Affordable Water Heaters Affordable Water Heaters and Plumbing, Inc. Justified exorbitant price for service based on new state regulations and city ordinances, pressured to sign contract, waiver. Internet

This morning (6 Nov 2012) I discovered that my 40 gallon gas powered water heater was leaking water. I called the phone number for my city (Palo Alto) listed on the yellow emergency sticker affixed to the water heater which I thought was official and city-sanctioned. A plumber arrived about an hour later. His name was Paul and he said he lives in Los Angeles with his wife and because the company was shorthanded in this area he was working up here temporarily. He explained why the leak was occurring and said the tank must be replaced. He also said that my flexible copper piping was not to code and must be upgraded. He said another copper pipe must be replaced due to new state codes. He said that my city has new regulations which mandated new piping and a new sealed waterproof control box and new energy saving features. I told him that the water heater was installed in 2005 and should have lasted longer. He called his office and listed all the parts that must be replaced. The office told him the price and gave the phone to me. I said I was shocked at how high the price was. The plumber showed me a sheet he said were recent local installations. The 6-8 prices handwritten on the sheet were all several hundred dollars higher than the price quoted to me, so I said OK, proceed with the installation. I was then asked to sign a work order. The removal of the bad tank and installation of new went forward. I was then rushed through with very little explanation the process of signing in a number of places on a multipage yellow contract. The plumber said the company required that I reprint a statement in my own handwriting. He didn't explain why it was necessary, only that it was standard procedure. Reflecting back on this, the plumber did not disclose to me in any way that by hand printing that statement and signing my name I was waiving my right to cancel the transaction. He didn't ask me to read the waiver statement before instructing me to handprint the statement. This is criminal! After he departed I did a web search on his company and found numerous serious complaints of gross overcharging. I called my credit card company and requested that payment be stopped or blocked. The charge had not yet been billed and I was told to call tomorrow. I am extremely angry and know that the charge of $2093. is grossly unreasonable.