I recently had my old 40 gallon water tank go out. I went over to Home Depot to check out prices for tank and tankless water heaters. My wife and I are pretty strapped financially at the time and decided that since we had a Home Depot Card we would call the Home Depot Installation number for service. This would hopefully allow us to make payments over 6 months without interest. Two days without hot water in January was already taking its toll. I called the Home Depot Installation number. They were very courteous and quickly connected me to one of their local installers. They connected me to Superior Water and Air. I was able to arrange a free consult for the same day. The service representative was very was kind and clean cut. He offered a variety of options. The prices were very very high. Option1) a tankless Rinnai priced at 1200.00-1400.00 was offered with installation for a total of 5800.00. I understand that a little plumping and PCV duct work was involved but we are talking about 4-6 hours of work max. Many web sites estimate the average cost of this type of installation at 800.00 to 1000.00 dollars tops. Option 2) This included the Rinnai mentioned above but included a water softener system for a total of 11,900.00 ? well I could use my Home Depot Card and take 36 months to pay with no interest. This option would have felt like another care payment. Option 3) Replace an identical 40 gallon GE with a 12 year warrantee for 1495.00. The tank was going for 499.00 at Home Depot. The gas line did not need any work just two new connections for the hot and cold water lines to the tank. Really?? Even counting 100 bucks for tax and connections that leaves 900.00 installation fees for 2 hours of work. Option 4) 40 Gallon High Energy Efficient Tank installed for a total of 1995.00. I checked out the cost of the model offered and found it for 998.95 with free shipping. So this again is about a 900.00 installation fee for 2 hour of work. I eventually spoke with a coworker whose husband turns out is a plumber. I got his number and ran these prices by him and he was a bit shocked. I was frustrated not only with the rip off prices offered by Superior Water and Air but also with Home Depot. Maybe they like to refer to high price vendors especially for those of us charging to our Home Depot Card. Perhaps they too get a cut of the action and this more than offset any loss related to the 6-months free interest offers. To sum up I will no longer use their installation referral system. I?ll close my Home Depot Charge Card and drive the one mile further to Lowe?s Home Improvement.
more