DEALING WITH PLUMBERS

Last week we found a leak under our sink. Sam didn't feel that he could fix it himself, so he did what most people do, they grab the yellow pages, and call a plumber. Unfortunetely the one Sam called ended up being a crook. He was nice enough at first, and said he would only charge $35 to come out and see the problem. So that day he was out tinkering under our sink. A foreign place for me.
It turned out he tried to fix something but that didn't work. Then he needed to replace the faucet he said. Which didn't have any leaks before he showed up. Then he took apart another pipe that led to the garbage disposal and put some gunk in it. And said all was fixed.

Well, we soon found out that the pipe he put some gunk in was now leaking when you put the garbage disposal on. We did what anyone would do: call him back. Of course when he left, he'd said that if we had a problem to call him.

This time it was a ruder man on the telephone. He claims he originally came out for our faucet leaking, that he was just doing us a favor when he was charging $35, and now if we want him to come out, the visit will cost $75. I tried arguing with him, but he was sticking to his story.

Sam is on his way to Ace Hardware to see if there is something he can buy for it.
When we call someone, just because they are in the yellow pages and have a business that doesn't mean they are not crooked.

Its a sad place we are in. We want to believe the best about someone, because we want to trust. I let Sam handle it all. Would I have picked a different plumber intuitively, I don't know. All I know is that we were robbed.