Preferred Plumbing Solutions Inc.

Plumbing
Vaughan ON L4L 8T2
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HomeStars  >  Plumbing in Woodbridge  >  Preferred Plumbing Solutions Inc.  >  Beware of bait and switch
Private User
Private User
Private User reviews Toronto, ON
1/10

Beware of bait and switch

I called Preferred Plumbing to repair a lack of hot water in my condo shower pipes. I was quoted $55 for my service call, very reasonable. I was surprised that 2 plumbers arrived for this seemlingly minor job of what I though was going to be relacing the cartridge. I had done this type of work myself in my old home. Beware of companies that quote various project rates rather than an hourly rate. There's no way for the consumer to know what's fair or reasonable. But I do know that there was what felt like bait and switch tactics going on for my repair. I was quoted the low service visit fee (I thought, because I was a senior). But when they arrived, they quoted a high rate for opening up the wall to investigate further (this was obvious they'd have to do this to do any sort of reasonable investigation, but there was no mention of this on the phone). Apparently, the service visit fee was just for walking in my front door, no real work. I was then quoted $2000 for a repair that they eventually agreed to do for less than half that (still too much). In the middle of my repair, they left my condo for a while, came back and there was time wasted. The way they charge seems to be an unethical approach and still unsure why this company doesn't have an hourly rate, plus parts like 99.9% of other plumbers out there so things are transparent and fair to customers. Watch out.
Your standard responses to online reviews such as "We put a huge amount of effort, time and training into developing high performing personnel and qualified trades people." doesn't account for the bait and switch tactics of low-priced service visits followed by unwarranted massive charges rather than a fair hourly rate for straight forward work. When estimates run into the thousands, that would mean breaking into walls (not just taking parts apart in front of the wall) or the replacement of entire systems rather than straight forward repairs that take an hour of less. Giving people options is one thing (which again, you mention in a previous review, but I can assure you that no senior of anyone else for that matter, wants to rebuild a fairly new bathroom or do major extensive (and expensive) work when there’s a reasonable alternative for a solution that’s a fraction of the price. With regards to training your staff, please train them on above, in terms of looking out for the customer with reasonable, honest solutions and pricing, rather than taking advantage of those who are vulnerable to your tactics and simply need their plumbing fixed to take a shower.

Approximate cost of services:
$750.00
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Company Response

Dear Customer,

Thank you very much for your business. We truly appreciate you giving us the opportunity in providing you with our professional services. We deeply apologize that you are not satisfied with our services. We truly try to uphold the highest level of customer service and we feel badly that you did not have a good experience with us.

Our trained Technicians are responsible to communicate to you what they find and what they think the next steps would be in proceeding with the repairs. Various options are provided upfront, when you have chosen an option that you are comfortable with, the technician will present the chosen option again to you on a quote so you can clearly see what the cost will be with the additional applicable taxes. Only once you sign off on the work and instruct the Technicians to go ahead with the work, will they proceed.

If you did not like the prices that were communicated to you. You could have simply paid the $49 + hst and we would not have proceeded with any work. Service, repair or inspection rates can not be communicated until the Technician is on site and accurately evaluates what steps need to be taken. The $2000 that you mentioned was for completely replacing your shower faucet system, which the Technicians reiterated many times would be the optimal solution.

You had also failed to mention that the Technicians spent over 3 hours working on your plumbing issues in your condo unit, including going out to source and purchase the correct components for your specific shower. They did not leave and 'waste time' as you had mentioned. They spent more time than usual trying to rectify your situation and they had clearly kept you updated throughout the process.

We do not use any 'tactics' as you have mentioned numerous times. We are extremely transparent as to how we conduct our business and fully stand behind our quality workmanship and the integrity of all of our trained Technicians.

If we can be of further assistance to you, please feel free to reach out to us to find a resolution. Our office number is (905)-597-8555 and please ask for me, Raphie (Owner).

All the best and we look forward to working with you again!