I'm 72 and a retired pastor. My wife and I scrape by on Social Security and have a small amount of savings. We recently had a pipe that wore through and caused a water leak. We called South West Plumbing because we had used them before and found them to be fair-priced and friendly. I should have known things had changed, however, when I contacted their dispatcher after the plumber missed the promised two-hour window for arrival at our home. She was rude and lied to me, saying she had phoned me several times and left several messages. I verified my telephone number with her and it was correct, but I told her that I had received no calls or messages from her. She replied by telling me that she would not send a plumber if I didn't answer the phone! About an hour later two plumbers arrived at our home and looked at the problem area. They quoted $2,300 to fix the situation by removing the old pipe and installing a new one made of plastic. Later, they found an additional pipe that was broken behind the kitchen sink which they also replaced for an additional $1,300. We paid a total of $3,600 for the work they completed in about 5 hours. After reading other reviews on Yelp today, I contacted a local plumber and explained what needed to be done. I did not tell them that another plumbing company had already completed the work. He quoted me a flat rate of $1,250 to complete the work (time and materials). That means my wife and I overpaid South West Plumbing to the tune of $2,300! I trusted South West Plumbing and paid the price. We are elderly people who simply needed help; they helped themselves. Shame on them!
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