Reviewing Tod Stevens, Woodinville WA, Nampa ID

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Terry

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TOD STEVENS
15507 158TH AVE NE
WOODINVILLE, WA 98072

Currently
13194 Crescent Dr
Nampa, ID 83686

Year home was built, 1970

Request work September 09, 2014

The request was to repair a leak under the kitchen sink.

Young Mr. Love came out on time as scheduled and evaluated the leak on August 29. I explained at that time that we were moving and preparing the house to sell so time was important. He determined some Delta faucet parts needed to be ordered and the garbage disposal needed to be replaced. I asked him to keep me informed on the Delta order and he promised he would call me that day with information. Mr. Love senior did not call until the next Tuesday, August 2nd with the repair cost. I was shocked by the cost to install the garbage disposal at $200. However, I accepted the bid and told him it was important to get the work done that week. He was going to speak to his son and let me know if he could complete the job. He never did call with any updates. I called him on Tuesday September 9th to find out the status. He said that since he could not get the parts by Friday Sept 5th that I did not want the job done. I never said that. I had told him and his son the I was moving and time was critical. I told him he had high reviews on Angie's list and I was going to have to give a poor review. He said "guys like you usually do" and hung up on me. Thanks for nothing Terry Love Plumbing. Now I have to start over with another plumber working from another state.
Tod Stevens
15507 158th Ave NE
Woodinville WA 98072

Response from Jamie Love of Terry Love Plumbing.

I arrived on site to inspect the leak. I determined it was a bad garbage disposal; the drain for the garbage disposal was illegal and needed to be re-plumbed. The faucet was missing a part for the spray hose, requiring a stainless steel finish. The faucet also required new seats and springs. It was an old faucet. I explained that if the parts for the faucet could not be found, a new faucet would need to be purchased. He said he didn’t want to spend money on a new one as he was selling the house. He also didn’t want to buy a new disposal because he was selling the house. We had a new disposer on the truck. It’s rare that a disposer lasts more than ten years. However, money was an issue for this man.

The home owner was stressed out and busy preparing the house for sale. I explained that he could check with Delta and they might have the parts needed for the faucet and that they might send it to him for free. He said he didn’t have time, so I volunteered to check for him and that I would let him know as soon as I found out info from Delta. I never said I would have an answer the next day. I did however spend 3+ hours on three different phone calls with Delta emailing them the pictures of the faucet I had taken. It took about 4 days to get an answer from Delta. The part was available but not free. They said it would take 10-14 business days to arrive. The client called back the same day that we had received our response from Delta. I told him we could forward him the emails from Delta showing the parts he needed. He would not disclose his email. He said he couldn’t wait that long and I told him we would check locally. He said he had now bought a disposer that needed installing. We explained the odds of finding parts for the faucet locally were unlikely. In fact we had been calling our suppliers and had turned up nothing. He said it needed to be done by the 5th. He also mentioned several times that he could do the work himself.

I can’t fix and repair a faucet without the right parts. It’s not something you can cobble together. He said he didn’t want to spend money because he was selling the house. To meet his deadline, he would have needed to buy a new faucet; our advice the first day we met. He wanted to rebuild the faucet because it would be cheaper. Yes, cheaper but 10-14 days out. I can’t magically make parts appear. So to recap… We went to his house and diagnosed his problems for free! Gave him the parts information for free! Spent 3+ hours talking with Delta on his behalf, checked with local suppliers on his behalf, for FREE! We had not billed the client, nor had the client put down any money for procuring parts. All we told him was that we would let him know when we found out information from local suppliers and from Delta about the faucet. I would say that we gave very good service, but were limited by the homeowner’s cash restrictions and time table.

If the homeowner had money to replace a thirty year old faucet, none of this would have been written.
Jamie Love

tod_stevens_1.jpg


Tod Stevens

tod_stevens_2.jpg


http://www.deltafaucet.com/repairparts/details/rp39345ss.html

http://www.deltafaucet.com/repairparts/details/rp3614.html
 
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Dj2

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To Mr Stevens:

You were treated professionally and your rant, accusations and demands are baseless.

Fixing a leak is free only if Delta sends you the parts free and you install them, but you still have to put in the time and your labor. Hiring a plumber will always cost you, even if the plumber were your cousin.

Oh, and BTW: $200 to install a garbage disposer is average.
 

hj

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I am not in Bellevue WA, so I cannot tell whether my story would be the same or not if he had called me. I consider it a "Fool's errand" to try to evaluate anyone else's task not knowing all the circumstances. However, in this area, I would have had access to the parts within a couple of hours as long as I wanted to make the hour drive to get them. And I would NOT furnish and install a disposer for $200.00. The usual price is about $250.00.
 

Tom Sawyer

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200 is pretty cheap for a disposal, I'd have been closer to 400. I have all the parts needed to rebuild that faucet though, both on the van and in the stock room. You just can't win with some folks though and the incident illustrates the need to be in close communication with the customer. I have found that writing things down and having the customer verify the information on paper alleviates a lot of these situations. Oh yes, and Screw Angie and her list.
 

Terry

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200 is pretty cheap for a disposal, I'd have been closer to 400. I have all the parts needed to rebuild that faucet though, both on the van and in the stock room. You just can't win with some folks though and the incident illustrates the need to be in close communication with the customer. I have found that writing things down and having the customer verify the information on paper alleviates a lot of these situations. Oh yes, and Screw Angie and her list.

We have been charging $295 installed with a Badger 5 for a "basic" install, parts and labor. That includes a new p-trap. If we add a new basket for the second bowl, that's more.
In this case, the drain needed changing. The previous install wasn't usable.

RP39345SS.jpg


We carry the seats and springs normally, but didn't have them on the truck that day. The "stainless" spray head was mail order in the Seattle area. They had the "black" spray head.

When he had called back, he had picked up a disposer. I never found out what he had though, the conversation was too short. I do know, that if he had picked up the Costco disposer, we would have never installed it. We really only install Insinkerator now. We warranty the products we install, and that's one we trust.

SeattleMetro_traffic.jpg


Traffic is a mess in Seattle now. No new roads, but more and more people.
 
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Asktom

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Terry, I agree with you on all points except that I find not having Delta seats and springs on a service truck inexcusable. This guy really pushed your button, didn't he. Back in the day, I used to tell new employees that there were 3 customers (who I then named) that it was not in their job description that they need to wait on.
 

Terry

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Why Consumer Reports says you can't trust Angie's List

http://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiem...umer-reports-says-you-cant-trust-angies-list/

“[Angie’s List] makes a big point to say they’re consumer-driven, when in fact 70% of their revenue comes from advertising. It’s not advertising Coca Cola, it’s advertising from the companies they rate,” explained Jeff Blyskal, a senior editor for Consumer Reports.
 

WJcandee

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That whole bit with the faucet seems odd to me. I trust Terry completely, but if I didn't know him I would say that the response he wrote online would come across as bogus to someone suspicious of plumbers.

On the one hand, you say here that you "usually have the seats and springs on the truck". They're pretty-standard, so that makes sense. Meanwhile, Jamie writes this whole rigamarole about how the guy should have replaced the whole faucet and how he had to check with suppliers to see if the seats and springs were available and they weren't available locally and would have to come from Delta. What am I missing? That sounds nuts. And as far as the sprayer goes, does the guy really need the exact same sprayer? Why not just provide a generic sprayer and be done with it. It's not like they install any differently on that Delta faucet than they do on any other Delta faucet. We have a Delta faucet that old or older, and I bought the seats and springs and a replacement Delta sprayer at the hardware store for a hell of a lot less than $50.

How it comes across, which I know is not how it is, is that "the plumber" tried to sell him a new faucet when all he needed was about $40, if that, in parts, all of which should have been available locally. (Unless he wanted THAT EXACT SPRAYER.)

The beefs about the disposal are totally bogus and come across that way.

Regardless, the guy is obviously an A$$. And threatening a bad Angie's List review is completely douchy. The tone of Jamie's response is absolutely-excellent, letting the facts speak for themselves; very persuasive.
 
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hj

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quote; It's not like they install any differently on that Delta faucet than they do on any other Delta faucet.

IF you look at the picture, you will see it is NOT a generic sprayer, but rather a Delta proprietary connection, and I don't know any plumbers who carry one on their truck. Most of my disposer replacements are a simple "untwist" and "twist" the new one in, and I use a Badger 5 'knockoff' made by ISE under a different name. The road map looks like it was from one of Johnny Carson's ads. The only thing missing is the "fork in the road".
 
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WJcandee

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Oh I didn't mean to suggest that a sprayer would be on the truck, even one as well-planned as Terry's. Just that Delta sprayers -- albeit not of that particular design -- seem to the uninitiated to be widely-available. (HJ is absolutely-correct to point out that my use of the word "generic" wasn't a good one; I was using it to mean "any old Delta sprayer", as the rest of the post should make clear.)

Don't interpret anything at all that I say as being critical of Terry or Jamie -- far from it. Just observing that while the tone of the response was perfect, there was a bit of a leap of logic that some people wouldn't make. I do think that in this world of online "information", vendors do have to respond, and write their responses not to "win the argument" but to preserve their reputation for dignity and excellence; best to float above it and provide the facts so that a reader will discount the negative review.

When I look at products and services online, there are always negatives mixed in with the positives, and with a good product or vendor we get used to ignoring the negative reviews when it is apparent that the people are unreasonable jerks like this guy.
 

JohnfrWhipple

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Terry, I would think some douche bag like this Tod Stevens would be the same person to raise a stink about his name being used in the URL. I have often wondered if there was a place where the trades people could single out the people like this that use Social Media as a threat to influence us trades men. I bet he has reviewed men like you something like 158 - 15507 times.

Is there an Anti Angie's List site. Are there any legal issues us contractors should worry about? I assume if anyone knows the ins and outs it's you and your son. I just hope you do a check into this first before getting screwed again by this big cry baby Tod Stevens....

You said the job was in Woodinville or was it Seattle? Or is Woodinville in Seattle?
 

Terry

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If Todd is willing to post his complaint on a public site like Angie's, then I'm sure he's okay with it.
He knew there would be a response to it.
Woodinville is East of Seattle, and driving times are becoming an issue. There is almost never a time during the day that you aren't in slow traffic anymore.

The funny thing............I get lot's of business when people read complaints like his.
Sometimes people call up laughing just to hire us.
 

JohnfrWhipple

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I went a few months back to Seattle for a soccer tournament and the traffic was worse than Vancouver. And we have some of the worst traffic in the world.

I get what you mean when you say people call you because of your posts. In the last few years I've done almost 8 projects where the client says they laughed out loud over the lam basting I gave Jim. I'm trying to change but its so hard.

98072 Zip Code.... Douche Bag Central.... LOL I can only imagine the next time someone goggle's his name and finds this discussion here. I can see Tod faces now.....

Something like this.

Oh-no.jpeg

Tod Stevens Reaction to his new review
 

FullySprinklered

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If Todd is willing to post his complaint on a public site like Angie's, then I'm sure he's okay with it.
He knew there would be a response to it.
Woodinville is East of Seattle, and driving times are becoming an issue. There is almost never a time during the day that you aren't in slow traffic anymore.

The funny thing............I get lot's of business when people read complaints like his.
Sometimes people call up laughing just to hire us.
That's interesting. I had a lady go ballistic because I chose to not do her work. She went on kudzu.com ( my only advertising vehicle) and ranted and raved and actually posted a link to the plumber she used on my reviews. Next day I went to a job where the customer had read the old bags review and decided on me anyway. He worked in the ad industry and saw right through her, he told me. Felt goooood.
 

WJcandee

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quote; "any old Delta sprayer",

"any OLD Delta sprayer" would have a 1/4" female swivel end. The "snap on" ones are "modern".

Geez. And I am the one who is a lawyer (i.e. the scrutinizer of words). I don't mean "old" as in "not of a recent model". I said "any old", as in "any ol' ", which Websters defines as "being any unspecified one; used for emphasis; "any old time"; "any old place"". Meaning not a specific Delta sprayer but just one that fit.

I can see the photo of the sprayer connection in the post above. I have the same kind of connector on mine. The store brand connector looked like it should have fit but it was a bear to get on. The Delta-brand one that I picked up at the hardware store, which was in my mind a "generic Delta" one, and was very different-looking from the one that was one there, went on with just a little effort and has worked flawlessly for two years now.

Anyway, I get the point: don't get involved in discussions like this. Just wanted to point out how people can misread and misconstrue vendors' responses to customer complaints on Angie's List, and it requires a fine touch. What I proved is that my own writing is subject to the same critique. :)
 

WJcandee

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The funny thing............I get lot's of business when people read complaints like his.
Sometimes people call up laughing just to hire us.

Absolutely! A judicious reader can determine which "complaints" are from idiots. Still, it unfairly messes up the numbers and puts pressure on professionals to unreasonably-accomodate these assholes, just in order to keep the numbers high.

That old saw, "There's no such thing as bad publicity," has some merit to it.
 

DougB

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What I have noticed from a few Angie's List commercials on TV is a very subtle message: It's has less to do with the job that was done, but more about how the guy kissed their ass.

Christ all mighty, it's a faucet - the guy wants a freakin' status report on the availability of 45 year old faucet parts!
 
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