White Plumbing Co Inc

When I called, I spoke to Ross and I explained to him that there was a suspected gas leak. I was told at that time that there would be a $59 service call fee that would be waived if they performed any repairs. Billy got here and explained that there was a gas leak and that he'd need to do a bubble test which runs $353.82. In case your wondering what a bubble test is, it's where they spray soapy water on your gas lines and look for bubbles which indicates a gas leak. It was a lot to swallow, but I agreed to let him do that with his assurance that it includes fixing the leak. Bear in mind, the only reason I agreed to that crazy amount was because I thought my wife would have a greater peace of mind knowing that "a professional" did the work. But, the irony is that the word "professional" doesn't indicate a skill level. Rather, it's only defined as someone who does what they do as a profession instead of for a hobby. In other words, anyone who is paid for what they do is a professional, regardless of the quality of their work. I digress, Billy quickly found the leak coming from the shutoff valve in under 3 minutes. His "specialized tool" was a spray bottle with water and a little Dawn dish soap or the equivalent. He then proceeds to tell me that the valve would be an additional $283 because it wasn't a "simple repair" but instead involved replacing parts. Bear in mind, that the valve costs less than $25 almost everywhere. He offered to call the office to see if they would "work with me" to which they knocked the total down to $530-ish to replace the valve. I opted to reluctantly pay the $353.82 and bid Billy a nice day. Ross should have told me that there was an astronomical price to spray soapy water when I was agreeing to the service call. It would have saved us all some time and me a lot of money. This should be part of the diagnosis NOT a charge for service. Because a service charge results in something getting fixed. Billy fixed nothing. I should have been charged $59 for the nothing that got serviced, NOT $353.82. He was here for less than 30 minutes. If you want to use the company for whatever reason, MAKE SURE you have them tell you the ACTUAL price of a diagnosis before you agree to them coming out. My loss, your gain. Hopefully, I've saved someone the money and pain from working with this company. Granted, I'm a pretty capable person. So, if you don't know your way around plumbing, don't attempt fixing it yourself. Pay White Plumbing Co over $600 to change your valve or better yet, find a more reasonable plumber. However, for me, that evening I went to Menards and bought a gas shutoff valve, a 3 inch long 1/2" pipe and a roll of yellow silicone tape for gas, all for $11.18. Maybe 20 minutes and I had it fixed. I guess I paid $353.82 for a lesson learned and an embarrassing story. Hope you enjoyed it and learned something at my expense.