Bernardini Remodeling

Complaint[redacted] Bernardini does plumbing and home repair work. We requested his company to come and estimate the cost of repairing plumbing issue and ceiling repair. We were informed that he was a licensed plumber. It was revealed after the work had began that [redacted] Bernardini is not a licensed plumber. We agreed to have the work done base on the estimate given. [redacted] Bernardini changed his price structure after the job was done and stated that he would now charge by an hourly rate plus trip charges. Which increased the amount owed. It is very important that companies inform there customers of any additional fees prior to charging. [redacted]Bernardini was given every opportunity to do so, but did not. This is a very unethical business practice and should have been addressed before as well as during the job requested.Desired SettlementDetails of rate charged and justification. Partial refund for over payment.Business Response Response to Case#XXXXXXXXI apologize for the delay in responding to the Jan 7 notification of the complaint and to the copy furnished Jan 12. I began my response the next day, but as my work files were not available until Jan 18 due to a house fire and our evacuation, I was delayed in finishing with the pertinent details.My business is not called Bernardini Services. I did not receive any mail from the Revdex.com and was unaware of any complaint until the Jan 7 phone call.Estimate of work to be done: $680.00Invoiced Amount for work performed: $770.02Summary of Events:On October 17, 2014 I was contacted by the client (wife) who got my name from a co-worker for whom I had made several repairs/improvements. I visited the home on Oct 20 to assess the damage and make a plan for repairs. She expressed her desire to make the repairs quickly as this had been in a damaged state for some time and had been unsuccessfully repaired before.I made an estimate on Oct 20 of cost to repair the client's ceiling damage and correct a possibly leaking tub drain as the likely cause of the repeated damage. Estimate: $680.00. The client was very happy for me to come make the repair as soon as she could arrange her father to be present while she was at work. He would sand, prime, and paint after we finished.After arriving and setting up on October 30, we removed a portion of the damaged sheetrock ceiling to gain access to the drain and underside of the tub. Attempts to verify the drain or plumbing as the client's suspected source of the leak were unsuccessful. After several hours of research, I concluded that the sloped floor with damaged trim, carpet, and sub flooring were evidence of a different problem. A drip test made me confident that water splashed outside the tub provided the damaging water. A brief midday visit by the client's husband brought repeated emphasis on finding a plumbing leak, which we obliged briefly. Again, no leak from drain or plumbing was found.We dried out the trim and sub floor and repaired the ceiling piecing in new sheetrock and applied tape & 2 coats of mud. The next day I made 2 separate trips for trim replacement and thorough caulking of all bathroom floor surfaces, and for subsequent coats of mud and sanding, which the father was not capable of doing. That left one more trip for final sanding, priming and cleanup. After completion on that third day, I presented my bill and we discussed at length why the price was different than the estimate. I was paid the full amount of my detailed invoice and gave thorough explanation of the charges. The husband indicated his displeasure, in part, because his wife had agreed to my work and estimate, and in part because he objected to being charged more for doing different work than estimated. My attempts at explaning the difference between what we thought might be the problem, what the actual problem was, and what it took to correct the problem seemed to fall on deaf ears. He paid me the full invoiced amount. Response to specific claims of complainant:1) They wrongly assumed it was a plumbing problem.2) Neither I nor the referring customer/coworker ever indicated that I was a licensed plumber or worked for one or was bringing one to the job. Mr. [redacted] confronted me with a suspicion that I was not a plumber at the time after the job when he raised concerns about the price.3) No flat rate trip charges were billed. I did charge travel time for three additional trips to the job site due to changes in the work to be done and the fact that Mrs. [redacted]'s elderly father was not going to do the floating, sanding, priming, and painting as originally thought. 4) I do not understand what it means that I was given "every opportunity" to inform them of additional fees. Neither of the couple was home at the same time or during much of the work. When they were, they and the father in law were made fully aware that I was repairing a leak source that was not what they had indicated, and I was doing the extra work of floating, sanding, and priming that the elderly father could not do. [redacted]Bernardini RemodelingAttachment 1: Email EstimateAttachment 2: Email Estimate ResponseAttachment 3: Estimate WorksheetAttachment 4: Daily Log of Work/MaterialsAttachment 5: Invoice