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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?

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What recourse do YOU have? Are you the "friend"?
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Have you seen the itemized bill from this company? Did she sign an estimate? Did she pay cash or check or did she charge it? Did "all your research" include other customers of this same company?

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.
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Isthisrealyreal Apr 2023
There is no basis for a lawsuit when you post the facts and truth.
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.
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My DH worked for rotorooter. They’d charge about 5k.
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AlvaDeer Apr 2023
Wow! Wow! What part of the country, PeggySue? My daughter is in Washington State. Half that last fall. For a big one and a good one. I DO know they didn't need business, were behind in work, and sure won't hard selling them, but surely weren't gouging them at all.

This makes it even more crucial that this friend checks the going rate and estimates for comparable work in her area.
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I just went thru this. I used a plumber we have used before. My fault, I did not want to shop around. Customer Service is lousy where I live. You call and no one gets back to you or they are backed up. Because my husband can't talk on the phone, it leaves me making the calls. And I was tired of going thru what I needed to go thru. It was a leak in the tank so we had to get it fixed. We paid 6k. Yes, we got over charged. The next time we got a plumber it wasn't them. This plumber would have done it for 3k. Funny thing was, we were talked into one of those fan tanks. Guy got everything done and then asked where was the outlet. There was none. Then they wanted us to pay to have one put in. We had other work we needed done and got an estimate, 7k. Not major stuff. We got a retired electrician to do the work, $700 and it passed inspection.

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.
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AlvaDeer Apr 2023
Lordy. I am hearing furnace replacement nightmare stories, as well, and as you say, communication with anyone anymore is just the beginning of your problems.
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I don’t understand why you are complaining. I think your friend had a good deal from this company and your friend was not taken advantage of. The going rate for this kind of service is much higher than what your friend paid.
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JoAnn29 Apr 2023
To just put a tank in? I admit we paid too much but we were brought up to code and the plumbing routed out of the house instead of using the chimney. Our last heater was 20 yrs old.
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Your friend was not taken advantage of.

Move on.
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OP, if this bothers you that much post feedback on the company's website.
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I would see if any similar complaints were put in by people. Try Better Business to see what their rating is. Like I said to Dupidwife, if all that was done was putting in the heater I think 4k is a lot. But if they had to bring her up to code and re-route like me, it may have cost that much. Home repairs are costing a lot with materials being so high. And plumbers know you need them. Because by the time u do, its an emergency.
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My husband has been in HVAC business for 43 years. The past two, three years equipment has been going up, we get price increases about every three months.
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.
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PeggySue2020 Apr 2023
probably rotorooter…
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BBB. They do not like when senior citizens are taken advantage of.

What kind of ratings does the company have from.BBB?

You can also do a Google review, an option when you Google the company.
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