I hate when people try to take advantage of the elderly!

I agree completely.  There are huge assumptions being made. I would also be curious what other professional rates are in the area. I find most of these home repair costs are very inflated by the industry in general whether plumbers, painters or electricians.

I use generic "handymen" and they will go to the local hardware store and get what is needed. They charge it at the store and bring me the receipt to pay the store directly. Replace a faucet, washer and even a piece of pipe wouldn't cost me more then 20 dollars or so of labour.  It's a benefit of working in a very small town. So it's hard for me to take any plumber seriously that charges that much, but it still doesn't mean he is fraudulent or scamming the eldery (of course he might be, but not enough information to go by)