Just went three rounds with the plumber and won.

[enyawd72]

So, the guy just came to install our new sump pump. Now, I know zero about plumbing, so I took him at his word and assumed he was going to be fair...that was my first mistake. The second was reluctantly agreeing to his quote as I'm nervously watching the water rise in my basement.

So the guy quotes me $940 for the pump, about six feet of PVC pipe, some fittings and a fall back valve, plus cleaning out the pit.

While he's working, I look up the sump pump online. The exact brand and model I'm buying costs $150. The plumbers price? $475.

After blowing my stack on that one I demand a complete breakdown of every single piece, part, labor, etc. After all is said and done my parts total is still not even $600, so I ask what the other $340 is for, he says "Cleaning out the pit."

Cleaning out the pit took less than ten minutes and involved scooping mud into a five gallon bucket. About 3-4 inches. Their charge for that? $275!!!

I lost it. I said "Are you out of your *bleeping* mind?!! I challenged him to look me in the eye and justify charging $275 to scoop some mud into a bucket. He couldn't do it.

I made the guy go call his supervisor and refused to pay the bill until they took $250 off of it.

This was a real learning experience. Assume ANYBODY doing work in your home is ripping you off and question EVERYTHING you are paying for BEFOREHAND.

[mego maniac mark]

Good for you. Nothing worse than being taken advantage of when your in a tough spot. Plus it's the holidays.
Bravo!!

[Donkey Hoatie]

Sorry to hear about your sump issues. The last place we had, a condo, included 2 sump pumps - one was for our unit, and one was for the building overflow. In 10 years, we had to replace the switches on each one twice and one unit once. I've spent more than my fair share of time clearing those bad boys out.

Was going to suggest making sure it was the entire unit and not just the switch that needed replacing. FYI, both are very much DIY with no plumbing expertise really needed. If you can measure, cut, and glue, that's about all the knowledge you need to replace the pump. Replacing the switch is just unscrewing some stuff and screwing a new one on.

Glad you got money taken off instead of being taken to the cleaners.

[Blue Meanie]

I work for a plumbing supply warehouse as a Shipping and Receiving clerk. What brand was the sump pump? Little Giant? Let me know the make and model number and I can get you both the "trade" price, which is what plumbers pay if they have an account with a supply house, and I can get you the price for the "over the counter" price which is the price a homeowner pays. If it's a plumber that works for a company they usually get the trade price. I personally have never seen our place charge more than double for trade price. In fact there usually is a 20 - 40 % markup for "trade" prices. It really is a crap shoot when you are dealing with plumbers. The advice I usually give is to get a company that has been in business for more than 10 years. They tend to treat customers better than your fly by night companies.

[TrekStar]

Remember the Three Stooges episode when they were plumbers and totally flooded the house?
the woman asked the butler for a glass of water and he replied, " just turn on anything"

[wayne foundation 07]

Should have called me buddy, would have done it for you for free, did he atleast put in one with a battery backup ?

[cjefferys]

That's a crazy price! I luckily have a really honest plumbing guy, and when I had him install a new sump pump and a back up pump that works on the water line, I bought both pumps myself for about $250 total, and the installation, including having him get the backup pump connected to my water line in the laundry room cost less than $200 for his work and materials. Unfortunately, the word is getting around how honest and reasonable he is (really nice guy too!) so he's getting so much work it's will probably be harder to get an appointment the next time I need him.