City Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning

I'm not much of a review poster, more of a review reader. I felt obligated to leave a review this time though. Bottom line up front: $129/hr for a plumber and helper and the person that answers the phone back at the shop is rude as hell.

I had a water main bust in my home after the cold freeze at the beginning of Jan. Water was pouring out of my ceilings, not a pretty site. I called around to a few people to try getting somebody to come out, city plumbing said they couldn't make it until the next day. As this was the soonest I could find, I took it. They showed up at my door 5 hrs later. Good on them.

I showed them the leak and asked if they could fix it. They agreed and off they went. The plumber, Todd, was a great friendly guy. He talked me through it all and gave pointers on how to prevent similar situation from happening. They ended up not having the correct glue, so they had to make a store run. They finish the job in about 3 hrs and then we do a water check. Still leaking. They work at it some more, do another water check, still leaking. Finally, they said "we don't have all the parts to complete the project, so we would have to run to the store again and then we will be charging overtime". I passed on the overtime charges, they said "but we will get you hot water before we leave". An hour, I have hot water with a slow drip. They put a bucket under and said we will be back first thing in the morning, around 9. They leave, I turn on the hot water tank and it starts spraying water out of the connections. I turned it off and made it without hot water.

The next morning around 10 they show up to tackle it again. They can't get the shark bite to connect because the floor joist is in their way. They keep connecting, checking, leaks, them retry. 2hrs later, they said they needed to run back to the shop to get the correct tools. My girlfriend asks me if they have tried using the access panel behind the dryer that she told them about the previous day. I chase them down in the driveway and ask them about the panel, and they said "oh yeah, I remember being told that yesterday". 30 minutes later, everything is fixed.

They gather all of their tools and start writing up the invoice. I was guessing a $100 service call, $400 for fixing the broken lines (total broken - 2ft), but then I get a bill for over a $1,000. Parts were $130. The rest, labor! I paid the plumbers because I knew they had to charge what they had to charge, I figured I would speak to the office about maybe reducing the bill since there was a store run, hrs spent to get hot water that didn't work, having to rework the same issue multiple times.

My girlfriend is the nicest lady you meet, so I figured she would be the best person to speak with them. The gentleman at the office treated her like chopped liver. She said he treated her like a dumb rich girl, making rude replies and telling her to quit repeating herself. His main argument was the plumber didn't charge us for all of the parts he used and he didn't sum up the hrs properly so we were already receiving a discount. To rerun the plumbing in a few rooms deserved a price tag like that, not just 2 ft of broken of line in the ceiling.

To sum it up, Todd is a nice plumber, has some things to work on, but City plumbing is expensive and needs to work on customer relations.

Have you ever had a company perform a service? And then right after they leave the same thing happens again? They tell you they will be out and fix it, then claim its something different now and charge you twice? City Plumbing has done this to me twice in 3 weeks! The first time I took their word but was pretty sure it was BS. Then I had a problem with a rental property, had somebody else call in the repair. They did it again! Same guy came out both times, with a few hours. I get 2 bills, for the same work. When I call to complain am told it was fixed both times must have been something done to it after they left the first time??!!?? WTF? New slogan? 'We fix it so nice we just might bill you TWICE!'

I have used City Plumbing for years with no problems. Now I will never use them again and will not recommend them. Last week my washer drain was backed up. I made an appointment for Wednesday between 9 and 12. They didn’t get there until around 2:30. The guy worked at it then said his machine isn’t long enough so will have to come back tomorrow. He came back and worked on it again and my kitchen sinks filled up with nasty water so he had to deal with it. They charged me $569 for this. Friday I was catching up on the laundry since I have 4 grandkids living with me. Lo and behold my bathtub started filling up with nasty water. I called them at 3:00 and said I was very unhappy with them and told them the problem and said I paid $569 to take care of the problem. She said someone will be there today to take care of it. Oh my gosh no show! I went thru the weekend with no showers or washing clothes. I called Monday around 9:00 she said she will call me back. Wrong! I called 5 hours later she said that I was next in line. He shows up around 5:00. He worked in the tub area and then told me I needed a new ptrap. Today I haven’t heard from then so I called and she said he’s on another call and I was next. I looked at my emails and I had a quote from them for a 2” drain and ptrap at tub about 5’ for $2200. I blew my top and called them back. I said that was awful high she would have the manager call me back. In the meantime I called someone else since they had great reviews they will be here tomorrow to give me an estimate. I called City Plumbing and cancelled them. The woman called me back stating she talked to the manager and he said that was pretty high and gave me a quote for $1100 to $1200. Imagine that! I told her I’ve cancelled with them and found someone else. Now I hope the other place will be an honest and reliable besides affordable company. Wish me luck!

I have always called this company when I have plumbing issues, I've probably spent around $1,000 on their services over the years. However, I am disappointed with the way my call with them just went. I was transferred to someone who kept audibly sighing. When I said I was interested in someone coming to diagnose the problem and give me an estimate, he said, "An estimate for what?" . . . Then he asks if I have any clue what the problem is. I start to explain its the same problem they have fixed in the past and he cuts me off saying he was the only one there and they are too busy and he has two other lines lighting up. . . I am just a customer, I don't need to know how things are at your office. If you can't handle my call, take my information and say you will get back to me. I was made to feel like I was inconveniencing everyone by calling for plumbing help. Am I supposed to go to your office, look through the window, and make sure everyone isn't too busy before I even call?

Update: I went to Home Depot and bought a drain cleaner for approximately $500, watched the instructional DVD, and had my drains clear in about 30 minutes. It was nice not having to deal with any childish attitudes. I got less attitude from my 5 year old son during the whole process, than I did during that short phone call.

We had 3 problem spigots on the outside of the house. City Plumbing came out quickly, repaired 2 of them and replace the third. The third one did leak, but the great plumber came out twice to make sure the leak was fixed. The cost was about half of what I was expecting! Would recommend and use again!

I had some plumbing changed out for a new tub and they did a good job with that. I had told them that I was going to install the tub and that was fine with one of them but the other one wasn't having it. So they installed the tub with 1 screw to the studs to hold it in place. I ended up removing the tub and reinstalling it to the manufacturer specs (mortar bed, clips on each stud) and is a lot more sturdy and am no longer worried about it breaking with the first full tub.

So in the end, I received a bill for $500 for them to install a new shower valve, raise the shower head, and replace the old drainage. Because of this along with the time they took to install the tub and the time it took for me to redo the whole thing I will probably not be using this company any more.

Just had them out to clear a backed-up sewer line. They cleared the tub and the washing machine lines for about $140. Todd and Paul are nice guys and competent plumbers -- did good work and didn't try to sell me what I didn't need. Good job guys!

(oops! the last comment I put on here had no stars -- I'll try to delete it if I can)

Our sewer main pipe backed up because of tree roots. This has happened before and I have called other plumbing services to take care of the problem. I have been charged anywhere from $90 to $120 dollars for this service. I have even rented a machine from Home Depot for around $70. City Plumbing sent two guys out to do a one man job and charged us $185 for the trouble. 2 days later the main backed up again so they sent two guys out again and invoiced us for $185 again. They have charged us almost $400 for a $100 dollar job. Not recommended.

Wont use again
One day they came out and discussed my options and two days later did the work. They never gave me a written estimate (my fault for not badgering them for one) and after the work was performed they didn't tell me how much I owed, saying on the way to his truck, "we'll send you an invoice". They charged me for the hour of discussion (on a $1200 bill) and helped themselves to 4 feet of copper tubing from the old water heater.
Positives: they seemed to be able to bring my water heater up to code (although I don't know plumbing code), they fit me into their schedule quickly, the gentleman who did the work was very friendly.
Negatives: They act like basic information is none of your business, including the itemized and total amounts, they did not clean up afterward, and took copper tubing away. I would have liked to have kept it. Copper is expensive and they know that.
If you use them, ask very specific questions and expect sighs from them.

This business was previously locally owned. I have to change my 5 star rating to a 3 star.

Now owned by Baxter Heat and Air. Prices have almost doubled. $2200 to install a cheap, 40 gallon water heater -- $650 for a $45 gas valve. I just had to decline service because I can't afford to proceed with them any longer.