Budget Plumbing & Rooter

Richard L.

One of the most dishonest and confrontational companies our family has ever experienced. They should be called ""as long as you don't have a budget"" plumbing. They will take your money and promise you that they will show back up. They will come back with tons of extras and extra charges. They don't stand behind their work and when we called Time after time after time for them to come back and fix their mistakes there is no response. They have stolen from our family. The owner is confrontational at best. He is a rude little man with a mega attitude and ego. I watched my poor daughter and son-in-law get absolutely yelled at by him. He has a foul mouth man and his company is filled with issues. Run away from these guys as fast as you can. Absolutely disgusting what they do.

Jason W.

We were mortified to find out yesterday that our sewer line was backed up into our basement and we had several inches of standing water, complete with sewage. Being a Sunday evening, we couldn't call our regular plumber, so I found these guys through a Google search. They had someone at our house within 30 minutes. Unfortunately, the problem was bigger than any of us thought, and with their limited equipment that they had available on the weekend, they were not able to completely fix the problem on Sunday night. They did not charge us on Sunday and had a full crew there with bigger equipment first thing Monday morning. After getting us fixed completely, they informed us that we would not have to pay for the after hours call. They also contacted a disaster cleanup team for us and set all the wheels in motion to getting everything repaired. They went the extra mile for us and still are. They have turned what was a complete nightmare into just an inconvenience. Our thanks go out to the three people who came out to help us as well as the whole team. Thanks again guys.

Rick S.

After they tried to attach a sink 3 times (it fell every time). I called someone else who actually knew what they were doing. The last time they tried to attach the sink, they cracked my new granite counter top trying to hammer braces in. These guys need some help.

Lisa B.

I called budget the day before I needed a tub leak plumbing job done. She said I was on the schedule for the next day. They never showed up so I called and they didn't even have me on the schedule, so I asked to be put on the schedule tomorrow and they said ok and that they will put me on the schedule. The next day passed by and at 5:00 a plumber called and said he couldn't make it but promised me someone would be there between 8am and noon on Saturday morning. NO SHOW NO CALL. The service has gotten worse and worse and that makes me sad as they were a quality company with fair prices. BUT, I would rather call Roto-Rooter and pay more because they communicate, they show up and they are professional. Sorry Budget. I am done with you.

Derrek D.

Horrible to work with. They don't respect your time and don't communicate. I called to have them come give an estimate for the bathroom. They scheduled a time between 8:00 and noon. They finally were at my house around 3:30 that afternoon and they didn't call to let us know they missed the appointment till 3:00. Then the guy promised an email with the estimate by the following morning. Just short of 48 hours later, I still don't have the info from them. I will not give or send them any business as they don't know how to handle what they already have.

Mark E.

10/12/2015

I had 3 things I wanted done and specified on the phone when setting up the appointment. I had *hoped* I would get an hourly rate savings by batching the requests. Nope. They charge their hourly minimum for each job. So if one task takes 15 minutes, you are still charged their hourly minimum for that. Then start the clock over for the next task. It was my fault for not asking more specifically. Didn't know I needed to. :(

Ultimately the work was done well and correctly. However, I had to test/verify each task. The last task was initially NOT done correctly. It was in much worse shape than before the repair (the water would now not shut-off at all in a bathroom tub faucet). After seeing this, the technician did get it correctly fixed.

Maybe it is customary to overcharge on multiple tasks like that? Don't know, but I won't be calling them again and I now know more questions I need to ask of the next company.

Update: 10/15/2015
Ok. After a couple days I realized it was *worse* than I thought originally. One of the repairs (a replacement of a hot-water shut-off valve under a sink) was done poorly and it was leaking under the sink. I noticed it this morning when the ceiling on the floor below was damaged from the water leak and dripping down. So, of the 3 tasks I had originally wanted worked on, 2 of them were done poorly.

Went from 2 stars to 1.

Update: 10/23/2015
To finish out my experience, the day I called them back about the leak and damage, they came to my house. They replaced a cracked supply line which fixed the leak. They said they would fix the damaged drywall in the basement. After 1 week of not hearing from them, I called them. They came out the next day and finished repairing the damage. I am still left to repaint the ceiling myself.

All the individuals I dealt with were friendly and professional. I just won't be using their services again.

Ben S.

Summary of experience: They installed water heater so poorly they created a leak. They would commit on the phone to look into it and call back but wouldn't until I made multiple calls and even threats. At that point they made irrational excuses to avoid any responsibility, including the fact that the technician who did the work no longer works there. Some of the additional info they gave me was actually more evidence to blame them for new problems they created (details below). STAY AWAY!

More details for those interested: I hate giving bad reviews to anyone and consider myself pretty patient, but I feel a responsibility to do so as a contractor who doesn't like other contractors tainting the industry. After the experience I've had with Budget Plumbing I wanted to strongly caution anyone from gambling with this company. As a contractor by trade I would have replaced the water heater myself, but I live out of state. I thought ""it's a simple enough job, I'll just go with whomever is the least expensive."" I guess we all know that can be a mistake, but I let wishful thinking get the best of me.

The installation was done so poorly that they've created problems that didn't exist before. They cut a hole in the pan at the bottom of the water heater creating a condensation leak into the floor and apartment below that didn't exist until they did their work. When I called to have them look at it, it took several calls and a threat to get them to do so. I received no communication after the visit, so it took several more calls to get answers. After at least six weeks of chasing them around and me patiently giving them the benefit of the doubt with the hopes they'd fix their mistake since their website says ""...offering nothing less than the best quality of service!"" They shocked me with what they said! A girl in the office told me that a technician said that ""the problem was the floor was sagging, and that whomever put the condensation line from the AC put a hole in the pan. Also, that if we fixed the floor that would fix the leak??"" I was dumbfounded with that explanation, and knew that she was just an ignorant messenger, so I said thanks and hung up. The AC has been there a lot longer than the water heater, so it was clearly their technician (whom I'm told doesn't work there--as if that's somehow supposed to excuse the company from taking responsibility) who put the hole in the pan causing the leak and the saggy floor. Also, how in the world can replacing a damaged floor stop a leak!? At least she call me that time!

I get that the deal was only $875, so they don't want to be dealing with me now that it's done. I just don't feel like they've been in anyway professional or responsible and would strongly encourage anyone to find someone else. The potential extra $50-$100 will be well worth it! I'm still in the process of figuring out how much extra this is going to cost me. As a contractor, I was extra patient knowing there could have been some unforeseen reason for the problem, or that the leak had nothing to do with the water heater. That's what I was giving their technician the opportunity to tell me as I patiently awaited their calls that never came. I'm confident that's not the case.

They also bent the flexible piping used 180 degrees rather than getting something to fit--laziness. That hasn't created any problems yet, but is simply evidence of crappy work. I called back and asked for contact info for a manager and/or owner. The simple fact that they aren't allowed to do that should be a huge red flag to anyone. She said she'd have them call me, and since that promise went unfulfilled at least 6 other times, in having a technician call me, I'm writing this review 72 hours after that commitment was made as I'm sure I won't hear from anyone unless I make more threats.

Ann D.

They are a bunch of crooks. John, is a terrible technician and very unprofessional. We had multiple appointments schedule that he not only didn't show up for any of then but he didn't even both to call to say he wasn't coming. I went two weeks with food defrosting and going bad. He's a liar and a thief He claimed that he fixed my fridge and not only did he not fix it, he charged me for a part that I didn't need. NEVER USE THEM!!!! STAY AWAY. Call ASA Appliance & Refrigeration. Dave is very honest. They will charge you for fixing something and parts you don't need!!!

Wesley G.

Horrible service and experience, I used to use them a lot for the apartments that I own but as they grew, it is very apparent that they only care about the bottom line not the customer. And they also overcharge, a lot. Just because the have budget in their name does not mean they are less expensive. In fact they are banking on the fact that you won't shop around, then they gouge you. I believe they are 20% higher then industry normal, then they are sloppy as well.

Jennifer W.

Bryce called us the day of the appointment and asked to change the original time frame. Then he gave us a one hour window within which he was going to arrive. At the end of the hour, he was still 45 minutes to an hour away and didn't bother to call or let us know. I only found out because I called him. I know that things happen and people get held up, but I had asked my dad to be present because my husband was at work and my dad has rearranged his schedule to be there and was just sitting and waiting. I told Bryce I would find someone else and not to worry about coming out. About 10 minutes later, Budget's plumber, James called and said he was already in the area and could be here within minutes. I informed him that I'd already called and scheduled someone else but that he could come and give us a free estimate on the repair if he liked.

He arrived to give the estimate for a leak in the main line coming in to our house. My Dad also mentioned that James should give us a price on replacing the pressure regulator because we may be having occasional high pressure issues and it might not be working as it should (we actually haven't had specific pressure issues but other families in the area have had issues with fluctuating city pressure and regulators that have needed to be replaced and we wanted to make sure we weren't getting more pressure than we should be). James took out his tools and said that they were really easy to adjust. Without putting a gauge on it or anything, he just started adjusting the pressure, showing my dad which way was up and which way was down. My Dad was surprised that he would be adjusting things on my plumbing before he was even contracted to do a job (again, this was just supposed to be an estimate), but didn't know it might cause a problem.

James wrote up an estimate for the repair and told us we should go down to Home Depot and get a replacement pressure regulator ourselves because he wanted to save us money. He then spent as much or more time pitching me on the other services they offered as he did addressing our actual needs. When he left, I knew we wouldn't be giving them our business.

That night our pressure was noticeably different in the house and we began to experience fluctuations that have never been present before. The next day, we had a different plumbing company come out to fix the original problem (a leak in the main line). They completed the repair for $125 less than James had quoted us. We told the plumber about the issues we were suddenly experiencing with the pressure and what had happened with James adjusting it. The plumber was concerned that it may have been broken when James adjusted it because it may have had hard water build up, etc. We monitored the pressure for a few more days and the pressure problems got worse. We had to have the plumber come back out and replace it today.

Now, I will concede that if the pressure regulator broke by being adjusted, then it's possible it would have broken at some point. However, the point is, it did not NEED to be adjusted and it was NOT done with any care, concern or use of a gauge. SO, we ended up having to spend TWICE as much money because Budget's plumber, James, decided to adjust it when he wasn't even hired to do the job yet and was not ASKED to adjust it!!!! He was only asked to include its replacement in the estimate in case they determined that it needed replaced.

I can't prove James broke our regulator and I admit it may have already been in a position to ultimately need replaced, but the bottom line is it was unprofessional and unnecessary for James to have adjusted it at all. I believe he was careless and ended up costing us extra money at a time when we were already stressed, facing the price of a repair. Needless to say, I'm VERY frustrated and would never recommend this company to anyone else.