A-Unimasters

Totoro Y.

Extremely dishonest company! It is Unimaster's business practice - RIP OFF CUSTOMER from Home Insurance Company.

First of all, please look up this company under BBB. They are not accredited with an ""F"" rating. https://www.bbb.org/us/ca/escondido/profile/water-heater-repair/unimaster-inc-1126-16004561

After filling out the claim from my home insurance company for my leaking water heater, Unimaster was referred to as the contractor to fix my problem. After the initial inspection, it was determined that I need a new water heater, which is still under warranty. However, Unimaster claimed that in order to replace the new water heater, 3 ""MODIFICATION PARTS"" were needed for the replacement. The total charge comes up to $300. Even if the parts are truly needed, there is absolutely no way that they cost so much! It was confirmed by a credited plumber! With that being said, Unimaster wants to charge me for $300.

The sad thing is that Unimaster demanded credit card authorization prior to the service. If customers refuse to do so, they will not provide the service even though it is covered by the insurance company. So, I contacted my insurance company for clarification. I was told that on the occasion that a non-identical water heater was replaced, it might call for modification parts. In that case, the customer does need to pay for the modification parts, but $300 for 3 parts does not sound reasonable! The total cost of my water heater is $699. So, I sat and watched the whole process. The technician took down the water heater, took it to the plumbing shop for a new heater, and put it back up without any new attachment. I asked the technician which are the 3 parts he replaced. He pointed at the top and the bottom part of the heater and claimed that he had replaced them and charged me for $300.

While the technician was still working on my paperwork, I called the water heater company to change my warranty information. With my information updated, the plumbing company was able to locate and notify me that a wrong water heater was given for my service. Therefore, the company sent a plumber to swap the correct heater the next day. I asked the plumbing company about the $300 charge for the modification parts that are needed. The representative said that there should not be any part that was needed to replace my water heater. He said that the plumber who they sent to perform the replacement could confirm that. Without surprise, it was confirmed that no new part had been replaced for my water heater.

As a result, I contacted my Home Insurance Company. The representative put me on hold and contacted Unimaster to resolve the issue. With my Home Insurance Company's help, Unimaster acknowledged that they made a ""MISTAKE"", and I would not be charged for the unnecessary $300. Just use your common sense, how could they ""MISTAKENLY"" charge me when I clarified with the technician right after the service! It is an absolute lie! The truth is that they got caught!

My recommendations:
- contact your home insurance company to ask for a different company
- monitor the whole process if they told you that you have to pay for any part
- Unimaster would not give you the receipt. However, you HAVE TO take a picture of the receipt as you need it for the warranty. If they refuse, call your insurance company when the technician is still with you.
- if you are getting an exact ""unit"", it is fishy that Unimaster charges you replacement parts. Call your insurance company if that happens!
- go to HomeDepot to check the price of possible parts. see pictures below.
- Call the company that they get the ""unit"" (water heater, etc) and ask about the need for replacement parts
- I can see Unimaster finding new ways to rip its customer off. Once again, my case is not unique. Check them out from Better Business Bureau and Yelp!
- Be your own advocate! Be persistent!

Please note that the entire experience was recorded under my claim with my insurance company. Therefore, I have proof regarding the truthfulness of this incident.

Carlos T.

I'm guessing if you're reading this you probably were forced to have this useless company service your house through your home warranty company. If that's not the case and you're shopping around for a plumber, stay far away from this one! Tech did nothing to solve our problem and the phone customer service was extremely unhelpful, i've had better help through a touchtone teller. I rarely ever complain on yelp but i hate having my time and money wasted!

Liz G.

do not ever, ever, ever ever!!!!! hire them!!!!!!!
if i can give these people a negative review i would!!!!! they are disrespectful and rudee!! simply put, when i called to schedule an emergency service for a water heater the person said ""nope, we cannot come out"" do not hire them!!!! they didn't care to help, to offer other choices, nothing!!!!

Matthew H.

This is a horrible company. Our home warranty company picked them to fix our water heater. The tech could barely speak English and tried charging $400 on top of the $75 deductible. He said he shut the water off and would be back in two days. The next day my living room was flooded . Now I have been drying out for the past 5 days and it has caused several thousands of dollars in damage. I hired my own competent guy and he shut the water off right away. Demetri a so called supervisor is horrible. I would love to see him in person!!

Sylvia J.

water heater installation was done in a satisfactory manner. the problem is that since then ive noticed that the wood structure that houses the water heater was broken, technician never even told me he broke it, so even if it was an accident initially, it has become intentional. not good . i would not use this company again, trust lost.

Mike P.

Its to bad there are not 0 stars as they would get triple fixed a 1 year old dryer ..by the time they came out a looked ordered the part and came back out again I could have bought a new one plus the washing machine ...most companies would have said hay you should just get a new one! NOPE NOT THESE FOLKS ....I feel bad giving 0 as a feed back but Not really ...

Todd M.

they are in cahoots with insurance companies and because the insurance companies only pay them around $100 for labor, they drive up additional labor costs by adding random modification costs outside of what the insurance pays. its a total joke!

Assel R.

I was forced to use this company through Kitchenaid warranty program and I regret it so much. I have never seen a company as rude and lacking customer service as Unimaster. I can only hope the management reads these reviews because the service was atrocious. The woman on the phone was rude, her attitude was as if I disturbed her during her vacation, she had no patience and kept putting me on hold every few seconds. After the technician came over, I was told I would get a call back to schedule a new appointment... 8 DAYS LATER... NO CALL. And her excuse was ""you were on the list, we just didn't get to call you yet"". I will write to Kitchenaid asking them to drop this company as their service provider. AVOID AT ALL COST.

Melissa S.

Unfortunately, we had no power over using Unimaster. Had we been given the option, we would have gone with a more reputable company based on the reviews below. If you have the option STAY AWAY.

Our home warranty hired this company to come out and fix our broken water heater. They wouldn't perform the work without us using another company to rebuild the platform that our water heater was sitting on - $2K out of pocket to a company THEY recommended. (THAT in itself was sketchy...). F*** it, we needed hot water...sure. The worst part of the work was how many people we needed to schedule with and talk to within this company to get anything done. A scheduler, a plumber, an account manager and two others - I had NO idea who I was speaking with or needed to call back. I started saving names into my phone with their ""title"" so I knew who I was talking with.

Kevin M.

There Tied together with a insure company fraud!!!!!! Horrible service really rude technician did a survey on my water heater in 3 minutes on my water heater and rushed out and said it couldn't fixed or replaced because it was leaking and made many false things about it there working together with insurance company ripping many people of beware there scam artists