I hired Priory Plumbing to waterproof my basement. Initially I was very excited as they seemed very professional and customer oriented. Unfortunately the results were not what we agreed upon or even in accordance with the building code dictating the bare minim standards.
I realized that something was wrong about half way through the job when I noticed that weeping tiles, as agreed upon (and as the building code requires!), were not getting installed. When I called the office, the explanation provided was because of the sandy soil the weeping tiles were not necessary, they could clog up and potentially cause more problems. I may not be an expert, but I believe that a plumbing company providing waterproofing services should know how to install weeping tiles even in sandy soil. Even more surprisingly, Priory Plumbing claimed to be saving me money as the weeping tiles may need new connection to the drain. I am not sure why was that not considered or explained in the initial quote? Regardless, I strongly believe that before somebody at Priority Plumbing made the decision not to install the weeping tiles, I should have been consulted and given the options, and the ultimate decision not to install the weeping tiles should have been mine. After all, I was the customer paying over $8,000 for this job.
Although Priory Plumbing failed to inform me that they have made the decision on my behalf not to install the weeping tiles, please note that they did not have a problem to call to inform me that a service of an electrician would be required to disconnect my air-conditioning unit. I am not certain why this was not included in the initial quote as the air-conditioning was always there. I was charged additional $400! I strongly doubt that disconnected 4 wires is really worth $400. Furthermore, my objection to the outrages $400 price tag was justified by Priority Plumbing that it is the price charged by the electrician and not Priority Plumbing. Well, I find this even more insulting. In my opinion, Priority Plumbing should be more selective to whom they subcontract their electrical work. It appears to me that the main focus here was not I, the customer, but the electrician, another dishonest person taking advantage of me. My question why the additional $400 charge is not reduced against the services not rendered, the cost of the weeping tiles and the labour associated with the installation, unfortunately went unanswered and my credit card got charged extra $400.
In conclusion, I feel Priority Pluming has not delivered what was promised, I got fooled by the excellent communication skills and the pretence of professional service oriented company. My job was half done and Priority Plumbing even found a way to charge me extra money for it. I certainly would not trust them with any future business.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $8,000.00
- Company Response
Dear Viktor,
As explained to you previously, the reason the weeping tiles were not installed was because the drain that we need to connect to for the water to drain away is plugged. We would have had to break the floor in the basement, dig a trench and replace the pipe inside the house, costing you thousands of dollars in extra work. As much as we would have loved to earn that additional revenue, it truly is not needed in your situation. Because of the sandy soil conditions of your property, the water naturally drains away into the ground. Unlike clay soil were the water does not get absorbed into the ground, in which we would have advised you to do so.
The weeping tiles cost us 65 cents a foot making the total cost of the material $34.45, hardly a cash savings on our part. We were looking out for your best interests as knowledgeable and experienced waterproofers,
and had we thought the additional expense to replace the drain would have benefitted you in any way, we would have informed you. It is true that with a sand soil type area, the weeping tiles plug up with sand, so you would have plugged weeping tiles connected to a plugged drain line, serving no purpose whatsoever. I asked yo if you wanted to replace the drain and you said no. I do agree with you 100% that you should have been consulted either way, and for that I offered you to install them as we do offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. I never once hesitated to do so, in trying to make you happy. You did not want us to install them and you did not allow us to make things right for you, so it's important that readers know that we stand behind our work. Furthermore we spend hundreds if not over a thousand dollars in additional materials and labor parging your wall, to ensure that your job was 100% watertight, something no other company would have done and it is unfair that you say you got a job that was half done when the installation of the weeping tiles serve no purpose in your case,take about 1 hour to install, and we spent an additional day to seal the wall above and beyond the call of duty. You never asked me to offset the cost of the weeping tile and labor associated with it, otherwise I would have refunded you the $35 even though we more than made up for it, with the additional concrete work. As far as the air-conditioning unit is concerned, we had to hire a licensed air-conditioning company to come to your home, disconnect not only 4 wires but the refrigerant line, then come back and re- install the unit. Dealing with refrigerant requires a licensed and professional company. I would be more than happy to show you the invoice to prove that we did not make a penny off of that service. I have no clue where you come off of calling the air conditioning company dis-honest. Your credit card only got charged after you authorized the payment for the $400 as we had a signed agreement to do so weeks in advance. I can see being upset if we were not a company of ethics that stands behind our work with a 100% satisfaction guarantee, but when we offer to install the weeping tiles, and are not given the opportunity to make things right, I don't think it's fair for anyone you or us. I do not see how you can question our trustworthiness after trying to make it right for you, or make it sound like we are after more money when our intention was to save you money.Priority Plumbing
https://priorityplumbing.ca
416-762-8662