Water Heater Repair Service Scam: How It Works
(with video below)
Your water heater repair could cost you more than you expect. Beware of the Local Plumbers or Water Heater Replacement scam. In this fraudulent scheme, hundreds of people are victimized daily all over the country. Most of the plumbers out there are legitimate and honest, but this scam is increasing nationwide as you're reading this. How does the scam work?
Watch the shocking video below to see the Water Heater Repair scam, exposed:
Water Heater Repair Scam Video
The scam works like this: Let's say you are in need of a plumber and find an offer from a technician advertising affordable plumbing. You hire him, he comes over, and after a "good diagnose" he informs you that your water heater is in a serious bad condition. In reality, you might have just a loose nut that allows water to drip.
As a result of the plumber's diagnose, he says you would need to replace the whole tank. As you might not be fully convinced of the diagnose, he might throw around a few phrases such as: "It's a must, for the safety of your house (basement, garage, etc.)", "the leak has caused the inside of the tank to corrode", or "it may literally explode if not taken care of".
Not knowing any better, a victim would fork over $700 for a job that could take a few minutes and under $100 of expenses.
A lot of times these questionable plumbers don't even have proper licenses.
Water Heater Repair Service Scam: How To Avoid
This scam is a classic 'Bait and Switch' scheme. Small price advertised, totally different service once you're hooked in. Always do some research online when you're about to hire a local cheap plumber.
Read reviews – if it's a reputable business it shouldn't be hard to figure out the quality of work. On the other hand, don't be shy to ask the plumber for his business license. Tell the contractor over the phone to bring it over when they come. The 24-hour plumbing services are great to have, but you need to do your diligence.
Water Heater Repair Service Scam: How To Report
Make your family and friends aware of this scam by sharing it on social media using the buttons provided. You can also officially report the scammers to the Federal Trade Commission using the link below:
Report To The FTC Here
How to protect yourself more:
If you want to be the first to find out the most notorious scams every week, feel free to subscribe to the Scam Detector newsletter here. You'll receive periodical emails and we promise not to spam. Last but not least, use the Comments section below to expose other scammers.
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I had a furnace repairman come fix my furnace (still not fixed, had to turn off and on several times tonight to finally get the flame to light). Cost me over $400. Well, I noticed when I went down to see why the furnace wasn’t coming on that my water heater faucet was dripping badly. The cement floor which was dry as a bone this morning now wet for 2 feet around the drain. The red turn handle to the faucet had been sawed off so no way to stop the dripping. Checked online and the company also sells water heaters. Is this anything you’ve heard of repairmen doing before? Oh, and before the guy left, he tried to get me to buy a furnace because he was worried that the work he had done may not last. Didn’t last one day!
Benjamin Franklin plumbing gave us a dishonest estimate of $11,000.00 including a replacement of our 3 year old hot water heater. These people should be put out of business. Our second opinion was we don’t need a new water heater they tried to scare my wife into buying and most of the work didn’t need to be done. Ridiculous!!!