Help with unethical plumber

[Aaron W.]

Our property manager hired a plumber to repair a dishwasher in one of our single family homes. This plumber had done jobs for the property manager in the past and was reasonably priced from what our property manager told us, so we decided to use them.

Our property manager contacted the plumber who says he was already in the area of our rental and stopped by to conduct an initial assessment. The tenant said he was there for 20 minutes tops. The plumbers notified our property manager that we needed a new dishwasher because it was not installed correctly.

The replacement dishwasher was ordered and delivered. The tenants took it out of the box for convenience for the plumber who was going to install it.  Our property manager called the plumber again to ask him to install the dishwasher. The plumber returned a couple days later and installed the unit in about an hour.

Our property manager asked him to consolidate everything into one bill and send over for payment. The plumber's assistant sent him a bill for $268 and the property manager was getting ready to pay, but then was notified a second bill was coming for $120. A detailed look at the bill shows the plumber charged $120 for an initial assessment and $268 ($175/hour for 1.5 hours of work); totaling almost $400. This is almost the equivalent of the price of the dishwasher.

Our property manager contacted the plumber about the two bills to express surprise at the cost and rate for labor to install the dishwasher. The plumber says because of Covid-19, he has bills and people to pay. (Note: I have no problems to support local business because this is a difficult time for everyone) When our property manager asked him about the installation time and rate, the plumber was dead silent and had nothing to say. Our property manager called him out on the actual installation time of 1 hour and overcharging us. He became defensive and said he had to pay bills. At this time, the plumber (now his wife joined the conversation) became irate and cussed out our property manager, even threatening bodily harm to him. They asked for our property manager's broker and he gave it to them. Our property manager and broker spoke with them and they were still unwilling to negotiate the price of the service. They sent our property manager a signed invoice that was signed by our tenant and not the property manager.

Our tenant thought he was just signing for the work being completed, but in the fine print it states:

"Payment of our invoice/contract is due upon completion of work. The authorization to proceed with the recommendation mentioned by [PLUMBER COMPANY] technician will be signed by the owner or authorized representative of the owner or the tenant of the premises at which the work will be done."

Looking back now, our property manager should have asked for a price quote BEFORE work started and to advise the tenant to not sign any work orders. This plumber had done work for our property manager in the past and has always been reasonable. They completed a 2-day job digging into a concrete wall, replacing plumbing, and patching for $1,000 just a few months earlier for our property manager. How is it possible a 1-hour dishwasher installation can cost almost half that?

My question to the group, is what, if any, option do we have?

Our property manager and broker have had multiple discussions with the plumber and his wife, and they are unwilling to lower their price citing the signed invoice. The plumber admitted lying on the invoice by overcharging for time worked. I want to support local business; however, I do not want to reward unethical behavior at the same.

If you've made it this far, thank you for your time and patience.  I look forward to your comments and advice.

Have a great day and stay safe!