part vent, part asking for advice

Belle_Fille · February 2011

im going to make this as short as possible.
my father and his wife have now been without water for a month. AN ENTIRE MONTH! with all the snow and freezing temps we had, their pipes froze and caused a lot of problems. my step mother called her cousin, who is married to a "plumber". he came out, gave an estimate (this was on a friday) and said hed be back on monday to start the work. monday came around...he never showed. it was a WEEK LATER that he FINALLY showed up. then....he didnt have the parts he needed so he left. it was about another half week before he finally came back. he did some of the work, but not all of it.
my father made the mistake of PAYING HIM. (after all it took to get him out there in the first place there is no way i would have paid him until the work is done) so anyways. he then left again. the next day they lost their electricity because, (drum roll please?!) there was now a shortage in their electric to their well (they live in the country and have well water etc). there was never any problems with this until this "plumber" came to "fix" their pipes. so luckily the electric company came out to fix it for free. the plumber never showed back up. now they are out of money. they have water now but the deal is that he never finished the job. he is/was supposed to wrap the pipes in some kind of electric stuff that would prevent them from ever freezing up again. this is what he was PAID to do.

my step mother is going to call our local news station, they do a "in your corner" thing when you can call and report businesses like this and they will come out, interview you, and put it on the news to let the public know of the shady company. but their real problem is, is they had to get loans, ask their church, barrow money from me, and my brother, just to pay this "plumber" in the first place! the job is left undone.
my step mother (after calling every 30 minutes) finally got him to answer his phone. then my brother called and the guy said he would be out today to finish the job. when the plumber hung up (well before) my brother said that he (the plumber) mumbled "never for these ****ing people ever again" AS IF WE ARE THE PROBLEM! my brother called him right back and he wouldnt answer his phone (it went straight to voice mail). i highly doubt this guy is going to show up.

he just screwed his own family over. my father is disabled, and my step mother is trying to get social security because she has too many health problems, she cant work either.

what should my father and step mother do? this guy isnt going to give them their money back. since were FAMILY i dont think my step mother made him write out a contract...they dont have the money to take him to court.

from what i understand he got the water to work, but its only cold water. they dont have hot water.

drog2323 · February 2011

has your step mom called her cousin?

lindathome · February 2011

you're in a tough position - like you said, technically it's family. Outside of taking to public notice of his shotty work, unless there was a contract you likely won't get anywhere, even if they took him to court (his word against theirs). Chalk it up to experience and move on. You may consider posting this in Craig's List - there may be a Christian Plumber out there who would consider repairing what he didn't do (or possibly did do wrong) for little or no money.

rosebarnalice · February 2011

Better Business Bureau report; shame in the local news paper; report on Angie's list. . . anywhere you can crow about the bad service, DO IT! And sniff around civil court records. There's a good chance if he screwed your parents, he has screwed somebody else, and you could join in a lawsuit for damages.

ashers1819 · February 2011

Can your brother or any of his mates go and visit his house? Maybe a little family pressure will sort the problem out?

Belle_Fille · February 2011

has your step mom called her cousin?

my step mother said they only have one phone and her cousins husband is the one that carries it. so theres not a way to talk to her cousin if he wont answer the phone and give it to her

rebecky27 · February 2011

Can they be taken to small claims court or is what they paid too much?

skinnyme125 · February 2011

Doing business with family should be a good thing but unfortunatly it seems to cause problems because someone always feels that they don't have to do thier part. Either doing a half *kitten* job or on the other hand not paying. They think because it is family they can get away with it. My personal beliefs are that all work needs to be treated like work, for family or not. I also would not charge family for my services just for parts. ( and that would depend on how close of family we were to begin with). This situation you are talking about really sucks. If reporting him to the better business burrow or going to the press wont cause lots of problems within the family then DO it. Some people are just *kitten* and need to come to reality. He sounds like a chicken **** since he is not keeping in communication with them and refusing to answer the phone. He knows he is in the wrong.

NoAdditives · February 2011

Even without a contract they could probably take him to small claims court. Small claims is a little different than regular court, he said/she said stuff gets settled without records all the time. Like rosebarnalice said, look for court records and if there are any they can become part of a class action type suit or they can use those records in their own small claims case. And definitely report him everywhere you can. Has your step mom tried calling her cousin or other family members to give this guy a kick in the pants?