Bel Carlos Plumbing

Steve D.

Summary:
Save yourself $150 and call a real plumber! These guys are either poor excuses for plumbers or total scam artists.

The Delay:
Thursday morning at 7am, I called Bel-Carlos Plumbing to check out a plumbing problem; I had no hot water throughout my house. The receptionist told me that their crews were out on on emergency calls that morning and would be able to come by a little after noon. So, I waited patiently all morning and decided to give them another call at 1pm just to check their status. This time, the receptionist told me they would be able to make it over in a couple of hours. It's now 4:30 and I decide to call again because I was concerned that they might have forgotten about me. The receptionist assured me they were now on their way over. Finally at around 4:45pm, they arrive! I took a PTO day for this! I could have went to work and dealt with this when I got home if I knew it would have taken all day!

The Arrival:
As I open the garage door, in walks Craig Coccellato (Owner of Bel-Carlos Plumbing). Craig aka ""Butt-crack Bandit"" shakes my hand without telling me his name, then heads right over to the water heater. I'm thinking to myself, Uh...okay...thanks for introducing yourself buddy. By the way, you'll see where he gets the nick name once he starts reaching for things and his shirt makes its upward migration.

The Crack Gets Shady:
Craig starts going to work on my 4 year old water heater as I explain to him that I have no hot water in the house. He tested both inlet and outlet nipples on my water heater, replaced ONLY the outlet nipple, and in 15 minutes later comes to the conclusion that my 4 year old water heater needs to be replaced. Oh, by the way, did I mention that my water heater was only 4 years old? Hmm, why didn't he replace the inlet nipple? We'll come back to this later. This diagnosis cost me $150!

Shady Negotiations:
Here's where he tries to gank me. To replace my water heater, he quoted me $1100 if I decide to go with his Bradford White model or $400 for installation if I provide my own water heater. Although, by this time of the day, its too late start on this job and the earliest that it can be done is tomorrow. My decision now is to see if I can get GE to warranty my current heater and save money.

The Following Day:
I spend all morning contacting GE Tech support about getting my water heater replaced. I must have spoken to at least 8 different GE Reps and 1 manager about my issue. They all tell me that my water heater is still under warranty but will not agree to replace it until they are able to confirm with the plumber that this heater is indeed broken.

I call Bel-Carlos Plumbing several times trying to get Craig to call GE Support. Craig relayed a message to me through his receptionist (Veronica) that it was my responsibility to deal with warranty issues and not his. Luckily for me, Veronica was nice and helpful enough to get on several conference calls with me and GE Support. Veronica spoke with GE and tried to convince them that Craig used all of his plumbing experience to come to his conclusion that my heater was bad. Still, GE would not budge. ""Sir, there is nothing wrong with your water heater. As long as there is good water flow into the tank and nothing obstructing the outflow, your water heater is not the problem.""

The Solution:
Okay, its been 4 days now of no hot water. What to do? The options I have at this point are to hire Craig, call another plumber, or pick up a new water heater and install it myself. After consulting with my friend's brother (Paul) who is also a plumber, I decided to have him come out to give me a second opinion. Paul came by, checked out my water heater, and in 5 minutes diagnosed and fixed my problem. The inlet nipple on my water heater had a stuck backflow valve and there was weak water flow going into my water heater. AH HAH! So, this is why Craig did not replace the inlet nipple! It would have fixed the problem! I have a message for you Craig ""You are a dishonest fucking asshole!""

If you need a good plumber, I recommend calling Paul Gutierrez: 415-412-3727

USEFUL TIP: Scroll to the last review below and click the FILTERED link to unlock the TRUTH! 4.5 Stars...Ummm....ya.

Frodo D.

Craig and his team have helped us out twice. Last year we had a sewer line break, and Craig came out, diagnosed the problem with a video camera passed through the broken line, and showing us exactly what was wrong. They did a fantastic job getting the line replaced, and even helped us do a little remodeling of the affected bathroom, which now looks great. Needless to say, we were in a bind, but Craig worked with us calmly and got the problem fixed quickly and at a fair price.
Last week we had a much more minor (thankfully) problem, but they were just as attentive to getting the job done right. We will definitely call them with our next plumbing issue!

S D.

When you have a 45 year old house and things are original, things break down and need to be replaced. Bel Carlos has fixed the shower head, redid our kitchen sink pipes, replaced our waste pipe, and replaced the heating ducts in the past 9 months, not because we wanted to but b/c we had too. Our old heating ducts were so corroded that the metal was crumbling into dust.

Craig was did a lot of the work himself and we really trust him. He is completely honest, explains what needs to be done and more importantly, explains the cost of things!

I have Bel Carlos programmed in my cell phone b/c I know that I can call them and someone will come and fix whatever our problem is asap! I highly recommend Craig and Bel Carlos Plumbing. Call them and they will fix your problem!

David P.

Craig has saved our butts on numerous occasions from coming to our rescue on Thanksgiving with a full house of guests and a backed up sink to appearing with us in Small Claims Court when we had to sue our counter-top contractor for screwing up.

He has also helped us out in choosing the right fixtures. He really has an eye for quality and durability.

Toshiko M.

Bel-Carlos Plumbing offers superior service with very reasonable price.
The owner Craig is very polite and friendly.

He along with assistant Robert came on the same day I called for our clogged bath tub drain. It was a very tough clog but they did not give up until the job was done.

They also repaired our toilet with high water pressure flushing system. We have called a well-known plumbing company in the area earlier and was told that it had to be replaced as they could not repair it.

They are very quick to respond and perform superior jobs.

Thank you, Craig!

Matt S.

After reading the reviews here, I called Bel Carlos and Craig and his assistant Robert did an excellent job. I had a job that Boudreau Plumbing wouldn't/couldn't do (see my review of them), and Bel Carlos really came through. They were prompt, friendly, and did exactly what needed to be done. In addition, their prices were better than what I had been quoted elsewhere.

Jennifer L.

Thank you, Yelpers, for leading us to Craig! We needed our water heater replaced and we met four different plumbers to get estimates. Craig was the one we liked the best, trusted the most, and hired to do the work.

Craig squeezed us in, which we really appreciated, since our water heater was leaking and needed to be replaced quickly. He did a great job, everything was top-quality parts and cleanly done. They cleaned up before they left, which was also nice.

His bid was reasonably-priced and included the cost of city permits (which he arranged for us, including the inspection).

We would definitely hire Craig again for our future plumbing needs. He has a ton of experience and really knows what he's doing.

Nick R.

Don't know what to think - after reading all these positive reviews, Bel-Carlos never showed up for appointment with me! :-( It went like this yesterday:

12:00 pm - called to make an appointment for 4 pm. Confirmed.
4:15 pm - called to check ""The plumber is on his way""
5:10 pm - called to check again ""Let us find out what happened ...""

That's it, no call back ever again, no explanation, no apologies from Bel-Carlos. This morning called another plumber and the job has just been completed.

sara b.

Craig, the owner did an excellent job! He came out, immediately sourced the problem with my water heater and then proceeded to show me a safety concern with the gas piping and the lack of ventilation in the ceiling. He replaced the gas pipe and created ventilation without charging!
He also replaced my subpump and let me know how all of the piping and other structural items looked. Essentially he did an informal inspection with no incentive for extra work. The place is in good shape.
Very pleasant, honest, and I am having him back again!

Matthias H.

While digging in the front yard, I hit the main water line, which was buried a mere 3 inches or so below ground! It was Saturday 5PM. Great! Of the 5 or so places I called, Bel Carlos was the only one to return the call, and within minutes. Craig came by Sunday morning, and suggested to replace the water line since it was no longer to code and there are no more fittings available for the material that was used. His quote was reasonable, and the next day we had a brand new copper main line, 18 inches below ground (no more damage while digging). I highly recommend Craig and Bel Carlos.