ComplaintsforNorth Star Mechanical Ltd.

• Initial Complaint

  08/05/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Hello, I had a slight leak in my bathroom. The plumber took convincing that there was a leak. I was told that the building water had to be shut off to do work on my unit. The plumber saw that there was a leak and replaced the shower handle and tub spout. I asked for him to install water shutoff valves so if there was another issue we wouldn't have to shut off the building water. He said he had to install it in the bathroom and cut a big messy hole in the closet behind the shower. I have two showers so to save on costs he cut behind the other shower behind the washer and dryer to install another shutoff. The bill was over $1200. I was cleaning and noticed that there was a water shutoff for my unit in the front closet, already installed. So rather than install a shutoff by the door where the main water intake was, he installed at the appliance. He told me there wasn't one main water intake for my unit. I feel taken advantage of. This should have been a $200 job at most. Our Strata uses this company for all 5 buildings. The plumbing company has been working with our building for years and should be very familiar with the layouts. I have brought the Strata's attention to this discrepancy. There are likely many other units that have been taken advantage of. Turning the building water off adds an hour or two to the work. At the time the work was done they had over charged me 2-3 hours of work and were double billing for travel time. They caused unnecessary damage to my drywall that I will have to pay to repair. Ideally I would like to be refunded and only charged for the installation of the tub faucet and shower handle in the one bathroom, as well as to fix the holes they put in. I would settle for the refund of the unnecessary work. I have the bill for work if needed and I can show you the unit shutoffs that they did not use, where they should have attempted to install shutoffs. Thanks for your time. Best regards, ****.

  

  Business response

  09/05/2023

  A service call request to attend to a leak behind a wall in the apartment building.

  we cut open the wet drywall to expose the source of the leak.

  after identifying the leak it was agreed to by ***** ******* to replace both the bath tub roughin valve plumbing inside the wall. And the since we were there we were asked  to replace the other shower roughin valve plumbing in a second bathroom. 

  ***** ******* asked to replace the/ repair the sink drain as well.

  As stated by ***** we did not just replace a shower handle and tub spout we actually replaced the plumbing inside the walls for  the tub and shower valves. This can only be accomplished by opening up the drywall from behind the valve or going through the front tiled area of the bath tub or shower.

  although ***** is correct we do service all 5 buildings these building were built over stages starting in, I believe 1993 and the final 5th building completed 3 years ago in 2019.

  the first building #1 is different then the other 4. each unit has its own hot water tank and individual water shut off.

  the next 3 building also are different as they have a central hot water system that serves the entire building.  and the three buildings have boiler rooms  located in different areas of each building.  The fith building is the most modern and again is built differently.

  To my  knowledge we have had very few if any leaks in building #4. Most leaks have been in building 3.

  Of the three older buildings water shutoff valves are located in the common hallways on the first floor and they isolate risers going up through the building for each of the column of units.

  these risers  shutoff all the bathrooms in the column  for three units or all the kitchens for a column three units. or Four units depending on whether there are 3 or four floors in the building.

  i am not aware of individual shutoffs for each suite located inside the suite.

  I believe there is a misunderstand by the customer that he does not realize we replaced the entire tub/shower roughin  plumbing within the walls for the two bathrooms plus the repair of the sink drainage.
  

  please see attached invoice describing our work.

  also when we did originally invoice customer  he felt we charged too much. as a show of good will we reduced the the labor from 9hrs to 6hrs. the 9 hrs. we charged for labor can be shown by evidence of our *** tracking system which clearly shows the travels times associated with the technician and the address of where the work was completed.

  our invoicing and workmanship is fair and complete. there will be no refund given.

  Glen Bertelson 

  North Star Mechanical Ltd.

   

   

  Customer response

  09/05/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  On reconsideration, the hole in the wall was necessary to access the shower and fix the leak so I will retract that. 

  The reduction from 9 hours to 6 hours was due to overcharging. I got charged for a bunch of travel time I wasn't supposed to.
  I was also meant to have a plumber come back and fix a faulty handle that was installed but I never heard back from you. I fixed in myself.

  The two extra shutoffs should have just been one main shutoff for the suite. Having you and the plumber insist it's not possible makes me think this is a bigger issue. There's a gap in knowledge.

  If you'd like I can send you a video of my shutoff in action shutting off all water in my suite to prove that it is indeed possible.

  Shutting water off for the whole building is inconvenient and expensive. And not necessary.

  My particular bill probably would have cost the same, had the main shutoff been installed. Or about $200 less if the plumber had used my shutoff. 
  So overall not much, but when you add up all of the times this has happened in all of our buildings, I'm sure it quickly becomes non-negligible. 

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

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