have flat rate pricing for our repairs, therefore if it takes our plumber two hours to do the job or 20 minutes to do the job you are still paying the same amount. Our pricing is like this because we believe it is the best and most fair way to charge our customers. We have plumbers with different experience levels and different techniques of doing a job. Some of our plumbers only a few years under there belts and some with decades. This specific plumber has over 25 year of experience therefore was able to provide a quicker repair, Once the plumber finished the job and went to collect for his services. The customer became more irate and aggressive toward our plumber. He started yelling extreme profanities at him and making threats against our company. He did however pay for the services in the midst of his episode. Then basically threw our plumber out of his house while continuing with the profanity and threats. The customer then called into our office and spoke to one of our secretary's and went on to explain that he was not happy, saying the plumber did not do the job correctly and wanted it done a different way and so on. He did ask for Terry to call him back and that is where 
  it was left. 

  
  In our 35 years of experience with customers and with this unpredictable society we live in now a days. We felt it was best not to call the customer back. As mentioned before we do pride ourselves in our customer satisfactory and customer service. We do our best to be as respectful, fair, honest and upfront with our customers as possible and we expect the same from our customers. This customer was not any of those things, he was rude, belligerent and aggressive with our staff. We as a company do not choose to work for or associate with people like that. 
  In Conclusion, the customer had multiple times to explain any additional work that he wanted done prior to us coming out and it would have been told to him weather or not we would be able to do what he was asking for or not before our plumber even arrived at his property. All of our fees were explained upfront and before the plumber started any work, which gave the customer the opportunity to decline the work if it was not what he wanted or if he did not like the price. Once again we do apologize to this customer for his poor experience with our company, that is never our intent.

  Customer response

  12/13/2021

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

  Evidently, Terry or whoever wrote up this response chose NOT to talk to ***** - the person answering their own phone the night I called.   AS I clearly stated - she seemed totally distracted when I called - and had they talked with her - perhaps she could recall why. In any case - AS I stated and which was ignored - I ABSOLUTELY told her that I needed the hot water shutoff valve replaced and the new faucet installed  !!!   Again - I told her this.  I am a 65 year old retired guy who can recall what I say.  ***** sounded like a very distracted, young person who really did not feel like taking this call.   Why ?  All I know is the attitude expressed by the voice.  

  Had she done her job - NONE of this would have happened.  NONE.   And now - No one asks her about her error - the heart of this matter.

  Why is her response not here ?  Does anyone care?   And for the record, the faucet to be installed is not some cheap knockoff - Its all solid brass, not plastic garbage.   I ended up installing it myself after Terrys plumbe refused.   I stand by what I said. His refusal to do the job I called in caused this entire episode.   And now - someone tried to paint me as the bad guy.  Unreal.   

  I demand a refund and apology from Terry , especially after this half-hearted, unresearched  opinion of this situation is on the record.   I do NOT accept their excuses for failing to do what I CLEARLY asked when I called in.  
  
  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]
  
  Regards,
  
  **** ******

  Business response

  12/21/2021

  I clearly explained what happened in my previous response. Unfortunately, being in Business as long a l have you cannot please every person. Apparently, Mr. ****** is one of those people.

  
  So in good faith i am refunding him his money. 
  

  
  

  Customer response

  12/22/2021

  
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  Regards,
  
  **** ******

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