Sally Phillips
2 years ago
At the beginning of October 2020, my kitchen faucet handle broke. I purchased a new kitchen faucet from Home Depot and decided to call my usual plumbing company (Jack Woods Plumbing) to remove the old faucet and install the new one.
Let me just say that I have used Jack Woods Plumbing the entire time I have lived in my home (since circa August 2001) and had always been satisfied with their performance and pricing, that is, until this past Monday, October 12, 2020. The experience I had with the plumber that Jack Woods’ sent out was so horrible that I not only refuse to pay the exorbitant bill this technician left, but have also decided to change plumbing companies immediately. This “bad apple” was so rotten that his company has lost a loyal customer for good.
According to the invoice, the plumber’s name is Tim. When Tim arrived at my home at approximately 3:00 p.m., I showed him to the kitchen sink and explained that I just needed for him to remove the old faucet and install the new one I had purchased. My expectation at this time is that Tim would be in and out in under 30 minutes since a faucet installation is an easy job and there was nothing else wrong. I then went out on my back patio with my daughter and our dogs and left my screen door open so that I could hear Tim if he needed anything.
After a short time, I heard Tim screaming. I got up and rushed inside to see what the problem was (my daughter followed me). The ensuing sight was quite shocking. Water was spraying everywhere, flooding my kitchen, and Tim was yelling at us to “GO SHUT THE WATER OFF!!!!”. As I ran downstairs (all the while, Tim continued his caterwauling), I realized I did not remember where the main water valve was located and I yelled up to Tim that I did not remember. He rushed downstairs and got the water shut-off. To this moment, I have no earthly idea why Tim did not just shut off the supply located underneath the kitchen sink before he began the project.
Once he came back into the kitchen, Tim informed me that he had broken the kitchen water line. Feeling frustrated by the sight of the water covering my kitchen floor, my daughter and I went back outside to wait on the back patio.
After some time had passed, Tim came to the screen door and asked if I would come in and wait by the main water valve in the basement so that he could test his work. Once Tim and I descended to the basement and were standing in front of the main water valve, Tim turned and said to me, “I can’t believe you didn’t help me clean up the water.” Stunned, I replied, “Do you honestly expect me to clean up the mess that you made?!!” Tim responded, “Well, I would of thought that you would have helped to keep my time down so it wasn’t so expensive.” I then told him that I would have thought that he would have turned off the water before attempting to replace the faucet…to which he replied, “Oh no, you never turn the water off. I’ve been a plumber for 37 years….”
I then told him that I thought he would also have had better manners than to come into a customer’s home and after breaking their water line and flooding their kitchen, proceed to scream at them to “TURN THE WATER OFF”. He continued to excuse his behavior by saying that he hadn’t “yelled” at us, he was just panicking. Furthermore, he blamed the line breaking on the fact that I have plastic pipes.
Right before Tim left, he handed me an invoice for $218.75 (see attached). What’s more, I discovered standing water in my washroom (it sits right off the kitchen) and my pantry. The sitting water soaked a couple of loads of clothes I had in piles on the floor waiting to be washed and ruined a pair of suede shoes I had on the floor. Furthermore, the water was still shut off after he left which shows that he did not even test his work. Moreover, when I looked at the invoice, Tim misrepresented the amount of time he was on this job (he arrived at 3 pm and was gone by 4:25 pm); but more importantly, I should not be charged for his incompetence.