Benjamin Franklin Plumbing

Chris H.

This company and especially the plumber Charlie came through for us when two other plumbers blew us off. Had to re-pipe whole older house. Very tough job and Charlie was positive and reassuring the whole time. Excellent work, done on time when they said despite some major snags. I could not have been more pleased. Worth every penny spent for the service and peace of mind. I will be using them again for sure!

Lisa L.

We called the Glastonbury location in the phone book. They assured us they could do any job. We needed some faucets replaced in the bathroom. When the guy came over in his cleanly pressed white shirt and khaki pants, he assessed the repair. He said he couldn't do it and had the nerve to charge $60 anyway.
Don't waste your time and money!

Rob H.

I'll start by saying Rohan and Vinny did a good job with my repair and were very personable. Good guys, good conversation. The rating would be 5 stars if not for the price. I called in the morning and they were sent out to me in the afternoon. They quoted $341 just to replace a toilet shut-off valve and a plastic elbow connector under the floor (via the downstairs ceiling where they had very clear and easy access because I cut the ceiling open to see where my leak was coming from). I could have refused and went for more quotes but I would have had my whole house w/o water for another day or two... they knew that. I questioned the price and they showed me that Ben Franklin's system is charging $275 just for the parts... WTF?!?!

They say they stock their trucks to save you time and money BUT they had to wait like 45 mins for someone to drop off a $0.48 plastic connector. Believe me... they are not doing you a favor by stocking their trucks because they are charging 5x cost for those parts.

I already knew what had to be done but wasn't confident enough to trust myself. After seeing the job, I could have done it myself for around $35 retail cost for the parts they replaced. So, they wanted an extra $306 for two guys on a job that takes 30-45 mins for one person. The guys spent about 2 hours at my house standing around chatting ... mostly because they had to wait for the part. If this is how most jobs go, then THAT is why they overcharge!

I was able to get my cost down to around $250 but that's still VERY high for this repair. I don't mind paying someone for their skilled labor but this was overkill. I was expecting maybe $40 for parts and $150 for labor... max.

When you ask for a discount, the only thing they offer is that the only good discount comes from signing up for their maintenance program @ $19/mo which gets you 15% off the current visit and future visits. You also get many other benefits but I wasn't really interested in those at the time.

I took off 3 stars because it's obvious they took advantage of the semi-emergency I had even though it was during normal business hours. I would not consider them for any repairs in the future.

UPDATE (6/6/17): I changed the stars from 2 to 3. I received a call from Andy, one of the owners, after seeing the reviews I posted on Yelp and Facebook. We spoke for about 20 mins. I got to hear his perspective on things. Every person (4 so far) that I've dealt with has been nice, courteous, respectful, genuine... they are good people. They just happened to charge more than I think this job should have been priced at.

Carol B.

Great service friendly service technicians
Call ahead to tell you when they'll arrive at your home and for a clean freak like me they wear foot booties in your house

David R.

Very Unprofessional
Lets see shower stall up stairs is leaking down stairs need a new floor pan and the shower needs to be re tiled. This was in October and they needed to order the shower pan took eight weeks to get that which I could of gotten in one week from Granite Group. then We call to see when they are coming to work on the job and we got different answer every day. They even said they would be there and never showed up. Also they damage walls that were not involved in the project. The pricing for this is sky high and I am real interested in how the project comes out. I did a whole bath in one week and these guys are working on their tenth week and nothing has been really done. I will up date.

Addison R.

I called Benjamin yesterday to look at a backed up/broken disposal and get an estimate to replace it. I was at work but my girlfriend was at the house with the Plumber, Steve. I was shocked when I received a call from her telling me that they were going to charge me $670 + $70 ""showing up"" fee. I believe they were trying to take advantage of my girlfriend's lack of knowledge. I left work to come back and told Steve I was not interested in paying that outrageous amount. After work I went to Home Depot and purchased the same new Badger disposal for $92. Me and a friend were able to remove the broken one and replace it in less than 45 minutes with a screwdriver as the only tool needed. Looking back it was insulting that they would attempt to charge someone that price for a job.

Dawn L.

I'm writing this review on behalf of my mother, who contacted Benjamin Plumber in May for an emergency weekend service. I believe that this company preys on people who don't know much about plumbing and are desperate for a solution to their plumbing problem. We don't contest the $189 charge for the Saturday emergency service, but we were shocked by the $800 bill considering that Steve, the plumber, spent an hour at my mother's house and replaced some very basic, very inexpensive parts. One of the toilets that he looked at is still not working well. When we contacted the owner of the company, he immediately took $200 off the bill; but, had my mother, who is 91, not had an advocate, she never would have received that reimbursement. Despite the refund, we still feel that our experience with this company warrants an honest review.

rachel k.

something around the ring of my toilet was leaking so they came to fix it, and i was super sick with a viral infection, and they told me my flapper was broken. i said how much to fix it? they said $140. so i said fix it. and then i talked to my family after the fact and my family told me that a flapper is like $4 (yes four) bucks at lowes or home depot. i didnt know that. i asked them to f-ing fix the ring leak around my toilet. the flapper had nothing to do with that leak. they prey on women who dont know toilet parts and fix things / charge you for things that you didnt initially bring them out for. i was livid! i called and spoke with the manager and he tried reading the technician's report to me, i said i've heard this already!! you're not telling me anything new. and i told him your company f-ing preys on women i want my money back! and it took a while but he refunded me $140 for the flapper. miserable experience. hope i never have to work with them again.

John S.

Service and professionalism are excellent. I will continue to use Ben Franklin. The reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 is because the tech (or someone) is supposed to call when they are on the way to your house... The most recent two visits to my house, the first for an inspection and estimate, the second was the following week for an install, BF dropped the ball both times... for both visits they were given specific instructions to call my wife because she was to be the one at the house... first visit they called me not her, second visit no call was made at all. Only a minor turn-off, but that is a helpful part of the BF service experience, as it allows some ability to do some local errands and still get back in time to meet the worker... improve on that, and you'll get the 5th star next time!

Mike H.

Literally threw the guy out of my house for quoting $400 on a $100 repair that should have been under warranty in the first place.

In my opinion, they charge two to four times more than anyone else. They tell you it's under warranty when they sell you the repair, BUT good luck trying to get them to honor it.

Beware that they like to poke around and suggest add-on services -- kinda like a little shopping trip in your home. I wouldn't leave them alone with your plumbing if I were you.