Thompson.Lynch Company

When I called to pay for my chandelier I found out that they more then tripled the estimate for the repair. They actually provided the estimate with the chandelier in front of them. There should have been no surprises. They are insulting and unprofessional, it’s truly unfortunate that a company like this can take advantage of the public. Go elsewhere and save yourself the aggravation.

Beware of any estimates you are given to repair a lighting fixture at this business. I contacted Thompson Lynch by e-​mail for an estimate to repair a brass swing-​arm style floor lamp on which I had recently attempted to install a new socket. I was given a few different possible prices, depending on whether they used my existing socket and cord or had to supply those items. The most expensive estimate I was given was $ 30 including labor. I was told that this was an estimate and it was hard to give an exact price without seeing the lamp.
Upon bringing the lamp into the store, an employee told me that they would probably replace the wiring from one of the joints in the arm of the lamp. When I hadn’t heard back from the store by the end of the week, I called to check on the progress of the repair and was told it would probably be done by the beginning of next week. No mention was made at this point about the repair being more difficult than anticipated, or any increase in the estimates I was originally given.
Late Tuesday afternoon next week, someone from the shop called and said my lamp was ready to be picked up. When I went to the store the following day, I was told that the entire lamp had to be rewired. Why didn’t someone tell me that before starting the work to see if I still wanted the work done? If they knew they were going to have to rewire the entire lamp, why not call to give me a revised price for the repair? It turned out that the repair work had more than doubled in cost, and I was now asked to pay over $ 67 for the repair. When I took out a copy of the e-​mail I received with the original estimates for the repair, the woman said to me in a rather condescending tone «You do understand what an estimate is, don’t you?»
Yes, I am very familiar with estimates, having gotten many over the years for repairs on my car, or for other services. I can’t think of one instance other than this, though, in which the final cost for the work being done more than doubled from the original estimate. After haggling a bit about the cost, I was able to get them to reduce it down to $ 45 and change, which is still $ 15 more than I was originally told.
This company has been in business for quite a few years, and I doubt that mine is the first swing-​arm floor lamp that they’ve had to rewire in all of those years. It’s a very common lamp. nothing unusual about it at all, and I find it hard to believe that a competent repair person wouldn’t know in short order how long it was going to take to repair my lamp and what the cost would be. Using the excuse that I was only given an «estimate» to expect me to pay over twice the price I was originally quoted is just not acceptable to me, nor is speaking to a customer in a condescending manner. Should I need to have a lamp repaired again in the future, I will give my business to another establishment.