Neerings seems very expensive for undesirable results. I'll use Superior Water next time. I hired Neerings to fix a drinking-water faucet that leaked inside the faucet and around the base, and to fix a toilet that was clogged. The water faucet was a simple, on/off cold-water-only generic faucet for reverse osmosis drinking water. Neerings sent their plumber Jeff who has 21 years experience, and he came, and went away with the faucet not fixed at all, and the toilet only partially cleared, and a $383 bill for the visit with an astronomical quote to return and do better.
Jeff charged me $143 to diagnose the leaky faucet. He didn't fix it, but quoted an additional $308 to replace it with a faucet he found by calling around.
$280 to run a plumber-snake through my toilet ("auger"). The toilet can now flush, but he said he still felt something inside, that his snake could not dislodge; so the toilet could easily get clogged again any time. Really? $280 to ram a snake through the toilet for less than five minutes? Not more like $80, and then the extra cost can go to other/different work of removign the toilet? I didn't want it to still have a problem when he finished, so I asked how much to really fix it. He said that for $385 he could remove the toilet, look inside and maybe fix what's there (likely debris left by the original construction), and then replace it. That cost is the price of some new toilets! Else I could buy a new no-clog bigger-pipe toilet on my own (to be an upgrade to what I have), and he would install that toilet for $580 with no guarantee, or pay them $1349 to install a guaranteed replacement.
I called Superior Water and they said I have a $90 faucet, and could replace it for 90+80, else offer an upgrade.
Why didn't Jeff from Neerings, with his 21 years experience, not know on sight that this type of faucet cannot be opened and could be replaced with a $90 part? Seems like I should have paid him at most $180 for his visit, and not $383.
more