Frozen pipes

Tim Haggerty

A friend of mine called me thursday last to say this current cold wave we are experincing on Long Island had laid claim to his kitchen sink. She would yield no water, the pipes to the sink were frozen. His house is on a slab, with no acess to the effected pipes. In the 12 years he has owned the house, this was a first. He called to ask my opinion, (I'm a bldg. engineer), I recomended calling a plumber, who could thaw the pipes, and hopefully no pipes were damaged. He called a licensed plumber, one he has used in years past.
The plumber arrived, and in less then one hour the pipe thaw did it's job. And more good news, no pipes were lost. He was billed $139.00 for the service call, and $469.00 for the one man, 2 hr. minimun. After Uncle Sam's bite, the total came to $678.00.
I know we live in a capitalist society, and he placed the call, but I never heard of anything like this.
Can this be legit, does the buyer have to be THAT aware.
Tim H.

Mark Walnicki

Was he given

fair warning? Regardless, an expert showed up to the house with the right tools, equipment, and experience to solve the problem in short order. As a building engineer, think of the knowledge you have gained over the years, knowledge that allows you to come up with solutions to problems, quickly, intuitively, and creatively. Knowledge that others don't readily possess, and it is worth their time and money to consult you, the expert, rather than spending their life energy puzzling it out on their own, and still possibly screwing it up.

ScottMP

Mark

I am ALL for profitable business and the concept of flate rating jobs does appeal to me for certain jobs. That being said ......

$ 234.00 an hour ?? Plus a travel time charge ???

Yes he should have asked, yes the man did the work.

Does the company get any future work ?? Not unless the home owner is smoking.

I think even the biggest FR proponents would have trouble with this one. Am I way off base here ?

How about some of you guys who bill FR, is this what the overhead comes out to ??

I will back way off if this is in the Major league ball park.

Scott


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Tim_12

I think that your friend should talk with the company, but also remember this could have had a much deeper out come!
Not saing that this was right but it was the after hours that has to be considered! Good Luck.

bovide

The HO should have negotiated

the waiving of the service call charge since the tech proceeded with the work. Although a HO w/frozen pipes may not be in the state of mind to do this. Tough call.

hot_rod

I'm with Scott on this one...

I too am a big proponent of FRP, however, it appears to me that someone is being greedy and taking advantage of someone in dire need. I think the Attorney General call it unconscienable pricing or something like that.

I'm all for being profitable, and a person has to charge what a person has to charge to be profitable, but if thats what this person has to charge in order to stay in business, words going to get out real soon about his pricing strategy and his phone will stop ringing from the customers, and will start ringing from the AG's office.

It's akin to quadrupling the price of water and gasoline in times of dire need. "I have it, and if you want it, you're going to have to pay dearly for it." That, topped off by the "And if you don't take action immediately, MAJOR damage could result and we could be back here with jack hammers breaking up your floor from your kitchen to the bathroom, pulling counter tops, blah blah blah". The consumer crumbles under pressure. Been there, had that done to me...

ME

heretic

Unconscionable

I'm a raging capitalist, but this is just the wrong approach to conducting business.
If you price gouge when the supply is low and the demand is high, I sincerely hope that 'market justice' will inflict punishment when the weather changes.

Mark Walnicki

Scott & Mark

Maybe I went too far to the extreme to make a point, one that often gets ignored, especially when numbers start getting thrown around, and the only focus is the numbers. Yes, the bill was a "wee tad" excessive. (Hmm, you think? :-) I too wonder if natural selection will weed somebody like that out. Word of mouth has a way of getting around quick.

Just didn't want the main focus to be on the numbers, as we all know, in business, our knowledge is a commodity, and we deserve to be compensated fairly for it. Maybe saying that is just more of a reminder for myself. Back out on the road again. This has always been the best damn way I've found to unwind after a day of running around and fixing stuff. Thanks for the posts guys!

nick z.

I must live...

in the wrong part of the country. A guy called me Fri. Night at 6:30 with frozen pipes and asked how much I was going to cahrge to come out right away. I told him 80.00$ for the first hr. then 50$ hr. after that. "HMMM let me get back to you" he said. In less than 5 min. he called back, and told me to come but thought the price was high.

tombig

Just a Thought

It kind of reminds me of the gas stations who tried (with criminal charges resulting) to gouge gas prices within hours of the 9/11 tragedy. All of us are in the business to make money. The job was done. The bill was served. You have to pay.

That said, I would like to say that there are unscrupulous contractors out there who take advantage of situations and customers. I think the amount you were charged would even have "Beverly Hills" contractors salivating. Some of the honest, hard working guys on The Wall might have given you a minimum service call and out the door if it was easy and you were a good customer.

Pay the bill. Chalk it up to experience. And don't call that guy again.