Turner Plumbing Company LLC

Michael N.

Most reviews I write here are inspired by good experiences, but my most recent experience with Mr. Turner was a bad one. The question of quality is not the issue here, but rather one of lack of transparency on pricing, overt overcharging and performing work slowly/""piddling"".

Before we dive in, most plumbers in NC make about $26 per hour working for a company, but they are billing way more for their services, on average $90 per hour in NC. If you are the owner/operator the entire $90 goes in their pocket. Most plumbers I have dealt with in the past (most recently just last year) have charged me $75-$100 per new fixture installed and have taken maybe 30 minutes to complete each fixture installation.

Recently I had new bathroom countertops installed and needed one new fixture installed, one reinstalled and one drain assembly reassembled. I spoke with Mr. Turner by phone and he agreed to come look at the job that same afternoon. He called around 12:45PM to say he was on his way and arrived around 1:00PM (I checked our neighbor hood gate logs later to verify this). He agreed to do the job but also felt the need to basically tell me one of my fixtures was junky and would likely fail in two years(and that I would have trouble finding parts). He said he had time to do the job but was neither upfront, nor transparent about his fees/fee per fixture structure nor a timetable. In addition he brought along a very young apprentice/plumber's helper. I have no problem with that, but if you are bringing someone inexperienced along with you and taking the time to train them as you go, shouldn't you be adjusting your rates/possible times billed to compensate? No, I guess in the end I was charged for his training time. I did hear some banter between the two that included such phrases as "" are we going to have to do it a third time?"".

Fast forward - three hours later the jobs are reportedly complete and he is in his truck at 4PM. Needless to say I was shocked when he showed me his bill. A total of $583. I was charged for 3 1/2 hours of labor at $114 per hour to the tune of $402, then parts (such as P traps which it looks like he also overcharged for/charged retail not cost) and tax (which I understand they have to do since 2017). My first red flag looking back, should have been his quick availability. My second red flag should have been the amount of time it was taking to get the jobs completed. I remember thinking ""shouldn't they be done by now, why is it taking so long?"". My third red flag was right in front of me - I was overtly/blatantly being overcharged by 30 minutes of labor. He was there from 1PM - 4PM. When I pointed that out, he became defensive and felt the need to produce his phone which confirmed he had called me a 12:45 PM to say he was on his way (15 minutes of the overcharge there and the other were him driving to my house). Later that day I did confirm that he entered our gate code around 1PM (our entry system has logs and takes pictures). When I informed him that his prices were ridiculously high compared to other plumbers in our community, and that he should have been upfront about how and how much he was going to charge, he replied ""I'm sorry you feel that way"". At this point I was upset - I wrote him his check and just wanted him to leave as he was blocking our driveway, preventing us from going to the movies on time. At the very end before he left he said, ""would you feel better if I took half an hour of labor off?"". Oh wait, you mean the 30 minutes you were already overcharging me for??? Are you kidding?

So if you decide to hire Mr. Turner, please make sure you know what you are getting into. His rates are very high and his task completion times are slower than most. Make sure he gives you a quote up front. Make sure he tells you his rates up front. Make sure he tells you if he his charging you by the hour or by the fixture. Again, the quality of his work is not at issue (at least not yet - as I live with the fixtures and use them, we will see) but with his lack of transparency and his willingness to blatantly overcharge/over bill for services (and parts). Unfortunately, because of these things I cannot recommend Mr. Turner for your plumbing needs. I will not be using his services in the future.