John Moore Services, John Moore, HoustonJohn Moore Plumbing Beware! Habitual Financial Exploitation of the Elderly! Houston Texas

I noticed my parents (84 & 82) were having major plumbing work bcs their whole yard was dug up, when taking them out for their 62nd anniversary dinner. It is possibly my Dad's last since he is in stage IV bone cancer and is now in lots of pain. I asked what was going on and they said the pipes under the house were crumbling from age and completely clogged and had to be replaced. Mom said the plumber—John Moore Plumbing (JMS)--told them they'd have major foundation problems if they didn't get started on it the very night they called them about the leak and were grateful that JMS could start it right away. Hhmm.

The next day or so, my son calls and says he thinks Grandma and Papa are getting ripped off and tells me about a letter he found online that says John Moore Services trains employees to double charges, and up-charge every job for the greatest estimate even if people have to take out loans on their homes. Says he called around and asked several plumbers how much it would cost to replace all the pipes under a house their size and all say between $14,000 and $17,000, but Grandma and Papa are being charged over $30,000!

I check it out and call the Friendswood City Inspector who signed off on the job. He says the work is fine, and it was a big job with btwn 100 and 125 ft of pipe replaced. I tell him the cost the other plumbers are giving us and he says "That about what I would expect, mind telling me what JMS is charging?" I tell him over $30K and he is shocked and says, "Wow, that is high!" "Yea--by double at least," I say.

I call Modern Plumbing in Pasadena and Don looks up the house on Google Earth and gets specifics of work performed already so he can put it in his computer and get 'apples to apples' quote. He even bids it for the outside pipe length of 125 ft instead of the 100 ft that JMS bid. Cost? $15,900 on the outside. JMS is charging $30,123.61! HOLY CRAP!

Dad says the guy originally wanted to go thru the patio and bust out all his concrete which included another $9,000 on his invoice plus maybe $16,000 to replace the patio after JMS was done--customer responsibility--but he got them to remove this cost. So Dad was really feeling good that he'd gotten them down from $36,000 to $30,000! But wait, $36K minus $9K should be $27K from my math classes right? Not with JMS--it's $30K on their calculator!

I inspect the estimate and they have also double-billed for 2 line items with the same exact work descriptions--twice for $7,999.99 for replacing 100 ft of pipe and twice for $499.99 for breaking thru roots--so an additional $8,500 in double charges! So now we should be down to $18,500—even by their own estimate of charges, right? Nope--they claim to my Dad both are done twice--but the inspector said 100-125  ft of pipe so that's impossible. What a joke, where is the conscience? The job is only worth $15K, max! There is a special place for these people in Hell. Once they know you are onto them, they refuse to call you back as well. I asked them to call me bcs my Dad was in lots of pain from his bone cancer treatment this week and specifically told them to leave both of my parents alone! They promptly call him to make a last attempt to collect, since I told them their charges were doubled on my message and we have no intention to pay another dime until someone with authority to negotiate calls me to discuss the double charges and comparison to usual and customary fees for this job in the area! Someone has removed these people's hearts and consciences!

I plan to make sure we call every news channel in Houston to expose these folks more than Yelp, Google and Rip Off Report can do. Elderly people don't know how to look up consumer reviews and rely on judging by how nice people are to them--CON MEN ARE ALWAYS THE NICEST FOLKS IN THE BUNCH! In my profession we call them antisocial personality disordered and just plain greedy! The elderly are on fixed incomes and need their savings for food and medical bills.

STAY AWAY FROM JOHN MOORE SERVICES--Plumbing, A/C or anything else! They are greedy crooks! Everyone who has complained on this site needs to file grievances at the Attorney General's Office, the Texas State Board of Examiners of Plumbers, Electricians or whatever the case may be for the job they ripped you off to do. File in small claims court if less than $5,000 or a full blown civil suit for more. I would imagine if there are enough people out there who have been scammed by this bunch that some lawyer might represent all of us in a class action suit. These people must be put out of business! Call the local news channels until we get some attention to these crooks, please!