Z-Plumber

The pipes connected to our water meter froze overnight and cracked the plastic meter cap.  Being first time home buyers we were unaware of what to expect when pipes freeze so we prodeeded to defrost it with a hair dryer and it bursted in a full rush of water. We were new to the Hawley area and had no idea who to call locally so we went through the phone book and called the plumber closest to our town  Z-Plumber. He told us that he was in Milford and would be charging $200 just for coming out. No water meant no heat for our steam heaters at -20 below so we agreed. He arrived as expected and immediately realized there was nothing he could do. The cap needed to be replaced by our water company, so he proceeded to act as if he was defrosting the pipe for 10 minutes with a welding torch even though it was already defrosted. Before all was said and done he tagged on an additional $50 to our bill then went on his merry ole way. In the end we still had to pay the water company an additional $80 to replace the plastic meter cap . I think he took advantage of our situation and over charged us, exactly what we expected from a plumber.