A1 Plumbing, Pumps & Water Treatment Reviews (%countItem)
A1 Plumbing, Pumps & Water Treatment Rating
Address: 950 Fish and Game Club Road, Frankford, Ontario, Canada, K0K 2C0
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Total lack of communication, and feel taken advantage of
I had my well pump quit back on March 12, 2018, I had purchased my own pump and called A1 plumbing to come out and install it for me as they were recommended to me, I was at work when it quit and had called A1 at 430 to come install it as I finally found one to purchase. When I called I told them what had happened and what needed to be done, I was told it was going to be $180 as it would be time and a half for two guys I said ok just have someone here as soon as possible. That is all I was told. Once repairs were done I received a bill for $984. I was floored as they were only here for 2 hours, they charged me for 5 hours, 3 of those hours as drive time when their shop is only 20minutes from my home. Being a new home owner and not knowing how companies work, they never explained that over the phone to me, because if they did I wouldn't have had them come out. I would have waited until the morning and called another trusted company in. I paid the company just over 500$ and for 3 hours, even though they were here for 2hours, I felt taken advantage of receiving a bill like that. They could have explained it or showed me a contract to why they charge what they charge, so I paid them for what I felt was fair. Not to mention they told me they had the one part they needed in their truck and they didn't so they left to drive into the nearest town (20min away) to get the part and returned back an hour later. I refuse to pay for drive time due to the fact that how am I to know the company didn't stop to eat somewhere, or stop for gas or at their home, I find it totally unfair to charge people for drive time. I don't get paid to drive myself to my job, I get paid when I walk into the premises, just like everyone else out there. They are sending me to collections for the remainder of 484$. Which is another thing I find strange as they didn't ask for any information about me just a phone number, so how does that work for collections? *** Also the next day I had no hot water or lights to half of my house, if I didn't know better to check the fuse panel I would have had to call an electrician in as they failed to turn on the breakers to the rest of my home, hot water tank was turned off at the breaker and never turned back on so therefor no hot showers or anything which was an inconvenience to my family.
Initial Business Response /(1000, 5, 2018/04/12) */
The job in question did not occur on March 12th. We received a call from this customer (***) at approx 4:30pm on March 19th 2018. *** explained she had no water and would like us to come out and change her pump. She had bought a new one already. We explained to *** our hours of operation and let her know it would be billed at our emergency after hours rate which is $150 per hour and $30 for a helper, totaling $180 per hour. Given this we encouraged her to wait until the morning and we could make her our first call of the day at our regular rate of $89 per hour, plus $30 for additional man. ***'s exact words were "I need it done now". We suggested again she wait and we could even supply the necessary equipment to offer her better value and warranty. She declined and wished to have it done asap regardless of the after hours rate.
I had to call two of our guys back in after already finishing their day, paying them over time and a 3 hour minimum each.
Our trucks left the shop at 5:05pm and billing began at this point. Upon arrival our technicians discovered that the well was in the basement of the home and the actual issue was that the well had a copper vertical suction line that was rotted out and full of holes. Both of these issues are unusual to say the least and made the job much more difficult then a pump change as described. *** was friendly and helpful with our staff and still wished for work to continue at this point. Our technicians removed the ridged suction line, replaced it, installed the customer supplied equipment, primed the pump and had her water back on shortly after 9:00pm. The technicians returned to the shop at 9:48pm at which point the billing ended. The technicians reported the job went very well and the customer was happy. *** signed the invoice without concern. Our technician removed the $30 extra man charge from each billed hour as a discount to the customer. We billed $150 for 5 hours (5pm-10pm). *** signed the invoice and she agreed to pay via e transfer and said we would receive it by 9am. We explained that if we did not receive the etransfer we would have to remove the discount, we wrote this on the bill and *** signed and agreed.
We never received payment from *** and never heard from her. When we followed up she explained she could not afford it. She then started to complain about paying travel time.
She eventually agreed to pay the bill in full. She wished to pay half via etransfer right away and then would pay the rest the following Friday. She was concerned her husband would be mad if she paid it all right away. We agreed to this and accepted partial payment. *** has not paid the remaining bill. *** We will also be removing the discount from her bill and adding costs of having to go through this process with her, including the time it took us to write this reply.
I am including texts that show *** agreed to pay and also the invoice she signed with a note agreeing to pay via etransfer by the next morning.
We are always willing to work with customers and offer credit where its due. We have been in business 10 years and this is our 2nd Revdex.com complaint. We will not tolerate people accusing us of being unfair when the core of the issue is the customer cannot or will not pay. We were upfront about our pricing, offered less expensive options, completed work requested and billed accordingly. The only party not holding up their side of the bargain is the customer.
We do charge for travel time. We do charge for time to run for parts. This is standard in our industry. This is the first I've heard of fuses or water heater not working. If this was a concern and *** called we could have addressed. *** did mention they are new homeowners and have had a lot of issues, I am sorry for their situation but I do not feel it's necessary for it to cost me money.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /(3000, 7, 2018/04/13) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I wasn't informed of travel, I was only advised about $180 that was it, the technicians never explained what was wrong until they told me they had to leave to go get a part that they said they had in the truck. I never said I could not afford it I said they failed to disclose travel time that's my issue. And yes it was the 19th sorry.
Final Business Response /(4000, 10, 2018/04/17) */
We have been upfront about our costs and billing procedure since the original call. It is unreasonable for the customer to state that we would agree to change a pump, after hours for a total of $180.
Our after hours rate for two plumbers is $180 per hour from the time of dispatch until they return to the shop. The customer was billed fairly from 5pm - 10pm. Our technician even waived the second man charge and reduced the hourly rate to $150. When the customer had no means to pay at the end of the job she signed the bill and agreed to send an email transfer the next morning for the total amount.
We believe any concerns that were shared following this agreement are due to the fact they do not want to pay the bill.
From the first call we advised the customer to wait until the morning so we could address the issue on regular time, saving her money. She declined and wanted it done right away.
In regards to the well seal our technician noted the well was not sealed even before work began, due to the existing plumbing of the well it would have been impossible for it to be sealed.
The customer stated she has never had this issue with the well seal, yet also admits she is new to the home. Therefore would not have known how the well, which is located in her basement would behave in episodes of heavy ground water.
We would have been happy to continue working with the customer and address these additional plumbing concerns. However, we have never been paid for our initial trip.
We standby our work, and always attempt to come to an agreement for the very few customer issues we experience.
The total invoice came to $983.10
The customer has paid $500
The amount due is $483.10
This amount is still reflective of the discount we offered upon completion of the bill. We stated in writing on the bill that should it not be paid in full vie etransfer the following day the discount would be removed. The total discount offered was $150 before hst ($30 per hour x 5 hrs).
As a final attempt to resolve we will continue to honour the discounted amount and give the customer until the end of April to pay the balance.
The customer shared that they are new home owners and we will accept the fact that they may not understand or agree with the value in having license tradesman perform repairs to their home.
If the customer is not happy with this offer we will have no other choice but to pursue the amount ***
Final Consumer Response /(4200, 12, 2018/04/19) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
They were not upfront with drive time cost they only said 180/hr and they were here for 2hrs and then left to get a part that they said was in the back of the truck. My well was sealed they had ripped all the sealant off and the protection that was on the old pipe which was sealing the well lid, I have pictures from before during and after. We have lived here for over a year and a half and never had an issue with the well leaking. Their lack of turning breakers back on which left me with no hot water for 24hrs, their lack of resealing my well lid, that cost me my time off work to deal with a flooded basement and clean up caused by their lack of incompetence, I have never had a company charge me drive time, ever, I also contacted my previous landlord that dealt with after hour repair bills at our previous home and he said he was never charged drive time, I have spoke to many people about this and they said it shouldn't have cost me that outrageous amount as I was the one that supplied the pump and tank. I am beyond irritated as they never even discussed anything with me when I asked them in person as well about my bill they just handed it to me after the fact, when I asked them when they arrived what the cost was going to be, I agree $180/hr which I paid for 3hrs I am not paying for 2hours of drive time. Which they did not show up right away for. It does not take an hour to get from their shop to my home.
We received incredibly poor service while dealing with our basement flooding. We ended up getting our friend to fix the issue.
My neighbour had gotten A1 plumbing to help them with their flooded basement and suggested to us to get them to do the work because they were so fast and quick to do the work. So my mother called them and the man came over the Tuesday night (May 30th) and said he would call me the following morning and the come out and perform the work.I did not hear anything so around 4:00pm May 31st I called and he was still not sure if they were going to do it or not. So this was kind of annoying but I understood because it was a busy time. So he finally decided they would do it and come out the next day. Didn't show. Then they were going to come the Friday at 9:00am. So 9:30 rolls around and no one is there so I call at 11:00am and he said that they were working on stuff and would be there after lunch, so I said ok. Around 2:00pm my mom called them because no one was there yet (please note we had to vacuum up the water this entire time approx every 1-2 hours there would be a couple inches in the basement). So when my mom called he still said they were working on it and would be there soon. So at 4:30pm I called him because no one was there and we hadn't heard anything, then 5:00pm comes along so I call again. I didn't hear anything from him so at 5:30 I called and left a message giving him my name and number and asked him to call me back ASAP. I never heard anything. My mom is not in the best health to be dealing with this and between work I do not have the time to deal with this either, it was an emergency. My friends from work ended up coming over and temporarily fixing the problem. Overall, I had a very bad experience and would not recommend this business because they are not reliable or dedicated to their work. I am very disappointed and upset about this entire experience. If you need work done and actually want it fixed go somewhere else- to a company that will actually follow through and do the work.
Initial Business Response /(1000, 5, 2017/06/26) */
Hi ***,
I am sorry you feel this way. The extreme weather affecting our area has had us running around the clock trying to get to everyone. We felt bad for your situation, as you explained you had been vacuuming up water constantly. The concerning part for us was that if we were to jackhammer a hole in your floor for a sump bucket we may not have been able to contain the water and could have made things worse. I explained to you we were hesitant as your neighbors didn't go smoothly. We kept re-booking with you in hopes the ground water would recede. Of course this didn't happen. I apologize for what seems to be a lack of communication. However I would prefer you be upset about us doing no work at all, rather then doing work poorly.