Southwest Plumbing review: Avoided costly mistake....

My husband, and I, called Southwest Plumbing as we needed to install a new hot water electric heater. The people who built our home, that we bought 18 years after it was built, apparently sautered the metal piping onto the water heater and there would be no way that we could install a new heater ourselves. The gentleman who came out had a clipboard with prices on it. My husband explained that all we needed was to have the piping removed so we could do the work ourselves (we didn't have the correct equipment). My husband also made the comment that it would probably be easier for the tech to do it than for him to do it. The tech basically had attitude from the time he arrived. He was nice to our sick kitty, though. We were quoted around $730.00 to remove a pipe and do the work himself. Talk about sticker shock! We were expecting it to cost around $300.00. At least we weren't charged to get the quote. From what I've read, people are getting charged huge amounts of money for jobs that take 15-20 minutes or are being told untruths. The techs get paid on commission and base their prices on what is listed on the price lists they have. I guess they are more for people who have $$$ or can afford to get jacked. We ended up taking the hot water heater back and are still using the old heater. The only problem we have with our heater is that there is a leak in the bottom of the heater. We're moving soon, anyways, and this house is a money pit to begin with. Moral of the story: Never do business with Southwest Plumbing unless you can really afford to pay an arm and a leg. I guess they have to charge inflated costs since they do so much advertising!