ComplaintsforGavlak Plumbing and Heating

• Initial Complaint

  09/07/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  I contacted Gavlak Plumbing for a quote to add a 2nd drain for our master bathroom sink vanity on a home recently purchased, in addition to a free standing tub & other general plumbing questions relating to a spicket outdoors, 2 toilets, drains & plumbing fixtures. 8/3/22 Gavlak Plumbing sent out ***************** as their service technician. I discussed what we were looking for when he arrived & upon inspecting our home, he informed me that the plumbing was not up to code & that there were several other issues to be addressed, including no venting in the bathrooms, ****************** room. He said he needed to call his boss to get a bid on what it would cost to re-plumb the entire house bringing it up to code and address all of our concerns. He verbally told me that he could fix the problems I had called about for around ******* or that they would take care of everything including new plumbing for ******* to *******. My *********** discussed the options & decided it was best to do it right & gave them a deposit of ******* towards the bid & eventually we were scheduled for 8/10/22. I have additional details to include, such as lack of communication, acting beligerent towards me, unfinished work, being told we needed to finish the work ourselves because **** said he "was too big for the job" taking time off work to do work they needed completed and then not showing up until that evening. To summarize; as of 9/6/22 work is not complete, issues that were not addressed or done incorrectly, we were left with no water for several days as a line was cut under the home & not put back together. We have paid a total of $7******, No deadlines were met, & we had to call several times to get ******** *** was told that I was "Griping and Hostile" when nobody would return any of my calls. The owner is rude, talks over us & told us he has to "hear both sides of the story". No final inspection done either as we were told they needed a permit. Extra charge of ****** dated 8/3.

  Business response

  09/21/2022

  To whom it may concern, we appreciate you looking everything over and well try to be brief. In the beginning, we were contacted for a service call, which we did, in the amount of $850.00 (August 3rd). This repair order took care of the initial drive time as well as opening up the wall for bidding the project. As this was a remodel, a certain amount of uncertainty comes with the territory. The project was then bid at an amount of $6,500-$7,000 and included 2-3 days of travel time from ******** to ***** **. Weve now been up there 4 days over what was included in the bid, partially due to the job not being ready. There has also been additional work done at no charge to the client to help them out. 
  

  The last time I spoke with ********************, I relayed to him that wed make 1 more trip up to the house to a. (complete both of the remaining items, when theyre both ready), or b. (make a trip up to the house that day, to make it so ********************* could soak in her tub). They chose option B, and are now complaining about it.  
  

  When I had the chance to speak with Mr. ***** *********************, I did tell them Id need to speak with my staff before getting back with them, just as your letter states, is your policy. They said they understood at the time, but changed their minds (in the complaint).  
  

  Were unable to get a final permit inspection on the project because at the last trip, they still werent prepared to have us complete the work. 
  

  Weve been on site at their home August 3rd, 10th, 11th, 16th, 17th, 22nd, 26th, and the last trip was September 7th.  

  Customer response

  09/21/2022

   
  Complaint: 17928940
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  During the initial service call, we were not told we would be billed separately than the bid.  ***************** verbally stated, we can address these issues we came for today for around ******* or we can do that and take care of the re-plumbing of the home and the issues for 6500-7000.  Our understanding of that was that we would not be billed for the initial visit, especially since we had accepted the bid and believed that to be part of it. We were not told of the amount of ****** until the day that **** stated the work was complete, and he gave us a drawing stating we had to finish it ourselves because he was too big to do it.  At that time they gave us a bill from the initial visit on 8/17 in addition to the remainder of the bid of 4500.00

  In regards to their travel time, they had to make additional trips because one of the employees was late to start, we were told they would both be here early in the morning.  Only **** showed up, and stated they had issues with their credit card at the hotel and so the other employee would be late.  Then when he still had not shown up 2 hours later, he told me he was out getting supplies as they did not bring enough with them. That caused a delay.  In addition, that following week when they were to come back and complete the job, **** did not show up at our home until between 4:30-5:00 pm.  That was another day they are blaming on us, but *********************** took that entire day off to get the items completed they had asked us to, and then nobody showed up all day. 

  We asked them to come complete the work which was to "set" our bathtub in the master bedroom, and allow us to be able to hook up the faucet.  The flooring still covers where the faucet was supposed to be hooked up and we were led to believe that we would be able to just attach our faucet, however that is not the case.  Upon the last visit, ******* worked with us, and he explained to me that it was not part of what was included.  I knew that it was not his decision to make and ******* was very kind and respectful it was not our place to get him involved, so we decided to address that with the owner.  It was never about "soaking in my tub" it is the fact that we still did not have a facility to bathe or shower in at that time and we were told we would have running tubs, and toilets when they were done.  They have never asked us to come back for any final inspection, and we have not changed our minds about anything.  The owner is condescending, and rude and rather than listen to what we were trying to explain, told us that he has already heard it many times, and there is always 2 sides of the story, but did not let us explain ours.  We told him we were not happy with the results, and how it was handled.  We explained that communication was not handled well, and were told it was because one of his employees "decided to have a baby" on that day.  The communication was handled poorly from the first meeting, until the last phone call.  

  I do not know what the owner is referring to on the last trip and completing the work, my husband and I were both clear on what we wanted and we had been waiting for them to complete the work, they told us they could not pull the plumbing through for us to hook up the bath tub. 

  He is right about one thing, (Weve been on site at their home August 3rd, 10th, 11th, 16th, 17th, 22nd, 26th, and the last trip was September 7th.) That is accurate, they have been to our home this many times, and that is because they did not complete full days of work, and did not show up when they were supposed to, and did not have supplies. I was told by ***************** that they had not "supplied them enough" of what they needed so they would have to come back. We do not understand why we are being blamed for the delay when they were not on site when we were told they would be, and when they were short on supplies.  

  To summarize, we were told verbally that all the work would be done for 6500.00 - 7000.00, they never discussed the charges for the initial trip to our home, the work to cut open the walls was all part of the "project" and bid that was given to as an option that we chose.  The business is unprofessional, I felt uncomfortable and threatened by **** and how he spoke to me, and did not want him in our home any  longer which is why we made full payment to the company to get him out of our home and we would follow up with the manager and the owner.  That has proven to be an equally frustrating, and unsuccessful experience.  We have not refused them any of their work to complete our home, why would we do that as homeowners that needed bathroom facilities in order to move out of a camper and into our home? At this point we do not want them in our home, and feel uncomfortable with that.  They need to set up final inspection and we are actively looking for a new plumber to finish our work, which will be additional money out of our pocket for a job unfinished.  

   

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****************************;

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