Metropolitan Plumbing: My shock at staggering Mr Emergency quote to fix my broken air conditioner | Andrew Hough

A quick phone to a tradie friend revealed what was really behind the insane figure to fix my air conditioning, writes Investigations Editor Andrew Hough.

Mr Emergency promotes itself as a fast plumbing business. It is part of the Metropolitan Plumbing empire. Picture: Mr Emergency

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If you could think of the worst time for your trusty airconditioner to break - the middle of summer is probably it.

But as outside temperature peaked at 35.2C in Mid-January, 2023, my frustrated family had enough after sweltering without the aircon in a typical Adelaide typical heatwave.

We found Mr Emergency on Google but nothing of concern was flagged.

I was impressed when a tradie visited within a day – we had booked on a weekend – during what is a peak time.

He was a nice young kid, who went to investigate the strange computer error message.

He returned with bad news.

David Ellingsen, owner and founder of Metropolitan Plumbing, Electrical and Air Conditioning. Picture: supplied

David Ellingsen with his wife Natalia. He is the owner and founder of Metropolitan Plumbing, Electrical and Air Conditioning. Picture: supplied

Our nearly two-decade old machine was kaput and needed replacing because parts were no longer manufactured.

Did I want a quote to replace?

Sure, I replied as I silently cursed a new bill likely worth thousands of dollars.

I am rarely shocked, thanks to reporting life’s tragedies and scandals.

But his bad news even exceeded my worst thoughts.

The $25,509.90 “gold option” quote left me speechless – a rare feat.

His justifications made little sense to me.

Removing solar panels, ripping out roof tiles, trying to get into tiny ceiling cavities and hiring scissor lifts.

Oh, and a $49.90 fee to produce “relevant” documents.

As my brain computed his madness, I politely said we’d consider it but would seek other opinions.

I rang a tradie family friend.

His views are unprintable but he said some companies get away with such outrageous charging of clueless customers none the wiser.

We thankfully didn’t commit to the quote.

We sought three others. None of the other companies said roof work was necessary although the aircon did need replacing.

Our new system from Climat Air Conditioning, which now works a treat, cost almost $9400.

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