I Spoke Too Soon


Apparently, last night’s State of the Apartment address was prematurely optimistic.

My toilet just died.

UPDATE: Grayton Plumbing just showed up, assessed the problem, and claimed it would cost more than $250 to fix a broken fill valve. Do a little Goggling. A fill valve runs about $12. However, somehow this service fell into their “category 4” pricing of $233 plus tax. I called the signif and we made a co-executive decision to decline. I’ve moved on to plan B. It’s not a fully-hatched plan just yet, but I know it’s not going to set me back more than $250.

Btw, this is not the first time a plumbing company has tried to rip me off. Last time I had a broken accessory in a toilet, it was a $9 part and the repair guy wanted to replace the entire toilet claiming it was “just old.” What is with these people? Where do they learn how to try scam the customer so casually? Is there a class? A trade show? It’s just astounding.

2 thoughts on “I Spoke Too Soon”

  1. There ought to be a law. It’s really not hard. Unless it’s ancient and it fights you taking the old one off it’ll take your signif/a friend/neighbor like 15 min to do it even if they’ve never done it before with nothing more than a pair of pliars.

    I’ve done at least a dozen of them. They all come with some pretty cheezy directions. Just note how the washers & nut go. This video’s not bad at showing how hard it is & fwiw I agree with him that’s the kind you want to get. link

  2. Thank you! My landlord’s handyman’s got a young plumber who came by last night and replaced it for me. It was easy. The whole thing took 5 minutes.

    I suppose many of the pros assume you’re not going to do your homework and try to squeeze as much cash out of you as possible.

    Maybe next time – and I am sure there will be a next time – I’ll try it myself.

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