Wrong Water Heater

On July 29 I realized that my AOSmith Water heater was leaking. I phoned a local plumber, and asked him to fix it. I told him it was an AOSmith, and that it might be under warranty. He said he deals with AOSmith, and would be happy to get a new one if it was under warranty. As I waited for him to arrive, I called AOSmith and found that my water heater WAS still under warranty. They advised me that I would only have to pay for the labor.
The plumber came, installed a new water heater, and everything was fine. I did not pay anything, as I was to be billed for the labor, but I gave him a copy of my original water heater bill - to bring to AOSmith (total$600 (installed), it was about 5-1/2 yrs old)

On August 13, the same plumber called to tell me we had a problem. He said he just realized that he installed a Bradford water heater by mistake. He said he could 1) take out the Bradford and install the warranteed AOSmith for $490 (but it would only have a 2 month warranty on it, since only 2 months were left on my warranty), or 2) we could keep the Bradford and pay $980 (and he'd give us the free AOSmith water heater - but it would only have a 2 month warranty - the amount of time left on our old warranty.

I phoned several local plumbers to find that the cost of installing a water heater was $300 at most. I told the plumber this, and he said he gets $99 for the first hour of service, and $88 for each hour after that. He says he had been at my house for 3-3/4 hours, I didn't watch the clock, but that could be right. In any event, that only comes to $341. He says that he is charging me to pick up the water heater from AOSmith and a paperwork fee (the difference is $149 for this service. The trip to where he gets the water heater is about 20 mins.

This is a problem since I will have to take off from work once again because of the plumber's mistake. I spoke with a plumber who is an AOSmith dealer, and he is willing to put a new AOSmith in for $300 - and leave the Bradford water heater on the front porch for the first plumber to pick up. What can I do in this situation. He expects me to pay a paperwork fee, but who will pay for my 2nd day off.

Thanks so much for your help.

Based on what you say here, you could file suit against them (or at least threaten to do so) in small claims court or in regular court; filing in small claims court is easier and requires no attorney...you could try to collect all of the costs and damages that you suffered due to their behavior... You may also report them to your state attorney general's office.