Annaliesa Hoesly
6 years ago
Things started out great. But ended in the worst experience I have ever had with someone doing work in my home, and left me feeling unsafe.
My husband set up the appointment and I was there alone with my two toddler-age kids when the two employees arrived. They were kind and congenial. In fact, one offered to show me how he installed something so I could do it myself on a different tub if desired. Great service. When the employee was finished, my husband called the employee with some questions about the bill. If you care, they were rate-related questions detailed below. If not, skip to next paragraph:
One question was about the rate we were charged being different than the rate agreed upon by phone beforehand (Which Paul, the boss, confirmed when he finally listened.) The second question was about how much time he was logging. He was charging us for time filling out the invoice, for example. (A previous plumber we used had the invoice and payment ready within sixty seconds. This plumber took 15 minutes out in the car after he finished the work. Seems nitpicky... but really adds up at $160 an hr. When you consider we are being charged for transportation time to the site, that means we are paying a total of $75 for time they are not doing plumbing work).
At the end of the conversation my husband asked to talk to Paul to verify the rate. Meanwhile, I had no idea what is going on, but within about sixty seconds into the phone conversation, I hear the employee downstairs yelling on the phone to my husband. I was upstairs in my bedroom with my two young children. The employee then called his boss and was ranting loudly about my husband as the employee walked up the stairs to my bedroom. At that point, this large male who was speaking loudly and aggressively was standing in my bedroom between me and the door, about five feet away from me and my children, both of whom were wide-eyed staring at the man yelling about my husband. I motioned and quietly asked him to please finish the conversation downstairs. He did not stop or move and instead said loudly into the phone Now they're both suddenly unsatisfied.
Honestly this is a major safety issue. The employee was so congenial and appropriate up until that point, and escalated so quickly that I wondered if he has an anger management issue. Here are a few rules that I should not have to tell you: Do not walk up the stairs to my bedroom while you're yelling on the phone. Do not stand in my bedroom, between me and the doorway while yelling on the phone. If a female with young children in tow, politely asks you (a stranger acting aggressively and unpredictably) to leave her bedroom, you say Oh my goodness, of course. You do not argue with her.
I probably wouldn't even be writing this review, if I had gotten a response from Paul (the boss and owner) that indicated he understood the gravity of the problem. Instead, Paul was defensive. His first response to me when I told him what was happening was settle down and then well yeah, he was upset because your husband wasn't paying the bill (This is not at all true. The employee told my husband he'd have to talk to Paul to verify what rate was quoted and then he hung up on my husband. There was no threat whatsoever of not paying, and Paul jumped to this conclusion before even talking to my husband.). Once I told Paul it would be really wise to just listen well and recognize that this is an important safety issue and that the employee needs to take responsibility for his actions regardless of whoever is making him mad on the phone, he finally said okay, okay, he understood and would reprimand the employee.
Frankly, it seemed pretty clear to me that Paul didn't see it as a serious issue. That is concerning. He was apparently more apologetic to my husband and said they have all be working really hard and are tired. I hope indeed this was an anomaly, but we won't be using them again and wouldn't recommend them.
