I fought the plumber... Days 65 - 66

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Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5


Day 65 - February 16 


Today I launched wave two of my battle:

I responded to the BBB and I called him on the lies and offered to back them up with phone records.  I concluded my message with the following paragraph.  


It is clear to me that this company is engaging is deceitful practices and is not willing to listen to or resolve my concerns. It can be proven through phone records that at least one of his claims is a lie. Viewed in this light all of his claims should be considered suspect.

I also sent off a letter to the collection agency disputing the debt.  It was a generic template I pulled off the web full of legal terms. 

Finally I sent the company the following email:

How many hours of your employers time will you waste before you realize that you are fighting a war of attrition?  Let's estimate that you make somewhere around $25.00 an hour.  I am asking that you warranty my part and knock a little over $100 off the bill.  That equates to about 4-5 hours of your time.  How many hours have you already spent working on this issue?  How many more will you continue to spend responding to BBB claims, updating your facebook page to push down my comments, writing reviews of your company to balance out mine.  And how many hours will you spend checking the dozens of sites to see if I've posted a new review.  I'm not on the clock, I'm just an irritated guy trying to get a fair deal.  I've been fairly nice so far, the facebook post was respectful and I've only reviewed you on one site.  I have a whole list of sites to get to.  I noticed the Angieslist badge on your new website, I'll have to see what I can do about that.  Membership is only $15 and non-members can submit reviews.  In addition I haven't brought up the fact that some of your reviews are obvious fakes.  I'm curious though, are they employees, family/friends, or paid reviewers?

Once I get this issue resolved and behind me I will no longer be irritated and I'll forget all about your company.

So here's what I need:
Submit a warranty claim on my part or not, I don't care.  But don't charge me just because you refuse to honor it.
Bill me for the after hours visit, I had forgotten about that in my previous messages and I accept that charge as valid.
Bill me for an hour of your plumbers time.  It is standard practice to round up to a full hour and I accept that.  Standard billing rates for a plumber are $80-100 per hour.  Go ahead and bill me on the high side.
Don't bill me for the returned check fee.  If you had dealt with us on Dec 15th when we called three times we never would have cancelled the check.
Send me a bill for $135 and I'll pay it immediately and you'll be rid of me. 
Otherwise you can count on spending many more hours trying to repair your online presence, how many will it take - 8, 12, more... all the while losing customers who check those reviews before selecting a service company. 

A few things you can expect over the next few days:
I caught your lie in your BBB response.  You will shortly receive a rebuttal from them.  It reflects bad on your company when you lie and it's even worse when it is documented by my phone records.
Your collection agency will inform you that I have disputed the debt pursuant to Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 USC 1692g
At random intervals I will post another review on another site.  I will hold off on the first one until at least end of business tomorrow as today is almost gone.  This gives you plenty of time to review your options and make a decision.

By the way I was heartened last month when I looked you up on facebook and saw that xxxxxxx xxxxxx (head boss) is a BYU grad.  I expected a reasonable individual who would hear me out, respond to my concerns in a timely manner and help me resolve this situation.  I thought to myself, "maybe xxxxxxxx has been busy with other things and doesn't even know of my dispute, maybe he doesn't know that his company is refusing to honor a manufacturers warranty, or that his employee is being dishonest to the BBB."  I hope that is the case because I had some respect for the xxxxxx name and the university that produced you.

As always please contact me in writing by email or post.  I have been advised not to accept any phone calls from your company at this time.

Day 66 - February 17

I don't know which part of the email got through to them, I used both the logical approach and the human approach with a few barbs thrown in for good measure, but today I received an email from the secretary with an updated invoice.  They accepted all my demands and billed me for exactly the things I asked for.

I fought the plumber... and I won!

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5