Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  12/23/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We needed to hire a plumber to finish a job that another plumber could not complete because he did not have the proper socket tool. I called Ferrari Plumbing on November 23rd to see if they could complete the job. *** indicated he was an expert plumber and could take care of everything for us later that afternoon. When *** and his partner arrived, I showed them the shower where the two shower valves needed to be replaced with the new ones that I provided. *** began working on the job but there was never any discussion as to what he was going to be charging. *** indicated the he had a lot of experience but he spent a lot of time figuring out how to take the shower trim plate off just to get to the shower valves. After that was completed, he began removing the old shower valves. Apparently the old valves were falling apart as he was attempting to remove them. He ended up spending around 15 minutes outside in his truck, who according to his partner, was building a make shift tool to get the remnants of the shower value out. After the new valves were installed, *** was able to make the shower functional but not 100%. Since he did not start the job from the beginning, I gave him some ***** and accepted the results. After the job was completed, *** handed me an invoice for $1150 (labor only). He was there for no more than two hours. In reading reviews on other web sites, it appears that gouging customers is a common complaint of this company. After he left I discovered a spring on the shower ledge that he failed to put back in. I believe that was the missing piece that would have allowed the shower to function at 100%. I also had to clean up several valve fragments the he failed to dispose of. Even worse was that he made no attempt to clean up the lubricating oil that he dripped all over the shower floor. The smell was rancid. In the end this was very sloppy job done by an average skilled plumber who charged over 4 times what a highly skilled plumber would have charged.

  

  Business response

  12/28/2022

  On November 23, 2022 customer had contacted us to resolve the ******************** issue he has been having with his shower. We were able to come out that same day and resolve the issue. Few days later we were contacted by a customer with questions about the bill and were asked for some type of refund. During that initial call customer never mentioned any other issues he is mentioning here. We did explain to him our work and it's charges and did issue him a partial refund as a courtesy. Thank you for your time.

  Customer response

  01/04/2023

   
  Complaint: 18633994
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I did not bring up other issues in my call with *** because the outrageous charges were my main complaint that I wanted addressed.  In speaking with ***, he said that he had to charge that much because the job was hard and he had to be careful.  I am not sure what was so hard about the job for a self-proclaimed experienced and licensed plumber.  He had to unscrew two old shower valves and s**** in two new ones that I provided. As for the working conditions, *** didnt have to do as much as bend over in a large stand-up shower in a 70-degree house for the entire time he was here.  I also have never heard of charging more because you had to be careful.  I assumed that was part of anyones job when working in someones house. I have to believe that a more experienced plumber would have completed the job much quicker but I was willing to pay a reasonable fee just to get the job completed.  But not $575 an hour.  That is insane.  Keep in mind, this was not an emergency situation.  My shower had not been used in over a month.  This did not happen during a snow storm in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve.  It was on a normal Wednesday afternoon.  I am confident that *** was probably back home by 5pm. His website claims he provides Up-front Pricing.  That was definitely not the case with this job.  I think that *** looks to take advantage of situations where he doesnt think anyone will care if he over charges. Just because all the houses on our little street have high roof lines does not make them million-dollar homes.  I was looking to support a sole proprietor plumbing company as I have in the past, but in the end, I got totally taken advantage of.  The $200 refund that was later provided should have been the actual charges, not the paltry discount.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  

  Business response

  01/06/2023

  As customer previously stated, his previously hired ******* who was the first to touch the shower plumbing fixture not only lacked the proper tools as a professional in his field, but according to our observation lacked the expertise and the experience to sufficiently execute the work entrusted to him from start to finish.  Having said that, this was not the biggest issue in our opinion. The previously hired plumber had created a problem bigger than the problem he was called to fix.  He had created issues for the customer that had to do with the inconvenience of calling another plumber and the additional costs associated with his incompetence that the next plumber had to deal with, an issue which is not a simple thing if you are not an expert in your field as the customer already learned from his previous experience.  What we mean by that, is that whoever touched the shower fixture before we showed up, clearly didn't know what he was dealing with and in the middle of his unfinished work had excused himself by claiming he had no proper tools to do so.  He had messed up shower temperature control balancing valve to the point where we had to fix it first before we proceeded to address the original issue. Of course it would be less expensive for the customer had there been no issues created by another plumber, which was the case here unfortunately.  As mentioned earlier, we had to come up with the solution to fix the problem the previous plumber had created in the best and the most reasonable way possible. Also, keep in mind that the mess created by others requires an experienced plumber with expertise to fix it and most of the time it takes extra time to do so which was the scenario here and that resulted in higher cost to resolve the plumbing issue. Of course the work was done and both issues were resolved.  The reason we were not able to offer an upfront price to the customer for our work because it was not ******************* where you are the original plumber on the project from start to finish and know what lays ahead as opposed to fixing issues caused by a different plumber first before proceeding to the issue itself. We value our work and the customers we serve, we went an extra mile to help the customer out with the cost as much as we are able to do in order to keep serving the needs of others.Thank you for your time.re...

  Customer response

  01/12/2023

   
  Complaint: 18633994
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  It seems the folks at Ferrari Plumbing have reached a new low.   They are now trying to rewrite history in order to somehow justify their outrageous charges. They stated that He had messed up shower temperature control balancing valve to the point where we had to fix it first. That is an outright lie. First of all, the original plumber successfully installed the new shower cartridge that I provided. When he was going to test it, he noticed that the shower valves also needed to be replaced. There was nothing messed up.  *** did not fix it first before we proceeded to address the original issue.  If he had performed the temperature balancing task first, he would have been working in a totally wet shower.   The shower was bone dry the entire time he was replacing the shower valves.  Once he finally finished that, he was able to able to perform the temperature balancing which was not able to be done previously due to the shower valves needing to be replaced. *** claims to be professional and an expert plumber, but on this job,he proved to be just the opposite.  A professional plumber would not blame the guy before him, accuse him of being incompetent, claim he didnt know what he was dealing with, and lie about what the other guy did and didnt do. An expert plumber would have known how to take off the shower plate, would have known how to put it back together correctly,would not have left a needed part on the shower shelf, and would have known how to align the shower handle with the corresponding temperature marking. It would seem that *** had never done this type of job before.  When speaking to my original plumber about this situation, he apologized profusely for putting me thru this ordeal and promised to come back and correct the issues that *** screwed up.  That is what a true professional does.

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  

  Business response

  01/14/2023

  We value your feedback and willingness to engage in this conversation to try to understand the process. We understand that we see things differently as plumbers but at the same time appreciate your viewpoint even if it differs from our own.  Thank you. 

  Customer response

  01/20/2023

   
  Complaint: 18633994
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I am not sure what part of the response from Ferrari Plumbing I am supposed to accept. It sounds like they are just giving us the middle finger and walking away. They have provided no justification for charging $1150 to swap out two shower valves. They claim that they were not able to offer upfront pricing because it was not *******************. I am not sure how he made that determination since I told him over the phone exactly what needed to be done; he said he could do it; and that is exactly what he attempted to do. If it was indeed not *******************, I would assume that you would charge on a time and materials basis. Since he did not mention anything regarding price during his work, that was my assumption. I assumed (incorrectly) that he would charge a fair market rate for a plumber in this area. Boy, was I wrong. When I contacted the office manager later and asked what their hourly rate was, she said that they do not have one. I think that basically proves that *** will charge you whatever he feels he can get away with. In reading other review sites, there seems to be a pattern for this company to charge outrageous fees, even in cases where they are offered upfront pricing. The only thing we are thankful for is that *** did not have a matching shower part for our other bathroom. After *** replaced the valves, we asked him about an issue with our other shower and he told us we needed to replace the bathtub spout. He then proceeded to spend the next 15 minutes looking for a matching-colored part in his truck. We thank God he didnt have one or who know what our bill would have been. I am not sure that was even the best solution but we will leave that for a more qualified plumber to determine. In the end, that exercise only cost us about $200 for him to do nothing. We do not accept their no-response response. We called them out on their lies and their unprofessional behavior and they have nothing else to say. We are still demanding a refund.

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

• Initial Complaint

  10/08/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had made an appointment for 10/11/22 but received a call that they had a cancellation 10 min away and he could come give an estimate today 10/7. I said i really didn't have time as I am working from home, i was assured it would be quick. **** (plumber) arrived with ***** (***** apprentice). When I showed him the toilet, that would constantly run, he went on to try to damage the toilet by shaking the bowl (which is NOT loose at all) then said "it will probably need to be rebuilt") would not stop talking about the 3 toilets he just replaced for someone else. I said never-mind about the toilet for now, just let me know what you think is wrong with the shower in the other room. Instead he kept talking and talking about the toilet. I finally had to say, please stop with the toilet and let me know about the shower. He looked at the shower, I told him it has been dripping at different amounts for 8 months or more (so not a real big concern but needed to be looked at) I said what is wrong with it and can it be fixed easily, he would not commit, he said he has to remove the k*** to see, if just k*** $300, but If i need to "rebuild it".... I said WAIT what does that mean? going through the tile? and he said no i would go thru the drywall on the other side and that would be a lot more. I said well let me know and i'll decide when you give me your quote and let you know Tuesday. He kept coming downstairs by me and leaving ***** upstairs ( I have cameras in every room), but it was still unnerving. Then the tech came down, i asked if they figured out the problem with the shower, he said they were done. I was wondering why *** didn't come down to tell me, but I had to go up to find *** sitting on my toilet. Turns out, **** had ***** replaced the ****, without telling me or giving me a written quote, fine, but instead of the $300, he hands me a $1,480 bill for a rebuild that was not authorized, was NOT Done, he would not leave unless i forcibly signed his paper x 3, no $

  

  Business response

  10/11/2022

  ******************************* scheduled a service call with us to take a look at her shower leak and a toilet that was not flushing. The original service call was scheduled for 10/11/22 but since we had an opening sooner we had contacted the customer and she said it was ok for us to come out earlier. When we came out on 10/06/22, customer explained her ******************** issues and authorized us to go ahead and fix only shower leak and not the toilet that was not flushing as originally scheduled for. And since we will only repair what is authorized by a customer and nothing else and that's exactly what we did. After the work was done and the time came to check out and pay for our service, customer notified us that since her husband was out of town to ******* and is on an all day meetings and she doesn't have any forms of payment at the moment but will pay by Saturday, 10/09/22. Record of what I am stating here is included to this explanation for verification. We have no explanation as to why the customer says what she says as we came to fix her plumbing problems, one of which was authorized and is in fixed and the other, toilet issue was not authorized therefore we have not addressed it. Thank you for your time.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩