Al's Plumbing Heating and Air Conditioning

Timothy B.

I had a sewer pipe that was broken, and Lance and another person came out to see exactly what was wrong (they snaked the line and ran the camera down the line to determine the pipe was broken. He quoted me $9100 to replace it and the cleanout!!! I had a hard time believing that was a reasonable amount to do the work, so I had one other plumber come out and tell me what he could do it for. They did it for $1800, 20% of what Lance quoted me. How long does this company think they can stay in business with quotes like that?

Seems to me maybe they didn't want to do any hard work over the weekend so they just threw a crazy number at me to see if I'd bite. If I did, good for them, more money in their pocket. If not, oh well, they could jet on down the road to see how many more lines they could snake for $378 a pop (what they charged me to snake my line and give me that silly quote).

Debbie H.

These people are the worst - don't use them!!

Over the past 7 years, we have spent $5,800.00 with them on various plumbing and heating and air conditioning issues.

The last time they were at our home was Saturday, December 17th to check out our heater to see why the master bedroom felt colder than the rest of the house - the unit was working fine. They determined that the unit was working well for it's age (13 years). We were charged $129 - they waived other charges because we have a maintenance policy with them.

During the night (this was the night the temperature dropped to 17 degrees), we woke up to discover that the temperature in the house had dropped to below 50 degrees and when we tried to turn up the heat - the unit wasn't working.

We started calling the answering service at 3:00 am, with subsequent calls every hour on the hour. Finally, at 7:00 am we got a call from the same service tech that had been at our house the day before. He asked my husband to go up in the attic to check the "service switch". Sure enough, this idiot had switched it off to work on the unit and NEVER turned it back on! My husband flipped the switch and the unit immediately came on and started trying to heat the house back up.

We were, of course, flabbergasted that someone could be so irresponsible especially on the one the coldest nights of the year. When we called to request a refund of our $129.00, we were told we had to send an e-mail - NO ONE would talk to us about this on the phone. So, we sent the e-mail. After waiting a week for a response, we were told that they would not give us a refund but would take $129.00 off of a new unit if we bought one.

After all the money we have spent with them, it is ridiculous that they wouldn't give us out money back. We paid the guy to check the unit - NOT TO DISABLE IT.

DO NOT USE THESE PEOPLE!

Blake S.

RUN, RUN, RUN like the wind!!! This company is by far the WORST company I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with. We have used them for over 10 years for all our home A/C & plumbing services. I noticed over the past 2 years something had changed or broken at this company. Guess I had to learn the hard way but it finally ALL came out! They have majorly overcharged us, miss-diagnosed, improperly/incorrectly installed & serviced our A/C system & our plumbing. Al's charges 3-5 times more than other "reputable" companies. I do NOT consider Al's reputable btw. I'm embarrassed to say over the past 10 years I have paid Al's close to $30K! Yes that is correct, $30K!!! I am now paying other companies to fix, replace etc. EVERYTHING they have ever done in my home. They sold us a new A/C system about 4 years ago to the tune of $13-15K in round #'s. In July of this year (2016) they came to do our annual maintenance service. Two days later water was leaking into our den ceiling. They had to come back EIGHT additional times in a month! Still not fixed correctly, we had to call someone else. The new company came in & found that our system was not properly secured in the attic for which they had to re-hang securely with brackets, $400. Al's had the unit secured by 6 fabric straps around it but only 2 of them were secure! The new company also found that a pipe that goes from the pan to the unit had been tightened too tight in the original install & in the 4 years time we've had it, it just broke & it cannot be fixed or replaced! When the new AC people called the manufacturer (American Standard) they were told my unit was obsolete & no longer being made. Are you kidding me?! So...$13K down the drain?! Still dealing with that. In May of this year we had a small leak in the hall bathroom which also connects to the overflow for the AC. Al's sent his "best" (haha) plumbers out. They could not find anything wrong. Hmm water leaking...for no reason?? Really? An hour later after they still could not figure out what was wrong they came up with a bright idea to put a camera down into our sewage. Low & behold they tell me we found the problem. You have 3 breaks under your house. Yes ma'am that will be $25K. WHAT???!!! How did we go from clear water leaking under the bathroom sink to digging under my house?!! So I of course was not about to just write them a check. I called my insurance agent who filed a claim & an adjuster was assigned. When I explained to him what had happened, he called a plumber they use for second opinions etc. They came out the next day & ran several tests that took a couple of hours. Their diagnosis was "Ma'am you do NOT have any breaks under your home." Again, WHAT?! Then they went into the bathroom where the water was still leaking under the sink, determined it was where the overflow for the AC connects to the pipe in the bathroom behind the wall & fixed it in no time. The charge was $300. HMM...Al you never fixed that because your people couldn't figure it out & oh it was much more financially beneficial to Al's to charge me $25K to dig under my house unnecessarily!!! These people need to be shut down & put out of business!!! In the meantime buyer beware! Please do not throw your home, money & sanity down the drain with these people. In the midst of all this we were trying to deal with putting our house back together from the hail storms that hit Wylie, TX in April. Talk about taking advantage of someone already dealing with a catastrophe! Have been trying for a week to get their insurance information from them so I could file a claim under products/completed operations, they said "We're sorry but we do not divulge that information." OMG are you f'ng kidding me?! If you need additional stress in your life then you should definitely call Al's! Otherwise save your sanity & call someone else, anyone else!!! I bet the dog catcher could have done a better job than these clowns!!! One star is the "least" I'm allowed to give them. Believe me they don't deserve a star at all!

Chuck D.

Worst customer service experience in my life. I called a professional because I was over my head with bathroom remodel. Asked them to add 2 shut offs to existing lines, replace the toilet shutoff and to match the new shutoffs to a new water supply line I purchased (which turned out to be the wrong size) and they said ok. Quoted over $500 and when I questioned it he said that's what it's gonna cost. I agreed because I could not do the work and wanted it done right. The plumber Derek was abrupt and interrupted me repeatedly. He completed the work and then I noticed he had replace two additional shutoffs. in addition, the shutoff size on the 2 new ones did not match my supply line. I did not find this out until 3 days later after I had installed the supply line and discovered it would not conn ext to the shut off. I requested a return service to correct the situation and when Derek showed up he belittled me for not knowing I had purchased the wrong size supply line and told me to go to the store and get the right size. I asked him why he didn't point that out in the beginning and rather than answer my question he aggressively accused me of trying to make him lose his license. What? I tried to ask the question again only to be cut off and interrupted repeatedly until he finally stated I'm getting the f--- out of here and left.
I whole heartedly discourage everyone from using this company with their pitiful customer service.
The only positive is the shutoffs are installed and do not leak. This company will do well to understand that consumers expect more than just fixing the problem.
Two thumbs down!

Lynne W.

Quoted a price for more work than was completed. We were quoted $3200 to reseat both toilets, replace the cleanouts and the sewer line through the back yard under my tool shed to the property line, and check the line. When the job was finished all they had done was replace the cleanouts and check the line. We asked what the new price would be and if we could have a detailed breakdown of the work completed. They refused both requests and insisted we pay the full amount of the original quote even though all the work was not done. Multiple phone calls later and a stop payment on the original check just trying to get a proper total resulted in them calling and threatening to file charges with the DA and to have me arrested by the Sherriff's department if I did not pay within 30 minutes. Consumers Beware!!!! You would do better to sell your home and move before ever using this company. Even to sell your house and run!!!!!

Now we just learned that the work was done incorrectly so will have to be done again!!!! Never ever use these plumbers!

Adam R.

Do not use: $50 trip charge no quote, $391 for quote - no repair, $598 repair-no warranty. Total $989 for a cracked fitting by the water meter on my side and 30-45mins worth of work. Customer service doesn't have prices for quotes but technician has precise prices. My recommendation, find someone else. If the city tells you that a leak has been detected by the meter, save yourself some money and just dig up the area around the meter.

C. W.

I have had issues with this company over my yearly inspection, not to mention the labor I had to endure while I was brought to "code." I'm regretful of not following my on judgement in not getting a 2nd or 3rd opinion.

I would never recommend them to anyone.

Lauren T.

On Wednesday, we were quoted $382 to repair/replace an outdoor faucet ($30 part), and an additional $592 to add a shut off valve ($20 part) on the inside wall. We had already demolished the wall ourselves to gain access to the plumbing (since it was wet and needed to be removed anyway), and told them that we'd like a plastic access cover ($60 part) to make future repairs easier, but they said they weren't able to install one.

They even shut off the water to our home before turning on the faucet to see where the leak was coming from. This and the price felt scam-my, so we paid them the $49 trip fee to get them off our property. We will not be inviting them back. We only invited them in the first place because we thought the copper pipe connecting to the faucet may need repair because we found it wrapped in duct tape from a previous repair (and thus, may have needed cutting, which we don't have the tools for).

Thank you for reminding us why we've started doing everything ourselves! I'm all for paying extra for a professional to do the job correctly, but $900 in labor for a 30 min job is quite excessive.

Mark M.

$415 to snake my sewer line and tell me it was broken then gave me an estimate of $3,900 to repair but I could use that $415 towards the repair. Oldest trick in the book. They got you. Found someone to do it for $1,500 and it included showing me with a camera where the pipe was broken. I'd use them again if I had money to throw away in my sewer.

Laurie P.

These guys were lifesavers! We had an emergency situation: my husband was replacing our thermostat the day before our house was to be inspected for new buyers. Once he replaced it, however, the AC wouldn't come back on. This happened at 8 pm on a Sunday night.

In a panic, I called Al's. Johnny G., the repairman, was out here within an hour and a half.

I'll admit that I was a little worried that given our circumstance, we might get overcharged. However, that fear was proven wrong. Johnny was incredibly honest and trustworthy and really cared about helping us. We had blown out the transformer and wiring. He didn't have the transformer on his truck, so he promised to come back first thing in the morning when he could get the part from the office.

Sure enough, Johnny called around 8 am to say he was on his way and had our AC up and running by 9:30! I will forever be indebted to these guys for the fast, friendly, and honest service we received. I would not hesitate to call them again - and ask for Johnny G!