I spoke several times to the person who called me and described the job. He confided his 30 years of experience and knowledge. When I asked about the price he said that it would be about 350,and “not a thousand dollars or anything”. Well Guess what the first bill handed to me was? About 980.00 and I had already purchased a part.
The person doing the installation reduced it to 745 after I told him of the conversation. He obviously had received no communication from the person I had spoken to. This is no surprise as they had mis-communicated and missed their time to come and do the work twice before showing the third time.
My fault for not getting a written quotation first and going on the info shared in the conversation. And my fault for actually paying. I was frustrated with about a 100 other urgent things and not thinking. I was not even given an itemized receipt.
The final valve part was mentioned and not tabulated , just that there is a book. Had I thought, 350 meant 350 plus about 600 dollars then I would have worked with someone else or purchased parts myself.
I paid, but was not happy. The final cost was still over double what I was expecting to pay. I am yet to speak with the dispatcher, as I have been tending to many things. I look back at the reviews and see similar complaints that were addressed with, “well, that is what we charge” and the same “price list book” and see that my experience was not an exception but rather a practiced process and don't expect much to come from that. I used Homestars to save time and avoid this kind of garbage. My bad, I guess.