‘Don’t operate like this’: Woman calls out plumbing business that refused to give her a quote on the phone—then demanded $200 fee when she refused service
Did this TikToker's money go down the drain, or was she just being treated like any other customer? She claims that she was charged $1,200 to have her new sink hooked up to her house plumbing, and now she's questioning why she wasn't told how much she would have to pay ahead of time.
Canadian vlogger Amie (@canadianmomamie) says she just wanted to get her sink connected—but she wasn't expecting the price tag. She took to her TikTok account on March 22 to tell her side of the story. Since then, her video has picked up over 913,500 views and counting.
In the video, which she captioned, "If you own a plumbing business, please don't operate like this," Amie says to her viewers. "This should be honestly illegal."
She goes on to claim that she called a plumber to hook up a new under-mount sink that she recently had installed.
"So I call a [plumber] and I'm like, 'I need you to come in by tomorrow,'" she says.
Amie went on to state that the plumber she called was highly rated on Google. She also says the company in question offered "price-matching" and "best price guarantee."
"Roughly how much do you think it's going to cost?" she reports asking after contacting the unnamed company.
She claims she was told, "I can't really give you a quote over the phone." She further alleges that the worker refused to provide a quote even after she asked him for a ballpark figure. She says the plumber said he would come by her house the following day.
She says the plumber is a "super nice guy" who, after arriving at her house, showed her several pricing options on his iPad.
"There are three tiers: the cheapest, the medium, and the highest," she says. "The first tier? $1,500. The third tier was $1,800 or nineteen or something. I didn't even frigging look at it. … I started crying."
"'I can't afford that," she claims to have told the plumber. "I didn't budget in this. I thought, like, max, you know, $500 to attach the sink to the existing plumbing. All you need is that black tube sh*t, like, you don't really need anything else."
She then states that she was stunned to find out that the plumber would charge a $200 fee for the visit, even though she didn't hire him for the service. Amie says she grew frustrated but eventually agreed to pay $1,200 to have the plumbing hooked up.
"Whoever answered the phone [at the plumbing company] should have a price list … because it took the guy 20 minutes to attach my frigging sink to the existing plumbing, and I paid $1,200," she complains to her viewers. "Companies should be able to give you a quote over the phone."
"I get that people's time is valuable. I totally understand that, but like, $1,200 for a 20-minute job? That is robbery," she says.
@canadianmomamie If you own a plumbing business please dont operate like this ???? #plumbersoftiktok #shellshock ♬ original sound - canadianmomamie
Do plumbers usually give quotes over the phone?
Despite Amie's complaints, many plumbing websites discourage customers from seeking quotes over the phone. Roto-Rooter's website states that a plumber "who routinely quotes prices over the phone without laying eyes on your plumbing system is either misleading you or putting his business at great risk."
"A plumber needs to look at the plumbing problem to see if there are other contributing factors at work before an accurate diagnosis can be made. There are simply too many possible variables to make an accurate diagnosis over the phone," the site states.
Denver's High Five Plumbing states on its website, "Most professionals will discourage you from scheduling service based on one old-fashioned phone call. You wouldn't ask a mechanic to accurately quote you for an auto repair over the phone, would you? The same goes for plumbing."
The price Amie says she paid seems to be higher than one would expect for a simple hook-up. According to Forbes, a customer can expect to pay between $200 to $1,700 for a sink installation, but that includes installation of the entire sink—not just a hook-up to your existing plumbing.
Home Depot states, "Sink installation costs on average $200-$350, which includes removal and haul away of the old sink, new sink installation and reconnection of new supply lines provided by the installer," meaning that the price Amie alleges she was charged is above the market average.
Most of Amie's viewers seemed to agree that the price she claimed to pay was too expensive.
"Plumbers think they must charge like heart surgeons do. This is why I do most of my own plumbing," one viewer commented.
"Approximately $85 an hour with a 2-hour minimum and expenses = about $250 and I have been licensed for 22 years now," one viewer wrote.
Victor Ov (@vicov89) wrote, "$1200 should be with a new sink and a faucet. if it's just a pipe where the hell did he get $1200 from?"
And Dominic Battaglia (@dawnshrew) commented, "I'm a veteran plumber with my own company. I agree it's expensive and u 'pay for experience' but 1500$ for a sink connection is outrageous. sink connection should be 3-400$ with stock."
The Daily Dot has reached out to Amie via email for more information.
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The post ‘Don’t operate like this’: Woman calls out plumbing business that refused to give her a quote on the phone—then demanded $200 fee when she refused service appeared first on The Daily Dot.