A few months ago we had a nasty drip in the bathtub faucet. Our typical New York City landlord refused to fix it. Our superintendant, who offered to charge us to make the repair, couldn't screw in a light bulb. We had an idea based on my experience living in Los Angeles, where there is a large Mexican community, as there is in my Brooklyn, New York neighborhood. They're very hard workers and fair at pricing. We thought we would try to find a local freelance Mexican plumber from among the pickup workers who congregate every morning, and so we did. Guess what, As usual, New York isn't LA, these guys did a horrible job and totally overcharged us. I tried to negotiate but their tactic was they weren't going to leave until they got what they were asking for. A few weeks went by and the repair they did broke. Now we had no hot water. I called the Mexican plumber who told me his partner was in South America, but he would find another guy. They came over and looked at the fixture and told me it would cost $150. I thought it should cost nothing. No, $150. I told them that would have to come with a guarantee. OK, they would guarantee one free visit. Think this was annoying? I didn't, because I watch Flipping Out on Bravo, and I see that contractors are hopeless. Well, these two clowns sat in the bathtub and stared at the fixture for two hours before telling us it's OK. Nothing to be done. I was pretty fed up and said OK, go home. So the guy tells me, that's $150. What? Are you kidding? You did nothing, I tell him. And again he goes into the not leaving until he gets his money routine. I gave him $120 and he left. That's when I called RR Plumbing / Roto Rooter. The man came in two hours and 20 minutes. He said the cartridge was blown. He left and got another one, for which he charged more than he should have, given that the whole fixture cost $89 at Home Depot. He put it in, and now it works. Period. Professional, polite, job well done. I learned my lesson.
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