A & J Plumbing and Sewer Service company installed a new hot water tank and charged her $4231.02. I hate when companies take advantage of seniors. All my research tells me that this was at least twice the amount she should have paid including getting other estimates from several companies. The company has great reviews on their website but not so good on Yelp with many similar complaints. What recourse do I have?
Once she has proof that she was price gouged, then you can start a conversation with this company. After that, she will need to argue it in small claims court, if the amount makes the minimum for her state. In my state it is $5K.
FYI you should remove the name of this company from your post because you can be sued for libel and slander since they haven't been proven guilty of anything so far.
Libel is only when you make false statements that defamed a company or person. Stating how much she was charged for what product isn't defamatory.
This fear is why people are afraid to stand up for themselves.
This makes it even more crucial that this friend checks the going rate and estimates for comparable work in her area.
I have to agree, if she did not want to pay the price, then don't use that plumber. But if it was a leak, it had to get done. There is a State
Agency that does handle this type of thing. There was a local plumber that got brought up on charges for gouging. He was found guilty.
I would suggest when looking for any electrician or plumber, get one that he is the only employee, maybe has a helper. The one I had has lots of employees and trucks. They work on commission. So the more problems they find, and the bigger the bill the more money they make. They also have to bring in a certain amount of revenue a week, say 5k, and if they don't they are let go. The 7k estimate for electrical work included a new electrical box. My box looks brand new even though its 40 yrs old. No rust. No water sitting in it. The electrician we got said there was nothing wrong with the box and so did the inspector.
Move on.
There is a very large company that is buying up all the small companies and they are charging $17,000 for a full system. We can’t even touch that price, because that company has the name, a million dollar advertising allowance they get away with it.
Your friend should have gotten at least two other estimates.
What kind of ratings does the company have from.BBB?
You can also do a Google review, an option when you Google the company.