Banks Quarles Plumbing Heating Cooling & Electrical

D T.

I called this company this past Saturday to address some electrical issues at my mom's house. I live in another state and was the person responsible for paying the bill. When I called, they booked me an appointment for the following Monday morning (today). I gave them my phone number (since I am out of state) and my mom's phone number in Tuscaloosa, where the home is located. My mom calls me this morning (the day of the scheduled visit) and says they called her to cancel the appointment. Of course, they never bothered to call me at all. Their excuse to her was that the electrician had a huge job elsewhere, and needed to reschedule a WEEK later. I immediately called them directly and inquired about the cancellation. The same lady who spoke to my mom (and who spoke to me on the initial call last Saturday) said, """"Our electrician is out with the flu."""" Huh??? I don't which story was the truth and which one was a lie. Perhaps they got a bigger, more lucrative job thrown at them this morning last minute. Perhaps there are other reasons they chose to bail - last minute - on a confirmed appointment on the morning of. But I do not do business with folks who are not honest. If they will lie to you about cancelling appointments, they are likely to lie about other issues. So just know the type of company you are dealing with if you choose this business.

Britton F.

Charged $305 to """"inspect"""" the unit and never even took the ceiling panel off to get to the unit. Technician stated nothing was wrong with the unit, and that it was doing all that it could. I'm not exactly sure why I was charged for an inspection of my unit, without the technician touching or even seeing the actual unit?? He didn't even bring tools in with him, other than a multimeter. I then called the office pretending to be someone else, and asked exactly what it would cost to have someone inspect my unit. They quoted the original price of $49.95 again. I then asked if there was nothing to be found wrong, would it cost any additional fee above the $49.95, and the office manager stated that it wouldn't. I feel completely ripped off, and will definitely be disputing these charges. What is worse is the technician stated that his boss was going to be upset that he had a ticket that was only being charged $305.00. Banks Quarles is obviously only in business to make money, and screw over anyone they can to do so!

Scott T.

My only complaint would be about the mix-up the company and I had getting someone out to my house, but they did discount me $50 for the inconvenience. The folks at dispatch are really nice and have great customer service. Jim G. identified my water pressure problem and gave me multiple options of what could be done to remedy. Once I chose the option that I felt most comfortable with, he got to work and got my 12-year-old water heater back up and running properly.

Paul S.

There is no way I would recommend Banks Quarles and let me explain why. My elderly mother had a leaking outside faucet, so she contacted Banks Quarles. The first mistake was making this call. When the service rep, Joe, arrived he did fix the leak with a washer that cost less than $2. The total cost for the trip on the Banks Quarles invoice was $351.33 to replace a washer! There is no way the trip, washer and repair should have cost this much. After the leak was fixed Joe said he could check out the water heater. At this point there was not a problem with the water heater, except that it was old. Joe flushed the tank and recommended that she replace it with a 50-gallon Halo System for about $2,000.00. Mom said no, and Joe asked her for $200.00 for the service. He also asked that the check be made out to him and not Banks Quarles. He also left his contact information and advised her to call him directly next time she needed something. At this point mom said that she felt pressured to make the payment and she just wanted him gone. Once the Service Rep was gone, mom called Banks Quarles and notified them of what happened. Their reply was that """"they did not do business that way"""". They also stated that they would cover the cancel check fee. Contrary to what they say, they made no effort to rectify the situation. They had the money and they did not care about the customer. Mom canceled the check to Joe, so she is not out that money, just the cancellation fee that Banks Quarles never covered. The day after Joe flushed the water heater it started leaking. We did not call Banks Quarles, instead we got a 40-Gallon heater from a local store and had it installed for a lot less than $1000.00. I was really disappointed in Banks Quarles because of the way they charged for the simple tasks. I have reached out to them a couple of time and the emails and phone calls are not returned.

Bryan K.

Brent R. completed our regular service check and as always Banks Quarles was quick, informed and efficient.

K T.

Banks Quarles has the WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER! Called Wednesday to set up a service call for a replacement of kitchen faucet that broke. I had to take my mother to doctor the next morning, so I would be off work anyway and they said they could be there some time after 12 on Thursday. I was scheduled to go back work that afternoon but took off work when they hadn't called or shown up yet and at about 4:30 I called to see when they would be there. They said they """"had tried"""" to call to reschedule (even though I don't see any missed calls from them) and they said they could be there after 3:00 on Friday. I asked them would they be sure to be there because I would have to leave work early and if they were going to just cancel/reschedule again I would rather call someone else because I wanted to get a technician here before the weekend, to avoid extra weekend service fees and she assured me someone would be here. I waited again until 4:30 and called and again they said I had """"missed their call"""" (again no missed calls or voicemail) but they could reschedule me for 8:00 a.m. Saturday and that they don't charge extra for weekend service. Now it is 12:00 and they just called to reschedule for Monday. I have waited a total of 11 hours and still no service! How are these people still in business? I told them I wanted to to speak to their management, and was told that someone from their management team would get back to me within 12 -24 business hours. I wouldn't give them my business now even if my house were under water. I am sure there are plenty of people out there that need my $ more than they apparently do, and IF I CHARGED THEM MY HOURLY WAGE for the TIME THEY HAVE COST ME, they would owe me over $400. UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!!

Kb J.

If I could have assigned zero stars and still left a review, I would have. I would like others to know about this company's pricing structure. I believe it results in grossly overcharging customers for the work performed. The company works off of a fixed price structure where each particular type of repair is associated with a total cost charged to the customer. They refuse to provide a breakdown between parts and labor. They offer a discount on parts (""""preferred pricing"""") if a customer pays extra to enter into a maintenance agreement. The least expensive maintenance agreement is currently $169/year for two HVAC checkups per year. In spite of calling this a discount on parts, the company still won't tell you what they're actually charging for the part. In order to provide a point of reference with amounts, I paid the company $484.62 to replace the contactor in my HVAC unit. That price included a $49.95 service call fee (this amount was provided by the telephone operator who initially set up the service call with me). Taking out the service fee, the remainder is $434.67. I have since learned that the RETAIL cost of a contactor is somewhere between $8-15. I can only assume the rest of their price is meant to cover labor. The job at my house took the repair technician no more than an hour to complete (and that is being very generous) so that is quite a steep hourly rate. I'm pretty sure I could hire a top notch attorney to be on speed dial for $435/hour. I asked a different HVAC professional in town for an estimate of what they would charge to do this same repair job and was told around $100, possibly a little more since the work was completed after normal business hours on a Saturday afternoon (no more than $150). The service technician for Banks Quarles stressed the urgency of making the repair right away in order to get the unit working properly again. Considering the near 100-degree heat we're currently experiencing in Alabama, and the fact that it was the weekend, I felt I had no choice but to make the repair as recommended by this company. I believe the price charged for my repair job was extravagant and I will never use this company again. Furthermore, I will warn anyone else who asks for an HVAC recommendation to avoid Banks Quarles at all costs.

Landon S.

I should've written a review about a year ago when I first entrusted Jim Goree at Banks Quarles for my home plumbing needs, but I needed his services again today and better late than never, right? Jim does a great job and tells you truth with best and worst case scenarios which is appreciated. I told him today that the people that answer the calls are very friendly as well, which is rare this day and age. Wow, you'd think I work for them or something, but I don't, they just so a good job.

Karen L.

With a forecast high of 97 degrees and an air conditioner that was running, but not blowing cold air, I gave Banks Quarles a call this morning on the basis of their billboards and the fact that I had seen their truck in our neighborhood (new in town, so little else to go on). Someone picked up right away, took my information, said it would be $49.95 for the service call, and told me that dispatch would be in touch about scheduling. Dispatch called about 2 hours later to confirm sometime in the afternoon, and mid-afternoon to tell me that the technician was on the way. Though the original person took my email address and told me that they would email me the name and bio of the technician, I don't seem to have received that...and I'm still in the dark as to why I would need or want it anyway. I was not at home, but the husband reported that Greg diagnosed a bad capacitor and quoted $368.10 (plus service call) to replace it. When the husband objected to such a high price, he quoted $312.83 for the """"value"""" part, but told him that they do not break out parts and labor in the quote. Which...what?! Even car mechanics tell you how much is parts and how much is labor! When the husband then told him to leave, as he would fix it himself, and tried to pay cash for the service call fee -- since he had Googled the part and seen it listed for approximately $20 -- Greg did not have change, so he had to write a check instead. Here's the best part: The husband purchased the necessary capacitor at a local supply store for $17.94 and it took him five minutes to swap it out. So, why it was going to cost over $400 (including service call fee) to put in that part, I do not know, but it seems like someone was intending to make a killing on this job. And the husband is *livid*. In short, if you want to be robbed blind, please, call Banks Quarles. Otherwise, stay far away!

Fred S.

Had an appointment due to a serious water leak. Had no water coming in to our home. Appointment was for Monday around lunch. At 4pm I called and the office manager said she would call me right back. Of course she did not. Called at 5pm and there are closed. Great. Called the next morning and the """"forgot"""" to put us on the schedule. Worst customer service I have ever seen. I would fix myself before I would call these people.