So I've been having an issue with a continual hot water system for the last few weeks in my house. It is a gas on demand hot water system, that basically turns on the pilot light when you turn on the hot water tap, then in turn the pilot light lights the gas ring. Recently the pilot light has been lighting, but it has failed to light the gas ring. I looked up manufacturers recommendations online and chose the nearest plumber from the list. When the guy arrived, he looked it over, quickly took the pilot light apart and blew it out with his mouth to clean it. He put the unit back together and it appeared to work when you turned on the hot water tap. This 10 minute job ended up costing me $370. The next morning the hot water didn't come on right away, but it did after a few attempts of turning the tap on and off. The next day, same thing. After 5 days of the same issues, I rung up the plumbers and they were basically like, well bad luck. I was more annoyed about my $370. The plumber at the time did tell me the next course of action was probably replacing the boiler, but I think the general understanding was that the next course of action would be longer than 5 days later. After getting annoyed, on the phone, the plumbers finally got back to me and said they will quote me for replacing the boiler and will take the $370 off that install price. But they really can just add $370 to their standard price anyway. When the plumber was at my house, he basically said that because the continous hot water system had 15mm pipes in, and new systems all had 20-30mm pipes, I would have to get an old tank style boiler installed at about $2500 (when a replacement unit similar to the existing on is about $900+~$300 install).
Any advice? Do I have a leg to stand on? I was happy to pay $370 if it meant I had hot water (even if it was ridiculous to pay someone to basically come over and blow the dust out of the pilot light valve), but $370 for nothing pisses me off.
Yeah thats how a lot of trades make their money, in particular plumbers due to a shortage of them. $370 was a component of call out and hourly charge (Its a lot of money for <yr10 unskilled quals and is more than some professionals make), that would have been his minimum to blow out with or without his mouth. This guy is no good to you.
If you are going to go down the replacement road, best to live without hot water for a few days and get quotes from other plumbers. There are some good ones out there, just a matter of finding them.
I'm in construction so i feel this type of ripoff all the time. There are not many trades that can fix something as there is more money and less effort involved in replacing. You could complain to the VBA, master plumbers etc but that $370 is gone, burn it.