Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The people who don't do that work for a living always talk about how simple it is, but the plumber is usually there busy the entire time for 2 hours and they have all the tools and experience. Their cost of parts is going to be higher because they have to stock them or go out and get them and support them.
I fully understand all of that. I've both done this work myself and had licensed plumbers do it.
However, from the OP's posts, the GD replacement was extra, add-on work not specifically requested (and therefore, if charged at all, should not be charged at a whole-job rate), and the total is still beyond inflated into "obscene."
My 80 year-old mother suffered a massive stroke at the beginning of the month, so my 81 year-old father has been exhaustively caring for her, traveling 2 hours daily to her hospital, managing her acute care placement, doctors, insurance and so on, for the past 3 weeks. From out of state, I hired a (uninsured) housekeeper to come clean their home to help him at this time. I hired a moron, apparently, as she stood in their undermount kitchen sink in order to "reach for something". The sink dislodged from the counter (Ceasarstone) and had to be reinstalled. Normally my dad would take this on himself, but exhausted and time-stricken, he called a local plumber (Indiana). They reattached the sink (using silicone caulk and a car jack) and at the same time, replaced an old Sinkerator that needed replacing. I had in my mind an absolute MAXIMUM of 800 bucks for this job...and having lived in NYC for 27 years and now Chicago, and going through two complete kitchen renos, I thought I'd be close, if not pleasantly surprised by a lower smaller-town cost.
Got the bill. He was billed $1,611.58...more than 3 times the national average for an undermount sink install per google, with $1,229 of that being labor costs, including "Service call for first hour including travel to job".
Is this in any way reasonable? I was utterly stunned and then angered by it. It feels like they jacked my elderly father for this in a big way, but before I attempt to fight it, am I right?
Thanks in advance!
Way out of line. Labor over $150/hour? Even with a call fee of usually $150 8 hours of labor at the high end of $40 an hour would no where near come to this. Now getting to the rest of the bill? They are putting in a mighty expensive garbage disposal. I would call the owner of the company and dispute this bill as being too high. That said, your dad might submit this to his insurance company and see if some of the costs can be covered and next time higher a maid company with insurance. You will pay higher but they will be responsible for things such as this.
My 80 year-old mother suffered a massive stroke at the beginning of the month, so my 81 year-old father has been exhaustively caring for her, traveling 2 hours daily to her hospital, managing her acute care placement, doctors, insurance and so on, for the past 3 weeks. From out of state, I hired a (uninsured) housekeeper to come clean their home to help him at this time. I hired a moron, apparently, as she stood in their undermount kitchen sink in order to "reach for something". The sink dislodged from the counter (Ceasarstone) and had to be reinstalled. Normally my dad would take this on himself, but exhausted and time-stricken, he called a local plumber (Indiana). They reattached the sink (using silicone caulk and a car jack) and at the same time, replaced an old Sinkerator that needed replacing. I had in my mind an absolute MAXIMUM of 800 bucks for this job...and having lived in NYC for 27 years and now Chicago, and going through two complete kitchen renos, I thought I'd be close, if not pleasantly surprised by a lower smaller-town cost.
Got the bill. He was billed $1,611.58...more than 3 times the national average for an undermount sink install per google, with $1,229 of that being labor costs, including "Service call for first hour including travel to job".
Is this in any way reasonable? I was utterly stunned and then angered by it. It feels like they jacked my elderly father for this in a big way, but before I attempt to fight it, am I right?
Thanks in advance!
Call the owner and talk it out. If that don't work, send him what you think is fair and tell him tough **** for the rest. It's unlikely he'll do anything over a small amount. Definitely an excessive bill for an easy day job that probably had a max of $200 in materials?
I've legit messed up some clients bills at times but when they call I'll go back through it. It's often related to mislabeled receipts I get back or general confusion.
Estimates wouldn't necessarily have saved you if you're out of state and your dad is elderly and the company decided to pad it. I got a $5,000 estimate for some electrical work not long ago and they came back with a $15,000 bill, with a few grand of actual work done (wasn't my first rodeo). Told them to take a hike.
You are assuming it is a scam. The plumber might not feel that way. Very easy to run over your payables to a collection agency, it is cash for them immediately. Replacing an Sinkerator with a similar model is much more than $100.00. Labor is much more than $100.00. You don't know the nature of the exact work that was done, there could be much more so it to fix the damage caused. I don't know why people go flying off handle saying everything is a ripoff when they know nothing about it. As I have already posted, until you get a second opinion by someone to inspect it you don't know if this was a high charge or not. You might not even be able to see all the work that was done caused by an idiot stepping on the sink.
You don't trust who you use, then you find someone who you can trust to do the work. That isn't difficult. But if you don't trust them, even if it was a perfect and fair price you are going to come on to C-D and complain about it. $100 for a garbage disposal, no way would I install a piece of junk builder's special to replace it, please!
A basic InSinkerator, which is likely all they need, is about $100...look it up. And anyone can replace it under 30 minutes. An experienced plumber should be able to do it in under 20 minutes. To charge more then $100 for 20 minutes of very easy work is nuts. Nothing more than a con-man scam artist.
Just throwing this out there...did the plumber give you an itemized list of charges?
I'd ask to see one of those, then proceed...at least you'd have some ammunition to call him on.
And hopefully get the right 'senior' pricing. (senior discount)
8 hours of labor at the high end of $40 an hour would no where near come to this.
Where on earth are you getting a licensed plumber to work for $40/hr? For most metro areas, you can easily triple that number. You might be able to find a handyman that works for that kind of money (even that is doubtful in most areas), which is probably who should've done the install.
That said, the OP did get totally ripped off. $500 would be more reasonable, even for a higher priced area. Anything over $1000 is completely out of line.
Where on earth are you getting a licensed plumber to work for $40/hr? For most metro areas, you can easily triple that number. You might be able to find a handyman that works for that kind of money (even that is doubtful in most areas), which is probably who should've done the install.
That said, the OP did get totally ripped off. $500 would be more reasonable, even for a higher priced area. Anything over $1000 is completely out of line.
To be honest, you don’t hire a plumber to install a new garage disposal. A handyman will be cheaper, and will likely only charge $100 for labor. A plumber may charge $200+, sadly.
You said "they" fixed it, so there was more than one person. Plumbers charge $80/hr minimum. If there were 2 people, that is $160/hr, minimum. Six hours would be close to $1000. And an hour got burned on travel time, so five hours at the job site. It sound plausible to me.
You would have been billed for the estimate. You should ask the hourly charge before scheduling. Nobody is going to give a binding estimate over the phone.
You said "they" fixed it, so there was more than one person. Plumbers charge $80/hr minimum. If there were 2 people, that is $160/hr, minimum. Six hours would be close to $1000. And an hour got burned on travel time, so five hours at the job site. It sound plausible to me.
You would have been billed for the estimate. You should ask the hourly charge before scheduling. Nobody is going to give a binding estimate over the phone.
If you call his county/city aging dept (some are called Dept for the Aging as well) they may know who the scammers and con artists are.
You might want to get some numbers of these helpful people for future reference. They can supply free wheelchairs, walkers, quick furnace repair, help with fuel costs. I know someone who had something new put in and their aging dept in their area said they could have gotten her that free because of the people they work with and reach out to.
Kind of like when you're a new parent. This is another new life stage and it's very helpful to put out feelers and get help and info going.
The office on aging can help with all kinds of referrals... housework, helpers of all kinds, companions, etc. Better than picking someone out of the phone book or yellow pages listings. Your dad doesn't have to navigate this all on his own.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
