I have an unfinished basement that I'm getting around to finishing. I just had a representitive out this afternoon from a larger, well known plumbing company in the area to bid the job of installing all of the pipes and reconfiguring the drains from a shower only drain, to a tub/shower drain.
1. He couldn't give me a bid.
2. From when his dispatcher called, telling me to expect him within about 30 minutes, an hour and a half elapsed.
3. He claimed he called twice in that time frame. Funny thing was, I have call-waiting, and the phone was on the table in front of me.
4. He mostly stood there and said, "hmmmm, I dunno."
5. He couldn't give me a time frame in which the work could start, let alone approximate man-hours the job would take.
5. He wanted $50 for a "travel fee".

Now when I had called, I told the gal basically what I needed, she said that on top of the job there was a $50 travel fee. Fine. She called back 20 minutes later, and told me that they needed to send someone out to do a bid on the job, rather than start work, fine (AND no mention of a travel fee).

Am I wrong for telling them that I'm not paying $50 for someone to come out and not give me any answers or waste an extra hour of my day?
Poll added.

FOAD...travel fee....WTF?

Since when do YOU have to pay THEM for the priviledge of earning your business?

Sounds very odd to me. I'd tell them to pound sand. I could see some kind of fee for a specialized service only a few people do and they were coming from a long way off. If they told me up front that there would be a travel fee for the estimate, I might or might not have them come.  Local plumbers though are a dime a dozen, pay for an estimate? NOT!

If I work by the hour I charge $30-40 to show up most of the time. But I also get done what they want done while I'm there. If I can't do it I tell them thank you and to get someone who can.

This might be my reaction



I think I would have told him to go away after showing up late and then lying to you about calling you.

Every plumbing outfit I had come to my place to bid repairing my water line charged a fee just to show up. I think it is common with plumbing outfits for some reason.

The one guy that came out and did not charge me also told me that I should do it myself and not pay the crazy amount that everyone had bid (himself included).

I took his advice.

How long did you wait, and what is your time worth?  There time is worth something, and so is yours.


He never gave you a formal bid, which means there is no verbal contract to pay, so its a moot point.

Travel fees for inspections ... sure.

Travel fees for actual work, computed into the bid (even if listed separately) ... fine.

Travel fees to look at work, before making bid ... sketchy.

Travel fees for declining to bid, for whatever reason ... crock of bird poo.

I kinda thought so....Mrs.45 even asked if I took a picture after I stuffed it in his pooper.

When he mentioned $$, I called the dispatcher, who assured me the boss would call in the AM. No call from the boss, no bid, and obviously no mention of a travel charge...done deal.

I'm in the process of finding another plumber...(In the SE Spokane County area just in case anyone has a brother-father-sister-mother-uncle-in-law that needs a side job)


ETA- And YES, sometimes I'm also just a Dick.

That sounds like BS asking for a travel fee and not even giving you an estimate.

Hehe, we just roll a surcharge into the overall price if its gonna require lots of drivetime for a job.  25 cents a square foot extra or whatever the case may be. But a flat fee for showing up and not bidding, screw 'em.

UPDATE



On the 17th I recieved a bill for the travel fee, the invoice stated it was for "work completed, bid submission"

I STILL didn't have a bid.


So I called, spoke with the senoir accounting gal there, explained very nicely, that the work was already done by someone else (Me), I still did NOT have a bid, nor had I heard from the guy who was supposed to call me the next day. She was very nice, polite, empathetic and brought the account to null. Great.

I received a bid. On Jan 4. They wanted $900.00
I spent around $150 for parts and such.

Looks like Momma owes me another $750!!!!!!

Momma is going to charge you for:

Laundry Service $50 per week

Maid Service $100 per week

Meal Prep & Clean Up $200 per week

Day Care $200 per week

Driver $200 per week