ComplaintsforSwanson Plumbing Services, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  01/10/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On January 7, 2022 I had Swanson Plumbing come out to look at the valve under my kitchen sink. Sears had installed a dishwasher recently, and that technician had suggested that I needed to have a plumber come out to check the valve and the pipes behind the valve because it was a problem waiting to happen. The plumber did not even empty the cabinet, looked for a moment, and said he saw nothing wrong. While he was here, he also checked the possible leak in the bathroom. He said the shower door was leaking. He also fixed a faucet outside and replaced a part. I was charged $75 just for him coming out, and $25 for the faucet part. A day later, I emptied out the cupboard in the kitchen and crawled under there myself, only to find a huge puddle of water. It was the weekend and I called Swanson Plumbing. They completely ignored my calls until Monday. My brother came to take a look and found a drip where the hot water valve connected to the copper wire that came from the refrigerator. He said it was obvious this had been happening for a while and the plumber would have seen it, had he even looked. If nothing else, he should have seen the huge puddle of water. If I hadn't crawled under there myself, (and I am 67 years old) I wouldn't have seen it and it would have turned into something major. I live in a retirement neighborhood, and most people here would not have been able to do this. If they are doing this to other elderly people, this is serious. I told them at the very least, I expected to be reimbursed the $75 I paid them to come out and do nothing. When I spoke to them, they said they couldn't reimburse me because the plumber did what he was supposed to do when he came out. He checked the connections to the dishwasher. This is not what I asked for him to do, or what he did. He looked at the valve that was leaking and did nothing. I don't mind paying for the outside faucet part that took him 5 minutes to replace, but they aren't willing to work with me at all.

  

  Business response

  01/11/2022

  To whom it may concern 
  On Thursday January the 6th I received a call from Mrs.******* ****** requesting services at her house for leak detection possibly behind wall of toilet.  As active water leaking is an emergency I told her I would do my best to get someone out there the following day. Friday the 7th we did go out. We located her leaking water issue behind the toilet as the shower door leaking when used and recommended she contact the shower installer as it was done in the last year and they might warranty it for her. We also confirmed this by checking that the meter was standing still. We also talked with her about her toilet bidet seat looking like it might need replacement as well. She asked if while there we could also change a hose bib. Which we did. Thirdly she asked us to look at “something with the dishwasher the installer said it needed but she didn’t remember what” so we checked the dishwasher connection, there was no visible water leaking from connection or puddling. We also checked that the meter was standing still to confirm. 
  We charged her our standard service call $75. for an hour of work. When we were there longer than an hour. Giving her a brake on the labor. This was for the leak detection as well as the labor and installation of the hose bib and $25 for the parts. A total of $100.She called over the weekend leaving a message about there being some water under her kitchen sink. Our answering machine states that we are closed over the weekend and that I would return her call Monday morning. Monday morning I received her messages. I called her promptly. Which she did not answer. After calling her several times throughout the morning we finally made contact. She was extremely distraught about water under the sink, immediately refusing anyone coming to see what was leaking because she had another company coming later Monday afternoon and only wanting a full refund. At this point I took down her information so I could retrieve her job from my previous notes and figure out what we had actually worked on as she did not want us to visually come see. After reviewing her job, I gave her a callback which she also did not answer. I did however manage to get a hold of her later in the day. Explaining the items that we worked on and charged her for. (leak detection in the bathroom, as well as changing the old faulty hose bib) Which she agreed was correct. I explained that we visually checked to make sure the dishwasher was hooked up correctly. At this point she became very distraught again. Requiring a full refund and saying that we were being unreasonable and then hung up on me. 
  Here at Swanson plumbing we take pride in our work. Always warranty our labor. However we cannot give full refunds for work done because something else in the residents breaks. As I stated above I would’ve been happy to send someone out immediately Monday to take a look at the issue however the client did not want us to.
  
  
  Sincerely
  Swanson Plumbing Services LLC
  ROC 303964

  

  Business response

  01/17/2022

  Hello Chalsea,
  Yes we care the upmost about are customers satisfaction. This is why we offered and are happy to still at this point go and check for any leaks and replace the angle stop that she is having an issue with. Even though this is not one that we touched or worked on previously. However we do not warranty other peoples work or pay for them to warranty our work. We were happy to come and take care of it before she was able to get anyone else there but that was not an option. She was not charged for the job she said we didn’t do. She was charged for the bathroom leak detection and hose bib replacement which she also got a discount on. If there is a problem with these items we are happy  to warranty them. We have thousands of happy customers who can assure you of our good work ethic and honest work. We stand by our work and will come out and check any problems that arise with our work. In closing we are happy to warranty our work, and make every effort to do so. 

  Customer response

  01/19/2022

  I am unhappy with the response from this business. This could have been very serious, and they refuse to accept that they made a mistake. As I said before, if I had not been able to crawl under there myself, the leak would have continued and caused more damage. This leak was not a result of other peoples work. It was in an area that had never been worked on before. It is impossible to understand how they did not see this leak. He was more concerned with checking the meter for a leak instead of just emptying the cabinet and looking. 

  I would like a refund and an apology.

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