Taylor's Plumbing

We live just outside Dundas, Ontario on the escarpment. In July 2013 our water stopped running. We are on our own septic and well. We called Taylor Plumbing and they responded quickly. They assessed the situation and said we had to replace the line from the well pump (located in the well 10 feet off the back of the house) to the house pump (inside). $750 and $1350 The total estimate was $2100 to repair and it could be done the next day. We agreed and the work was done as promised. The inside pump is in a 'boiler room addition' to the back of the house. So breaching the thick foundation of the outside wall was not required. That boiler room had laminate flooring laid on top of the cement floor.

Over the next couple of years that laminate floor started buckling and we were not sure why. Until the following Spring the the ground was saturated (melting snow and constant rain, resulting in a flood of our entire basement. After much investigation we found the source of the water was indeed the wall where the inside pump was located.

We had little choice but to re-dig where Taylor had dug to lay the new line and sure enough the young guys who did the new digging (cost $2500) found a hole caused by someone stepping on the line before the hydraulic cement had dried. The line then popped back into it's resting place leaving a hole the size of the line - enough for the water to come in when the ground was saturated.

The leaks started slow and because the laminate flooring went unnoticed until the ground was saturated enough. Water always finds place to go and in this instance it was into our house via the hole left when doing the original water line repair. The young guys plugged the leak from the outside and then again from the inside. It's been a year and we have no water coming in.

Our insurance company had a ton of claims due to the wet Spring so it took more than 2 years to complete the repairs from the flood and another 6 months to settle all the accounting so we knew exact costs.

We reached out to Taylor Plumbing to discuss the $4500 we were out of pocket due to their error. Crickets. Another 2 months or so goes by.

I shared this story with my nephew and he wrote a Google review. The next morning we get a knock on the door and it is Brent T. from Taylor Plumbing asking if we could discuss our situation. He listened and went away to do his homework. Initially he claimed they did not do the work. They had no record of this at Taylor Plumbing. We found our cancelled cheque to both Taylor Plumbing and the excavation firm they hired to to the digging.

Brent came back within a week and said they had indeed done the work (which we could prove via our proof of payment) but too much time had gone by for them to stand behind their work.

He then said they did not breach the wall so they could not have caused the problem ***

He then said if I had called when we had it dug up... we took pictures of the hole before fixing it, which he did not even ask to see.

My wife - right as usual - said they would not own up. She called it before I even reached out to Taylor Plumbing to discuss the issue.

So bottom line, we are out the $4,500. And we paid $2,100 to fix one problem and create another even more expensive one.

I called to make an appointment to replace 2 white plastic baskets/strainers in my kitchen double sink. I was embarrassed to use professional plumbers for such a simple job but was willing to pay a reasonable amount to get it done properly. I was told that only stainless steel strainer assemblies were available, but I could not get an approximate quote from Taylor by phone for the straightforward replacement.

Having been recently ripped off in a home repair, I was anxious about the cost, so I purchased 2 plastic *** units on *** for $11.85 each and re-booked the appointment.
The Taylor employee (Rob) called ahead to say he would be 30 mins. but arrived over an hour later. He took 5 minutes to look under the sinks then went out to his van for 20 minutes to write out a lengthy estimate for perceived work . . .

Drain Repair: Call-out fee $39,70, customer-supplied basket/strainer replacement 2 x $200.10, tax $57.19. Total = $497.
Options: Replace dishwasher connection $250.76; replace shut-off valves 3 x $70.29; Taylor Value Plan 1 year $94.50; tax $72.30. Total = $628
Grand Total = $1,125

I was flabbergasted and told Rob that it was outrageous. I asked him to leave after paying him the call-out charge, which, on reflection, I shouldn't have paid.
Is there anyone out there who can regulate this and protect more vulnerable people?

P.S. I installed the 2 drain baskets within a half-hour after he left, and they are still watertight.
.

Worst service, called them to locate and take out missong drain snake, plumber listned half heartedly to the issue and without checking washroom or basement gave verdict that he has to rip open dry wall. Than they heard that problem is in the basement and cut the main sewage pipe coming down from second floor to basement. Than they figured out the problem is on the first floor so now they made a whole in the dry wall. Finally they found the problem is in the vent pipe now wanted to cut main piple in ceiling to confirm it. I had to stop him to cause further damage to the property and stop the ever increasing bill. In the end I was down by $760 and he still couldn't find missing snake. When I told him to stop he was trying to upsell me another service to find out the snake ð??±. No proper tools and not trust worthy at all