Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:14/02/2025

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Several days ago, we had sewage backup problem in the basement shower, we called ******. He quoted $500 for the first hour and $200 for additional half hour. The next day, he sent one guy and asked him to do a camera check in the sewage. The guy is really RUDE, he asked me go upstairs FOUR time and flushed the toilets, he just simply looked at the water meter. He said the paper stuck in the toilet was flushed away, no need a camera check, and left after about 15 minutes later. Later we received a bill of $900 from T*****, we were surprised. We told what that guy did but he didn’t care, he still charge us $500 for a guy showing up for 15 minutes and doing nothing, plus, that guy is really RUDE! It’s unacceptable, we ask for a refund!

  Business Response

  Date: 22/02/2025

  I just want to clarify a few things in hopes that your wife could remove the review she left on the Better Business Bureau. When you first contacted me in regards to the sewer back up, I told you what my minimum was and you agreed to that. Nowhere in that conversation was there ever mentioned that I was providing video service. Video service is provided by a third-party company if required. If my third-party is not available, I can rent the equipment, but the equipment is is almost as much as hiring my third-party company. A sewer typically either is working or it’s not working. The first thing we do as plumbers as we try it to see what’s happening. To just snake a drain, it’s absolutely redundant. It’s unfortunate that when we arrived that it was working at that point it sounds like the blockage might of clared itself, which could happen. You must understand that us as plumbers. We do not work around the clock. We have families, and time off on the weekends and evenings like most of the world. So for us to leave our personal life and get dressed for work, get our truck started, drive to the job site, go and do our job, pack up and drive home, get back in the clothes that aren’t worth clothes. This all takes away from our daily personal life and this is why we charge extra and this is why there’s a minimum for coming out. I’ve had often times where people have told me personally when I’ve come to their house to fix a problem and they’re like oh it’s not doing it now sorry for wasting your time and my answer right away is no you’re not wasting my time because I do charge for my time and that’s understandable and most people will agree to that. I spoke to P**** and I’ve known him for 38 years and I told him what your wife said on the Better Business Bureau review and he couldn’t believe it. He said they were laughing together, etc. and things seemed perfectly fine. I do trust what he’s saying. I’ve had a lot of positive feedback and this is the first negative feedback that I’m hearing. When there was a price error, I adjusted it immediately and you thanked me for that and I thought we were good. Apparently not. I like my good standing with reviews and I truly believe I don’t deserve a review like this. I’m asking to please reconsider and remove the review.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 25/02/2025

   I am rejecting this response because:
  
  
  1. I’m ******* wife, you just need to talk to me. I’m not going to delete the review on BBB cause the review is all based on the truth.

  2. We would pay you based on your quotation if you did a honest work, but you didn’t.

  3. The plumber told me that you asked him to do a camera but he didn’t, as you said the blockage is cleared by itself, so what you charged for?

  4. You didn’t send the plumber in the evening when the problem happened, but the next morning , what’s the extra charge for?

  5. I can understand you have minimum charge for plumber showing up, but not $900 and $500. You even tried to charge us $900 for plumber showing up 15 minutes. This is just a RIP OFF.

  6. The plumber was very rude, he just looked at the water meter and let me went upstairs for four times. I can imagine how you and him laughed about this and acted like a bully. No matter how many “good” reviews you got before, my complaint just shows your TRUE FACE! Have fun :-)

  Business Response

  Date: 26/02/2025

  This is in response to the consumer
  

  1- all communications were done with her husband, and her husband is the one who approved the minimum charge fee of $500.

  2-i’m not sure if she is  confused but her husband did pay the $500. I’m confused when she stated she would pay me based on my quotation if I did honest work.

  3- she is stating The Plumber said I asked him to do a camera inspection, but we didn’t. I do not own a camera. Neither does The Plumber that was there that day. Again, I think she is confused. There is no mention of any camera in any of the text to her husband. Camera work would be done by a third-party as we do not own this equipment. She was asking why was she charged? She is charged because we have a minimum charge to show up.

  4-she is asking why we charged extra if the plumber didn’t come that evening, which would be a Friday evening she’s asking why is she being charged more for a Saturday. Any evening and any weekend is considered overtime that’s why we charge more. I have text from her husband saying Saturday morning would be perfectly fine.

  5- she states that she understands the minimum charge of $500 but not $900 and at the end of the day she was only charged $500.

  6-somehow, she thought the plumber was rude and she’s complaining that she had to go upstairs four times. The reason why she had to go upstairs four times, was because she had to flush the toilet four times in order to test the sewer to make sure it was working properly. I don’t know why she’s complaining about that and why she thinks this is being rude. 

  I’m asking the Better Business Bureau people to thoroughly look at these responses and her responses to realize this is not a valid complaint as nothing she’s saying is making sense whatsoever.

  if this is going to be posted, I want this to be included:

   

  In most cases when people are not happy with what they are being charged, they do not pay the person who did work, and then it usually goes to court where a judge can make the decision of who is right and who is wrong. Clearly you think you’re correct in this situation but I’m standing my ground.  I think whoever reads this review will understand and maybe even give me credit for doing so. If I’ve learned anything over my 38 years in this career is that it’s impossible to please everybody.
  

  
  In my closing statement, all I can say is I’ve been in business for 29 years now and if I only have two complaints with the Better Business Bureau, I consider that to be a very good track record. It kind of  makes you wonder if the customer you’re dealing with, is just someone who is impossible to please.

   

   

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 28/02/2025

   I am rejecting this response because:
  
  
  -Why you don’t have the courage directly talking to me? Your 38-year career didn’t teach you how to respect people?

  -Nothing is confusing here, we paid you but we don’t agree with it. We won’t pay $500 for a plumber showing up for 15 minutes, doing nothing and asking homeowner run the errands.

  -Your attempt of charging us $900 at beginning is very dishonest. 

  - We can pay you $100 for arranging plumber visit, so I ask you refund $400 within 7 days, otherwise, we will take further action. 

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/03/2025

  Yes, we did email transfer to T*****, please find the confirmation below. He didn't offer invoice to us.

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:25/04/2023

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On April 20, I hired ****** from ****** Wheatley's Plumbing and Heating Limited to clear my clogged toilet. He wrote to me that for same day service, his fee would be "$425 plus HST to clear a plugged sewer" (and $125 for each 1/2 hour afterwards) in the event that he could not unclog the toilet.
  
  When he arrived, he did not attempt to unclog the toilet. Instead, he removed the toilet and brought his long industrial snake on the cart into my bathroom. Then, he ran his snake a very short distance down the toilet drain. When the toilet flushed, he assured me the "line was clear" and I could use the toilet again. He then charged me $644. After our first flush later in the day, the toilet stopped again, and I called for a plumber with a camera. The camera revealed a ball of paper compacted near the back water valve -- a clog that was cleared with the push of the camera head a few times and a few additional toilet flushes. The entire line was otherwise clear and healthy all the way to the street, as the camera showed. When I emailed ****** with the invoice and description from the second plumber and asked him to reduce his bill, given that he never "cleared my plugged sewer line," he called me angrily, yelling, and immediately threatened "court papers." After our phone call ended, he texted me threats about "filing for court". I was horrified by his yelling and aggression.
  
  In my email, I only sought to reduce his large bill. ****** did not "clear my plugged sewer" and thus, did not perform the job I agreed to hire him for. He told me that it was "fine to use my toilet" when he was finished. Had he bothered to snake past the back water valve, I would not have had to pay for a camera to reveal what any patient plumber with a long snake can easily remedy. Crucially, he was aggressive and threatening when I simply presented him with proof of a problem he did not properly address and remedy.

  Business Response

  Date: 26/05/2023

  As I discussed on the phone, I adjusted the invoice to exactly what she wanted me to adjusted for to satisfy her. Here’s a copy of her email suggesting the amount and here’s a copy of my invoice marked paid.

  
  

  Just to explain a little bit of my side of the story, I was called for two plugged toilets. I gave her two separate fees of how much I charge per hour, because I charge more to clear a plug line that is plugged as there’s more equipment involved. She agreed to my charges. I arrived on site and quickly determined that the sewer line internally was blocked. I told her we had to lift one of the toilets in order to clear the line. She was very dismissive and said well all I really want is the two toilets cleared for now, ******. She clearly doesn’t understand how a Plumbing works. She called me from a video phone with her daughter  And I showed her on the phone that there was sewage coming up in her shower and then I showed her when I removed the toilet that the sewer line was full of water. I cleared the sewer line, I informed her that I strongly suggested doing video of the sewer line because we don’t know what is going on inside the sewer line although the water drains there could very well be a problem. ( I have a separate video guy who is a separate company ) I told her the stats were 95% of the time there is still a problem and the only way we can solve this problem so there is no more problems would be  a video of the sewer line. She declined on the video of the sewer line and I told her there’s no guarantee, and that this could easily plug up within an hour or a couple days or a couple weeks. She said she was going to get a video done at a later date. I explain to her again that now is the time to do a video because they have to remove the toilet in order to do a video . Again she declined. The next time I heard from her was after I submit my invoice and she had emailed me to tell me she had to hire another plumber because it was backed up again. When I left her premises and her daughter can vouch for me if she doesn’t lie for her mother that the water was running and draining. Although I don’t guarantee it, I would never leave a house without water at least running.  she wanted to settle on a different amount for the invoice so she just suggested a certain amount and I settled for that and that’s the end of the story. Please let me know if you need anything else and maybe what is decision will be in regards to posting this review or not. A little background on me is I have been a plumber for 37 years and I’ve been in business for 28 years.

  
  

  Thank you,

  ****** ********