On Friday, September 26, 2008, I discovered that my toilet was leaking. After examining it closely, I decided that the leak was coming from the area of the inlet pipe. I figured that the rubber gasket (washer) on the inside of the tank needed replacement and went to Home Depot to get another one. The problem arose when I didn't have enough strength to loosen the bolt holding the inlet tube because I am an elderly person.
Because the weekend was approaching and this toilet was in the half bath, I decided to wait to call a plumber until Monday (September 29, 2008) because I thought it would be less expensive than calling on a weekend. I didn't know any plumbers and so just opened the yellow pages to "Plumbers" and picked one out of the book. The one I called was DAY & NITE PLUMBING & HEATING INC." I was told that there would be a service charge and fuel charge just to get the man out to my house ($74) and I agreed to that, figuring that it would be absorbed as part of the overall charge.
When the man arrived, I was told that it was not a gasket but, rather, that he had to put in a new fill valve and angle stop. I didn't think that an entirely new assembly was necessary but he insisted that it was. (Incidentally, I still don't think that total replacement was necessary.) He told me that the cost was going to be in excess off $300 -- IN ADDITION to the $74 service/fuel charge. I argued that this was an outrageous price and he refigured it by combining some prices and reduced it by a little more than $100 to come out to $233.07. When asked if that sounded like a better quote, I told him that it was still outrageous but to go ahead and do it because I would have to pay for the service call and fuel charge, regardless. I argued that I could have gone to Home Depot and purchased an entirely new toilet AND HAD THEIR PEOPLE INSTALL IT for less than what I was being charged. His retort was that the toilet would have been a "piece of junk." I pointed to my toilet and told him that I didn't need a throne, just a toilet!!! At any rate, I signed the work authorization for the sum of $233.07 plus the $74 service/fuel charge (which I felt should have been included in the sum of $233.07). I authorized him to charge my credit card account for the total of $333.48 which included the tax.
On October 2, 2008, I received a telephone call from DAY & NITE PLUMBING telling me that they were going to charge my credit account with an additional sum of money because of an "adding" error on the part of the plumber. I tried to explain to him that he had discounted the amount by over $100 because I had complained about the outrateousness of the charge. He didn't care about that so I told him that THEY WERE HIGHWAY ROBBERS and humg up on him. I DID NOT AUTHORIZE HIM TO CHARGE MY CREDIT CARD WITH ANY MORE MONEY. However, it sounds as though he has gone ahead and charged my card anyway so I guess I'm stuck. I don't know what to do but I am very, very angry.
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