Burning Bridges for $70

By DON ARCHER The sink in the basement had a leak. I'd put up with it for months, twisting the handle until my knuckles went white. Over time the leak turned into a constant flow, so I called a plumber I'd used before. I could have done it myself but probably would've ended up waist-deep in water, since I'm not a plumber. I was hoping a plumber could just work some magic and replace a rubber washer or a valve or something. No luck. The house was built in 1987 and the fixture pre-dated the house by a decade, which meant he couldn't find parts. So he was forced to put in a new one. The fixture was only $75, but the total was quite a bit more as he had to bring the connecting piping up to code before he could install it. I was shocked at the $528 invoice. But I paid the bill and was happy to have the problem resolved. You never know when you're going to have an emergency and it's nice to know someone you can trust. Last week I received a call from a guy who had his own problem. He had a single-axle dump truck that needed some engine work. It was 40 miles away from the repair shop and he needed it towed. My first clue to walk away should have been when he asked me to do the job for almost a third less than our standard rates. I told him I couldn't and he agreed to have us tow it. I gathered the information needed, asking what was wrong with the truck and about ease of access to it. We just had a big snow melt and the ground was soft. He assured me it was easy to get to, "Just back right up to it and go." I explained the rates in detail, laying out the charges for hookup and mileage. I said, "barring any unforeseen difficulties, and if everything is as you're telling me, it should be within our regular rates." He guaranteed me it was an easy job and quickly got off the phone. I sent Rick out in our single-axle Peterbilt. He called back about an hour later with the real story: the truck was blocked in by a trailer, out in a field, with no road. And the ground was the consistency of a newly plowed garden after a spring rain. The customer was two hours away and the only help on hand was the customer's grandmother and a guy with two broken arms. Rick went on to explain, "If I back up to this thing, I'm gonna get stuck." I called the customer and told him the situation. "If I have to send another truck down there to get my guy out it's going to cost more." "I ain't paying for that," he railed. I told him I understood and said, "I won't charge you anything for going down there today, just call us back when it dries out." Still upset he wanted us to "go check it out after a couple of days" and "if it's dry—tow it." I suggested that, because of the distance (40 miles), it would probably be best if he called us back when it dried out. The lack of communication and understanding should have sufficed as my second clue to cut my losses, but the following Monday he called back. The temperature had dropped substantially and he promised the ground was completely frozen. "We drove our big dump truck across it," he insisted. Once again we drove the 40 miles to his truck. This time the ground seemed firm, but once Rick hooked it and tried to move, the wrecker tires sunk six inches. He was stuck. Now he'd been stuck before and was able to disconnect from the dump truck and get himself unstuck. But to be able to leave there loaded he had to take a different tack. Instead of picking it up from the rear, as was the initial plan, he decided to pull the driveshaft and tow it from the front. But the driveshaft would only give up three of its bolts. The fourth was stubborn and became stripped. The plan had to change once more. Being forced to load it from the rear while attempting to stay out of the mess he'd freed himself from earlier, Rick had to grab the truck from a different angle. To get that angle he had to first move the trailer blocking his access. He asked the grandmother to borrow the farm tractor to move it (it was in a shed across another "frozen" field), but the battery was down. A call to the customer yielded no help as he was over two hours away and busy. It was settled Rick would have to use his winch and snatch block to pull the trailer out of the way. But the brakes on the trailer were locked up. Frozen or seized, he wasn't sure but to get the job done, today, the trailer must be moved. Another call ... and with the consent of the owner, we moved it aside. Almost three hours after Rick arrived, he was finally hooked up and headed to the repair shop. On the way there, the owner called for an update. I explained that we were finally in tow, but that we'd experienced much more difficulty than expected and spent quite a bit more time on the job than was anticipated. Before I could finish he became argumentative, saying that Rick didn't know what he was doing and that we'd agreed on a price. His tone remained combative as I explained that the price he was given was good (and this was the point I'd emphasized before we agreed to go out there) barring any unforeseen difficulties. Nothing I said made a dent. His continued use of loud abusive language told me that he must have been accustomed to getting his own way. But when the vulgar, loud language did no good against reason, he resorted to threats of suits and gouging. He promised that as soon as he hung up he was going to tell everyone he knew that we were ripping him off, and not to use us. Bridges were burnt, ashes collected, and burnt once more, only to be hastened away, in all directions, to be buried in undisclosed locations throughout the county ... there was no going back. All over $70? Don Archer lives and works in Jefferson City, Mo., where he and his wife, Brenda, own and operate Broadway Wrecker, a 12-truck operation that's been in business since the 1950s. Email him at don@broadwaywrecker.com.