A Very Expensive Lesson - I got ripped off!!
WARNING: This is going to be my personal rant about my recent experience! I admit that I only have my own stupidity to blame for this, but just posting it here so I and others don't make the same mistake again.
So after coming back from a vacation, my hot water didn't work. Although its already spring in Australia but the weather is still pretty cold and having hot water is one of the necessity, for me at least since I couldn't stand cold weather let alone cold water to shower/wash my hands etc. The hot water didn't completely died, its just the water is luke warm instead of hot and the pressure is very small. I did suspect that its something wrong with the valve, since I couldn't fix it myself I decided to look for a plumber through google. The top search result lead me to Pascoe's Gas and Water, it is a sponsored ads however google review had 368 reviews and 4.1 ratings - that's good right, so I went to their website. MISTAKE #1: READ THE REVIEW THOROUGHLY! Don't just read the top few. I found out later that after you scroll down, many people actually gave 1* and complained about being scammed/ripped of by the company. I honestly don't know how they managed to get such good reviews, maybe those people have too much money to burn or have no idea on how much plumbers cost ... or I could be one of the unlucky ones who get the money grabbing monster.
The website advertised: No Call Out Fee, Free Quote! OK, that's good because having a surprise bill is the last thing I want after returning from a vacation. The truth is, after the plumber arrived, he told me that I need to pay $165 for "investigation fee" for him to know what is wrong with the hot water. I asked him how much is it roughly to fix it and he said he doesn't know yet until after the investigation. I explained the problem clearly and told him that I might need to just change the valve, but he insisted that he needs to do investigation first. MISTAKE #2: I SHOULD HAVE JUST SENT HIM AWAY, instead of trusting him. He seems like a nice decent guy. And judging by his look, he is not the kind of person who scam people. Anyway, I imagine the cost would be in the $300 mark, and the guy told me that this investigation fee will be waived if I go forward with the job after the investigation. It was really cold, so I thought, maybe its not that bad. So I said, OK, do the investigation. He did, for 1 minute and told me that the problem is in the valve and need to replace it. The cost? To my shocking surprise its $700+ (for comparison, I did a few google search afterwards and found out the valve only cost $200). But then, he suggested to do a full service of $1280 because a few other thing is also broken. FYI, my house is a new house of 4 years. I should have known at that time that its impossible for a new house to have so many broken/faulty things. At that time I thought I already paid the $165 so if I don't use this plumber and call another plumber then it would cost me more.
MISTAKE #3: SHOULD JUST FORGONE THE $165. As it turned out, fixing the water valve doesn't cost that much. I asked around and was told that it generally only cost $200-$400 depending on complexity. Given that he finished the job in under 1 hour, it seems like a super simple job that shouldn't cost a fortune. I was talking to my brother about the cost and my brother was surprised at the cost and told me to just find another plumber. I was being stubborn for not wanting to lose the $165 that I stupidly agreed for in the beginning and signed the contract for. After much consideration, my brother thought maybe it costs that much and the plumber didn't try to scam us. After all this is Australia, they don't really do that in here right? (or so I thought - my experience with Australian by far has been positive and honest). Had this thing happened in Indonesia, I would be very skeptic with whatever they said and wouldn't easily agree to such offer. MISTAKE #4: DON'T MAKE ASSUMPTION. People do all kind of thing, no matter where. Funnily enough, during my vacation in Indonesia - where I am usually more wary and careful, my friend just told me that you will be surprised what people would do for money. An advice I laughed at when she told me because I thought I don't really deal with that kind of people. Looks like karma came back to me too quickly.
Anyway, after stupidly agreeing to the job, the plumber told me that the valve was broken mainly due to the water quality in my area being poor. So he offered to also install a water filter. The original cost of the water filter is $1800+ but if I sign the contract together, it will drop down to $1280, a huge saving right? WRONGGGGGG!!! MISTAKE #5: DON'T TRUST DISCOUNT. When they give you huge discount there must be a catch. Even with that amount of discount, I found out later that the water filter only cost $600 (and labour should cost no more than $200).
I really hate myself for being so stupid and not firm enough in saying NO or just to send him away in the first place. I guess he can see my weak spot and use it for his gain. The whole thing cost me $2548 and sadly, if I use other plumbers for the same amount of work, they would only cost about 1/3. Some even said that the full service and water filter offered by Pascoe's is not even necessary, which should bring my cost down to only a few hundreds instead of thousands :( After slapping myself for my own stupidity and for being easily fooled, my brother just told me to just forget it and take it as a lesson. I just hope noone will ever have to go through the same mistake again. Just be warned when you call a plumber, not to trust them easily no matter how polite and friendly they seem.
What makes this even harder for me to accept is, I am usually very careful before buying anything. I pride myself in actually rejecting things offered to me that I don't need, and always comparing products/service before agreeing to buy so most of the time I get the best value. I don't know what was wrong with me that day, he might sense my desperation in getting my hot water fix, or see how tired I was after a long flight, or know how to use my foolishness. To be honest, I don't know how they got that high of a rating and positive reviews, but if being dishonest and ripping people off is your way of doing business, I hope you stop doing it :( I still can't believe that they still do this kind of business in Australia - I guess reverse discrimintation is just as bad as discrimination in general.
So after coming back from a vacation, my hot water didn't work. Although its already spring in Australia but the weather is still pretty cold and having hot water is one of the necessity, for me at least since I couldn't stand cold weather let alone cold water to shower/wash my hands etc. The hot water didn't completely died, its just the water is luke warm instead of hot and the pressure is very small. I did suspect that its something wrong with the valve, since I couldn't fix it myself I decided to look for a plumber through google. The top search result lead me to Pascoe's Gas and Water, it is a sponsored ads however google review had 368 reviews and 4.1 ratings - that's good right, so I went to their website. MISTAKE #1: READ THE REVIEW THOROUGHLY! Don't just read the top few. I found out later that after you scroll down, many people actually gave 1* and complained about being scammed/ripped of by the company. I honestly don't know how they managed to get such good reviews, maybe those people have too much money to burn or have no idea on how much plumbers cost ... or I could be one of the unlucky ones who get the money grabbing monster.
The website advertised: No Call Out Fee, Free Quote! OK, that's good because having a surprise bill is the last thing I want after returning from a vacation. The truth is, after the plumber arrived, he told me that I need to pay $165 for "investigation fee" for him to know what is wrong with the hot water. I asked him how much is it roughly to fix it and he said he doesn't know yet until after the investigation. I explained the problem clearly and told him that I might need to just change the valve, but he insisted that he needs to do investigation first. MISTAKE #2: I SHOULD HAVE JUST SENT HIM AWAY, instead of trusting him. He seems like a nice decent guy. And judging by his look, he is not the kind of person who scam people. Anyway, I imagine the cost would be in the $300 mark, and the guy told me that this investigation fee will be waived if I go forward with the job after the investigation. It was really cold, so I thought, maybe its not that bad. So I said, OK, do the investigation. He did, for 1 minute and told me that the problem is in the valve and need to replace it. The cost? To my shocking surprise its $700+ (for comparison, I did a few google search afterwards and found out the valve only cost $200). But then, he suggested to do a full service of $1280 because a few other thing is also broken. FYI, my house is a new house of 4 years. I should have known at that time that its impossible for a new house to have so many broken/faulty things. At that time I thought I already paid the $165 so if I don't use this plumber and call another plumber then it would cost me more.
MISTAKE #3: SHOULD JUST FORGONE THE $165. As it turned out, fixing the water valve doesn't cost that much. I asked around and was told that it generally only cost $200-$400 depending on complexity. Given that he finished the job in under 1 hour, it seems like a super simple job that shouldn't cost a fortune. I was talking to my brother about the cost and my brother was surprised at the cost and told me to just find another plumber. I was being stubborn for not wanting to lose the $165 that I stupidly agreed for in the beginning and signed the contract for. After much consideration, my brother thought maybe it costs that much and the plumber didn't try to scam us. After all this is Australia, they don't really do that in here right? (or so I thought - my experience with Australian by far has been positive and honest). Had this thing happened in Indonesia, I would be very skeptic with whatever they said and wouldn't easily agree to such offer. MISTAKE #4: DON'T MAKE ASSUMPTION. People do all kind of thing, no matter where. Funnily enough, during my vacation in Indonesia - where I am usually more wary and careful, my friend just told me that you will be surprised what people would do for money. An advice I laughed at when she told me because I thought I don't really deal with that kind of people. Looks like karma came back to me too quickly.
Anyway, after stupidly agreeing to the job, the plumber told me that the valve was broken mainly due to the water quality in my area being poor. So he offered to also install a water filter. The original cost of the water filter is $1800+ but if I sign the contract together, it will drop down to $1280, a huge saving right? WRONGGGGGG!!! MISTAKE #5: DON'T TRUST DISCOUNT. When they give you huge discount there must be a catch. Even with that amount of discount, I found out later that the water filter only cost $600 (and labour should cost no more than $200).
I really hate myself for being so stupid and not firm enough in saying NO or just to send him away in the first place. I guess he can see my weak spot and use it for his gain. The whole thing cost me $2548 and sadly, if I use other plumbers for the same amount of work, they would only cost about 1/3. Some even said that the full service and water filter offered by Pascoe's is not even necessary, which should bring my cost down to only a few hundreds instead of thousands :( After slapping myself for my own stupidity and for being easily fooled, my brother just told me to just forget it and take it as a lesson. I just hope noone will ever have to go through the same mistake again. Just be warned when you call a plumber, not to trust them easily no matter how polite and friendly they seem.
What makes this even harder for me to accept is, I am usually very careful before buying anything. I pride myself in actually rejecting things offered to me that I don't need, and always comparing products/service before agreeing to buy so most of the time I get the best value. I don't know what was wrong with me that day, he might sense my desperation in getting my hot water fix, or see how tired I was after a long flight, or know how to use my foolishness. To be honest, I don't know how they got that high of a rating and positive reviews, but if being dishonest and ripping people off is your way of doing business, I hope you stop doing it :( I still can't believe that they still do this kind of business in Australia - I guess reverse discrimintation is just as bad as discrimination in general.