All Hours Drain & Sewer Services, Inc.

Review: SERVICE PROVIDER (A PLUMBER) SOLD US AND INSTALLED AN INSINKERATOR GARBAGE DISPOSAL (SERIAL NUMBER [redacted]). THE SERVICE PROVIDER REPRESENTED THE DISPOSAL TO BE NEW AND JUST OUT OF THE BOX. THE DISPOSAL WAS TO COME WITH A 7 YEAR PARTS AND REPAIR WARRANTY. THE GARBAGE DISPOSAL STOPPED WORKING RECENTLY AND WE CONTACTED INSINKERATOR WHO INFORMED US THAT THE DISPOSAL IN QUESTION WAS IN FACT AN OLDER MODEL MANUFACTURED IN 1998 AND THE WARRANTY WOULD HAVE EXPIRED IN 2005. WE CONTACTED THE SERVICE PROVIDER ON APPROXIMATELY NOVEMBER ** OR **, 2013 AND HE ADVISED THAT HE WOULD COME TO TAKE A LOOK AT THE PROBLEM. HE CALLED ONE MORE TIME AND WE NEVER HEARD FROM HIM AGAIN. AS A RESULT, DUE TO SINK BACKUP, WE HAD TO CALL ANOTHER PLUMBER WHO CAME OUT THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING. WE WERE REQUIRED TO PAY FOR THAT SERVICE CALL AND ANOTHER GARBAGE DISPOSAL AT A TOTAL ADDITIONAL COST OF APPROXIMATELY $400 ($250 FOR NEW DISPOSAL, $150 PLUS SERVICE CALL).Desired Settlement: Reimbursement for out of pocket cost for new disposal $250

Business

Response:

The following is my response regarding the attached letter from [redacted].

When I sold the garbage disposal to [redacted] in December of 2012 I did

explain to him that this was a brand new unit, but it was an older model

but a good brand. I told him I will sell it to him at a discounted

price. We did not discuss anything about a unit warranty. I was

surprised to learn that he had a problem with the warranty and I did not

know it wouldn't be honored by the manufacturer, but I still would have

taken it upon myself, if given the proper opportunity, to stand by my

work. He agreed to the low price and we did the job in December 2012.

11 months later he did call me and stated that he felt it was not

working properly. I returned his call promptly and stated that I will

come over to assess the situation. He stated that he needed to

communicate with his wife and find out when she was going to be

available for me to come over and address the situation. He also stated

that he was going to try to get it working himself. I never heard back

from him. Not until this letter did I find out that he took it upon

himself to call another plumber to give him another garbage disposal.

His letter states that he called another plumber due to a sink backup

and had his garbage disposal replaced. A sink backup has nothing to do

with the garbage disposal. It was his choice to call someone else. When

I did speak to him before he had to check with his wife I did let him

know that I would come over free of charge and do anything necessary to

get his disposal working correctly or I certainly would have exchanged

it for another new one, if necessary, and do the work free of charge.

I was not given the chance to do so. There are many reasons that a

garbage disposal could not operate at any moment and I should have been

given the opportunity to assess the situation and get it operating. (ie;

electrical, or customer jammed an item in it) There is always the

possibility that the unit might not have been broken. If I felt the

disposal was defective after a year then I should have been given the

opportunity to take it back to where I purchased it from to receive

credit or exchange for a new one and then pass it along to [redacted].

I was surprised to receive this letter rather than a phone call for an

appointment after he checked with his wife's schedule of availability.

Thank you,

All Hours Drain & Sewer Services, Inc.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

While I appreciate the service provider's response, I am the one who had to pay twice for a disposal. Moreover, the manufacturer essentially was shocked that the model in question was sold to me as recently as 2012 as this was a model not manufactured since the late 1990s. For the service provider to state that the inoperable disposal had nothing to do with the sink backup is different than what we were told when the other service provider came out. Finally, after speaking with the service provider at issue - he easily says I had to check with my wife - that is not fully accurate. He said he needed to check his schedule and get back to us. He was to call back when he knew his schedule (said it would be a couple of days) and we never heard from him again. In my opinion an unhappy customer should be first priority.

Sincerely,