- Report: #913302
Complaint Review: Brown Plumbing - Redding California
Reported By:
S B -
Redding, California, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Confirmed
Why?
Brown Plumbing
Redding, California, United States of America
Phone:
244-7473
Web:
www.brownplumbing.com
Categories:
Business Rating:
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Brown Plumbing It's like flushing away your money! Redding, California
Our bad experience with Brown Plumbing: A plumber from Brown came out to fix a clogged drain with their snake. Initially, it seemed to work and we paid him $225....that seemed a bit high but at least it was fixed. But then and hour later, the drain clogged up again....it was not fixed.
The plumber came out a second time and determined that the snake this company had was not long enough for this job and our only alternative was to have some kind of hydro jetting done to our pipes......that was going to cost about $1000.00!!!...What??!!
So, we said...."No."
We called around and found another plumber who owned a longer snake. When he arrived the first thing he said before even starting was that if this snaking doesn't work he would Not charge us anything for this visit!!
He then proceeded to snake the pipes and ....lo and behold...it worked and has been clear for weeks now.....the problem was fixed and bill for that was only $89.00!!!!Plus, he gave us a 120 day warrenty for this service....none of that was offered by Brown.
So....we called Brown back and asked for a partial refund since we paid for a drain to be unclogged and they were unable to do the job. It took about 7 phone calls before we actually talked to the owner, who clearly hoped we would go away. We didn't even ask for a full refund....all we wanted was about half back or $100.00 out of the $225 that we paid for basically nothing. He finally agreed to a refund of $29.00 ....and that's what we got back....$29.00. They have certainly lost our business and probably the many others who know this story.....I hope Brown Plumbing thought it was worth it. You can judge for yourself whether or not to use this company.
The plumber came out a second time and determined that the snake this company had was not long enough for this job and our only alternative was to have some kind of hydro jetting done to our pipes......that was going to cost about $1000.00!!!...What??!!
So, we said...."No."
We called around and found another plumber who owned a longer snake. When he arrived the first thing he said before even starting was that if this snaking doesn't work he would Not charge us anything for this visit!!
He then proceeded to snake the pipes and ....lo and behold...it worked and has been clear for weeks now.....the problem was fixed and bill for that was only $89.00!!!!Plus, he gave us a 120 day warrenty for this service....none of that was offered by Brown.
So....we called Brown back and asked for a partial refund since we paid for a drain to be unclogged and they were unable to do the job. It took about 7 phone calls before we actually talked to the owner, who clearly hoped we would go away. We didn't even ask for a full refund....all we wanted was about half back or $100.00 out of the $225 that we paid for basically nothing. He finally agreed to a refund of $29.00 ....and that's what we got back....$29.00. They have certainly lost our business and probably the many others who know this story.....I hope Brown Plumbing thought it was worth it. You can judge for yourself whether or not to use this company.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Susan S B
Redding,California,
United States of America
Judge for yourself
#2Author of original report
Sat, July 21, 2012
Yes...we were fine with the $58.00 dispatch fee. We did agree to that.
This is why we did Not ask for a full refund.
As a matter of fact, we did Not ask for very much of a refund for a job that Brown Plumbing was unable to perform.
We paid $225.00 for absolutely nothing. They were unable to unblock the clog.
So, minus the dispatch fee, the bill was $167.00 and we asked for only $100.00 as a refund for a job they were not able to fix at all. We only received $29.00.
Brown Plumbing can attempt to justify their recommendation for additional work totalling over $1000.00 all they want.
But in the end, we found another plumber who did the job successfully for $89.00.
I leave it up to the people reading this to judge what they think is fair.
I will agree that Brown Plumbing, initially, never offered any kind of refund if they were unable to unclog this drain for the price they charged us. Other plumbers do offer this, including the second plumber we hired who was able to fix our problem easily. That is why I am writing this review (and others), in order to allow the public to determine their own course of action when choosing which plumber to use for their next issue. It is well worth doing more research before calling any service company...something we will not forget in the future.
Brown Plumbing
Redding,California,
USA
The rest of the story....
#3REBUTTAL Owner of company
Fri, July 20, 2012
On June 19th, 2012 we were called by the customer and told they had a kitchen sink that wasnt draining. We informed the customer that we charge a $58.00 dispatch fee for the technician to come out to the property and that the technician would give them a flat rate estimate for doing the job prior to commencing the work.
Our technician had the customer sign acknowledging the $58.00 dispatch fee upon arrival, looked at the problem, then gave the customer a written price of $167.00 for attempting to clear the kitchen sink drain line. The customer signed for the $167.00 estimate and the technician started the work.When the technician was done clearing the line, he ran water to test it and the drain was running clear. The technician then collected a check for $225.00 (the $58.00 dispatch fee and $167.00 per the written estimate) and left. Later in the day, the customer called back and said that the line was clogged up again. We returned the following morning and investigated the second stoppage without charging a second dispatch fee.
Our technician recommended that we clear the second stoppage from the drain line with a hydro-jetter, which is able to clear long drain lines without a significant risk of getting caught, which is a common problem when you run a snake over 75 feet, then reroute the drain line for the kitchen and install a cleanout, thus giving better access to the location of the probable stoppage and making it significantly easier to deal with any stoppages the customer may have in the future, saving them money in the long run.
The total estimate given for hydrojetting the drain line to clear the immediate stoppage, running a new, shorter kitchen drain line and installing a cleanout was $1,978.00. The customer declined the additional work we recommended and our technician left.When the owner of the company talked to the customer regarding our recommendations and why we felt they would be the best way to proceed, then offered the customer a refund of half the initial $58.00 dispatch fee as a gesture of goodwill.
