Bonfe's Plumbing Heating & Air Service

Neil K.

I have their Basic Maintenance program and had them come out for my annual AC check. After his check he indicated that the unit needed a new capacitor. He quoted me the part would cost $350 less $50 coupon. He also indicated that there would be no service charge to install and it would only take 15-20 minutes. I checked several supply companies only to find the exact part costs $19.20. This is over 1000% upcharge. The tech was nice but this type of upcharging for part

Teresa L.

The city shut off water to our house and said, we needed to call a plumber to fix the main valve before the water meter. I called and explained my situation and the woman named Alice(?) who did the intake was friendly, hopeful, and did a wonderful job. She was in contact with the dispatcher to give me a call when the next available plumber became available. She scheduled me for next-day services but said the dispatcher would contact me if they could get someone who could come out today before 10pm. She did a great job explaining the next step, including the $99 consultation fee, but it would be waived if we go with their service.

Although we never used their service because we were able to get another plumber out within the next 30-minutes, I thought the woman who did our intake took care of my situation.

Jc C.

My experience with Bonfe is a mixed feeling of good and very bad.
The good is that I had 3 technicians (I pay for this yearly maintenance contract) came to my house in the last month or so and they were all nice people, the very bad is that Bonfe is far over priced compare to the competition.

Let's review these 3 unpleasant experiences:
1) Feb 6th free maintenance visit for the heating systems done by JV. J said that he would individually control each radiator in the house but he did not. When I asked him why, he said because the numbers he got on this iPad when he was in the room where the heating systems are were good. I know for a fact that this is not true as I have one radiator where I can put my hands on without getting burned while it's not possible with any of the other radiators in the house. But in the meantime he quickly rushed to say that the authorized CO2 level is 400 and I was at 200 and therefore wanted to sale me 'Need Plate brushing and re-cement for $1210' without been able to provide the breakdown for this outrageous cost. I indeed declined the offer.

2) Feb 8th: Free plumbing visit done by JT. I showed him that even when the outside faucet is turned off, when I turn on the water from the inside, the water is coming out of the faucet non stop. He removed the top of the faucet went to his truck for 30 seconds and came back saying that the faucet can't be fixed and needs to be replaced, and it is not as simple as replacing the faucet, we also need to cut the pipe inside the house and replace it, all of this for $671, once again without been able to provide the breakdown for this outrageous cost. I once again declined the offer.

3) Feb 20th, AC came to do the free video inspection of the drain line. I watched the camera with him and after 20 feet the camera was stucked probably because of tree roots, we could not see because too much stagnant water. He said that it could be fixed by using the chain machine with blades that would cut the roots and clean the rust inside the pipe. With my $350 discount as a Bonfe member I ""only"" would have to pay $1938 for that service. Which is again a ridiculous price knowing that I had paid $248 with ""Ron the Sewer Rat"" to cut the tree roots with a 6"" diameter blade 18 months ago, I agree it is not the same as a chain, but I only wanted to cut the roots and not remove the dust. I indeed decline the offer, and A came back a few minutes later saying that the pricing manager is willing to give me an extra $500 discount, which brings the cost to $1438. I had already called ""Ron the sewer rat"" and they charge $599 to use the same machine. Indeed I declined again the offer and called Ron, who came the next day and spent 2 1/2 hours and did an excellent job. I mentioned my story to Ron's technician as well as the situation with the faucet as he had mentioned that Ron also has a plumbing department and showed him the situation. Eventhough he's not a licensed plumber like the one from Bonfe who visited me, he looked at the faucet, went to his truck, spent 30 seconds and by miracle he was able to fix it at NO cost.

This is what I call customer service, not what Bonfe is doing.
After this 3 situations I looked at the water heater system that I bought from Bonfe 5 months ago, and because Bonfe did not provide any breakdown of the cost, I realized that I'm paying $4130 for a water heater system that you can buy online $800.
Once again this is a ridiculous markup.

Make sure you do your home work and research options before calling Bonfe.

Mary B.

Overpriced, don't even do what you pay for. We signed up for a subscription that granted us two visits, fall and spring, where they check the heating and cooling systems, do a flush/clean filters etc, before the winter and summer. We couldn't get the Fall one scheduled until February because they're overbooked. Then, because we didn't triple confirm the appointment we had today, they just never showed and then told us that we couldn't get in until March 19th. When I asked for a refund, since they missed the Fall visit, I was told I could take the March appointment, that to them that was ""still in range for 2023"" (it's Feb of 2024) and when I said they owed us a refund and that we would never be using their services again, the woman on the phone hung up on me. We've been paying for that subscription for two years. They charged us $900 to change out our old garbage disposal (not including the disposal, we bought the disposal ourselves) - for what amounted to less than an hour of labor and no parts. Our dishwasher, by contrast, only cost $200 to install, by a different company, and that included moving it. Bonfe kept coming out for our radiator because our heat wasn't working properly throughout the house and kept failing to diagnose the problem until two years later one guy figured out that the computer on the boiler wasn't working properly - that was thousands of dollars of whoops. Do not use them. I don't know who is better to use, but these guys are con artists.

Robert P.

Great young tech came out to look at my failing A/C unit. $100 just to get them on site. After talking to him about what was going on he found the problem within 5 min. Told me I needed $650.00 in parts and services to fix the problem. I went to a local distributor and bought the replacement part for $15.00 and changed it out in 15min. 4 screws and 6 wires. Sad to see that this company feels they have to take advantage of people like this. I will never call them again. Great tech but an absolute garbage business. I wish I could give them a score of zero for taking advantage of people who don't know any better.

Rhiannon R.

I called Bonfe on a Sunday morning when our main drain backed up and flooded half our basement.

They said they'd be out that day, and then called us later and pushed us to Monday. When they came on Monday, the technician wasn't able to do the job/clear the drain because he didn't have the right blade. (Who shows up with the wrong equipment?) So then he said we needed an ""intensive cleaning"" because it needed this special blade and said he couldn't fit us in until two days later, and we couldn't use the shower, bathroom, nothing. AND the cost of the intensive cleaning was $2K.

The next day, desperate and running up to the grocery store to use their restroom, I called a local guy to see if he could fit us in. He could, came and cleared the drain, and it cost $200. I told him about the quote from Bonfe and he said the big-box plumbers do this all the time. Over charge for people who are in a bind, use smaller blades than the size of the pipe so tree roots grow back quicker and you have to call them back more frequently.

So shady. Do not use them. Stay away.

Larry M.

The tech was on time, professional, and friendly. He replaced an inexpensive thermocouple in my water heater that wouldn't stay lit. It took him about 15 min. and the charge was $830. Do the math and figure out what that equivalent hourly rate would be (over $3000/hr.). I felt I was in a bit of a ""box"" and agreed to the charges prior to him starting the work (my bad!). That is an absolutely ridiculous and exorbitant charge for the amount of work. It didn't cost me that much to have my furnace blower and motor replaced last year with a different company. It took that technician two trips and a much longer time to repair. I certainly wouldn't recommend Bonfe for anything. They have figured out how to take advantage of you.

Joe M.

We returned from a trip up North to discover our 17-year-old AC wasn't pushing cold air - during some of the hottest weather on record!

A lifetime ago, I was an Auxiliary Machinist Mate in the Navy. Part of that involved operating, maintaining and repairing and AC & refrigeration. I don't do this work now and I don't own a voltmeter or a gas gauge but this experience helped me rule out everything except a refrigerant leak on the faulty AC. And I knew that if it was a refrigerant leak, it wouldn't be worth repairing coils on a unit that old.

I called well known companies, expecting they would be booked. None could schedule a repair sooner than a week out until I contacted Bonfe. To my surprise and delight, they scheduled a Senior Repair Technician the next day.

Altin arrived right at 8AM on a Sunday. He was friendly, respectful, neat and very knowledgeable. We discussed what was going on. I told him I had two goals; short term, to get cold air blowing through the registers and long term, to replace our aging AC and furnace.

Altin didn't pressure me to purchase *anything* unnecessary. He repaired wires inside the condenser damaged by mice, replaced a capacitor and recharged the refrigerant. Cold air blew like new.

Then he measured the existing furnace, recommended high energy efficient replacements for both units and included generous discounts and rebates. We discussed the installation and who would do that work. Altin also tweaked our Nest thermostat and added a slick gizmo that displayed the outside temp as it changed throughout the day. Bonus!

Our new furnace and AC install is scheduled for 7/9. Admittedly, when I read some of the more negative reviews here I was troubled. After working with Altin, I have no reservations recommending Bonfe. I am confident I will receive excellent service. Consumers need to educate themselves and then communicate clearly what they want and don't want. Its not hard. I hope this helps.

John S.

Beware of Bonfe. We called them out to route our main sewer line. They offered to included a video inspection. The sewer route tech used the smallest blade I have ever seen. When the inspection happened there were still many roots left behind. The video tech identified a problem that we were aware of and made even the smallest flaw in our line sound like an emergency. They estimated $42, 000 of work that they said was urgent. I felt pressured. Fortunately, I got a second opinion. The ultimate price tag from the second reputable company was $5,000.

William Y.

If I could give them a 0 star rating, I would. This review is coming from an experience from a year ago. I had a tech come out last year around the same time to inspect my AC. I had water that was leaking from somewhere. I forgot the techs name, but he was a nice guy. In the end, he had 3 options for me. I forgot the details of what the options were, but option 3 was to replace my AC unit and furnace ($15,000). He highly recommended that I go with option 3, because the other 2 options will only help for about a year before I run into the same issue. I declined and went with option 1 which cost me about $500. I think he replaced the blower motor or something like that. I also signed up for the peace of mind plan for $8 a month for a year. I could still see some water leaking, but it was much better than before.

Present day, water is leaking again. I decided to try Standard Heating & Air Conditioning. A tech came out on time to work on the issue. After testing, he said my issue was only the drain pipe. It was smaller than what they recommended which was 3/4 inch piping. That water was not draining and was getting clogged. All he did was replaced the drain piping and it only cost me about $125. The tech was amazed that Bonfe never looked at the drain pipe and suggested a new AC unit and furnace.

Lesson learned. Never use Bonfe again for my heating and cooling. I called to cancel my peace of mind plan as well.