What legal action can California plumber take in billing dispute?
I paid plumber $130 to unclog sewage pipe in November. Week later, same pipe stopped up. Dispatcher said there'd be no charge for 2nd visit, since it came so soon after first. He ran camera down the line, said tree roots had separated pipes, recommended digging up line ($80/hour) and he'd replace ($150/hr.) I dug up line to save money (2 days back-breaking labor), discovered there's no problem with pipes. The backup, turns out, was under street, which city fixed free. I complained to plumbing company, asked why he didn't check both ends of pipe, and thought that was end of it. Now, they're charging $250 for 2nd visit. I wrote back that I'd been assured no-charge visit, I didn't authorize a $250 work action, plumber didn't ask to start $250 work action, that I signed nothing on 2nd visit, he didn't give me a bill... But it's my word vs. theirs. My question, what can they do to me? Attach lien to my home? Ruin my credit? Sue me for debt & legal fees? I pay my debts, but I don't owe this!
Public Comments
- They cant do anything but send this to a collection agency...Just dont pay the bill. They cant do anything, the collection agency cant do anything either. The only thing they ight do is take you to a small claims court, but you should be paid for the lies they told you.
- Nothing they can do nothing to you..like you said you never signed a work order ..if you didn't sign anything it's going to be pretty hard for them to get anything..if they were able to just say they did the work and you didn't pay and won in court ..guess what i'm starting a business like that first thing in the morning..Also they will need to have a date that they visited your home on the "second" visit ...so it's easy for you to just get a friend to say there's no way your were home because the two of you went somewhere else and were not home all day then charge him for extortion..acctually you should charge him for extortion either way and see how fast they run away and leave you alone..you have a letter from them and they have no work order from you so them trying to get money from you when they didn't do any work is a criminal act called EXTORTION..very bad..bit of jail time ivolved with that..
- Have an attorney write them a threatening letter they will forget about you quick as can be.
- File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, maybe he's a member and they can take the action for you.
