We recently clogged our kitchen sink. We just put too much stuff down the disposal, I think.

I bought a snake, disassembled the drain, and went to work. It was DISGUSTING! About 10 feet in, I found a clog, and managed to do a little something... but not enough. It wouldn't drain.

I tried using the CLR compressed-air kit. It blew a bunch of water out the roof air vent. Very impressive, but not helpful.

I used an entire bottle of Draino gel. It sat overnight, but the water didn't move.

We called a plumber recommended by a friend: Ace Plumbing in Kissimmee. They were HORRIBLE. They charged $80 to come give us an estimate -- that should have been our first clue that something was wrong, since the guy just opened up his notebook and quoted a fixed price directly from it. Oh, and it costs $750 for Ace Plumbing to snake your kitchen drain!

We later found out Lowe's will do it for $150. But it's hard to make this kind of comparison when you've already paid $80 just for the guy to show up, and then he's standing there waiting for you to make a decision.

He also broke the seal on the kitchen sink drain, then claimed that I had caused the damage when I added the Draino. He further claimed that the seal couldn't be purchased separately, and quoted $150 to replace the drain.

We found the seal later for $15 at Ace Hardware in Oviedo -- a fine institution, which has been helpful to me many times in the past. Despite the name similarity, they have no relation to the nefarious organization that I mistakenly hired.

I'm considering whether there's some way I can retrieve the lost $600. Could I claim fraud in small claims court? Probably not: I hired him and signed the receipt without comparison shopping. Sigh.

I still feel like I've been ripped off. I'm never using them again.