Bowman's Plumbing, Heating, Air Conditioning & Electrical

John B.

Never again, and it's too bad: Every plumber and HVAC tech who's come to my home has been knowledgeable and courteous. Then came Mike, to repair a pinhole leak in one of the copper pipes. ""While you're at it,"" I asked, ""can you take a look at the commode in the basement? It's running on."" He did that; said it need a new flapper; and got one from his truck. It took Mike maybe ten minutes from start to finish. The cost: $125. I called to complain, noting that I had had the company out about two weeks before to solve a clogged pipe problem ($1500). The pinhole leak problem was another $375. But $125 for a $10 (if that) flapper that took moments to install. After Mike left, I called Bowman to complain. A few days later (I had to call twice) a female representative called. I told her it seemed crazy to charge about $600 per hour to put in a flapper. (Mike told me he had no choice in the matter.) Her soothing response? ""Ordinarily we charge $185, and it doesn't make any difference if he's there or not; if he has to make a separate trip or not."" ""Shouldn't Mike have told me it would be $125 before he did it?"" I asked. ""Well, he didn't. So you should have had Mike uninstall it."" Except Mike never told me I had that option, nor would I assume it was available; i.e., charge me nothing (vs. $370 or $250) to do and then undo a $185 (or is that a $125?) service that would take twice the time as the original service. ""I""ll never call you folks again,"" I told the lady who called. ""Fine,"" she said.

Tim P.

We called Bowman's for a broken furnace during the recent record breaking cold snap. We woke up to a 59 degree house when the outside temperature was 9 degrees! We were given an arrival time of ""sometime before noon"". No phone calls throughout the morning. We called them back around 1PM and then a technician finally arrived around 1:30. The technician spent around an hour at the furnace and running throughout the house checking vents. He got it to deliver heat for the duration of his visit, but didn't actually repair/replace anything. He ultimately said we had an old system and any fix he would do would be temporary and couldn't guarantee anything and we needed to get a new system. He then handed us an estimate for various multiple thousand dollar systems and charged us 90 bucks for a diagnostic visit. You know, when it's 9 degrees outside, I'm okay with a temporary fix. The ""repair"" didn't even last until the sun went down. The next morning, I called another company. Their technician found a bad component in the blower motor circuit in about 2 minutes and took another 5 minutes to replace it. He warned it might be temporary, but the system has been operating the last three days so again, I'm okay with that kind of temporary. And I didn't spend thousands of dollars to get me through the cold days! I called to ask for a refund of my ""diagnostic fee"" (not expecting it of course) and was told by the owner that $90 was very reasonable for the work that the guy did. I won't be calling them again.

Diane I.

If I could give zero stars I would. The after-hours technician was rude, disrespectful and condescending. Unfortunately I did not get his name.
At 10:15 pm on the night before the recent snowstorm (1-5-15), my furnace broke down. As a single woman with an elderly tenant, I was concerned about the freezing temps and getting through the cold night. I called Bowman's and spoke to the after- hours technician. He asked me what my furnace was doing and I explained that the motor was working, but there was no ignition and no heat. He told me what the charges would be if he came out that night vs the next morning and asked me what I wanted to do. In an effort to make an informed decision, I started to tell him what the diagnostic flashing light on the furnace was saying and ask about the availability of parts if he came out that night, but he immediately cut me off. He very rudely informed me that he just needed to know if I wanted him to come out that night or not. He said he had to get up at 5:30 a.m. and he wasn't going to have a discussion or conversation with me. He said, ""This isn't a social call. Just tell me if you want me to come out there tonight or in the morning."" I politely informed him that I would be calling another company.
I felt very disrespected in an already stressful situation. I could understand if I was droning on and on, but the entire conversation lasted exactly 1.26 minutes. This is certainly not the kind of service that Mr. Bowman would expect of his employees. Is it?

Kevin W.

These guys were great to work with. We had a heating and A/C system replaced last week. The guys who came out to install showed up on time and finished an hour early. They couldn't be nicer. I even had to reschedule this appointment once and they were very cool about it. Didn't give me a hard time.

I highly recommend this business!!

John E.

Bowman's did all the work to convert my home from oil to natural gas including removing my old furnace an installing a new carrier gas furnace and humidifier. They also installed my gas fireplace set and gas range and later I will have them install a gas water heater.

Honestly, it was a pleasure to deal with this company. My wife and I looked at many of the companies that Washington Gas lists and these guys were the most helpful.
Dean Stine, the sales manager, took his time with us and explained the process for converting to natural gas. He was always responsive to my phone calls and I always had the feeling that they would do a good job. THEY DID A GREAT JOB!

The price was very competitive and Dan and his crew were dependable, skilled, friendly and efficient and took time to answer my many questions. They were careful to put down drop cloths and kept our house clean. The staff was considerate and friendly.

Do yourself a favor and call these guys. You will not be sorry.

John,

In Oakton

Cathy J.

The replaced a refrigerator line on our fridge in April 2013 with copper for $435. The connection the plumber made from the copper line to the fridge line failed 10 months later. The plumber told me to have an appliance repair person fix it because he couldn't. The water leak from the fridge resulted in $635 in damage to our carpets. $1,000 to fix this problem and now I have to call an appliance technician. He should have advised that in the first place. The manager, Dana Bowman said it was outside the 30 day warranty, so tough luck.

If you expect your work from your plumber to last more than 30 days, call another plumber.

S B.

Kitchen sink was backing up so called H&S Plumbing (we have used them for years). They couldn't come so recommend Bowmans. I called -and they could send someone the next day. Since this was Thanksgiving week, I decided to go with them -bad decision. The plumber who showed up, asked me to clear out the area under the sink (a first) if I wanted to have the drain snaked! Charged $250 and despite my telling hm to use a longer snake, insisted the drain was clean. I told him it backs up after some use so there was no point running the tap for 5 min and saying it was done but he insisted. And left. The drain is backing up again 2 days later. This when the dishwasher has been barely used, we put nothing down the sink and wipe the dishes with a paper towel if it is greasy. Calling Bowmans was useless because ""who knows what you put down your drain so there is no guarantee of our work"" is the response.
I would not recommend using them. In all our years of using plumbers, they have to the absolute worst. wish there was an option to give no stars.

l m.

they replaced our ac and did a good job but the heater stopped working. I noticed the heater only after a month they replaced our AC. when I call them for an appointment, they don't show up during the 4 hour window they gave and the lady at the front desk was very sarcastic and says she does not ride with the contractors so she doesn't have any update.

something changed and the lady at the front desk is really bad and she should be not be in that line of work if she cannot handle couple of phone calls...

J F.

Everett's Plumbing is now Bowman's plumbing. I used them when they still went by the name of Everett's. Beware of this company's practices. They will not quote a ball park price over the phone, charge you for truck rolling out to your house with the promise of using the charge towards your bill if you use them. When they arrive at your home they inflate the price. Either way you're going to have to pay them. This happened to me. I had a frost free outdoor spigot that needed to have the valve replaced because it was difficult to turn. The tech showed and gave me an hourly estimate which seemed fair, but after he completed the job he charged me around 300.00 for the part which he never informed me of and another 200.00 including truck roll for a whopping 500.00. I watched him do the repair and he only used a parts repair kit. He did not have to replace the pipe or anything major. I looked the same repair kit up online and bought it for 40.00 and did the same repair job to my other spigot. I can understand companies wanting to make a profit but charging customers for an entire unit replacement when only a repair kit is used is robbery. Perhaps this is why Everett's Plumbing needed to have Bowman's Plumbing bail him out? I am sure these will be the same people under a different banner. A plumber should be able to give a ball park over the phone if you tell them the issue and the brand of spigot, it is not rocket science. I even sent the owner an email and he basically responded back with a response that can be summed up as Too bad, I don't care we ripped you off. Customer beware.

Pam W.

Customer service on the plumbing side- not great at all. Spoke with the owner/Dana...was very rude, aggressive, and had an attitude. The plumbers on the other hand are spectacular and always do a good job. Customer service on the hvac side- great. Spoke with a lady I believe her name was Kristen...very polite, sweet, and professional. The HVAC technician who came to my house was awesome. Very knowledgeable, and got my ac taken care of. Overall I rate 3 stars for the great technicians, plumbers, and customer service from the hvac dept. 2 stars knocked off due to plumbing customer service. Great company though, I always reccomend to my friends and family!