Benjamin Franklin Plumbing is based in Minneapolis / St. Paul, Minnesota, and is owned and operated by Steve Grohn, Alfons Foschiatti, Laura Foschiatti, Paul Gavic, Timothy McGuire, and Patrick McGuire. The company is one of the highest-priced plumbers in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, and they are unabashed about helping customers part with large amounts of their hard-earned money. Numerous price-gouging and fraud complaints against Ben Franklin Plumbing have been lodged with the Better Business Bureau. It's easy to see why.
The work done by Benjamin Franklin Plumbing is often sloppy, behind schedule, and they also charge an unusually high fee ($100 or more) just to give an estimate to residential customers. Most plumbers in this area charge less than $30, with many even giving free estimates. Benjamin Franklin Plumbing also has an "escalation clause" buried deep within the fine print, allowing them to arbitrarily inflate the final cost well above the agreed-to estimate. They will claim there were "problems" which caused the cost to skyrocket.
Benjamin Franklin Plumbing has now started a scam that takes advantage of a recent, well-publicized house explosion, by sending flyers to people in the area around the destroyed house, warning them that their house may be next. Benjamin Franklin Plumbing offers to do an inspection of pipelines for about $200. However, Xcel Energy will perform this service for free.
Needless to say, nobody has taken up Benjamin Franklin Plumbing on its expensive scare-tactic offer - so far.
It is appalling that Benjamin Franklin Plumbing would prey on the fears of people to turn a buck. A local news article spells out the details of this ripoff by Benjamin Franklin Plumbing:
"Plumbing co. Accused of cashing in on St. Paul explosion (KSTP news)
People who live near the site of a house explosion accused a local plumbing company of using the incident to make some extra cash. But the owner says his company is only providing a service.
A sewer repairman hit a gas line in February, sparking an explosion that leveled a home in St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood.
Recently a company sent out postcards saying their camera inspection of sewer pipes, which regularly costs $199, would be cut in half. But Xcel Energy began offering the service for free after the incident.
"I thought it was too bad that this company wanted to charge us $99 and make it seem like a bargain, " said Carol Tauer of St. Paul who remembered Xcel offered a better deal.
Tauer lives within a mile of the home that exploded.
An owner of Benjamin Franklin Plumbing said he came up with the postcard after Xcel recommended all plumbers use a camera to inspect sewers before any work is done.
"If people are concerned, then we are there to service them, " said company owner Paul Gavic.
The company said their deal is meant to target residents who want quicker service than what Xcel provides.
"Could take two to three years before the contractor looks into someone's sewer, " said Gavic. "And in the meantime, they could have a backup and could have another explosion."
Xcel officials said in emergency cases, they will respond quickly andfor free.
"If they have a backup problem, sewer is backing up, by golly, we'll get there as soon as we can, " said Xcel Energy spokesperson Steve Roalstad.
The plumbing company said they sent out 2,000 postcards to residents within a mile from the explosion. They said so far, no one has responded."
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