Consumer Woes :: Down the drain

Here's a rant from one of our members:

Why do technicians feel they can charge gobs of money for so little time? Recently, Maureen had her brother replace the innards of her toilet. Everything looked great and was working well.

A few days later Maureen noticed water leaking from the bottom of the toilet. Instead of bothering her brother again, she called a plumber located in Gardner, Mass. The plumber came, looked at the problem and tightened two screws under the toilet tank's bottom. The bill? $142.94.

Let's do the math. 5 minutes tightening the screws, 10 minutes writing out the ridiculous bill and a fuel surcharge of $15. When asked why the bill was so high, the plumber said he was charging a "diagnostic charge."

Maureen has emailed the company twice regarding the total rip off and has yet to hear from them.