Complaint Review: Affordable Water Heaters and Plumbing

My water heater stopped working.  I called the company that installed it-Affordable Water Heaters.  They told me that it would be a $99 Service charge just to come out and look at it.  When the tech got to my home, he said he knew what the problem was and could fix it.  I told him that the unit had not been installed that long ago and inquired if it was still under warranty.  He checked some numbers and told me it was and that parts would be covered but not labor.  He called his office and said that the cost to fix it would be $538.  I told him that seem awfully high and asked for a breakdown of the charges.  He told me that the part (Pilot Assembly Unit) was $299.  Labor would be $139 (it took him exactly an hour to fix the W/H) plus the trip fee of $99.  My first complaint centered on why they were charging me a trip fee AND a labor charge but i felt that they had me over a barrel.  Re the warranty, he told me that the process was that the company would fill out some paperwork to be reimbursed for the part from the manufacturer and then they would reimburse me.  This didn't set well with me but I had no hot water, so I agreed.  I asked him to break down the charges and put them on the receipt.  He did.  Having no idea what a pilot assembly unit is or what it looks like, I asked him to show me the part that he replaced.  When I looked at it, I was horrified.  This was not a $299 part.  I went online and discovered that Home Depot sells Water Heater Pilot Assembly units for $26.  I called the office and asked to speak to the Accounting office.  They informed me that I was confused about the charges. They plan to send me some kind of letter explaining away why I was charged $538.  I was charged $538 because they royally ripped me off.   

A few days after this incident, I had a leaky pipe in my kitchen and a real plumber (a reputable one) came out to fix it.  When I told him what I had been charged by Affordable Water Heaters to fix/replace the pilot assembly unit he was incredulous.  He confirmed what I already knew.  Affordable Water Heaters is a disreputable company that gauged me.  There are countless complaints about them all over the Internet (YELP, Angie's List, etc.).  Buyer Beware.  I should have checked them out years ago before ever making the decision to do business with them.  Plain and simple:  These people are thieves.