Brown Plumbing & Heating

Review: Brown Plumbing and Heating did service work in our home on our boiler in early 2013. I called Brown in reference to the bill after receiving the bill because I felt I was overcharged for travel time and labor that I was not responsible for. The service technician did not have the replacement part on his truck. He left to purchase the part, which after installation was determined to be defective. He uninstalled the part, left to purchase another replacement part, then installed it again. I felt I was charged for at least an additional hour of labor.

During the conversation Brown Plumbing, we agreed to take one hour off of the bill. The invoice was never updated to reflect that agreement. Brown Plumbing submitted the bill to a collections agency for "pre-collections". I paid the bill, less the one hour of labor. After paying, Brown Plumbing has continued to attempt collection of the extra hour which is in dispute.

Brown Plumbing has attempted further collections action, putting the bill into "collections" status. According to the collections agency, Brown Plumbing stated that the agreement to take off the one hour was an offer good for only one week, a condition that was never communicated to me in any form -- I expected to pay a corrected invoice that reflected our agreement, but an invoice reflecting our agreement has never been sent by Brown Plumbing.Desired Settlement: The desired outcome is Brown Plumbing honor its agreement and ensure this action is appropriately noted on my credit report.

Business

Response:

Dear Mr. [redacted]:

This letter is in response to the complaint filed by Mr. [redacted], ID# [redacted].

On March 18th, 2013, Brown Plumbing was called by Mr. [redacted] for a problem with heat at his residence. Brown Plumbing responded that same day. A technician was sent to the residence to troubleshoot the boiler problem. Mr. [redacted] was present when the technician arrived and proceeded to diagnosis the problem. The technician's resolution was--[redacted] Relay was bad. The technician then drove to the parts house that stocks this particular relay and purchased a new relay. He immediately returned to the residence and replaced the bad-old relay with a new relay. The new relay was defective. The technician advised Mr. [redacted] that he could still use the relay by rewiring the control. This control has 2 sets of terminals. Mr. [redacted] stated that he wanted a new relay, technician went back to parts house and returned the defective relay and once again returned to the residence and replaced relay with another relay. Brown Plumbing did not manufacture the relay.

Mr. [redacted] called Brown Plumbing and wanted a discount because the make of the relay had a defective part. I offered Mr. [redacted] a $38.00 credit toward his bill if he paid the bill in a timely manner. My office billed Mr. [redacted] for 9 consecutive months for this service. During this time, he made no effort to pay on the bill nor did he call the office and have any conversation regarding the statement. Statements were delivered to the correct address. No statements were returned undeliverable. Mr. [redacted] never made contact with Brown Plumbing until his over due account was turned over to a collection service.

Mr. [redacted]'s complaint has no basis as he was in the rears for making payments on account. He did not fulfill his part of the verbal contract of accepting the credit IF the bill was paid in a timely manner.

Brown Plumbing charges for services once a technician leaves the plumbing shop. The $38.00 credit was the travel back and forth to the parts house twice. I was willing to eat this charge even though I have no control over [redacted] products.

Please removed [redacted] from the complaint as he has no affiliation with Brown Plumbing.

Brown Plumbing

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Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received, your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Revdex.com,

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]

Re: original complaint #[redacted] I am in receipt of Brown Plumbing's response to my complaint. The technician from Brown did come to my home, diagnosed a bad [redacted] relay, left to purchase a new replacement because he did not have any stock on his work truck, and returned to my home. He replaced the bad relay with the replacement. After installing the replacement, he concluded (after attempting to make it work for approximately 15-20 minutes) that the replacement was faulty. At that time he informed me he could wire my boiler to be either on or off, but in order for the system to work properly, he would have to repeat everything he had already done -- drive to the parts house, exchange the faulty replacement for another new replacement, then drive back to my residence. I was not informed that I could "still use the relay by rewiring the control", I was told it would be either on or off. Regardless, the relay would not work as intended, and in my mind I had already paid for the technician to diagnose and repair the problem. I did not expect to have to pay for the same service twice. While I agree that Brown has "no control over [redacted] products", neither do I. Brown states they billed me for nine months and I made no effort to pay "nor did he call the office and have any conversation regarding the statement." Yet Brown acknowledges that I did call, they agreed to discount my bill, and I accepted (although my recollection was that it was for one hour). There were no terms attached, and in fact I was invoiced several days later and the discount was not reflected in the invoice. This is the first time Brown has acknowledged in writing that there was in fact a discount offered. For approximately eight months Brown billed me for an incorrect amount AFTER I had called them requesting a billing adjustment that they never made to the invoice. When Brown referred the account to collections, I immediately paid the amount that was not in dispute. According to the collections agency, Brown then referred the disputed amount for further collections.

Regards,

Business

Response:

mr [redacted] was told to take $38.00 off the bill if he paid in a timely matter. the terms stated 30 days, not 270 days for payment, he did not respond with any payment until he was turned over to collection. mr [redacted] had no intention of paying for any part of this service. mr [redacted] also is not telling the true story of what my technician had told him about the rewiring of the relay, my technician who has 35 years of experience in the plumbing trade had told him that the wiring whould work the same way as the other terminals would. mr [redacted] insisted that he wanted a new relay, as I stated previously stated brown plumbing did not make the relay. this bill has been turned over to a collection service and is out of brown plumbings control. sincerely brown plumbing and heating

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received, your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Revdex.com,

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

To begin with, Brown Plumbing has NEVER properly invoiced me

for the services performed after I spoke with them. Yes, Brown offered to take

what at the time I believed was one hour off the bill, but at no time was this

EVER reflected in their invoicing.

Brown continues to assert they did not make the relay. WELL NEITHER DID I! Yet Brown expects me

to pay… What is Brown's justification for

demanding that I pay extra for something that is not within my control and that I did not manufacture?

When Brown does not get its way, it accuses the customer of lying. The

technician did NOT say that the relay would operate in the same manner as

before it failed. I was told it could be wired "on", or wired "off", not

both, which is the function of the relay. If wiring accomplishes the same

thing as the relay, what is the point of a relay at all?

In summary, Brown failed to provide an accurate invoice. Brown doesn't

want to pay for faulty parts but expects me to. Brown says wiring

accomplishes the same thing as a relay, but sells me a relay anyway. Brown alleges I'm "not telling the true

story" when Brown's explanation doesn't make sense. Heck, they up-charged the price of the relay,

AND tried to make me pay for travel time twice. Finally, claiming ignorance of collections practices is ludicrous on its face since anyone who has engaged the services of a collections agency is fully aware that when a disputed debt is settled, it is the obligation of the original creditor to ensure further collections actions are halted.