One day we had a clogged kitchen sink. I called around to different plumbers to get estimates of what they'd charge to snake a kitchen drain line. The average estimate was $106.00. The lowest estimate was $98.00, the highest was 171.00, but none could dispatch a plumber that day.
When I called Snider's Plumbing in Winchester Va, I was told that yes they could send a plumber over right away, but that she (the dispatcher) could not give me an estimate to snake a drain line. If I didn't like the estimate I could of course decline the work and pay a $39.00 service fee.
OK I thought, naively believing that the estimate would be a competitive one. The man got to my house and quoted me an estimate of $368.00. To snake a drain line?! Needless to say I was stunned.
Asking the man questions, it bacame apparant that me, Harry Homeowner knew more about plumbing than he did. My wife and I quickly came to believe that the man was not likely even a plumber, but perhaps a shakedown man.
I was intimidated into paying him $39.00 for being in my house less than 10 minutes because he said that I "would not like the consequences" if I did not.
Had I to chance at this experience again, I should have called the police to escort him out of my house.
I stopped payment on the check.
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