Athens Plumbing & Well Service

Bill G.

I recently called Athens Plumbing and Well Service to get a second opinion on some septic work I had done by another company. The gentleman I spoke with gave me good information and was very helpful. That customer service is why I will definitely give them a call next time I need work done. Update 4/18/16: No, the above review is not fake. It is, however, old. At this point, it is clear that multiple people have more recently had a negative experience with this company. In case you failed reading comprehension in the 3rd grade, I'll spell it out for you: I have never hired this company; I called them for advice and I got it - for free. That was it. As always, buyer beware.

Kirrah J.

I called Athens Plumbing to have them come out to fix a compression fitting on my main line coming into my basement. Their plumber comes out to look at/repair the fitting, only then telling my wife that there is a $125 service charge just for them appearing on our front door step, regardless of them actually doing any work. The day before, I texted a picture of the fitting in question to the lady in the office that I talked to on the phone, hoping this would clear up any questions they may have as to what THE problem is. They arrived at my house at 08:47am, made their repair, and left at 09:20. My wife was told that their hourly rate was either $100/hr or $125/hr. When they left out of here with payment, they somehow received $93/33min of work. This is on top of their $125 """"service charge"""". I might could understand the service charge if this was after hours, but this was their first call of the day. When I called to bring these charges into question, I was met with unnecessary rudeness from LIbby at their office. She tried to explain away their charge of $125 and attributed it to them having to figure out what was needed for the repair. Just 1 day before, I SENT A TEXT PICTURE OF THE FITTING IN QUESTION. I will never use these individuals again, nor could I ever feel comfortable in any way, shape, or form, recommend them for any kind of plumbing service needs.

Lin A.

I recently contacted Athens Plumbing & Well Service because the yellow pages online stated they give free estimates. What a joke, they charge an outrageous fee just to come to the house to give an estimate; who knows what they charge to fix a small leak.

C H.

Contacted Athens Plumbing & Well Service about doing a job and never got a response. It has been over a week and they obviously don't want the job. Take your business elsewhere.

Debbie C.

The best and fastest plumbers I have ever met! Great service and extremely professional! I recommend highly!

Gayle S.

Mixed review. THE GOOD: The guys were friendly. They isolated and fixed the problem fairly quickly, and cleaned up afterward. Getting the leak fixed is what I hired them for so in that respect they did a good job. THE LUKEWARM: They forgot to turn the light off in my crawl space; luckily I checked on it. Though they charge by the hour, one of them spent over 10 minutes on the phone talking with a previous customer (even while I stood there trying to ask a question). THE BAD: I called a day ahead but the office manager would not take an appointment or put me on the work list for the next day. I needed them to come in the afternoon so she said to call them as soon as I got home from my morning meeting. I did as she requested, thinking that I'd be bumped to the top of the list at that time because of my call the previous day. Instead, since I didn't call until almost noon I received the last appointment of the day and it almost cost me overtime. When I mentioned that to her, she refused to see an alternative, saying her only option was to add me to the list at the time of my call. Eventually she lied and said the first morning service calls had lasted into the afternoon so there was no was they could have gotten to me any earlier, but the guys told me they'd been at many jobs before getting to me. In addition to one guy spending 10 minutes on the phone with another customer, they rounded up the time so their 50 minutes of work (plus time to clean the muck from their shovels and 10 minutes to write up the paperwork) was billed at 90 minutes. They gave me an invoice listing an ending time that was 20 minutes in the future; when I asked about that, they said they include the time it will take to return to the office. BOTTOM LINE: The unwillingness of the office manager to accommodate a service request made a day in advance is bad practice. Her contentiousness and eventually her lie when I tried to talk about it left a bad impression. Regarding their billing strategy, when billing by the hour they need to devote their time to the current customer (not on the phone with previous customer). And they might generate more good will if they raised their rates and then billed only for time on the job because there appeared to be a lot of padding in the bill. The leak is fixed and I choose to believe they did a good job on that, but I might try another company next time. I use plumbers so seldom, it's hard to know how this compares to others.

Marsha R.

I'll use Athens Plumbing again. They handled my call professionally, made an appointment with my tenant to assess the problem, provided me with a quote prior to doing the work, and the prices were reasonable and less than another quote.

Sean B.

I recently called Athens Plumbing to unclog a pipe which should have cost 165.00 it was not fixed, and they charged me $325.00 which was an over charge of $160.00 and the service was incomplete only to be told they had to bring the big truck out and it cost $195.00 just for the truck. They showed up the next day they uncloged it in 1 hour the labor was $125.00. All was left to complete the job was to replace the seal and put the commode back on. i was charged a total of $649.39 This is the worst Plumbing Company I've ever encountered. On 2/23/15 The first day of service they should known within and hour if they could uncloged it or not that shouid have been a 165.00 job period. On 2/24/15 the second day the truck cost $195.00 the labor on the truck was 125.00. totaling $320.00. To replace the ringer and reset the commode was done within an hour. and it should have cost $125.00 the total cost should have been $445.00 They over charged me $204.39. The total over charge was $364.39 and the Owner (Don) told me that I'm being charged from the time the drive leaves their building until the driver returns back. And they fail to indicate what time the job starts and ends on their receipt so they can charge what ever price they want. Please! Please!, Please DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. They do not deserve any stars at all.

Wanda C.

I give them one star because they were somewhat on time and neat in appearance. I have a lot to say about the service I received but I have waited 1 1/2 weeks to write this so I can calm down a bit , and give them time to fix the issue . I am newish to the area so really did not know who to use so I went online and Athens Plumbing had in their web site that they helped A charity called No Longer Bound ... I will tell you this is not a good reason to pick a Company . When I called and gave them a serial number they pulled up my well tank I needed and told me what the cost would be and I scheduled to have them come out . When they arrive the next day immediately the guy told me that the part they sent was the wrong size well tank and that he would have to go back and get a new well tank when I ask him was I going to have to pay for that because of $125 an hour he said somebody would have to pay for it if I didn't drive for free his exact words he also went on to replace apart without telling me that was needed to be replaced and I had just replaced it 7 months before . When I got the bill it was 895.00 my original price was quoted at 535.00 but I knew it would be more since the tank was the wrong one but didn't know it be that much higher he did not give me an itemized bill and said he decided to charge me differently but it would save me money . Of course I've asked for Nied my spell several times now and been on the phone with them and they just basically said the bill was what the bill is going to be they don't need to itemize it and that they don't have to do that for most customers.?I will agree if I was with the company that I trust and had a relationship was with they wouldn't have to itemize it ..but this is my first time using them and I do not have a relationship and I will not remain recommend him to anyone. Definitely buyer beware !!! And I will also say although I can't say the Tip my technician is degrading to women I can tell you he made me feel like he did not think I had a brain. I can only assume of course it is me assuming that he is like this with all women .

Jenny A.

I had copious amounts of water leaking out from behind the Hot/Cold handles as well as the one which is used to divert the water up to the shower head in my guest bathroom. Doing my research, I surmised that the stems in each handle were damaged/worn and needed replacement. Having no way to shut off the water just to this area, and being very worried about making a small problem much worse, I chose to call a plumber. ------------ Here are the reasons that I feel I made a bad choice in calling this company. 1. Charging the customer the hourly rate from the moment that they left their business parking lot as opposed to starting the meter the moment you arrive at the customer's residence. This may be a common practice, but it's not something that I was aware of, and I would have appreciated someone letting me know that this was the way of things prior to handing me the bill. 2. Charging the customer twice the labor because 2 people (one of whom I am assuming is an apprentice) come to your house to diagnose/fix a simple problem. Only one person actually did anything. The other just watched the whole time. 3. Immediately upon arrival and quick glance at my tub/shower, it was suggested that I should go ahead and fork out the several THOUSAND dollars it would cost to update the whole system. I mean, I get that it probably COULD stand to be replaced, but don't hit me up with that the second that you walk into my house. 4. Leaving tiny metal shards/splinters all over the floor of the tub and the bathroom itself which luckily for my 6 year old son (not so much for me), I found with my bare feet after the plumbers had come and gone. Metal shavings piercing into the bottom of one's foot does not equal good times. 5. About a month later, the tub/shower handle stopped working. The water would no longer divert to the shower head. It just stopped flowing all together whenever I would turn the center handle. This is not a problem that I had ever had prior to the plumber's previous visit, so I called them to see if they would come back out as I felt that this new issue was surely something that they had (unintentionally) caused. I was told that they would come back out but would still charge me for the visit regardless of whether or not the issue was their fault. I suggested that I would pay if it was something new or unrelated to the previous visit and that they should not charge me if it was something that they had done. They would not agree to do this. -------- I called another local plumber, Kevin with SmartWorks, who agreed to come out the next day. His hourly rate did not start until he was actually on my property and he was friendly, courteous and knowledgeable. He determined that the problem w/ the tub/shower handle was simply a screw on the new stem (which Athens Plumbing had replaced) that was not tightened properly. He tightened the screw (after replacing the washer that had come on the stem from Athens Plumbing) and then proceeded to check the other 2 stems for any similar problems. He made sure that all of the washers fit snugly and that the screws were tight then he put everything back in place. We turned on the water and the problem was solved. And he only charged me $75. --------- I will not be calling Athens Plumbing for any plumbing needs in the future.