I was quoted at $300 for a plumbing job by Tim Barr, the owner. I was never told they billed by the hour until they tried to give me a final bill. This was the ole Bait-N-Switch Trick. He gave me the same bid as all the other plumbers before him and once he got the bidded job; he had he son tell me he as charging by the hour. The son says he took 3 hours to do the work of installing a shower head I had purchased and main pipe under my upstairs bathroom sink on the first day.in reality, He came around 1:30pm and left at about 2:45pm.
On the second day, he came and he says it took four hours to install a faucet and shower head downstairs. I had to pay a nurse two hours of overtime in order to stay in the house while I had to leave because he was taking so much longer than would have been anticipated as necessary. Other plumbers would have taken 15-30 minutes max to do the work. When I got back I was given a bill for $700 and finally told that they charge hourly! I thought that the son stepped outside after I told him to contact his father because the final cost was WAY over the bidded job.
But, he just left my premises without handing me a copy of a bill. Barr's son had specifically told me he was billing me $78 per hour for labor and said that it would be 7 hours billed. When I contested the bill, the owner of the company called me and immediately threatened to put a lien on my house if I didnt pay within 24 hours. At no point did I ever say that I wasnt going to pay the bill, I DID, however, ask for an itemized bill which he refused to grant. I have finally received a bill and it still does not reflect the terms of the bidded job or show an accurate itemization of the job I was billed for.
Earlier, the owner Tim Barr said He wasnt going to give me an itemized bill because he had told me what the bill was going to be the day before which was 300.00. I have a witness to this conversation via phone for he was on speaker phone while my fathers hospice care worker was standing next to me.in my case, Barr Plumbing engaged in deceptive billing practice. Barr quoted gave me a bid for the entire project and then switched and had his son tell me he was charging hourly. Only after I complained that this was a bidded job, Barr eventually sent me a bill that said "bidded" job.
Once again on the bill he demanded I pay him, this time saying it needed to be paid within 14 days or I would pay court costs and he would place a mechanics lien on my property. I would advise you to take heed that the final bill with Barr Plumbing will most likely NOT be anywhere near any bid quoted up front. This is apparent ruthless, businessman who thinks he has inside connections with the city of Columbus, Indiana who have his back. However, the reality is; it's appears he is unfortunately just making a living off of threatening customers who are too afraid to challenge him and his apparent unethical business practices.
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