Yes, I am in Northern Virginia, but no, no follow-up on this quote is required. I’ve managed to do it all (from start to finish all by myself; acquiring useful knowledge in the process). So, thank you for making me teach myself some advanced plumbing. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit.

One thing I still do not understand though is why the following two jobs cost this much:

* Installation of new garbage disposer – $284.00 >> took me no longer than 30 minutes to do by myself, and keep in mind that was doing this for the first time in my life!

* Repiping of kitchen sink – $205.00 >> took me around 20 minutes to complete (again – first time ever).

The link that you’ve referred to positions the up-front written estimate as a competitive advantage. The article ends with:

“Occasionally, we hear from flustered customers who say something like “sure, he fixed the sump pump perfectly, but it only took him 20 minutes and he charged me $200! I think this is way too much for the time it took him to make the plumbing repair.” That is the downside to flat-rate pricing. If our guys are too good or too fast, the customer comes away feeling he was taken. But we maintain that flat-rate pricing is much fairer to the customer than hourly pricing.”

Sounds exactly like the question I’m asking. It may be broader than just the Roto-Rooter’s services… Add the above two estimates, and you’ll find out that plumbing services cost $500+ an hour. Whew… Now that I know how to do it, maybe it’s time for me to think in the direction of changing my occupation?

A Google Alert that came in over the weekend linking me to this page and it is the first I’ve heard of your question / concern. Maybe that speaks to the growing pains Twitter is experiencing or the limitations of the medium. I’m not really sure. So I just did a search on Twitter and it still doesn’t turn up your post. But the records only go back so many days before flashing a warning that older tweets “are not available at this time.” I even went to your profile and tried to find your post only to get a similar warning: “Something went wrong, please try again.” Whatever the reason, your post slipped through the cracks but it wasn’t because Roto-Rooter chose to ignore you.

I think the point here is that a company can be as proactive as possible on social media and still miss comments or complaints in some far flung corner of Twitter or Facebook. To our credit, if you wanted a fast, formal and immediate response, you could’ve gone through more reliable, though less public channels. Our web site contact form being the most obvious way to reach us but also by phone or email. Our customer satisfaction manager is available on a corporate level but so are our general managers on a local level.

Social media is great but it’s not exactly the fastest, most direct or reliable way to get the desired quick and thorough response. Especially a medium like Twitter that is often unavailable due to being “over quota” several times a day. We try hard to see everything but we’re not perfect and neither are these social network platforms.

In order to check to see if the price quoted to you is out of line, I’d need to know more about where you’re located. Your profile shows your location to be “NoVA USA.” Is that Northern Virginia? It’s not exactly clear to me. The name of your town or your zip code would be most helpful. Roto-Rooter prices for all plumbing jobs vary by city and region but our prices are always in line with our similarly-sized local competitors in every market. We use flat rate pricing, which means you’ll pay the same for a specific type of job whether it takes thirty minutes or five hours. This information may also be helpful: http://blog.rotorooter.com/blo.....ly-pricing

I apologize for missing your tweet. if you would like to go through our customer satisfaction manager for a thorough inquiry made on your behalf, please contact Pat Swanson at Pat.Swanson@rrsc.com or toll free at 866-578-0007.

Warmest Regards,
Paul Abrams
public relations manager