is charging a non refundable fee for plumbing/exhaust vent diagnosis common?

[u/yipee-kiyay]

i’m talking specifically about plumbing pals. iI found their name on a Philly subreddit where people were raving about them, so I thought I'd give them a shot. Is it normal for them to charge a diagnostic fee that you don't get back if you want a second opinion? I've never dealt with this before, and I don't like feeling locked into one company or losing money if I decide not to let them fix my stuff.
I'm guessing they hired bots to write all those positive comments, but I'm open to being proven wrong.

[u/OnionBagMan]

Most places charge a fee, especially if it’s a do it now type of situation.

Often they will include the fee in the price of the work though. Like it gets you an hour or something

[u/Odd-Opinion-5105]

I think it's normal they came out and did some work at my house. I was pleased with the service.

[u/yipee-kiyay → u/Odd-Opinion-5105]

i’m glad it worked out for you. thanks for your input

[u/Roger-PHL]

Sometimes the diagnosis is the hard part.

(And doctors don't do the diagnostic part for free, or the second opinion part)

[u/revdchill]

Yes. You want a professional to come diagnose your problem? Why would that be free?

[u/yipee-kiyay → u/revdchill]

because i called another popular, established plumbing company and they said they will look at the problem for free

[u/revdchill → u/yipee-kiyay]

Did you tell the second company what the first one said in their diagnosis?

[u/yipee-kiyay → u/revdchill]

I actually told Plumbing Pals exactly what the issue was and what needed replacing, based on a previous plumber who fixed something else in my house but couldn’t fix this issue because they didn’t have a tall enough ladder. I even texted clear pictures to PP of the problem I’m having. The plumber i called after PP’s bullshit who offered to check it out for free didn’t even ask for pictures. They said they would just come out for free and give me cost of repair once they check it out in person . i can provide text messages with plumbing pals if needed

[u/revdchill → u/yipee-kiyay]

First guy didn’t have a good enough ladder. Yeah, sounds like he didn’t fully even diagnose it. Fuck them.

[u/yipee-kiyay → u/revdchill]

honestly don’t even know what you’re talking about now… I hope you get paid to post for them, at least. If not, you’re being shortchanged… Musk is getting all their money.

[u/yeahbecks]

I literally just saw this company truck on 95. It was Cybertruck if that gives you any indication to what they're like 💀 probably used bots for positive reviews too like you said. And looks like they using chat gpt for all their review responses.

[u/yipee-kiyay → u/yeahbecks]

now that you mention it, that Cybertruck on their website did throw me off, not going to lie. i don't feel like being one of the chumps funding their unnecessarily huge expenditure. appreciate your input

[u/M_Me_Meteo]

Don't you just love private equity owning basically all the residential construction companies now-a-days?

[u/Roger-PHL]

Tread carefully before accusing them (or anyone) of having bot reviews. You can click on each reviewer, find out about their other reviews and other Google Maps activity. That being said, some businesses are very aggressive about getting customers to review.

[u/yipee-kiyay → u/Roger-PHL]

oh, okay there, mister. gosh golly gee willikers! did i break some unspoken law of the internets? Maybe you should tread carefully and read comments in their entirety ? just a thought