Entitled Customer Tells Plumber His Rate's Too High, Gets Nastier After That

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mattstaff
May 24, 2021 5:30 PM EDT

Man oh man, our hearts go out to anyone working in the sewage/draining industry who ends up having to deal with these kinds of terribly entitled, if not delusional customers. This scenario was shady from the very beginning. And then after the customer blatantly wastes the poor dude's time, he has the audacity to get all nasty toward the guy. Good riddance and good luck getting that issue resolved. Seems like most of the moral judges in the comments section agreed that this guy wasn't in the wrong at all for walking out on the "job."

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  • 01
    Font - AITA for leaving a customers house when after giving an estimate? So I own a sewer and drain company in NYC, And at 5:40 pm I get a call from some one who sounds young and nervous. He tells me he has a leak in his basement, he had a similar leak 2 years prior and it was fixed by there regular plumber. He can not describe the leak in any other way, and tells me he lacks the technical knowledge to give any kind of details. I ask for an address and he can't give me one, he needs to find it (
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  • 02
    Font - there is enough traffic that it took me 30 minutes to go 4 miles, and of course since he couldn't give me any details of what was leaking I had loaded my truck up with several different stock kits to deal with whatever I found which took another 10 minutes so total time from call to arrival is 40 minutes. He lets me in, and I see a backed up sewer line with a trap stoppage. cleaning a trap stoppage only takes five minutes, but the line looked old and he said this was happening regularly s
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  • 03
    Font - He tells me his regular plumber is cheaper tries to negotiate with me by telling me I should charge based on how many minutes it takes on some kind of sliding scale that he created in his head or something, and I respond that we are a flat rate company, and if he's interested we are happy to help if not I can go. His mom says to just do it, and he stops her, tells her that he can see by her expression she thinks its too much, and that he will call there regular plumber. I say ok, and I le
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  • 04
    Rectangle - Entadagigas · 10h · Partassipant [2] NTA That all sounds pretty darn a sketchy from the very beginning. Then he has attitude about the price. It took you 40 minutes from the call to get to the house and it's a 5-minute Fix-It job. That's still almost an hour worth of work. The price is justified. G Reply 4 3.4k 3 ...
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  • 05
    Font - Shadsoz • 9h • Partassipant [2] NTA seriously this guy has an issue. If it was a case of that he was broke etc and couldn't you work something out then yeah I could have maybe possibly sided with him, but you loaded up and went out there have a quote and then had to go back home. 100% justified for you not going out again. Would probably even try to knock you price down lower again if you did go out there again. G Reply 4 18 3 ...
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  • 06
    Font - EngineeringOwn2299 · 9h · Certified Proctologist [23] NTA. He said no, and that they'd call their regular plumber. (Who, honestly, if this is an on-going issue, the regular guy should have fixed it properly by now). What did he expect you to do? Wait around until he got hold of the other guy? G Reply 4 16 3 ...
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  • 07
    Font - 19pj19 · 9h NTA. And you should have charged him the minimum hour the second you got in your truck heading to his house G Reply 4 13 3 ...
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  • 08
    Smile - Dookwithanegg · 10h · Colo-rectal Surgeon [35] NTA sure doesn't he have his regular guy to do it cheaper for him? You already spent time and money getting out to him, your job is more than just the precise number of minutes physically fixing a problem. G Reply 1 24 3 ...
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  • 09
    Font - Infamous-Wasabi-9007 · 6h In his eyes you are a terrible person because you didn't do what he wanted for what he wanted to pay. Compensation is based on the value of the work being done. If he didn't want to pay your price, and you would not negotiate; end of story. NTA G Reply ...
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  • 10
    Font - WelshRareDit • 7h • Partassipant [3] NTA You tried to explain, but the prospective client wasn't listening. You're more than justified in walking away. Also, what's the betting the "usual guy" has to go through this every time, hence why he couldn't get there this time? G Reply ...
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  • 11
    Rectangle - Thanyared · 6h A tradie's price is not just how long it takes to do the job but how long it took to gain the expertise and experience to do the job. Nta G Reply ...
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  • 12
    Handwriting - Satorikai • 5h You handled this perfectly, don't let people try to trick you into:" X does it cheaper", usually is just a bluff to lower your price. G Reply ...
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  • 13
    Font - hamsandwichesforall · 5h NTA. Your time and your labor are not free. Plumbing is not something you want to get cheaply. You offered your service, let them know how much it would cost, and they did not want to pay that. You did your job and they're pissy because they have some asinine idea that they should be able to decide what you are paid for the service you provide. Frankly, he is disrespectful and if he continues to bother you, that's harassment. G Reply ...
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  • 14
    Rectangle - Flerpyslerm · 6h • Partassipant [2] NTA had to deal with people like this in the past who took the quite and then didn't have the money to pay. Eventually got enough out of them to cover the parts (by threatening to remove them). G Reply ...
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  • 15
    Rectangle - NTA G Reply ...
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  • 16
    Font - lol, you were gracious not to charge him for the visit. NTA G Reply ...
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  • 17
    Font - mediocredepression · 4h NTA... he seems like he was trying to show his mom that he could be an adult/real man and try to handle this, but instead reacted like I would imagine a child to. I locked myself out of the house when I was 16, had to call a locksmith to get my door open. It was $75 for his services and yeah, no 16 year old is happy paying that much for 5 minutes of work, but i understood why i had to. G Reply ...
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