“My grandmother informs them once they are done that she will not be paying them any more money, and that this has gone to the states attorney’s office. On hearing this, one of the installers gets on his cell phone and calls his boss. They talk, he hangs up and walks into the bathroom and proceeds to take off the tub door. He walks out of the bathroom with this door and my grandmother says what are you doing and grabs the door…”

For $15,000 That bathtub better be coated in gold, and dispense liquid chocolate. Oh wait, it doesn’t, and they didn’t finish the job, and now the scam plumbers are leaving harassing phone calls and trying to steal doors and parts from the work site.

Hello,

My name is Dawn Green, and I’m writing on behalf of my grandparents. My 83 year old grandfather was hospitalized for 21 days and was told he would have to go to a nursing home if his bathroom wasn’t fitted for his needs( he has Parkinson’s). In a panic, my grandmother contacted Premier bathrooms after seeing television ads and ads in the VFW newsletter.

They sent out a salesman who knew of their situation, and he told them if they signed up that day, he would knock off $2000.00 to make the total $15,259.00. My grandmother did this as she didn’t want my grandfather to go to the nursing home. She paid $5000.00 by certified check that day, and was told another $5259.00 would be due when the tub arrived. It arrived on August 27th, 2007 and on the next day the installers came out. They ripped out the existing tub and started to do the plumbing for the new one. After they had left that evening, my grandparents thought something looked funny so they had a family friend who is a licensed plumber come take a look at it. He said this is all wrong, and he called the plumbing inspector to take a look. The inspector showed up the morning of August 29th, 2007, and asked the installers to show him their licenses, and they had none, so he shut them down. One of these installers went into the bathroom and stole a drain part to stop the new plumber from finishing the job. The inspector called and threatened them that if this part was not there the next day, he would be filing charges with the police. It arrived the next day.

In the meantime, the licensed plumber finished the plumbing portion and my grandfather came home from the hospital with a catheter, and they had to wait until September 17th, 2007 to get the installers back to thier house to finish. This installation was supposed to take 2 days, it should have been done on August 29th.

They show up on September 17th, and started finishing this, my mother had contacted the Illinois States Attorney General’s Office, and the advocate tells them DO NOT pay the last $5000.00, you have been overcharged. My grandmother informs them once they are done that she will not be paying them any more money, and that this has gone to the states attorney’s office. On hearing this, one of the installers gets on his cell phone and calls his boss. They talk, he hangs up and walks into the bathroom and proceeds to take off the tub door. He walks out of the bathroom with this door and my grandmother says what are you doing and grabs the door. They have a tug of war over it and my mother intervenes and tells him to leave or she is calling the police. He leaves the house and goes into their garage and my mom follows him and says I told you to leave, and he starts sweeping the garage floor. She tells him again and he finally says fine and gets in to the truck and takes off.

September 18th, 2007. Now the phone calls start. This company is calling saying they are in breach of their contract, and it needs to be settled. My grandmother informs them they should take it up with the states attorney’s office and hangs up. This job was to be done in 2 days, per the contract, so they are in breach on their end as well. There have been more phone calls and my grandmother has filed phone harassment charges with the local police.

I honestly hope that something can be done to prevent other elderly or disabled people from being taken advantage of like my family has.

Premier Bathrooms is an international manufacturer with sales offices around the world and different regions within the US. The grandmother could have protected herself better by comparison shopping in advance to see what would have been a reasonable price to pay. That way she would know it wasn’t a good deal at 15k or 13k. However, the salesman probably played on her fears of her husband being sent back to hospital in order to rush her into the contract. Mrs. Green’s experience may be limited to one rogue sales office, but that doesn’t mitigate its nastiness. Shame upon thee, Premier Bathrooms of Illinois. There’s a special place in hell for those who try to rip off old people. It has no working plumbing.

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