Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  25/04/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On April 20, I hired ****** from ****** Wheatley's Plumbing and Heating Limited to clear my clogged toilet. He wrote to me that for same day service, his fee would be "$425 plus HST to clear a plugged sewer" (and $125 for each 1/2 hour afterwards) in the event that he could not unclog the toilet. When he arrived, he did not attempt to unclog the toilet. Instead, he removed the toilet and brought his long industrial snake on the cart into my bathroom. Then, he ran his snake a very short distance down the toilet drain. When the toilet flushed, he assured me the "line was clear" and I could use the toilet again. He then charged me $644. After our first flush later in the day, the toilet stopped again, and I called for a plumber with a camera. The camera revealed a ball of paper compacted near the back water valve -- a clog that was cleared with the push of the camera head a few times and a few additional toilet flushes. The entire line was otherwise clear and healthy all the way to the street, as the camera showed. When I emailed ****** with the invoice and description from the second plumber and asked him to reduce his bill, given that he never "cleared my plugged sewer line," he called me angrily, yelling, and immediately threatened "court papers." After our phone call ended, he texted me threats about "filing for court". I was horrified by his yelling and aggression. In my email, I only sought to reduce his large bill. ****** did not "clear my plugged sewer" and thus, did not perform the job I agreed to hire him for. He told me that it was "fine to use my toilet" when he was finished. Had he bothered to snake past the back water valve, I would not have had to pay for a camera to reveal what any patient plumber with a long snake can easily remedy. Crucially, he was aggressive and threatening when I simply presented him with proof of a problem he did not properly address and remedy.

  Business response

  26/05/2023

  As I discussed on the phone, I adjusted the invoice to exactly what she wanted me to adjusted for to satisfy her. Here’s a copy of her email suggesting the amount and here’s a copy of my invoice marked paid.

  
  

  Just to explain a little bit of my side of the story, I was called for two plugged toilets. I gave her two separate fees of how much I charge per hour, because I charge more to clear a plug line that is plugged as there’s more equipment involved. She agreed to my charges. I arrived on site and quickly determined that the sewer line internally was blocked. I told her we had to lift one of the toilets in order to clear the line. She was very dismissive and said well all I really want is the two toilets cleared for now, ******. She clearly doesn’t understand how a Plumbing works. She called me from a video phone with her daughter  And I showed her on the phone that there was sewage coming up in her shower and then I showed her when I removed the toilet that the sewer line was full of water. I cleared the sewer line, I informed her that I strongly suggested doing video of the sewer line because we don’t know what is going on inside the sewer line although the water drains there could very well be a problem. ( I have a separate video guy who is a separate company ) I told her the stats were 95% of the time there is still a problem and the only way we can solve this problem so there is no more problems would be  a video of the sewer line. She declined on the video of the sewer line and I told her there’s no guarantee, and that this could easily plug up within an hour or a couple days or a couple weeks. She said she was going to get a video done at a later date. I explain to her again that now is the time to do a video because they have to remove the toilet in order to do a video . Again she declined. The next time I heard from her was after I submit my invoice and she had emailed me to tell me she had to hire another plumber because it was backed up again. When I left her premises and her daughter can vouch for me if she doesn’t lie for her mother that the water was running and draining. Although I don’t guarantee it, I would never leave a house without water at least running.  she wanted to settle on a different amount for the invoice so she just suggested a certain amount and I settled for that and that’s the end of the story. Please let me know if you need anything else and maybe what is decision will be in regards to posting this review or not. A little background on me is I have been a plumber for 37 years and I’ve been in business for 28 years.

  
  

  Thank you,

  ****** ********

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