I wish to share an experience I had some weeks ago in the hope no one else is as gullible as myself and is taken for a ride. It was a Saturday around 4 pm when our sewerage system became totally blocked. I rang around and being an after hours call out the going charge was in the $600.0 region. I finally called Jim’s Group Franchises who informed me their hourly rate was constant regardless of the time called but did not tell me what it was. Believing this would be normal work day rate plus a $132.0 booking fee they quoted, I accepted their service. I was then informed no one would be available until 7pm or later which was inconvenient for our situation.
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Hi @Tex1939, welcome to the community.
3 hours between calling and arrival isn’t unusual for emergency tradie response…some could be quicker if they are free, others longer if they have other jobs to attend to first.
There are tradies which charge significantly more for out of hours work which your plumbing issue would have been (noting $600 for unblocking a sewer is significant…plus there may be pipe work required as well which be in addition to the blocked pipe). Expecting instantaneous visit/repair/unblock may be an unreasonable expectation. In some areas…rural or regional centres, one could be waiting many more hours or even wait until the next day (or the Monday).
Maybe your expectations of Jims to come immediately (?) to potentially save a few dollars is unrealistic.
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Welcome to the Community @Tex1939,
I am confused what your issue is.
Did Jim’s charge an unexpectedly high price? Why didn’t you confirm their rate? Making assumptions is rarely a good way to engage trades or anyone.
You rang at 4PM and they indicated nobody could attend until ‘7PM or later’. 3 hours and maybe longer. One normally has a choice to cancel if the proposed service is inadequate. That may be the case if your sewer was overflowing, but…
…companies providing after hours service at premium prices do so because there are generally not many plumbers waiting for a call-out to interrupt their dinner or evening at day rates, and for those that offer emergency call outs they usually have people on call, and thus charge accordingly.
It reads as if you were willing to pay for ‘standard service’ but expected ‘premium service’. I am not sure what your problem with Jim’s is unless there is more to the story describing exactly how you felt you were ‘taken for a ride’.
More details please?
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My apologies for the confusion. This is the full story.
I wish to share an experience I had some weeks ago in the hope that no one else is as gullible as myself and suffers a similar fate.
It was late Saturday around 4pm when our sewage system became totally blocked. I called a few services and being an after hours call out, the going rate was in the $600 region.
I finally called Jim’s group franchises who informed me their hourly rate was constant regardless of time of day, but didn’t tell me what the rate was.
Believing this would be a normal working day rate, plus a quoted $130 booking fee, I accepted their offer. I was then told the service wouldn’t be available until 7 pm to 10pm which really didn’t help our situation.
One of Jim’s team arrrived at sundown and told me there would be a $690 charge. In desperation I accepted the charge, believing it included the $132 booking fee.
This person then said he was finished for the day and someone else would do the work.
The team member who finally did the work arrived at 8pm and queried as to why the previous person had not done the job. He informed the cost included 1 1/2 hours machine use.
The actual sewerage blockage took less than 10 minutes to clear. A camera inspection of the sewer pipe work followed and the whole task took no longer than an hour, for a total charge of $822.
I believe this charge was outrageous and
people on pensions, as I am, and those on very low incomes would have great difficulty meeting those charges.
Be aware of pitfalls of hiring help, especially after hours.
Phil
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Thanks for filling in the detail @Tex1939. It reinforces one must always ask and receive quotations or estimates rather than making expectations or assumptions.
For a comparison, do you know if those $600 charges were fully inclusive or were they potentially subject to add-ons?
Not impressive!
Since Jim’s is a ‘franchise everything’ company and customers are dealing with a specific franchise, not the banner company, would you post the Jim’s location/franchise you dealt with?
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I agree with PhilT that in all likelyhood the $600 charge quoted by other plumbers would have been the call-out fee & an amount of time (30min?) there only. They would then add on the additional charges for use of the camera, if they had one, and other charges such as sending the pipe borer down to clean out vegetation, etc.
Always ask what the quoted cost includes, and if possible ask for an all inclusive fee…
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