So what if I am a GIRL??

I may be blowing this way out of proportion, but I am royally PO'd at Service One!! They are a repair/service company here in Omaha that takes care of most home needs. Air conditioning, heating, plumbing, electrical, etc. But let me start at the beginning.

We have been dealing with a 'broken' water heater for a few months now. The pilot light would never stay lit. We'd have to relight it after each shower, load of laundry, etc., just so we'd have hot water the next time we needed it. Kind of a pain, but we hated to spend the money to fix it at the time. Well, last night, we discovered the pilot light had had it. It no longer will light. Not stay lit, it won't light at all! Of course this was very upsetting news... we would have to spend the money now! So much for our stimulus check, right?? Anyway, we have used Service One a few times since we bought the house, so we decided to give them a call. Knowing that it was after hours, we were resigned to the fact that a service call was going to cost more. But we need hot water, right? After waiting an hour and 20 minutes after the initial phone call, and not hearing anything back, we made another call. We were told that a call would be made to the 'on-call' person to call us back. Well, duh! We've been waiting for that person to call us already! About 25 minutes goes by and the phone rings. The hubby was outside at the time, so I answer the phone.

"Uh, yeah, this is Service One. You put in a call about a water heater?"
"Yeah, we did. We can't get the pilot light lit."
"okay."
"Um, how much is your service charge to come take a look at it?"
"Do you have a plan with Service One?"
"No."
"Okay, well, um, it's gonna be like $248 to come out and light your pilot."
"No, we know how to light the pilot. It won't light!"
"Oh, well, it'll be like $248."
"Just to come out here and tell me what's wrong with my water heater?"
"Yeah, if you had a plan with us, it'd be cheaper, but since you don't, it's pretty expensive."
"That doesn't sound right."
"Yeah, it's like $248."
"$248 to walk in my door, look at my water heater, and tell me what needs to be fixed."
"yeah."
"No, we've used you guys before, and never paid more than $80 for a service charge."
"It's pretty expensive, like $248."
"So that's just to come look at it, doesn't include parts, repair, nothing else?"
"Yeah."
"$248 doesn't cover from start to finish? Just to tell me what's wrong?"
"Yeah, it's expensive."
"That's not right. We'll try someone else."
"Okay."
Click.

Are you kidding me??? Are you thinking that because I'm a girl I won't know any better? Or that since I'm a girl you can take advantage of me? Or that it's 9 o'clock at night and we're in a desperate situation? WHAT??????

I seriously was ticked off. Don't lie to me. Don't think you can fool me. Don't try and make more money off of me. I hate that!!!

So, turns out, we call another place. Guess what their after hours service charge is?? $89.50!!! Don't tell me it's 248 freaking dollars!!! And the service charge for normal business hours?? $39.50. So guess who's sitting at home, waiting for the repair man?? HAH!