Bel Carlos Plumbing

Philip Y.

He came when he said he would and did the work and we haven't had any problems with the work he's done. He's a little rough around the edges but boy some of these reviewers are uptight.

Zoe C.

This is my first time ever writing a negative review, but the experience I had with Craig at Bel-Carlos plumbing was beyond awful. Craig was openly hostile and disrespectful to me, and I sincerely hope that nobody ever has an experience like this.

I'm a personal assistant and my boss asked me to contact Bel-Carlos to fix a leak in the kitchen sink they had previously installed. I had a difficult time scheduling an appointment: each time I called I was told (very nicely) by a receptionist that Craig was booked with other jobs and that it would be best if I called early every morning and they would see if they could fit us in that day. I did this several times (maybe more), but every time was told there were no available appointments after 3pm or 4pm (which was the best time for me). I totally understand that Craig is busy, and that scheduling can be difficult, but I did find it a bit odd and inconvenient. I finally called and left a message explaining that I really wanted to nail down an appointment time, and even said that it could be for one or two weeks in the future. My call was never returned, so after a few days I called again. Eventually I was told by the receptionist that Craig might be able to come out to the house the next day at 9am, but that she would need to check with him and would call me later to confirm. It turns out she did call back and leave a message on my cell confirming the appointment, but the voicemail showed up a full day later (my phone was acting up, which is, of course, not their fault). Craig showed up at my boss's residence and nobody was there to let him in. He waited about 5-10 minutes and then left. When I realized what happened, I felt terrible for wasting his time and called the receptionist to apologize. She was very understanding, acknowledging ""these things happen"" and helped me reschedule the appointment for the next day at 9am.

I showed up at 8:57am the next morning to find Craig sitting in his truck in front of the house. I approached him and greeted him. Agitated, the first thing he says to me was ""I was about to leave."" I was confused. He tells me he was only going to wait a few more minutes because last time he came nobody showed up. I understand he probably had a negative impression of me (I'm not sure if his receptionist told him how sorry I was for the miscommunication as I had asked her to), but I was surprised that he was openly annoyed. I let him into the house and showed him the kitchen sink. He asked me a question about the sink, to which I responded ""I actually don't have any other information about it..."" Craig cut me off, and raising his voice angrily yelled ""Come here! I'm trying to show you something!"" I was very uncomfortable with his tone. I'm not sure if he is just a loud person but I found it intimidating and unprofessional.

As he was assessing the job, he asked me in a condescending tone ""So who are you?"" to which I replied ""I'm his assistant."" He scoffed and asked ""How old are you?"" I was very offended that he asked something so irrelevant and so I said ""Why does it matter?"" and he said ""Well, you look like you're sixteen."" To anybody reading this, I can assure you that it has been many years since I was sixteen. I found it disrespectful that he would ask these questions. A customer's age or whether or not they are the owner of the residence should not dictate how they are treated. He also made comments like ""I've been doing this before you were born."" Perhaps this is true, but I felt he was trying to undermine my authority because I seemed young to him.

He had to come back the next day. I assumed we had just gotten off on the wrong foot, and was expecting much better interactions that day. I approached him and said ""Hey, how's it going?"" He did not answer. I figured he hadn't heard me, so I let him into the house and as he walked right past me I said ""Thanks for coming out again."" He completely ignored me. It was so openly hostile I was relieved when he rudely said ""Keep the door open. It's stuffy in here.""

When it came time for me to sign off on the bill, he asked how I would be paying. I had called his receptionist the previous day and asked about methods of payment. I did not want to give my credit card over the phone so she had said they could ""bill us."" When I repeated this to Craig, he yelled ""Bill who???"" and acted as if this would not be possible. I ended up mailing Bel Carlos Plumbing a check (which I quickly suggested to calm him down).

I want to say that Craig's work was not a problem. He assessed the issue very quickly and fixed it. He even ran the dishwasher to make sure the leak was truly fixed, which I appreciated. That said, I found him to be hostile and rude. Maybe if someone had been at the house to let him in the first time he showed up, my experience would have been much more positive. But I believe that he should not have agreed to come back and do the job if he was too upset to provide decent customer service.

Mimi N.

Craig has unclogged my kitchen and repaired a leak in my backyard for the past 4 years. He generally commits to the times he provides and at times within the day if an emergency. He provided a quote upon request and has been consistent with each visit. I inquired about fixing a leaky valve after his last visit to see what he recommended. He came back an hour later with a brand new one and replaced it for me free of charge. I would recommend Craig as a reliable plumber who would go the extra mile as part of building a good business relationship.

Noah S.

I don't usually write reviews, but this was not a good experience. Craig was across the street working on someone else's kitchen sink. He said he would come by and check out our plumbing issue after he was done. He stopped by a few hours later and we had everything ready for him to take a look at the pipe outside. In about 15 minutes he managed to completely destroy our garden, fix the pipe and then quoted us $200 dollars. He did not offer a ""free quote"" just got to work immediately, told me I ""hovered"", destroyed the garden, and said if we didn't pay him the full $200 we owed him he was going to take us to court and sue us for more. This guy is not nice...he fixed the drain but honestly it wasn't worth it. I wish I would have hired someone else.

julie h.

Our water heater stopped working on a Friday and we had no hot water on a freezing day! Big bummer! The husband attempted to fix with a kit from Lowes. Bad move! PG&E had to come out in the evening to cap the resulting hazardous gas leak. I called Craig (owner of Bel-Carlos Plumbing) that same evening and he came to the rescue the next (Saturday) morning. He was on time and assessed that the (11 year old) water heater could not be fixed (and was even beginning to leak water- which we were unaware of). Craig drove to San Francisco to pick us up a new high quality made in the USA water heater and installed it the same day! We were thrilled to get a hold of a plumber to fix this issue immediately! After paying, I mentioned to Craig that we had a slow drain in the bathroom and he snaked it for us at no charge! I recommend this honest, reliable, and hard-working plumber!

T G.

This review is on behalf of my senior citizen parents.
DO NOT GIVE THIS CHEAT YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY! What a terrible business owner.
My parents remodeled a tiny bathroom (80-100 sq feet) in a rental house. We are talking toilet, sink and tub with shower head with tile work.
First, The first impression of him was of an unkempt sloppy guy. He did not come on time to the appointment, they had to wait for him.
Second, he gave multiple estimates for different venders that he would have to hire. Apparently he is unable to do much himself. He doesn't even have his own crew.
Next, our job that we estimated to be approx $8-10k, turned into just under $20k.
HE IS A LIAR AND A THIEF. He told them that the sewer line needed to be replaced from the house next door since it was shared by both my parent's property and the house next door that just sold. He came to my parents and said that they were responsible for half of the cost which was $11k. He even had the balls to say that ""It is a new law that you have to pay half."" WTF? We never bought or sold so why would we have to pay? That should fall on the seller or new owners! My dad went to City Hall to find out about this ""new law,"" and told it didn't exist. So, Craig tried to make money off of my aging parents of over $11k. What an asshole!
My parents had used him before and never had any issues like this. They trusted him to be honest and do a good job.
If it wasn't for my parents going out of town when all of this was happening, they wouldn't have used him. It was sort of out of desperation since it was a rental and the plumbing was leaking and pipes needed to be replaced under the floor.
PLEASE read other reviews since we are not the only ones that will never use him or his company again!

Bert M.

This the first time and the last time I will use this company ,it took two weeks the order the toilet, up on arrive the did not order the correct toilet , forgot to buy toilet seat , and now one of my toilet is leaking
Spoke with service manager Andrew Clark; it will be addition charge to repair the same problem again
Very unprofessional

Philip S.

Sometimes you just can't believe everything on Yelp. This is one of those cases. I saw some bad reviews on Craig. I don't know where or how that happened. I had great experience with him. I had main sewage backup at my house. I went out and rented power snakes, ran it through the pipe. Didn't work. I knew pipe was damaged. I called Craig late morning on Saturday. Didn't think I would be able to get him out to my place. Few hours later, He showed up to my house with his assistant Tony. They couldn't run the camera down at first because there were too much water in the pipe. He ran his professional strength power snake on my main sewage line. He was trying his hardest to open up the line. Other plumbers would have left long time ago. He was able to opened it up enough to run the camera down. We saw where the pipe broke. He ran the snake with cutter head in again, hoping to open up the pipe. This man does not give up that easy. He tried so hard that he damaged the tip of his snake. Thank you again, Craig, for trying your hardest. Now, we will have to open up the sidewalk to fixed the issue. So, this review will be updated when the whole job is finished. So far, so good. I'm very happy with his services.

Bill C.

Don't ignore the many reviews here that clearly show that this is a company that is terrible at doing business. Craig Coccellato is an insufferably rude guy, who doesn't care if he does bad work or if you're unhappy with it. He turned a $5,000 plumbing job into a $10,000 plumbing job at my home, where I had to get another plumber to come do it right. To boot, while he was hear, he screamed at his guys, then called the County inspector names and screamed at him, too. He's not someone you want your neighbors or your kids or you customers around. What a jerk. Keep moving and look at another plumber!

J. P. K.

As a commercial property owner on the peninsula, I like to give my business to other businesses within my local area. I have had service over the years from most of the areas contractors and building services. Things do change in life and as we all should know, just because a company has been in business for a long time or under the same ownership, it is only as good as the new people they hire and he current service they perform. A company is only as good as it's last service call, (s).....
I was in the position of having to find a new pluming service. Contacted Bel-Carlos Plumbing and spoke directly to the owner Craig early in the morning as he picked up. Explained my position and requested a service. He made a 10 AM appointment but never showed up. I called back at 10:30 AM and was told that he got tied up on another call. Another first in the morning call? Hum... I was told he would be contacted and will call me back with an ETA, (estimated time of arrival), but he never did.
I called back again 20 minutes later and was told he was on his way. He finally showed up at 11:20 AM with no explanation of why he was so late. I explained to him that I travelled to the location to provide access to the job and as I was offering a new account, found this initial meeting was not a first good impression. His attitude in response was not apologetic but rather dismissive. NOW HERE IS WHERE IT GETS GOOD.....

His van looks nice and clean on the outside, but he himself looked pretty disheveled. I then asked him if he had a dog in the van with him? Perplexed, he said No! I responded by asking him why then does he have hair cuttings all around his neck and such hair matches his own? His expression was that of a child who just got caught with his hands in the fudge jar with fudge all over his face. The crushing moment of silence..... I then said to him, you let me wait while obviously getting a haircut before meeting me after making a confirmed appointment. Completely caught off guard he rudely said go get somebody else and wobbled away....

Although I wasted my morning on this guy, I had to shake my head and laugh at the caliber of this man. After reading the periodic reviews here on Yelp after the fact, one can see a pattern of attitude and performance. I was lucky in not having him provide any service. If he was my employee I would dismiss him and gladly pay the unemployment insurance just to get rid of him. Him being the owner of Bel-Carlos Plumbing, well that is inexcusable on every level.