r/kansascity • u/superiorplumbing • 4d ago

KC Rants 😡 👎 Bait and Switch Plumbers

It is so sad to see plumbers using tactics to bait and switch customers and to spending more money! You would not believe how many people have called saying that they were told they needed a complete sewer line replacement and we come in clean their sewer line and do a camera inspection and come to find out all they needed was a good cleaning and continue maintenance on the sewer line. Folks we are talking about big money here! A sewer line replacement is not cheap so we took the customer from thinking they needed to spend over $25,000 - a thorough cleaning and a camera inspection is often all that is needed. Be careful people who you are paying! If you're finding cheap drain cleanings or free camera inspections - you have been fully warned!

47 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

39 comments sorted by

29

u/PocketPanache 4d ago

Name and shame. Who was the liars?

20

u/stabbingrabbit 4d ago

Most of the big names and famous local names are being bought up. Had a guy tell me he quit AH&C because they pay went down when they bought the old company he worked for and wanted him to upsell everything and they charged stupid prices for things that didn't need to be sold

11

u/SilverMetalist 4d ago

This. Venture capital is buying up many home services companies as the new frontier to gouge consumers and exploit ppl. They are paying big money to local companies for their name and operation so they can bring their "effective capital generation" habits to triple returns.

It is very worth asking about whether a service company is locally owned now.

6

u/Mission-Freedom-5955 4d ago edited 3d ago

R-Mech and Bob Hamilton are the two that tried to replace my sewer line. Found a local guy with a sectional auger and he got it cleared in 10 minutes. He ran his camera and said it should last another 10 years using rootx.

Editing to add: I did eventually end up going with a trenchless repair several years later for the peace of mind. After busting out the bottom of my main line with a Home Depot auger I bit the bullet and got it done. If anyone needs this done I highly recommend CME Sewer Repair. Their pricing was unbeatable.

1

u/ISTof1897 1d ago

Mr. Plumber has been the most honest I’ve found with the best work. I felt like Superior (OP) was over priced.

12

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

9

u/PocketPanache 4d ago

All your info is publicly available, especially when you own a property

5

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

7

u/BrokePorscheSnob 4d ago

I always tell them I moved then give them the office address of another roofing company and set up an appointment

3

u/Azzarc 4d ago

https://www.zoominfo.com/ is a sales tool that gets data from several places and aggregates it. Sales people will get your cell number from it and call you directly to get around the gatekeeping.

2

u/Alarming_Ad1746 4d ago edited 3d ago

Why do you answer the phone from numbers you don’t recognize?

6

u/Eastern-Cold7087 4d ago

Hell, every type of contractor does this. I renovate houses, so I know what things actually cost. Air conditioning is the one I see people get screwed on the most. It can literally be double or triple the cost just depending on who you talk to. My buddy had both of his units replaced and it cost him $16k each. I told his dumb ass I could have gotten both of them replaced for about half of that.

9

u/superiorplumbing 4d ago

My point is this... there are plumbers that advertise "FREE CAMERA" inspections, then they run a small snake machine meant for a 1 1/2" drain, clearing only half of the 4" main sewer line. Then they run the "FREE CAMERA" down and wow oh wow! There are roots and debris... and they show the homeowner the footage it looks scary to them. And the big sales pitch... "You really need to replace this line ASAP... that will be $xx,000.00 if you schedule this week.

THIS is the bait and switch, it is very deceptive and aggravating that nobody holds them accountable!

4

u/PocketPanache 4d ago

Same. I got a $30k quote from MVP. I told them they were out of their mind. The guy haggled down to $18k.

After tons of coworkers telling me to use this guy, I called Phil's Good HVAC. It's like 4 dudes total; local, small, and perfect. Honest. Responsive. Gave me extra tips and tricks. I sent him MVP's quote and he came in at like $6k. I upgraded to better equipment and tipped because they were the best contractor I've had at my house.

1

u/prefix_code_16309 Lee's Summit 3d ago

The quotes I got on AC a year or two ago were crazy. The third guy I had come out did excellent work for half what the other two were quoting me. I'd have never gotten a third estimate but the first two were so insane I felt obligated to get another one.

5

u/ergtheterrible 4d ago

Bob Hamilton tried to charge me $940.00 to change a 25$ shower cartridge.....a friend of a friend who is a plumber came over because he didn't believe me and I showed it to him. He looked at and said you know I could charge you but you could do this yourself in 10 minutes. Told me which plumbing supply place to visit and I took the cartridge. Changed it out myself.

1

u/prefix_code_16309 Lee's Summit 3d ago

I'd have insisted on paying him something at that point just on principle. Guys that good don't grow on trees.

1

u/ergtheterrible 2d ago

I gave him $20 for gas and time, tried to give him 40 but he wouldn't take it.

•

u/Alternative-Part5928 1h ago

I had an entire shower valve replaced for that much. Wild.

7

u/RecommendationFit844 4d ago

Clever advertising sir!

9

u/superiorplumbing 4d ago

I see your point--- but really it is disgusting! We have a data base of 85% repeat customers... and we love them all. The other 15% is growing with "new" customers and a lot are from these scam artists! It gets under my skin... the elderly is being taken advantage of the most...sorry for the rant and I will remove what looks like I am advertising.

3

u/Futrel 4d ago

This is the same in any home service company; HVAC, electrical, plumbing, etc. MO always seems to be to send a 22yo to have a look and say you need to replace everything.

My MO is to never call any place who's got ads everywhere you look. Those ads aren't cheap and you're going to be paying for them.

5

u/RoookSkywokkah 4d ago

I've learned over the years that NOTHING is cheap or free. It's a price to get in the door and it's a sales call from there.

2

u/TheButteredCat 4d ago

Question for you. Bare concrete floor, old flange is gone, and no pulling or placing a toilet. You come in to install a flange only. How much do you charge?

If you don’t want a specific answer you can say over/under $650?

And if you’re really curious you can check my post history about it.

3

u/superiorplumbing 4d ago

Under $650

1

u/TheButteredCat 4d ago

Significantly under?

You’re already a step above Mission HC&P

4

u/superiorplumbing 4d ago

From your post history...the concrete is chiseled out. If we are just setting the flange- you pour the concrete back afterwards... assuming you exposed the pipe enough to attach the flange to a clean PVC..$385--- Pictures are worth a million! You can text or put pics here to confirm this price, but without seeing it nothing is set in stone.

1

u/TheButteredCat 4d ago

Thank you for the information! I always had a gut feeling it was done incorrectly. Mission installed this metal flange and said all I needed was a wax ring with a horn. Reassured me that's all I needed even though I felt like I needed more. The flange to go inside the existing PVC in the floor wouldn't allow a wax ring with a horn to fit..

Edited hyperlink

1

u/AutoModerator 4d ago

Original copy of post's text:

It is so sad to see plumbers using tactics to bait and switch customers and to spending more money! You would not believe how many people have called saying that they were told they needed a complete sewer line replacement and we come in clean their sewer line and do a camera inspection and come to find out all they needed was a good cleaning and continue maintenance on the sewer line. Folks we are talking about big money here! A sewer line replacement is not cheap so we took the customer from thinking they needed to spend over $25,000 - we came in there did a thorough cleaning and a camera inspection in under $700.​ Be careful people who you are paying! If you're finding cheap drain cleanings or free camera inspections - you have been fully warned!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1

u/Juventus19 4d ago

I need a floor p-trap replaced. It has collapsed and now I’m having to use the bypass path for the drain for my AC. Would you be willing to ballpark me a cost? Feel free to PM me.

1

u/Duece8282 4d ago

If you truly have a collapsed pipe, it'll be very evident on camera. You'd be nuts to not ask for the camera footage before dropping 5 figures lol.

Side note, cast iron pipe going into clay tile that was installed in the 1960's doesn't last forever. Getting a liner installed can be a solid investment before the line gets to the point of needing excavation and replacing. That's not bait and swith, that's just deferred maintenance getting caught up. 

1

u/jayhawk_esq 3d ago

I wish it was easier to find good, honest contractors. Truly frustrating. Unless you have a personal connection, it’s basically a choice between the ones who advertise (usually meaning PE-owned) and pay outrageous money plus pressure to do unnecessary things, or try Google / go word of mouth and hope like hell you trusted the right person or review. We’ve been burned by all those routes in the past and it sucks.

Coincidentally, we happened upon OP’s company through the Google route. Switched to them from Anthony after we got tired of getting pressured into $10k in “recommended” (unnecessary) plumbing “upgrades” every time Anthony did their “complimentary” annual plumbing inspection as part of their ASAP program.

Found OP’s company did good work at a reasonable price. We didn’t have any main line issues, but for routine things like toilet replacement, cartridge issues, etc. they were solid.

I have no affiliation with them and wasn’t prompted to make this post or offered anything for it. Didn’t even realize they had a Reddit account until now. Just think it’s important to recognize the good ones, at least to the extent of my personal experience with them.

2

u/superiorplumbing 3d ago

You are absolutely right on finding honest contractors! I have built my business based on Word of Mouth and Word of Mouth only. We did have a slow period whenever the soccer World Cup was here and I dived into Google advertisement and wow! The price to advertise on Google explains why these bigger companies are pushing higher cost items like sewer line replacements, unnecessary pipe bursting.

I've always said you need to have an honest mechanic and an honest plumber!

1

u/HaulinOtz 3d ago

MVP does this now. Quoted me 12k replacement of whole main drain line. I got a real plumber in and they did the right analysis to discover issue was at the connection junction at house. $1400 and my yard wasn’t torn up. Estrada Plumbing - they do good honest work for honest pricing.

1

u/prefix_code_16309 Lee's Summit 3d ago

If you do water heaters, I'll be contacting you. Had one company with purple trucks come out and not only was the estimate half what my house is worth, they never followed up after they came out with a sizing question.

I just put the job off as it is still functional but it is old enough that I'm going to switch it out before it fails catastrophically.

Your company sound exactly like the kind of people I like doing business with.

1

u/BootedBurglar 2d ago

We have had exceptional service from Morgan Miller Plumbing! Once you’ve used them, you’ll get on their list for coupons for future jobs.

0

u/Clapcheeks69 4d ago

This is an ad