STEELE'S WELL & PUMP CO

BE CAREFULL!! I contacted Steele’s Well and Pump suspecting our water well pump was the cause of some water issues we were having. Wayne Steele called me back promptly and was willing to come out and take a look at our pump right away. I ended up scheduling the following morning. Wayne and his guy came out first thing as promised and had a Fluke power test gauge on my pump before I even got outside. He read off some numbers from the gauge and said the pump was bad, and based on the way it was behaving, was most likely due to lightening. If lightening caused damage, home owners insurance would cover it. This was all Greek to me, and his explanations as far as the problem and my options were not very clear. He asked me what I wanted to do. I asked how much this would cost and he explained that he had water pumps on his truck that ranged in price from $950 and up depending on which one was installed. Due to the depth of the well (405’), labor would range around $400 – $500 depending on how deep the pump was actually set. So I said, “So I’m looking around $1500?” He also said I would have to replace the electrical wiring going down to the pump which may run another $400-$500, so we would be looking at around $2000.00. This seemed very inflated to me, and not having much knowledge or experience with water pumps or water pump replacement, I wasn’t sure what to do. I told him I’d have to get back to him, so he said “ok, that will be $150.00 for the service call”. He was charging me $150 just to stand there for 5 minutes and read off numbers to me from his gauge. I ended up calling someone I trust to get their opinion on the pricing and they explained this was much too high for parts and installation. I ended up handing him a check for the $150 and asked if I call him back will he take that amount off the repair service. He said no, he would take off half ($75). Toward the end of the conversation he told me he was 99% certain the pump went bad due to lightening and he would list this as cause of damage on the repair bill that can be provided to insurance companies. He claimed he’s had no problem with claims being filled and many other well and pump companies won’t do this. Thanks but no thanks!! BTW…we ended up hiring a different (well reputable) company to perform the repair and it cost us half of what Steele Well and Pump repair had estimated. When the old pump was pulled up, we discovered the segments of the pump were loose. The pump was obviously bad, but NOT because of lightening. I’m glad it’s still America where we can share our experiences. It amazes me people like this are still in business. The onlything positive I can say is he was very responsive.