Roto Rooter Over Charged for Minor Services College Park Maryland

The price seems to be based on a mutliple job disxount.  The way many companies work is as follows: The serviceman gets a call to unclogg your disposal say that is $335.  You also have a clogged toilet which needs to be pulled $325 plus parts.  He adds the two jobs together and dsicounts the total labor (not parts) byt say 20%.  He begins one of the jobs after you sign the agreement.  You then start calling other companies (by the way, not legitimate plumbing company can quote over the phone, its not possible to be accurate).  The other company quotes lower, so you ask the technician to only complete the first potion of the job.  Now the discount cannot still apply.  He quoted you based on the entire scope of work to be performed, not just a single job.  Many companies, including my own (which I own), have multiple job dsicounts, and price mark ups on parts set at a standard rate.  We are in business to make money, just like you go to work everyday in order to make money.  So my assessment is that your logic, as a consumer is completely askew.  This happens constantly in the plumbing industry.  Customers think if they find a handyman with zero advertising, licensure, overhead, invoices, insurance etc that a company like mine or Roto Rooter have the a zero overhead like the cigar smoking handy man.  The fact is: you called them, they showed up, they were licensed/insured, marked vehicle, had the tools to do the jobs, and quoted you a price up front, Where is the gripe here? I fail to see it...

As I understand it, the customer was quoted a price to have various services provided. This price quote was not immediately accepted and it was negotiated lower. Good for the consumer! Then, after agreeing to the new price quote, the consumer authorized that the work be started. Only then the consumer started calling other contractors looking for a better deal over the phone. Apparently, during this conversation the consumer volunteered that Roto-Rooter was already underway making repairs. On the basis of this alone, I have no confidence that the other contractor quoted a price comparable to what they would regularly charge. They know that they would not get the job. At this point, the consumer had entered into a contract to have this work performed and had signed an authorization agreeing to the proposed scope of work and agreeing topay the amounts specified. He wanted to re-negotiate after the work had started but my employee was not obligated to do so.

I would like to respond to this customer's allegation that he was overcharged but I have no solid information to work from. I need contact information or, at the very least, an invoice number if the consumer is reluctant to post contact info on the web. I will be glad to compare the amounts charged for service with our price schedule for those services. If there is any discrepancy, I will be please to make any adustments necessary.

Harry Kresge
General Manager
Roto-Rooter, Baltimore/Washington