Waldron Electric And Heating Pricing Gouging Rip-off Artists West Mifflin Pennsylvania

Sounds like many people are having the same problem with Waldron's. Our story is very similar to the others. It was Saturday, 12/29/2007. The temp outside was probably around 12 degrees. When I woke up that morning the temp of the house was 51 degrees and falling. My husband came home from work that evening, around 6:00, he looked in the phone book for someone to come at that hour to fix it. We already knew that the problem was the ignitor and luckily we already knew what the approx. price should be to install a new one.

My husband called the Waldron's because they had the biggest ad and they do 24 hour service. Initally we were impressed because when my husband left a message someone called back within a minute. He said that they had a fee of $89.00 to just show up. We thought that was ok since it was a Saturday night. So he showed up, and immediately wanted our credit card to cover the $89.00 fee...no checks (now I know why). We told him that we were positive that it was the ignitor. He took a look and said that it was the ignitor. We thought, ok good, this is going to get fixed tonight. Then he pulled out his pretty price book and proceeded to tell us that the price for a standard ignitor was $939.00 and the price for a premium ignitor was $1,400.00. Needless to say our jaws dropped to the floor. We knew that it was waaaaay overpriced and that the price on a regular day with the install should not be more than $200.00. But we stayed calm and said exactly what we knew. Immediately he called his "manager" (which I'm pretty positive that he was the owner) to see what he could do. But another thing that was strange was that he had his cell phone on him, but he went outside in the single digit weather to make the call. Then he came back inside and told my husband that the manager wanted to talk to him. I didn't hear the conversation, but after about 5 minutes my husband called for me and asked me how much we were willing to pay for this. I said "$200.00." My husband came back inside and said that the manager said that since it was really cold outside and it was New Years Weekend, he would cut us a break...$699.00. Gee, thanks alot, but no thanks!!!

After the technician left my husband told me what happened on the phone. The manager started berating my husband and trying to make him feel like he was a complete idiot. That this was a normal price for this ignitor. And that there was alot of over-head, and he has to pay for advertising, and taxes and all kinds of other garbage...blah, blah, blah. Not my problem!! Then after telling the manager over and over and over again that he wasn't going to pay it...and the manager not giving up, my husband finally had to hang up on him.

So, I've seen posts about this company all the way from a few years ago...and it's still happening and they're still getting away with it. Unbelievable!!! I hope someone stops them soon, and I hope people read this so they don't get taken by them. My biggest fear is that some elderly person will call them because they have the biggest ad in the phone book and then Waldron's will take them for all of their money....and owner and the people at Waldrons will be able to sleep peacefully at night knowing what they did. I pray that doesn't happen!

Jessie
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.