ComplaintsforAdrian Pinney Plumbing & Heating

• Initial Complaint

  02/08/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  After weeks of phone conversations and one site visit around the 3rd week of July about the execution of this job, they sent their two technicians out to complete it. They drilled a hole in my septic tank with someone who was not licensed to do so. During this process, they put the hole in the wrong baffle, then completed the job. On inspection from ********* ************** he quickly noticed that the job was not completed correctly, and we had to *****. Then, when Pinney comes back (this time with ********************** on site), again, Pinney Plumbing had a non-licensed individual attempting to do the work. ********************** called it out that he is not licensed, but the damage has been done. Now, this company is trying to erroneously charge for their mistake and the materials associated with fixing it.Furthermore, they are attempting to charge me 8 hours of labor when they were on site for less than an hour, and we do have 4 witnesses. They are also charging me $525 for a pipe that I can buy for $129 retail from JW Web, the same place they bought it. They only used 30 of it and are trying to charge me for 100. I offered to replace their pipe, but they refused, plus they are charging for labor that they did not do.

  Business response

  03/26/2024

  To whom it may concern,

    I have reviewed the complaint filed by the consumer and appreciate the opportunity to respond. 

    The consumer called with a tight time frame due to the fact he/she rented some equipment and needed the work done within that rental period.  We were unable to provide him/her with their full estimate in time due to the short notice, and they decided to hire us to put the pipe in the ground and we would finish quoting the rest of the project after the initial work was done, which was to put a pipe in the ground connected to the existing sewer tank in order the serve the future work of adding an apartment above the garage.  They never asked for a firm price for the initial work performed, just stressed they needed us with short notice.  Upon completing that work, we provided them with the quote for the rest of the work which they decided to not accept and we billed them time & material for what we did. This was all done with another estimator within my office up to this point.   

    Upon receiving the bill, the consumer called and spoke with me and was comparing my price initially to ************ price, and now in the complaint for what they could have bought it for from my vendor if they walked into the door and bought it themself.  I explained that I cannot compete with ************ price, that we typically have higher quality material then them, and also that our material comes with a 12 month material & labor guarantee which ************ material does not.  I also explained that we are a small company and do not have the buying power **** Depot has.  He instantly resisted and accused me of gouging which I take great offense to as we work in a small community and have always prided in our good name and good customer service.  We appreciate our customers and have a proven history of doing so.  Had the consumer taken into consideration the expenses I have in order to provide the services we do, he/she would understand why I cannot sell material for ************ price, and also that I would not be willing to have them buy some pipe and return it to me after I have already paid a warehouse employee to order and receive it, have already paid people to enter the data into the computer, and paid taxes on the sale and paid the accountant to pay the taxes.  He/she is unaware of the expenses small business owners incur in order to provide the service we provide.  

    I can raise my hand and say that we certainly did pipe the line into the wrong spot of the tank, and it was shown on a drawing where we should have piped it to and we failed to do so properly.  We dropped what we were doing when notified and made it right on the spot, the same day.  I spoke with the septic designer, and he agreed that we made the repair in an acceptable manner with normal installation practices.  I spoke also spoke with him about the licensing and he was fine with us performing the work, and from another septic designer it was stated that the work we did was in a grey area in regards to licensing due to the fact we perform pipe installations for a living and there was a licensed septic designer watching the work being performed. We are fully licensed and insured for plumbing and follow any and all codes.  We did not do the design work which requires a license, nor did we touch the ***** field or replace the tank which would also require licensing.  We ran a pipe from a sewer pump location and connected to an existing tank with a design from a licensed professional under their supervision. 

    The consumer also owes money still from this project to another local business in town and is refusing to pay for damage to the rental equipment.  The fellow business owner has had the same communication issues as I have in that the consumer is unreasonable in regards to what things cost and what things are sold for.  I am totally willing to credit any material sold and not used, we make mistakes and this all happened fast and changed along the way.  I am not able to budge on my material pricing but certainly do not want to charge the consumer for things they did not receive.  I am a very fair person to people who are fair in return.  Had the consumer not accused me of gouging without seeing any evidence of what my costs are to run the business, we would have been able to resolve this easily.  They almost seemed to want to say things to throw me off and get me agitated on purpose and the fact he/she is unwilling to pay the other company with the same tactics I think shows this.  My goal is to maintain healthy and long lasting relationships with my customers, and the volume of work we do compared to unhappy consumers proves my statement as this is not a common problem for me to have to sort out.  

    We have sent monthly statements to the consumer with no communication back to resolve the matter.  When the consumer is ready, they may feel free to reach out to me to resolve this matter.  We did bill for 8 hrs, it was two guys on the job 4 hours each for a total of 8.  It takes two people to roll the pipe out and you cannot poke a hole into a concrete septic tank and seal it and run the pipe and show up to the job, pull your tools out, and cleanup to leave within the less than an hour timeframe the consumer suggests that the job should have taken, and is saying we were there for.  It physically is not possible and is untrue that we were there for one hour.  We did not bill out the time for repairing the mistake, that is simply not an accurate statement.  

    In short, I would like to resolve this matter in a manner that is fair for the consumer, but also fair for myself, I admittedly have not reached out to the consumer due to sending statements in the mail and expecting to hear back but have not.  I do not mind reaching out myself if that would be better for the consumer. I do not take advantage of my customers; I take great pride in solving our customers emergencies and performing the ******************** and HVAC installations that we provide.  As a matter of fact, I work day and night and on weekends as well to keep this place running so people have running water and drainage flowing and have heat and A.C. I intend on providing these services for many years to come and fully recognize you cannot take advantage of people in the process, although I am human and make mistakes, I am willing to make good on them.  I certainly am willing and wanting to resolve this matter.  Thank you, ***** Pinney 

  Customer response

  04/07/2024

   
  Complaint: 21263974
  
  I do not accept the business's response as a resolution to my complaint because we are looking for direct resolution and accountability. 

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

  Business response

  04/08/2024

  Customer states the pipe was over billed by 70 feet, I will credit the 70 feet back for a total of $367.60 in credits.

  Customer states the labor isn't accurate. I will credit back 2 hrs of *******'s time for a total credit of $188.00

  Total in credits- $555.50

  Total amount due- $995.92

  Thank you,

  Ethan Pinney

   

  Customer response

  04/19/2024

  More information 

  Customer response

  04/20/2024

   
  Complaint: 21263974
  
  I do not accept the business's response as a resolution to my complaint because this is still not and accurate representation of the work done. If the job was done correctly, your guys where here for less than an hour, used one drill, one saw, and a wrench. Also, I did all the heavy lifting in attempts to make the job as easy as possible for them. 
  

  ************** recently reached out, and mentioned you are now willing to have a conversation and I can respect that. Id ask we both come to that conversation with respect, and figure out what would be a fair deal for us both.

   

  if youre willing, give me a call at your convenience this week. **********

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

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