Burkell Plumbing

Devon G.

So today I had Jeff Smith and his assistant from Burkell plumbing come to my apartment to replace a seal and a stop angle valve on my bathroom toilet. Let me start by saying when it comes to quality work, they did a good job. No concerns with their performance or with their efforts but I did have two things that bothered me.

First, I was quoted $150 an hour by the secretary when I called to schedule the appointment. She said they charge time and materials, that is it. No mention of minimum hours per appointment or anything. They arrived at 9:45 AM and were promptly completed by 10:30 AM. Not even a hour. Then I get the invoice from Jeff and he has one lump sum of $275 for the job. I requested he break it down and he said that they don't do that. I expressed my concerns for the cost when I was told time and material. I can't imagine that Burkell is making 5000% margins on the rubber seal and valve which cost no more than $15 from the local hardware store. Extremely disappointed with their pricing.

Second, and this has to do with customer service, the flange that the toilet seal sits on was in bad shape. I was told this after they had completed the job and seal the toilet back up. He then told me that it would cost $550 to replace the flange. My problem with this is that one would think they would bring it to my attention while the toilet was removed to show me the damage. Why not offer to fix it right then and there? Quoted $550 and will end up being charged $750. Customer service lacks in that sense and I'll hire another company to fix that when the time comes.

Joanne N.

I've used Burkell 3 times and each time they were courteous, reliable and was very pleased with their work. Most recently, my furnace was not working. The morning I called them they were able to send someone out to repair it. Erol was the repairman and he was very professional and found the problem immediately. Luckily it was only a small device that needed to be replaced. He replaced the part and the furnace is working again. A few months ago I had a toilet replaced, and again I was very pleased with the service. My experience with Burkell has been extremely good and I would definitely use them again if needed.

Sam P.

Wow. I've never been treated like this before by a service company. I had a plumber come out before Thanksgiving to repair a leak under my kitchen sink. I had a contractor in the house doing some other work, and the contractor told me that the problem was a broken washer that connected a hose beneath the sink. I went to a plumbing supply company and got the replacement part. When i got back to the house, the Burkell guy was there. I showed him the problem and the new piece. He snapped it on in under a minute. I also had him look at a toilet upstairs that was running and he replaced a stopper (2 minute job). Lastly, the sink in our kitchen island had faucet handles that were very tight and difficult to turn off fully. He told me that it was a big problem and that the faucet had to be replaced. After much huffing and hawing about the issue, he ended up replacing some inside valves and told me that it was not the best solution and that I would need to buy a new faucet to fix the problem. When he was about to leave, I noticed that his ""fix"" had actually caused a NEW leak that had not been there before. I pointed this out to him and again, after much huffing and hawing, he stopped the leak, all the while talking on the phone to ANOTHER customer and complaining about how busy he was. He charged me $320 for the job, which I felt was excessive for the work he did and the way he went about doing it. Not professional at all. I called the owner to tell him about the experience and that I felt $320 was a lot of money for the work he did. The owner called back and left me a VERY UNPLEASANT voicemail saying that he would give me $50 back if I never called his business again. Not a wise decision for a business whose customers live in a small town and all talk to each other. No business should treat and dismiss a customer is this way.

Tim S.

Our heater went out on Sunday. It was cold. It got even colder. Called on Monday morning and they had an appointment for Tuesday morning. Couldn't ask for more at this time of year when I know they are busy. Michael was great to talk to and obviously knows what he is doing. Got us up and running in just a short time. Thanks for a great job.

Randi P.

I am pretty upset with the service from Burkell Plumbing and the rude conversation with owner Jake. I had Jeff out several times to fix a leaky faucet. It was 20 years old so I paid to have them out with incorrect replacement parts for which I was charged on 2 occassions. After paying over $400, they actually broke a faucet that was not in need of repair and accused me of trying to manipulate them to get free plumbing work done. They are not trustworthy, capable or polite to customers and I would highly recommend finding another plumber.

Bonnie A.

As always, Burkell Plumbing has done an incredible job. Chris came over and installed a new toilet that was desperately needed. Professional, friendly and helps me figure out other plumbing needs such as a new faucet, etc. I couldn't imagine calling any other plumbers to my home. Always on time, great staff who you deal with on the phone. Just the best of the best.

Sam L.

Okay, this isn't the Burkell Plumbing of days gone by, when it was the leader in Marin plumbers. They have apprentice trainees doing the work who are NOT fully qualified. We've used Burkell's for years, but now need to find an up-to-speed plumbing outfit.

Case in point: the head guy Jake estimated a job to install a pressure reducing valve, but then sent his trainee to do the work. Result: new valve was installed, but the trainee did such a poor job of soldering that a bunch of my sink faucets clogged up with the excess solder that he kept jamming into the solder joint. God knows what the filters in my washing machine, dish washer, etc., look like.

Case in point #2: I pointed out (to the trainee - oops!) where I saw water leaking from a drain pipe in a bathroom sink. When know--it-all Jake and the trainee go to fix the leaky faucet, lo and behold they launched on some project to use silicone caulking to seal the new Grohe faucet, rather than simply address the known leak! When my wife tries to tell them, they get arrogant about knowing plumbing better than anybody, and THEN DISCOVER that, in fact, the leak is from the joint in the drain pipe, as HAD BEEN POINTED OUT TO THEM. So their arrogance caused them to fix a NON-PROBLEM until confronted again with the continued leak. SHEESH!

Anyway, we used to use Burkell's for everything, but now it's time to fine a reliably competent plumber, not somebody trying to charge full rates while training newbies. And who will listen when we say ""We saw water leaking from THERE.""

Sharon J.

As of today's conversation, I will NEVER use Burkell again. This has been coming for a while but I've been too lazy to find another plumber, having used Burkell for 20 years for both my home and my rental, including having water heaters installed in both places without questioning the price, etc.. There is one employee who was sent twice now, about 5years apart, to fix running toilets in the rental.

The first time he ridiculed the ""dated, designer low flow"" toilet and tried to sell me a smaller one from his truck that would have left a gap between the granite flooring and the toilet's base. This year when he was sent to fix a same type, running toilet in a different bathroom, he told told my tenant that he'd already told me the toilets needed replacing and then improperly replaced the chain inside the tank so the toilet still ran. My adult daughter fixed the connection and now it's been fine for 8 months. I paid the bill in full without complaining.

When I called today about replacing a tub drain/stopper in the rental, I told the scheduler of the past problems with him because I didn't want him there again. She was defensive about my needing new toilets, never addressed the fact that he spoke against me to my tenant and didn't fix the toilet properly last time, suggested I'd used a different plumber and didn't remember or that he never said that to her. That's it for me. Good luck to you if you use them.

Kathleen R.

Burkell plumbing proved to be incompetent in fixing a toilet which was then fixed by another plumber. Even though they originally agreed to let us pay only half of the bill because they did not solve our problem but subsequently insisted we pay the full bill. The bookkeeper was arrogant and out of line.
We recommend not to use this company.

Malerie M.

They don't even deserve 1 star. Their customer service is horrific!!! The saying ""the customer is always right"" is not what they practice. Unreliable, pompous, condescending ""business"" men.