Plumbing woes

About 10 days ago, we had to call a plumber to unclog our bathtub.  We tried to unclog it, but had no luck.  The plumber was here for about 5 minutes and then busted a pipe in the wall!  About 25 gallons of water came down through our living room ceiling and onto the floor.  Their first reaction?  It wasn't their fault!
Are you kidding me?  Their defense was that we had the "wrong" type of pipe in our wall.  Nevermind whether or not he looked to see what type of pipe we had or if he took reasonable care.

This happened one day before my husband was scheduled to take vacation.  The plumber told him to call around and get some quotes for the work.  So, my husband did so and as a result, had to call off of work the day before his vacation.  Since he works third shift, he had been awake for well over 24 hours to deal with this mess.

It took three estimates and two days for the plumber to finally realize that he would have to contact the corporate office and go through his insurance.  I don't know if he thought that 25 gallons of water breaking through the ceiling would be a small job.

After we faxed him the estimates, my husband tried calling him numerous times but the phone rang busy all morning.  When I had my lunch break at work, I called from my cell phone and got right through.  I didn't mince words with the guy.  I simply asked him what progress had been made and asked for the number of the corporate office and his insurance company.  He again tried to tell me that it wasn't really their fault because we had the wrong kind of pipe in our wall.  I told him that I don't really care what kind of pipe we had.  Other plumbers never seemed to have a problem with the pipe and I want my house fixed.  Even my three year old is upset about it.

Finally after 5 days, we were able to get a water remediation specialist in our house to bust up the ceiling and get the mold cleaned up and water dried out.  This was also my husband's birthday.

Now we are on day 10 and we are still living with a big hole in our ceiling and no real answers on when we can get a contractor in to rebuild our ceiling.  My husband's one week vacation is over.  Scheduling contractors will be a bit tricky now since he needs to sleep during the day and I do not get any vacation time at work.  If I take a day off, I do not get paid.

I am a bit angry about this and I do wonder if they would also owe us for lost vacation and/or lost wages.

Hopefully we will get some news today and it will be good news.  Keeping my fingers crossed!