According to reports, a plumber in Indiana visited a restaurant to clean out their pipes. However, the plumber returned and clogged the pipe back up after the establishment allegedly refused to pay a disputed bill. The plumber alleged the restaurant had a history of delayed payments.
As News Channel 10 reports:
Thai Bistro & Bar Operations Manager Jesse Sanders said when their kitchen’s grease trap started to overflow, they called Heavrin Plumbing Company to fix the block.
Three days later, when it happened again, Sanders said the restaurant called the plumber back, this time saying it was an emergency.
After Heavrin Plumbing returned for the second job, Sanders said they received a bill for nearly double what they had already paid for the first visit since the plumber returned on overtime hours.
Sanders said the exact same work was done twice, but the second time he was charged nearly double.
“I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it. Like, OK is this really happening?” Sanders said.
The first bill was $235. The second was $390, and Sanders said he refused to pay the second one.
“It’s not about the money,” Sanders said. “It’s about him [the plumber] just standing behind his work.”
Plumber returns to re-clog pipe after restaurant refuses to pay billhttps://t.co/1YuFZg0Fkm
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After they refused to pay the second bill, their surveillance cameras caught the plumber outside their establishment the next morning, re-clogging the pipes.
“The following day, we received a text message saying that he’s on our property,” Sanders explained. “He put a balloon into our grease trap, and he’s not going to remove it until we pay.”
Texts exchanged between the parties show the restaurant owners were given about an hour to pay their bill before the plumber would leave for the weekend.
“If we were to leave the balloon in there, it would overflow the restaurant with water, dirty water from the grease trap,” Sanders said. “Basically, we would’ve had to shut down.”
The police were called to the bistro to mediate the situation. The bill was ultimately “paid under protest” according to the restaurant, and Heavrin Plumbing removed the balloon.
Heavrin Plumbing Company Owner Joel Heavrin told WFIE that the restaurant has a history of being slow to pay invoices due to his business, in the past.
“Frankly, it was not worth me pursuing it in court,” Heavrin added. “It was not worth my time, just wasn’t worth it for me.”