You only just beat me Hairs.
I stayed home to wait for a plumber from a well known Brisbane company (who I thought we had used 6 years ago but I was wrong) to fix a small leak in the water mains. The leak was due to a small split in the polyline that had been clipped too tight to the brick wall. A very simple job that I could probably do myself in under an hour if I had the time (and it wasn’t illegal).
Said company had pre-warned me there would be a $50 call out and that the plumber would give me a written quote before doing the job. What they didn’t tell me was what a rip-off they were. They don’t charge by the hour but have a ‘fixed price’ based on the job - the plumber even had his “pricing book” with him.
Needless to say when I was quoted $450 (including the $50 call out fee) I said “yeah, nah”. Even he apologised but said that was they way they priced up work. Still insisted I paid the $50 which I did but have since convinced the company to refund it.
Rang up another plumber recommended by my neighbour. $99 per hour, no call out fee, reckons it will take him less than an hour and is coming first thing in the morning.
It does make me wonder how many people have been suckered by this other mob.
And don’t even get me started on the price some (again bigger but not big) companies are charging for fixing up previously flooded yards in Townsville. Again, my real estate got a quote for $5,000. I’ve since had quotes of $2,000 and $1,000. Sure the big company was going to more work but that work was also completely unnecessary. This work isn’t covered by insurance but I’m starting to see why insurance premiums are so high.
On a more positive note, had another young bloke come to look at cutting down a big old bottle tree. $550 compared to $1800 I was quoted in November by another mob (which I thought was a bit on the high side at the time but hadn’t got around to getting another price). He’s fully insured and got the job straight away. Tree will be gone next week.
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