american Vintage

Problem: shower control valve not working properly. Plumber from American Vintage Home looked at the valve and said he had extensive experience with this kind of problem and that it would take 4.5-5.0 hours to fix (including a trip to the supplier to find a replacement valve cartridge). He said that cartridges are hard to find for older fixtures and that he would call me if it was over $700. He estimated is would cost $1250 to repair and had me sign an authorization form and pay a deposit of $625. The next morning he did the work in 1.5 hours including time to go to the supplier. Because the job was swift, I was expecting a credit to $625 deposit. Instead, they charged an ADDITIONAL $625 to my credit card! They then said I had signed a fixed cost agreement for the job and that they were entitled to the full amount. They refused to tell me the cost of the replacement cartridge but later I discovered that is usually less than $100 retail. This is an unethical and fraudulent company that no one should trust.