American Leak Detection - San Diego County

Eric S.

American Leak Detection, at least the Santa Ana office with Phil Meckley as franchise owner, cost me thousands. DO NOT USE!

We were buying a home in CA in Dec 2014. My gut told me the pool/spa would have problems just by the look of its condition and visible previous repairs. So I hired these guys to verify there were no leaks and to use in negotiations with sellers to get a credit for repairs. I received a clean report from ALD - no leaks, nothing wrong. So just based on looks and us knowing some repair was needed, the seller still provided a credit for replastering, based on a report that said there was no leaks.

We moved into the house in January. End of Janjuary and early February our water level kept going down. We discovered a leak in the pool equipment and had home warranty repair it, thinking that should solve the problem. But the water kept going down. So I contacted ALD because something clearly was wrong. I was told it was past their 30 day warranty period and they would have to charge me the $350 again.

In the meantime I started working with a contractor for replastering, so I had their plumber perform another leak detection. Immediately they found at least two leaks. He brought me out and showed me the very visible dye test leak at the skimmer, which ALD explicitly stated they tested. Also a leak in the spa jet, but not sure how many. When they repaired the leaks, it was very evident that the leaks had been there for a long time and not sudden (erroded gunite, roots growing by the leak area, etc.). We had to replace the skimmer, replace 3 spa jets with leaks, and replace the main drain - all due to leaks. Yet ALD said everything was fine and there were no leaks. The pool plumber (who was very knowledgeable and thorough) said he didn't understand how ALD didn't discover the leaks.

As can be expected, the owner won't call me back. I discussed with corporate office but now they aren't calling me back. The ALD corp office website even says you don't need any experience to own an ALD franchise - they will train you. Obviously the technician was not trained right! Or, they are a scam!!

NEVER USE ALD! Not only have I lost money from the cost of a 2nd test and leak repairs just a couple of months after ALD's testing, I lost out on funds I could have further negotiated with the seller.

Chris D.

I am giving American Leak Detection (ALD) 5 Stars because, the service technician, Matt, went out of his way to assist me simply because he was being himself and that meant being extremely professional. I was NOT his service call, he was in my neighborhood doing work at a neighbor's house and I merely asked a question. He offered to come to my location and check out my problem, which he did when he was finished with his original job, and also provided guidance on what ALD could do to fix the problem. The service technician was absolutely professional and because of that I have no problem giving ALD an excellent review. Thank you ALD and keep up the great work.

John D.

If you ever encounter a ""slab leak"" in your home, you should consider ADL for the service of determining and fixing the leak. We had the disturbing experience of water flooding the ground floor of our home from a leak in the below slab cold water supply pipe. Johnny, Lucas and Jaison determined the causes, provided a competitive quote and stood by that quote beyond expectation. We were impressed by their patience, courtesy and expertise in solving our problem. It was nice to see workmen who concentrated on their tasks, took the time to explain in detail what was occurring, double checking details, and performing thorough clean up after the work. These men were the best and we thank them again.

Josh B.

Glenn and John were extremely professional and accomplished exactly what they set out to do in their quote. The job took extra time and they did not charge me more. I would definitely recommend them. I also got a quote from Water Savers and was not impressed with their customer service.

Sher R.

Boy I wish I would have checked out Yelp before calling these guys. Unfortunately my plumber recommended them (who has also since been discontinued). They came out to find a leak under our slab in the yard. I showed them where the water was and they apparently ran a test? Their findings were all of a masking tape arrow on our bar exactly where I said the leak was. When I asked if it could be resolved through the irrigation system the guy said ""no, it has to be dug up."" Well, we dug and found no pipe where he said it was and we just had it repaired in the irrigation system which cost less than having these crooks come out and point to where they thought the leak was. Do not hire these guys.

Matt H.

My Mom was having unusually high water bills and we called ALD. Osa and his partner took 15 minutes of their time to inspect the property and noticed it was an irrigation leak. Osa gave me an honest assessment of the situation and I really appreciated this, since I had no idea where the leak was. I like to deal with good people and I would recommend Osa and ALD. Thank you and I would recommend to family and friends.

Wayne M.

My wife and I bought a house with an older pool/spa that needed a complete remodel. The spa has a waterfall to the pool over some boulders. The pool/spa were leaking and losing water at about 7/16 inch per day, of which about 1/4 inch was due to evaporation as confirmed by a ""bucket test"".

We hired a contractor who placed pressure gauges on the 4 lines that ran to the pool/spa. Two lines to the spa slowly lost pressure. The contractor recommended that I contact a leak detection company that could precisely locate any leaks.

So I called the Santa Ana branch of American Leak Detection (ALD) and arranged for them to come out. Their inspector arrived and noted the pressure gauges that were already installed. Then, using his equipment on the gauges, he pressurized the lines and again the same spa lines lost pressure at the same rates. That's all he did. I asked if he had audio equipment he could use to locate the leaks. He said the leaks were too small for his equipment to detect. He didn't do any dye-testing or other testing to observe the leaks. And he didn't do anything to fix them. He said the pressure losses were insignificant and the water loss would be of no consequence. Other than hooking his equipment to the already installed fittings, during the time he was there he never had a tool in his hand. He just lounged around. After about an hour I said ""Don't you have other inspections you need to go to""? He said, ""No. I'm here for the 'minimum' time and the cost will be $350"". He then just ""hung-around"" for at least another hour...doing nothing. With great reluctance I paid him the $350 but didn't get a receipt or a report.

Based on ALD's verbal report that the leaks were insignificant, my contactor and I decided to go ahead with the restoration. I otherwise may have decided not to go forward because the leaks could be in the spa plumbing under large real boulders, which could have made repairs very difficult and costly. I might have opted to just demo the pool/spa.

However after restoration, I noticed the pool was still losing water at exactly the same rate as before. So I began taking measurements to get readings before and after the pumps ran. I did this for about 8 weeks, raising and lowering the water level in both the pool and the spa in an attempt to pinpoint where the water loss was occurring. I also did some dye testing at certain fittings but observed nothing. But when I lowered the water in the spa to a level below the upper jets and return, while holding the water in the pool to a level above the skimmer, the leak stopped! This established that the leak(s) were not in the pool's skimmer, light, jets or drains, but were in fact, in the spa plumbing, and likely under the boulders.

So I called ALD and asked if I could talk to the owner. I was told he was not in and the guy on the phone asked if he could help me. I explained everything and asked if ALD could send someone out and try to pinpoint the leaks at no cost because I had already paid the ""minimum"" and didn't get anything for my money. He said he would talk to his supervisor later that day and get back to me. Two days later, I had not received any contact from ALD. So I called again and talked to the same guy and he promised he would talk to his supervisor ""first thing in the morning"" and call me back. He did not call me back. Nothing! No one ever called from ALD. They were obviously trying to avoid me in hopes I would just ""go away"".

They did nonetheless email me the invoice/report and it said their inspector ""performed a pressure test on the spa jet and pool return systems, finding both to hold 15 PSI"". Sounds like he actually did something, huh? Well all he did was take readings from his equipment that he had connected to existing fittings and gauges that my contractor had installed. He also reported ""two systems lost pressure"" and ""The pressure loss is too slight to show up on the technician's pressure test, so this appears to be a non-issue."" Huh?

Since ALD was ignoring me and refusing to call me back, I subsequently hired ""Jay"" of Inland Empire Pools, Inc (AKA ""Leak Solvers"") to detect and fix the pool's leaks. He tested and discovered pressure losses in the same spa plumbing observed by my contractor and that the ALD inspector said were a ""non-issue"". However Jay said the pressure drops WERE significant and likely the cause for the water loss I was observing. Then over a period of about two weeks, he meticulously inspected the pool/spa and fixed the leaks at a reasonable cost.

On the other hand, ALD charged $350 for a worthless inspection and misleading report which is why I went ahead with the costly pool restoration. Not to mention their discourteous and inept customer service where they refused to respond to my telephone inquiries.

In summary, ALD's service was a GREEDY and WORTHLESS RIPOFF for me! If you have a plumbing leak I strongly suggest you go elsewhere for an inspection.

Nicole S.

We had a main line sewer back up, so we called up these guys, and they snaked the drain through one of the toilets. They said they found a major blockage about 45 feet away from our house that they couldn't break through, and wanted to try through an outside access. Ok, fine. They tried that and said they couldn't clear anything up. Instead of at first telling us that a hydrojetter service would probably clear everything up, they proceeded to harp on worst case senarios that the pipe was busted, we'd need to have that section replace, and since it was 6 feet underground and under sidewalks streets, we're looking up a cost of $10k+ (but could be much, much more). After leaving and coming back a few times, they said they could try a hydojet service to try and clear some of it out and stick their camera back down and see what was going on. The cost of the hydro jet + camera was $725. We were out of town and had a guest staying at our house with no toilets, so didn't really have time to shop around and told them to go ahead. They claimed they got the first blockage out (which was at about 45ft) but that there was another one about 80ft out they they couldn't reach or break up. I asked what we should do, and they didn't really give me a straight answer telling me to call the city and then call them back....call them back for what??? Obviously they couldn't fix it with their hydrojet, so their only other option is to charge us $10k+ to dig up the pipe?

At this point the city got involved and came out and said it was very surprising that these other guys couldn't reach or break up a spot only 80ft away and suggested I call someone else, as they definitely should've been able to deal with it. I called ALD back and asked them if they could come back out and try to fix it once and for all. They said it would be another $450 for the hydrojetter, and they couldnt' guarantee it would work. I ended up getting a deal off of Angie's list for $275 from Rooter Alert Wholesale Plumbing & Sewer Contractor to hydrojet AND give us a camera and DVD, complete with a 3 year warranty. The guy came out, said he could clear up our issue no problem. 15 minutes later, he knocked on my door and said everything was all clear and our pipes were in excellent condition and went through the video with us. Obviously, had I called these guys from the start, it would've saved us $725 and almost a full week without ANY plumbing.

Looking back, the whole experience was quite odd. These guys kept coming and going from our house saying they needed to bring in more guys to deal with the hyrdojet. They must've gone and come back 5 times. They didn't really explain to us what was going on or why they kept leaving and coming back, and just kept saying that we'd need to call them to come back and fix it...but never explained how they would fix it or what the next steps we should take were. They all seemed ""nice"" enough, so I suppose one star is in order, but I definitely have a sour taste in my mouth from dealing with them at this point. Their $10k+ issue, was in reality a $275 issue that was dealt with in 15 minutes.

Oh, and I just remembered that they wanted to extend our exterior main line access to ground level (right now we had to dig down about 2 feet to find it on the sewer line itself. They said they'd need to cut out a portion of the pipe and extend it, and it would be about $800. Both the guy from the city and Rooter Alert Wholesale said there is no need to cut the pipe, and we could do a simple pvc extender with parts from home depot in less than an hour for under $10.

Just all around a huge hassle and tried to scam us out of a lot of money.

Rick H.

EXCELLENT EXPERIENCE

We had a slab leak and were referred to ALD by our insurance company on a Sunday. ALD arrived for the appointment first thing on the next business day and the representatives were terrifc. Steve Lee and his associate worked on our house for the better part of two days and made sure our water was running before they left the second night. They properly diagnosed the leak location, rerouted the pipe, and every thing works fine. I appreciated their technical ability, state of the art equipment, and the fact that they took the time to keep me informed along the way and explain to me what was happening and why. If I have other plumbing problems I will definitely call for Steve and his peers at American Leak Detection.

Tim O.

WARNING - I strongly recommend NOT hiring this American Leak Detection (ALD) franchise in Santa Ana, CA. They damaged my property about $2,000 for what should have been about a $500 leak detection and repair (they identified the leak in the wrong spot). Their work order has a legal agreement on the back (which was so faint it was not only unreadable but undetectable), states that ALD basically takes no responsibility for damaging your property. The legal agreement also states they take no responsibility for misdiagnosing the leak (e.g., identifying the leak in the wrong spot). I feel both of these legal clauses would not stand up in court. They took very little responsibility for damaging my property, so we ended up in a legal dispute. I offered them the choice of small claims court or arbitration with the California Contractors State License Board (CSLB). Instead ALD chose to put a mechanics lien on my house!!! (Even though I begged them not to because I was in the middle of refinancing my house). I ended up filing a complaint with the CA CSLB, and ALD had two CA violations (one of them being the lien on my house was invalid - the lien was filed was more than 90 days after the work was completed). The other violation was using an invalid address on my contract. I also almost didn't close on my house because of ALD. I had to set aside $5,000 at closing and promise the bank I would handle this dispute and remove the mechanics lien from my title (a mechanic's lien is basically an expensive lawsuit). I also filed a bond claim against ALD because of my closing problem. My insurance company, who hired ALD, was so embarrassed by ALD's actions they just paid ALD to make the dispute go away (even though I have had a deductible). I wasted so much time on this pathetic company. The bottom line is that ALD does not care about their customers, and I would never hire ALD again!!! FYI - ALD is a collection of franchises. I complained to ALD corporate about this franchise and they did nothing about it.