I needed a new garbage disposal in a rental property I own. I called Christian Brothers to see how much it would cost. They wouldn't even give me an estimate over the phone even though they charge "flat rates" for a given job (i.E. They don't have a published hourly labor rate) in order to "save you money".in order to get an estimate you have to pay $50 for a service call. I thought most plumbers would have similar policies so I had them come to the property. I also had my tenant taking time off from work for this so I couldn't waste her time while I got several estimates.
The plumber called me with the estimate: $501. I thought this was very expensive so I asked him why the price was so high. His answer was that "the price of disposals has gone up". This led me to believe that the garbage disposal itself constituted the majority of the $501 charge (and, therefore, I would pay a similar price no matter who did the work) so I authorized the repair.
Subsequent research revealed the following facts:
1. The IDENTICAL (Badger 5) garbage disposal retails for $69.99 at Home Depot. So it was NOT the price of the disposal that resulted in the $501 charge but rather it was Christian Brothers outrageous labor rates.in other words the guy flat out LIED to me.
2. I have since learned that installing a disposal takes about 20 minutes and that Home Depot would charge $80 to install it. That's $149.99 compared to the $501 that Christian Brothers charged. I checked with my tenant and learned that the plumber was there for no more than 45 minutes. Their labor rate works out to abour $575/hour. Not much of a savings as their website would have you believe.
I contacted my credit card company and got a reversal of $317 of the charges.
Here's a few hard-learned pointers I would like to pass on to others.
1. If any contractor won't give you a free estimate forget them.in order to even get an estimate from Christian Brothers you have to pay $50 for a service call. And we're supposed to believe that an experienced plumber has to actually study the job site before they can estimate how much it will cost to install a garbage disposal. Nonsense!
2. Always pay with a credit card. If you get screwed over you can always dispute the charges and make the company that ripped you off prove that they are in the right. This puts the shoe on the other foot and keeps you from having to bet the company for a refund.
I hope this prevents others from getting ripped off by Christian Brothers or other dishonest contractors.
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