Benjamin Franklin Plumbing

William W.

Tim came to Foster City to snake my kitchen sink. He was prompt, courteous, and succeeded in clearing the blockage. The charge was about $260 which I am not sure how much other plumbers would charge but that may help you in your analysis of who to hire. Sabrina at the call center in Santa Rosa was very professional. I am happy and will be using BF Plumbing in the future. Thank you Tim and Sabrina!

Albert S.

Kudos for making the extra effort to schedule an ""as available"" appointment for us even though their schedule was fully booked, so that we were able to get a leak repaired before leaving on an extended vacation. The plumber who came - Nicholas G. - was courteous, professional and highly skilled; able to deal with complications we didn't expect to arise directly and quickly. I would recommend them without hesitation.

Dominic M.

Here is what I know about Benjamin Franklin Plumbing and construction: About a year ago I had them out to do some work for me. The start of the job was a bit bumpy but after we started, it all went well. I am in construction also. I knew that it was extremely busy at that time. So, I was patient. In the end, I was taken care of and I was happy. Since then I have used them on numerous projects. They use a straight forward pricing program. If you can digest the price that they give you, they get the job done. They don't add any more to the price. They stay with you until it is complete. If they need a part they run right out and get it. They have a pretty good attitude. So far, every one of their guys that have come out have been easy to deal with. I haven't noticed any big egos (which is very common in construction and home repair). They even cover their shoes and clean up their mess (which is very important to me because I do the same for my clients). The most recent project that they did for me was the day before yesterday. They sent Nick G. Good job Nick!
All things considered, I would recommend and have recommended them for other projects and have received good reports from my friends and clients that they have worked for. Keep doing your best guys. We customers are important!
Thank you.

Lea P.

CONSUMER ALERT & WARNING! These people are lying liars who lie and take advantage of panicking homeowners. I paid $6,300 to have them ""fix"" the sewer backing up in my bathroom. for $6,300 they replumbed the toilet stack and installed a clean-out valve AND I STILL HAD SEWER BACKING UP, only now it was backing up outside on the ground, not in my house. I GUESS that's an improvement. As soon as they got that done, golly, they figured out that the problem was really in the sewer line from the bathroom to the street. They were willing to 'give; me a great price at $5,000! ADDITIONAL!

They could have and should have (and indicated that they did) recognize that the problem was in the sewer line to the street BEFORE soaking me an unnecessary $6,300. The guy who came out indicated it ""might"" be in the line, but did not check the line BEFORE replumbing the stack and installing the totally unnecessary clean-out valve. He absolutely knew when he left the house that the problem was not fixed.

My ""I've been had"" warning light blinked on (too late to save me $6,300). I found another plumber who confirmed a) the problem was in the line; b) the clean-out was totally unnecessary--$6,300 down the toilet, literally. The new plumber fixed the sewer line FOR A FRACTION OF WHAT BEN FRANKLIN WANTED!!!!

I was also told that Ben Frnaklin's plumbers are all on commission and doing the ""two-step"" is routine. They work hard not to fix problems, but to make sure they can get every dime out of a homeowner they can.

Shame on you, Ben Franklin.

Don't be misled by the marketing. Don't call them. If you do, BE SURE you get a second opinion.

These guys are out for themselves and are not honest brokers of the facts or what needs to be done.

Trudy M.

I would never do business with Benjamin Franklin Plumbing nor would I recommend it to anyone. Here is why:

I used this company several years ago for the same job and had a pleasant memory of its work. I called to have my main sewer cleaned as two sinks and a shower were backing up. This time the technician was prompt, efficient and showed me the camera work of what he found. Thus far, very good.

I was on heavy pain pills due to a damaged back and was obviously not talking or acting normally. The technician pushed for me to sign up for a replacement, trench-less, of the main sewer line. Cost $9000. It was a hard sell approach but I thought it might be a good idea. The technician did call a neighbor of mine to see if I was capable of making such a decision and the neighbor told him, yes and again reminded him that I was on a lot of pain medication. I could barely see the lines I was to sign on and had to be shown them and told what to write in the place that asked what the work was I wanted. The work was to commence the following day, a Saturday.

By the middle of the night, I decided I needed to do more thinking about this and called to cancel the Saturday work. By Sunday, I had decided I needed to get references and more than one bid. I cancelled the sewer replacement entirely.

Monday morning at 9:15 a.m., there was a loud knocking on my door. it was the technician and the ""operations manager."" The technician was quiet but the operations manager proceeded to berate me for changing my mind, to tell me how wrong I was, to explain how I didn't understand what would be done. I then asked for references and was told to read comments on the website or at Diamond Certified. I had read those, and those of Yelp as well.

I wanted to talk to real people who had had the work done. He ranted that he couldn't give out that kind of customer information and when I suggested he ask one or two to call me, he became even angrier. He said the company does 3 or 4 of these jobs every week with no problems. Sounds remarkable then that not one of those people would be willing to speak with me or show me the neat completed job (and yes, I know the work is done underground. I wanted to see a neat ground-level leave after the job.)

Then he insisted the job wasn't finished. That did upset me. But he only said I had not paid for it. I immediately went in the house, locking the screen door behind me, wrote out a check and gave it to them. After that I went inside, closing the door as they still stood them, the operations manager still talking.

This whole episode left me very upset. I have never had company representatives of any company treat me so rudely. Indeed, I felt threatened by his anger.

Everyone in the company was extremely kind and courteous and I would have perhaps come back after checking around. But that one out-of-control Operations Manager ended that thought. No one should have pushed me to sign for an expensive job when I was obviously groggy from the pills.

I am being very careful with my water usage as that operations manager said the problem could reoccur. When I pushed that it should be good for at least a month or so, he implied I could have it all happen again any moment. Fear tactics don't work well with me. But it did leave me nervous about the sufficiency of the job just finished.


Trudy McMahon

Kathryn K.

I've been using Benjamin Franklin Plumbing for several years and have been very please with their quality and professionalism. Today, while scheduling some work I had the opportunity of speaking with Mike R., a customer care representative. He handled my call with the professionalism I've come to expect from this company. I would highly recommend anyone considering any sized plumbing job to call them.

Kanchan C.

The tech quoted me $260 for shower washer that costs $10 at Home Depot. Before he could tell me what the labor would be I told him to leave. This company's business model is to rip off people who do not know much about home repair costs, like the elderly. Don't know how these people sleep at night. Have you ever heard of a $260 washer for a shower faucet? Ridiculous!!!!

Michelle L.

Called BFP after I had already had another slick expensive company give me an outrageous bid and find all kinds of ""other things wrong"" with my plumbing the day before. BFP gave me an arrival window of ""between 8am-12pm"" The first technician arrived moments before noon. He did some work while I ran out to plumbing supply to get valve kit. I ran into questions at the plumbing supply place and tried to call the plumber at my house and he didn't answer his cell phone even though I had taken his number just in case I need to call. I finally gave up and drove home when he called me back, saying he had suddenly been called to go to another job but that he would send a replacement plumber who would be at my property to finish job 1 hour later. When I got to my house he had left the door wide open to the house! The second technician arrived hour and fifteen minutes late! To his credit the second plumber Jonathan was great. He finished the job, and was very nice and professional. Though they threw a second guy at the job and there was over an hour delay they did not stand by their policy of ""if there's a delay it's you we pay."" There was no discount given. It was not a difficult job at all as well, just converting a double handled shower valve to single and stemming for a shower head. Over priced. There are better options I have discovered - local businesses who come very highly recommended. Live and learn. I cannot recommend BFP.

John C.

I am being generous here with 2 stars. The technician was so slick and slick looking
that he had me, for awhile anyway. He showed up one hour late. I asked about the ""always on time or you don't pay a dime"", yep, ""I would be credited for $275"". The
water heater was on the fritz, and he quickly whipped out a form that showed clearly
that I had a $319 repair. I was shocked, really, so I could apply a credit of $275 to the balance, and VIOLA (!) I owed just $44? ""Yep"".....'didn't have the part on the truck so we needed to order it.....er....I needed to order it. The water heater was under
warranty for the part....but the customer needed to find it.....""cause my cost is less""(?), What? I was then told that the new amount due would be $559....hmm....add a
""credit"" of $275 to $319, and what do you get???? 'Looks like they were trying to get it backl Add to this slick sales pitch I was handed a Home Warranty folder. I was
pushed to buy a Home Warranty plan for just $ 259 plus a one time ""processing fee"" of $29. I am so over this ""lack of integrity"". Who would work for a company that did
this kind of sales training?...it is so dishonest...but I'm sure that, given there are many
vulnerable people out there that aren't able to defend themselves against this kind
of business practice, that they do quite well. Sadly so.

Susan R.

Service was fine. Arrived promptly. Plumber was courteous. However prices were absolutely outrageous. Very small, easily accessible pipe fitting replacement to fix a leak, common part (nothing unusual), not a weekend call, took around an hour to fix. First quote was for $630. Hypothetically, if price were $150/hour and one added another $150 for profit and $50 for the part -- a fair price would have been at most $350. However, since I was in for $75 service call anyway and price was reduced by $100 ""because it's near Christmas"", I had the work done. Bottom line $525. I would not call on them again nor recommend them to others.