Allen Plumbing

Georgi D.

Gets the job done very quickly. Knows exactly what he's doing.
Appears a bit pricey but this may very well be the speed of work once pro-rated per average hour. Still quite a bit pricey.

Emily N.

I really don't know what to think about this company. Our boiler was short cycling, and I called another service company because their sticker was on the boiler. They fixed nothing, and quoted me $3600 for repairs but told me it needed be replaced. I said no thanks and lost $150 to them for their visit/crazy advice.
Then, I found out the previous owners had used Allen to service it a couple months ago. Their office lady is really wonderful, and she felt bad the boiler died 2 months after they worked on it, so she gets Michael to come out pretty late that same day. He says the exact opposite of the 1st guy- its fixable, he has the part, and 1/6th the cost to repair, but they charge $225 just for the diagnostic. An hour later, he's replaced the part but broken the boiler more/found a second faulty part/now it doesn't work at all. He apologized profusely, and worked super way after hours late to fix it, which was good. But, he was extra moody- at one point really defensive, but then later super friendly, which was...strange (hangry maybe?). It ended up costing 1/3 what company #1 said, which is still a ton, but less shocking. Then, icing on the weirdness cake, the next day I get a call from sweet office lady telling me he lost our check on his way out of our place. Thankfully a neighbor found it and returned it to me and they gave us a bit of a discount...but still.
In the long run, his fixes worked, and the total price was less than the other companies, for emergency plumbing, so I guess its worth the personality quirks?

Gaylen M.

They are as good as it gets! I have tried a bunch of big name plumbers and small ones too in the Cambridge Somerville area. But I was having trouble finding a plumber who had follow through on quotes for a larger project and in general was getting very frustrated with companies that had poor communication and not great results. Allen Plumbing has turned out to be exceptional and I am happy to recommend them. They are responsive, do good solid work and communicate very well. Both small repairs and big projects have worked out very well. They do prioritize if they have clients with emergencies which in my opinion is a good thing. But they always let you know if they are going to be late or need to schedule, and that doesn't happen that often. Are they expensive? Yes, but no more than most others. And frankly, from my experience, you get what you pay for.

Aaron G.

I should have come on yelp before I hired Allen plumbing. Holey moley did I get taken for a ride. Mike came over to snake a drain, broke a PVC pipe in the process and spilled water straight through my house. Charged me $250 just to cut a hole in wall and then another $850 to fix the pipe he jammed his snake through. I don't know if he rammed the snake around negligently considering the house is 160 years old, but I'm in deep for $1270 at the end of this experience. The only thing I can say positive is that they are prompt, but I feel like I was taken advantage of, so I don't think I can give them much more than 1 star.

These reviews on yelp are no joke, it's absolutely insane how much they charge. But, in all deference to Mike, I'm absolutely insane for agreeing to his ridiculous prices in a time of crisis.

Lowell P.

My kitchen sink backed up at 4:00pm on a Friday night, two hours before 8 guests were arriving for dinner. Of the three plumbers I called, only Allen called me back. I was told the nights and weekend emergency service rate would apply, with a minimum charge in the $300s. Michael arrived within 30 minutes, worked diligently for more than an hour, and solved the problem just as the first guests arrived. For as hard as he worked, I was pleased the final fee was equal to the quoted minimum charge.

A M.

These guys charged me $350 to replace a toilet part that costs $25 at the hardware store. It took them a total of 15 minutes to do the job. I only wish I had the time to find the part and fix it myself. They clearly have no problem charging customers exorbitant amounts.

Amy C.

I'm being fair. They do respond quick with nice service. But way way way overpriced. Do ask for break down charge. This apply to all kind of service, or they'll just take advantage of your knowing-nothing-about-plumbing.

JoAnn M.

I had a new boiler put in a couple months ago when I converted to gas, by a different plumber. Less than a month after installation, i had no heat and no hot water. The guy who did the job was out of the country and so i had to find a new guy to fix it. I must have called 20 plumbers in the Somverville, Cambridge area and though many of them were very nice and called later to make sure I found someone, Allen was the only one who fit me in.

Michael came to my place around 4 and 30 minutes later, i had heat and water, but he said it wouldn't last and showed me the ignitor and the crack in it. He charged $125-$150 (can't remember) for the first trip. Worth it to me.

He said he could get me a replacement part on Monday, which he did. He had one of the guys drive to Woburn, pick the part up and drive my old busted part back to get the refund from my warranty. He gave it to me to install, as to save me labor costs, it took me 5 minutes. He only charged me an hour of work for the drives back and forth.

The office manager called multiple times throughout this whole process to keep me informed and update me on times.

May not be the cheapest, but he is straight forward and helpful. He is my new plumber.

Caren N.

Very expensive and extremely poor customer service.
Not sure what is up with this company. I feel the plumbers know their trade, but in my experience they charge more per hour than any other tradesperson I've ever hired, including architects.. We had them put in a new faucet (same faucet type, just replacing old) and they charged us over $600. The next day the faucet fell over. They charged another $135 to come again. The faucet still swivels around and it appears they won't come back, I guess, unless we pay again. To be honest, I am perplexed. We had used them in the past--years ago--but stopped because the cost was just too much. We hired them again to fix a bad sink leak and they did a good job. However, when we called them again to put in the new faucet and they charged us $600 + $135 (and wasn't ever finished correctly), I have to scratch my head. What is most painful is reading all the Yelp complaints and not reading them before we called this fall.
On another note, when Mike came to fix our leaky faucet, i was stunned by his attitude. He was arrogant and not pleasant at all--turned off i guess because we had stopped using them. Before he left, he turned to me and said something like, ""Well you're going to use us in the future, right??"" The way he said this put me off and I should have listened to my gut reaction.

Allen Plumbing is doing everything possible to make sure Alewife Plumbing stays in business forever.

Mia T.

With Allen Plumbing, the customer is not always right. VERY expensive and no solution. They came to fix a problem and I ended up no better off. Yet they refused to come back without another $800 charge.