Blue Diamond Plumbing & Electric

The business owner's father answers his business phone and had difficulty understanding us, he never seemed to understand that we were initially asking for an estimate before work could be done. However, the owner, once on the scene did understand, and provide us with a clear explanation of what the possible causes of our leaking toilet might be. And provided us with the written estimate required by our insurance company in a timely manner. The estimate of $486 that he provided was for the "worst case scenario." The insurance company told us that this was not a reasonable estimate for this type of work - but did so in such a way that we mistrusted the insurance company rather than the plumber (our fault). Since he had once before done good competent work for us on a previous house we hired him to do the job anyway. He came within a few days of being called. He was prompt and professional in his attitude. He was neat and careful, explained what he was doing, and completed the job in 1 hour and 45 minutes. And then charged us the full $486 dollars "worst case" estimate. We tend to get intimidated by service providers doing tasks we can't do ourselves, and since this was exactly what the estimate had been, I wrote him a check. However, looking at the billing once he had left, I realized that the parts accounted for about $50 and that he had charged us $430 for 1 hour and 45 minutes worth of labor, 2 hours if we include his time for the estimate. Don't know about elsewhere, but in this rural community, I'm quite sure that plumbers do not make $200 a hour. We feel ripped off, and bamboozled, and we only have our selves to blame. But we probably won't be calling on this company again - unless we're desperate, which we might be, because the only other licensed plumbing company in the area puts you on a waiting list and makes you wait up to three months for anything that is not a dire emergency.