The saga of the kitchen sink
Our kitchen sink was out of service for a week. Late Friday night 10/27, it got stopped up, and then the pipes under the sink were also dripping, so Etrace spent most of the weekend (modulo his Saturday night gig and associated setup) fighting with it. He exhausted his resources/patience by Sunday afternoon, so I called a plumber to make a service call on Monday. But that guy made two trips, "repaired" all the piping in such a way that the joints were dripping again two hours later, and claimed he couldn't get the clog cleared (after rodding it to 30 feet) and would have to return the next day with a partner to open up the downstairs wall and access the pipes in order to investigate.
Supposedly he was going to put in a ticket for a return visit the next day, but we never heard from him the rest of the week. Being without the sink was inconvenient, but not that urgent; it affected Etrace the most since he normally does most of the cooking and cleaning, but it was easier for him to carry dishes upstairs and wash them in the bathtub than make a decision on what to do next, so we let it slide a few more days.
I finally called Friday morning 11/3 and got "Oh gee, we left you pricing for the follow-up work, you were supposed to call us to schedule." Etrace hadn't been impressed with them in the first place, and this was even less confidence-inspiring. So I called up a different place to come out for a second opinion. At 9am when I called for information, the nice lady told me they were only booking for Monday, but around 1pm when I finally called back to book them, she said "Oh our tech just finished up, I can send him over right now," so I headed home for lunch and the guy showed up shortly after I did.
This guy managed to clear the clog by the simple expedient of rodding it down to 45 feet. Concept! He also fixed everything that was still dripping underneath the sink, and recommended replacing the basket strainers (which apparently rot out over time), so we have two shiny new drain inserts... helpfully engraved with their company name and contact phone, which seems a little aggressive, but I guess they earned it.
In the end, it was about $270 for each of the two service calls, which I would have felt fine about if we had only had to pay it ONCE for the one that actually worked. But, oh well. It's delightful to have things in working order again.
N.B.: Cross-posted from Dreamwidth; click to view or comment on original post.
Supposedly he was going to put in a ticket for a return visit the next day, but we never heard from him the rest of the week. Being without the sink was inconvenient, but not that urgent; it affected Etrace the most since he normally does most of the cooking and cleaning, but it was easier for him to carry dishes upstairs and wash them in the bathtub than make a decision on what to do next, so we let it slide a few more days.
I finally called Friday morning 11/3 and got "Oh gee, we left you pricing for the follow-up work, you were supposed to call us to schedule." Etrace hadn't been impressed with them in the first place, and this was even less confidence-inspiring. So I called up a different place to come out for a second opinion. At 9am when I called for information, the nice lady told me they were only booking for Monday, but around 1pm when I finally called back to book them, she said "Oh our tech just finished up, I can send him over right now," so I headed home for lunch and the guy showed up shortly after I did.
This guy managed to clear the clog by the simple expedient of rodding it down to 45 feet. Concept! He also fixed everything that was still dripping underneath the sink, and recommended replacing the basket strainers (which apparently rot out over time), so we have two shiny new drain inserts... helpfully engraved with their company name and contact phone, which seems a little aggressive, but I guess they earned it.
In the end, it was about $270 for each of the two service calls, which I would have felt fine about if we had only had to pay it ONCE for the one that actually worked. But, oh well. It's delightful to have things in working order again.
N.B.: Cross-posted from Dreamwidth; click to view or comment on original post.