Plumbing Concepts

Amy M.

Beware receiving hefty bills years after the job is completed!! The one star rating is not based on the quality of the work, but on the untimely and irresponsible accounting practices that resulted in being sent a $2300 bill over two years after the work was completed. First, to their credit, Jessie and his crew were always polite, on time, and generally displayed all the qualities one hopes for in the people working in one's home. However, receiving a call over two years after the work was completed to ask if we had received the final invoice is irresponsible and inappropriate.
The first call I received on this was from Jessie, the company owner, in December 2013, asking had I received ""that last invoice?"" After a pause while I tried to remember what he could have meant, I said, ""You mean for the work you did over two years ago?""
""Yeah,"" he said, ""Did you get that invoice because we're showing a balance on your account.""
""I paid every invoice I received,"" I told him and said that I was disturbed to be receiving a call about an outstanding account from over two years ago. As if this would be comforting, he told me that I wasn't the only one this had happened to, and they were calling other folks who had bills older than mine.
Three months passed and Jessie called again asking if I had gotten the invoice yet. ""No,"" I told him, ""I haven't heard a thing about it, so I assumed you found the error on your end.""
Within a week, I received the invoices. There were four in total: two that I had received in my email and paid, and two that I had never received. My email account shows the two that were received, and thus it seems clear that these invoices were never sent. And if they had been, I would have paid them as I did for the two I have on record. The invoice for the unpaid balance was dated 10/6/2013 and listed the previous invoices, including an invoice number and date. I called the office to request the original copies of these invoices; as there were both an invoice number and a date, as well as evidence that Plumbing Concepts sends invoices by email, this should not have been difficult to do. Lisa, the office manager/receptionist, called me stupid, ignorant, and told me that I was clearly the kind of person who thought she didn't have to pay her bills. (Note: I have NEVER defaulted on any bill or account, nor even been late.) She also told me that she knows I received the invoices, and I know that I did too (my email account proves differently). She told me that a working toilet and shower were proof that I owed this money, and that they weren't called Charity Concepts - this detail is perhaps extraneous, but relevant to exposing the kind of person you're going to have to deal with if you should have any issue. I repeatedly told her that I would pay what was due if that was the case, but that I didn't feel comfortable writing a check for $2300 based on an invoice that appeared to have been created on 10/6/2014. I gave her the numbers of the invoices and the dates. Lisa then told me that those invoice numbers don't actually mean anything, but that if I wanted to see something, she'd make it up and send it to me. To her credit, she did say that she would look through our file to try to find the originals; but based on her previous comment (which she said was an ""accounting insider tip""), I don't feel confident that what I see will be the actual originals. At one point, she even told me that those invoices didn't even exist, but that the charges were still valid.
Plumbing Concepts clearly has poor accounting practices, as well as an incredibly rude office person who makes ridiculous claims that having a working toilet is ""proof"" of an unpaid bill. They have not been in touch in over two years and expect me to write a check without asking any questions based on an invoice written two years after the work was completed. I would not hire this plumber again, nor would I recommend them unless you want to receive a bill two years (or more!) after completion of the job. They are irresponsible and unapologetic about this lapse. I recognize that errors and miscommunications happen, but this is unacceptable. They should have a better auditing system for finding and contacting those with outstanding balances rather than berating the customer for feeling confused and unsure about just paying a bill that no one has any record of.