My $1,600 faucet

[bitflipper]

Since my back surgery 10 years ago, there are certain things I just can't do anymore. Like trimming my toenails. Or crawling under the kitchen sink. Correction: I can get under the sink, but I can't get back out unless someone's there to drag me out by my ankles.

Consequently, routine home repairs that in the past I'd have done myself I now have to turn over to professionals.

My latest plumbing money-sink began when my granddaughter dropped the sprayer into the sink and broke its plastic handle. Because the sprayer is integral to the faucet assembly and cannot be replaced separately, that meant buying a new faucet. I liked the old faucet just fine, but OK, at this point I'm only out $280.

When it came time to install it, I drafted my grandson into being the guy under the sink. But he couldn't turn off the hot water. I figured  it was a disintegrated o-ring in the shutoff valve and we could live with it being stuck open, so I shut off the main water and proceeded with the installation.

But after we were done, no hot water came out of the faucet. Now I know I've got to replace the shutoff valve, but I'm not going to trust my grandson to replace it. So I brace myself and hire a plumber, thinking it'll be a couple hundred bucks. Nope. $1,007.45. Ouch. But at least I know it's been done right. The o-ring had indeed disintegrated, and little pieces of rubber gasket had been sucked up into the faucet. 

Next day my daughter reports that it's dripping. With no youthful helpers around, I do my best to crawl under there and tighten the fitting. That only slowed the drip. Another call to the plumber, who I reminded had promised that the work was warrantied.

Plumber comes out, says no, the warranty doesn't apply because the leak is from the hose going up to the faucet, not the part he replaced. He'll fix it, but it'll be another $335. For want of one little piece of broken plastic, I'm out $1,600.

So how is this music-related? That money was going to be spent on a musical instrument. But at least I have hot water now, so I will just sing to myself as I wash the dishes.

[Jimbo 88]

ohh how I can relate....glad your dishes are serenaded. 

[craigb]

*Ouch!!!*

[Grem]

1 hour ago, craigb said:

*Ouch!!!*

Yep

[Shane_B.]

I took over the maintenance on an apartment complex almost 2 years ago now. Basically nobody has done anything here since it was built in the mid 80's except the bare minimum, and very poorly. 90% of what I run in to was caused by the previous guys before me.

I run in to this kind of thing almost every day. I do all the plumbing (toilet replacement, faucets, showers, water heaters), all electrical from the panel to the buildings, complete remodeling from the kitchen to the bathroom when a tenant moves out, drywall start to finish too. When I think of what these companies charge, and what I actually get paid, it makes me sick.

That much money to replace shutoff valves and return for a leak that he should have checked for while he was there the first time is a total screw job. I can 99% guarantee you it was leaking while he was under there. I would never use them again and make it known to the owner how much his company screwed me. Unless of course it was the owner that came out.

I've had similar experiences with appliance repair companies, ironically, seeing how I used to work on appliances. I had to use a company for insurance to cover it, I couldn't fix it myself. The guy came out and refused to give me an invoice and said, "The women in the office deal with paperwork, I just fix things" and he refused to leave me a bill. They never sent a bill and would call and accuse me of not paying them. They wanted me to send a check to them with no invoice. All I simply needed was something in writing saying what they charged me, what was wrong, and how how much the parts would be to send to the insurance company. In the end I had to drive to their office and pay them and have "one of the women" hand write me an invoice marked paid, and they fought me on that.

It's getting really hard to find anyone reputable in any service industry.

[paulo]

"I can't believe that the OP was so insensitive as to come on this forum and flaunt his obvious wealth. Does he really have such inability to read the room? Sadly, I think he actually does have the ability which makes this ostentatious display of his riches all the more galling. He takes great pleasure in letting the world know that not only does he have some kind of shelter with access to water, but also a fancy means to control said water flow.  With a spray attachment no less. And a cupboard to keep the plumbing in. Ugh.... a real first world problem right there. Then he not so subtly lets everyone know that the water is also heated in some way. Disgusting display of privilege right there in a "room" full of people who have spent literally years of their lives working away at something for which they have received no financial gain whatsoever. A room full of the kind of people who are known for having to occasionally flaunt themselves on street corners for mere coins thrown by such an overtly privileged society into their badly worn hat that lays on the cold, hard ground at their feet.

Then he adds insult to injury by boasting about how much he overpaid to have his fancy gadget repaired. It's really beyond belief that he could do this to people whose only running water is that which is running through the sodden cardboard box that they share with a family of an uncertain species of animal that would appear to be related to racoons in some way. Absolutely disgraceful behaviour and from a so called moderator  as well."

 

Don't shoot the messenger folks, I'm just delivering this message on behalf of some woman called Karen who was hanging around outside and has no affiliation with this community whatsoever. Apparently its her civic duty to be offended on behalf of people who are not offended. I didn't really want to post it, but experience has taught me that it's best not to argue with stupid people.

Edited December 12, 2023 by paulo

[bitflipper]

3 hours ago, paulo said:

...experience has taught me that it's best not to argue with stupid people.

Such is the wisdom only experience can provide. As the saying goes, don't wrestle with pigs; you'll both just get dirty but the pig likes it.

Good thing I didn't mention that we were - shudder - forced to use the dishwasher for a week because it still had hot water. 

 

[Jimbo 88]

Ok so i won't mention that during Covid our dishwasher broke down.  Since I was making a lot of money when I had it first installed, my wife and I purchased a fancy-schmancy dishwasher.  So fancy-schmancy that no one in the greater Chicago area  knew how to fix it and with Covid no one would come out to look at it. 

So we washed are own dishes for 2 years.  (oh the humanity of it all).  Finally got it replaced with a moderately priced machine...way less than what Bitflipper paid for his sink.  But the thing was, there are a couple of other plumbing issues that I worry about and got estimates on fixing those things.  The estimates where right in line with what Bit spoke of.  So I think I'll just live with those issues until I have too...maybe when I sell the house.

[craigb]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vODk6otpuk&list=PLqMfLZV7HD3LsBrEMztcsSt8SbCbZFVWR&pp=gAQBiAQB

[Bapu]

17 hours ago, bitflipper said:

So how is this music-related? That money was going to be spent on a musical instrument. But at least I have hot water now, so I will just sing to myself as I wash the dishes.

Whistle while you work?

[Byron Dickens]

It cost me over a $1k to replace the dual clutch in my car this past summer. And that's with doing the work myself.

I know why car repair is so expensive, having been in the business for the better part of 30 years.

Plumbing I don't get.  In plumbing, you don't have completely new models every few years with constant changes in technology. Nor does it require thousands of dollars in special tools -  the collection of which constantly has to be added to. Nor does it require computerized test equipment and subscriptions to support the continued avalanche of information and software updates as well as ongoing training to keep up with it all.

I should have been a plumber or an electrician. Better money and I wouldn't have had to pour so much of it back into my tool box.

[bitflipper]

An electrician once told me that plumbers only need to know two things: sh*t rolls downhill and payday's on Friday.

I actually did some plumbing myself for awhile. It was industrial plumbing of corrosive chemicals. Stuff that would dissolve the soles off your shoes. Working with compression fittings and titanium tubes that could snap in two if you tightened or bent them too far. Surprisingly, it was actually fun work.

But I hated working with water. Water lets you know that if there is any way for it to get out, it will find it. I have respect for any professional who can consistently make soldered copper and glued PVC connections that don't leak.

 

[Shane_B.]

5 hours ago, bitflipper said:

An electrician once told me that plumbers only need to know two things: sh*t rolls downhill and payday's on Friday.

I actually did some plumbing myself for awhile. It was industrial plumbing of corrosive chemicals. Stuff that would dissolve the soles off your shoes. Working with compression fittings and titanium tubes that could snap in two if you tightened or bent them too far. Surprisingly, it was actually fun work.

But I hated working with water. Water lets you know that if there is any way for it to get out, it will find it. I have respect for any professional who can consistently make soldered copper and glued PVC connections that don't leak.

 

I was on my side in a crawlspace with a plumber under one of the buildings last year at this time. One of the main drain lines cracked right at a joint the went through the foundation into an adjoining building. I noticed it leaking while down there plumbing a handicapped shower I had to install that week. I was afraid to do it alone so I called a plumber. As we're laying there on our sides right underneath the main he goes, "Oh **c*!". I said what's wrong and he replied that someone just flushed. We both got someone's dump splattered all over us. So yes, I can verify the saying that saying is true.

I do a lot of soldering and pvc. I'm currently converting as much as I can to pex. I like it but would hate to have to do thus all day long in different areas. After you do a few here you get really good because it's all cookie cutter repeat.

[paulo]

On 12/13/2023 at 1:59 AM, Shane_B. said:

I said what's wrong and he replied that someone just flushed. We both got someone's dump splattered all over us.

A couple of years ago a friend's neighbour called on him and asked for the name of his plumber because there was " a slight funny smell" coming from the downstairs toilet/shower room that they'd had built on to the house a few years earlier and he couldn't get hold of the guy who installed it. He is quite handy himself and offered to have a neighbourly look first to see if he could help at all. Having had his eyeballs almost melted by the smell he rapidly decided that he didn't fancy spending any more time in that room and gave him the plumber's number. He soon discovered that all the plumbing was under the tiled floor and impossible to see or get at without destroying the tiles, but there was really no choice....... what he found was that below floor level the toilet had never been connected to anything at all and just emptied onto the ground below, so there was several years worth down there.

Some days they earn every single penny of their bill.

[craigb]

*Yikes!!!* ??

[DeeringAmps]

@bitflipperDid you call Beacon?

 I realize you supervised the faucet replacement, but the plumber should have insisted that at least the hot supply line be replaced when he replaced the hot water turn off. That is “standard” practice. (I know that is no consolation).

t
 

Edited December 14, 2023 by DeeringAmps