In late my 60-gallon water heater died. I wanted to get a replacement of equal size, so I called RotoRooter rather than Home Depot (right around the corner), thinking that a plumber would have a better chance of finding a replacement than I would (Home Depot carries nothing bigger than 50 gallons).
The crew came and looked at it, pronounced it dead, and went off to get a replacement. I asked them to get the biggest and best one they could find, to approximate the performance of my old unit.
A few hours later they returned with a new unit. (1) English was not their native language. (2) They could not tell me what they paid for it or where they got it. (3) They were not able to tell me any of the unit's energy ratings, no matter how I begged and yelled. I had to rip open the box to find this out, went to the Web and found that they had indeed found the best available gas heater, a 50-gallon GE model. And they installed it properly too.
The GE site did not tell me the price, and it did not occur to me to call Home Depot and check what they were selling it for, since these guys did not tell me what they paid. I told them I wanted to see the receipt with the bill, but they promised only to give me an itemized bill.
Then they failed to remove the old unit. Too big, they said.
The bill included $860.51 for the heater ("parts"). When I sharply questioned this, they said, "It's expensive. It's the best one. It's very good." I had no idea how expensive they could get. I knew you could get an small electric one for $300, so maybe a large gas one could cost $600 plus installation materials. Labor was broken down completely, but there was nothing to indicate the unit's cost.
Recently, I was in Home Depot and saw my unit for $399.00!
Two points in RR's favor: (1) It is possible the price came down from November to March. But $400? (2) After some phone calls, I talked to a manager who came back out with the same crew and got the old unit out. They were very unhappy about it.
Finally, I have not yet made any real complaint to RotoRooter and don't know if I will bother.
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