Michael (MiMuFPV)
6 years ago
Lone Star Water Services was contracted for a plumbing repair through our AHS home warranty. We have a modular Corian bathtub in our master bath and there was a leak on the hot water feed inside the tub. The first plumber they sent out insisted that it was a slab leak because he couldn't hear a 'spattering' sound. The sound of running water was up entirely too high, in my opinion, to be from the slab. He also said that they couldn't remove the side panel from the tub because the home warranty wouldn't cover it. I assured them any additional costs would be covered, he still declined and left. Turns out, I was right, it was not a slab leak at all. It was a break in the fitting/solder joint right on the bottom of the hot water knob, up HIGH in the tub wall. All the way at the top, in fact.
I was left with the impression that they were sending a plumber out that would be able to remove the side panel to expose and repair the leak the following day. Turns out, he refused to remove the side panel as well. After he left I called 3 different plumbers in Grapevine/Southlake; RotoRooter, Berkey's, and ThePlumber. All 3 of them were amused that these guys could not remove the Corian side panel and said that they could absolutely remove and replace the side panel, that they do it all the time. Convinced by these other 3 plumbers that it wasn't that challenging to remove, and with tools ill equipped to do the job properly, I had it off in about 15 minutes. It required a heavy duty box knife to cut in to the silicone and a screw driver to pry one corner out to remove the entire panel. I will be able to put it back with some silicone and the only damage was to a 3 piece of molding that broke in half.
I called Lone Star Water Services and they scheduled a plumber to come back out for a third visit, today. Meanwhile, I figured out the nature of the leak and cut back the original (and incorrectly done!) plumbing and soldered on a cap so my family could return to the 21st century and have hot water after 4 days without. That plumber was out today, and as soon as he saw that I had capped off the line he told my wife that because I had worked on it, AHS may not cover it and left. That was the last straw, they had already been given authorization to proceed with the repair regardless of the home warranty coverage AND were specifically told that we wanted it done right, which would include correcting the cold side. Instead of proceeding with the repairs, a bogus and unnecessary excuse was made. I have since cancelled the job with them and they will no longer be welcome to repair anything in my home in the future because I have zero faith that they can or will. AHS isn't off the hook either, but this isn't their review (they're horrible...). I had to buy a plumbing torch, flux, and solder along with the cap, I'm 3/4 of the way to fixing it myself. I'll be doing just that this weekend, along with the complicated and arduous task of gluing back in the Corian side panel that was cut free with a box knife.