Cal-Tex Plumbing

I called him to help with my gas water heater when I first moved into my house. He lit the pilot but it wasn't working properly, the flame was all crazy. He diagnosed the problem (water in the gas line), and recommended that I call the home warranty provider and didn't charge me! Because he had told me what to tell the plumber sent by the warranty company (bring a vacuum thingy - I don't remember what it was called), they charged me less and got the job done quickly.

In the past the principle, Tom Calhoun, had installed a new disposal in my kitchen sink. He did it himself and did a good job of which I was pleased. When he came out to fix my toilet he had his assistant do the work of fixing my toilet. I had bought the parts myself at Costco. His assistant, Ricardo, was slow as molasses.
I had a tiny drip in one bathroom sink which I asked him to fix and while he was at it he might as well replace the 3 other lavatory cartridges. He sent his and quot;helperand quot; out to get the parts. This took almost 2 hours until he came back with the parts. When I got the biil I was floored. It was almost $600.00 dollars! I had been charged plumber prices by the hour ($125.00) for Tom's and quot;assistantand quot; to drive across town for the parts.
To be fair, I brought this upon myself because I didn't think to ask how much it was going to cost. I made the wrong assumption that since my dealing with Tom in the past was a good one that he would be fair this time. WRONG! And I have only myself to blame.We must always ASK the price of a service before having the service is done. I really did feel ripped off, though.