Plumbing Medic

It was explained to me on the phone by Derek, the owner, that a service person would come and survey the situation with a scope, and the cost would be deducted from the subsequent repair work. I asked what would happen if I decided not to proceed, and was told that I would be responsible for $49. When the serviceman arrived, he explained that I was now responsible for $350 ( tax), which would be deducted from the subsequent work if I decided to proceed. I explained the $49, and he said that was just for him to visually look at the septic pipe (which is below ground and therefore not visible), not to scope it. Scoping was the entire purpose of my request for a visit. The scoping and entire visit took 30 minutes, thus $350 seems excessive, even considering that the equipment is expensive. The estimate to complete the work was $3,500. I checked with another plumbing company, and their price was $1,200 for the exact same work. I felt that I was mislead concerning the cost of the initial visit, plus the cost of the subsequent work was hugely inflated. I would obviously never recommend this company to a friend (or enemy). In fairness, the owner has told me that he believes he informed me about the $350 in advance. I can only say that I was shocked when I heard of $350 at the time of the visit, thus my memory of that phone conversation is not the same as the owner.
Conclusion for other prospective customers: be suspicious and very direct in getting a price up front before the truck arrives, and in specifying the exact cost if further work is not done.