Charlie:
Frank in Cypress Station says “I contacted Abacus. Need to get an estimate of replacing a toilet seal. They said it would be $49 just to come out.”
Tom:
It’s called a service charge. Of course.
Charlie:
“Why wouldn’t they just give me an estimate over the phone?”
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Tom:
They don’t know what kind of toilet you have. They don’t know if you need bolts. If the toilet is broken on the flange. I mean there’s so much. Have you ever taken a toilet up and just had a … Why would you have to have it resealed if something was perfect down there? You just don’t know what’s going on, man. I had them come out once. I saw my toilet crocked after my daughter left. She came to visit. I’m not saying anything about my daughter, but it cost $300 for them to cut the pipes out …
Charlie:
$300?
Tom:
Well, they had to cut the pipes out. They had to reglue it back. They had to put a new flange on, and you know what? The toilet is fine now, but you don’t know until you pull the toilet up.
Charlie:
Here’s the way this question would have been written had they given a price and they came out and found that. Dear Tom, they told me it was going to cost this …
Tom:
Yeah, ripped me off. I hate plumbers.
Charlie:
They came out and now it was this. Right. Just because they saved the entire universe during the plague in England, but that’s okay.
We’re here now and the bottom line, Frank, is the reason they can’t do that is they don’t know what they’re going to see when they get there.
Tom:
No, it’s like anything.
Charlie:
Right.
Tom:
When you take your car to a mechanic do you say, “Oh. I know exactly what’s wrong with it but I won’t look under the hood. It’s $10. Yeah, it’s $250 just to look under the hood.” Why do plumbers get short changed and everybody else they just pay them like crazy?