Waterworks Plumbing & Drains

The good
The work was done well first time and Chad was very professional and clean up afterwards. The work is very neat. The neatest I have seen from any plumber I have hired in the past. The good is what what got the rating as it is.

The bad
I found that the cost of this valve job was very high and there was no breakdown which made matter worse. I felt that I have to accept the cost of the repair under duress as the old thermostatic valve was leaking - do I take another afternoon off work to get somebody else in or get it done.

I have looked: a thermostatic valve is around $100 at Home Depot - perhaps $200 to $300 at the plumbing supply store for a similar one I got if I dig harder. To charge over $500 for anything that I write off as the labour repair is a little insane. To have to pay an extra $40 for the visit is nuts. I took the discount package just so that I netted an extra $10 off. Folks, you got good people, you need to improve on this. Otherwise, you will end up getting a lot of one off business. I am likely to recommend you because of the quality of the work done. I cant say too many good things about the cost.

The other mess up was the timing of my appointment. I booked everything on Good Friday. I received a phone call on Easter Monday citing that you have double booked the time for the Tuesday after and that the other customer was first. Fair enough! When I insisted that I get someone first thing, the double booking was magically resolved! What with the bother and the phone call? That did not make you look good. Besides, while talking to you folks, there was a constant wailing of a fussing kid in the background which made it hard for me to hear the details. For this kind of money you are charging me, I do not accept this as it appeared to me to be a little unprofessional.

In summary, I believe you can be great. You got good plumbers working for you and they do good work and clean up after themselves. In my opinion I think you got the hard part done. You need to be more professional and better organized when you are booking customers. No wailing kids please. No changing appointment and not changing appointment. That does not look good. You need to be more transparent with the cost and offer more value for money, or at the least perceived value for money. Not able to address the apparent feeling of being gouged will only get you one off businesses. If a customer feel that he is under duress to say yes, he is probably going to do this only. I think the competetive advantage in your business is relationship. You got me calling you from Homestars and your ratings. Now you need to work on keep me coming back to you.