First Choice Plumbing Heating and Air Conditioning

Kim F.

PROS: Immediate responses, ability to come to the property within a day's notice

CONS: They LIED about the service they provided. We asked for an inspection of the sewer line for a 1904 home we are buying. The sewer line is approximately 150 feet. Prior to scheduling, I confirmed that this length would not be an issue. As it turns out, it was, because the video they gave me only shows that less than 7 minutes of sewer line was inspected. From the look of the video, I would be surprised if anything more than the first 20 feet was actually inspected. Given that he was in and out of the home within 45 minutes again proves that a full inspection was not done. When paying for the inspection, my husband asked if the entire line was inspected, and was told that it was. Additionally the home was not treated with care - dirt/sewage left of the floor, rug, hallways. The toilet (which was moved for inspection) was not properly sealed afterwards. We called that same night to express our concern, but the dispatcher was unfriendly and unhelpful.

OVERALL - this place is not cheaper than any others. Do yourself a favor an do not hire this company for a sewer inspection!

Suzy Z.

From start to finish this company was a pleasure to deal with. The receptionist was super knowledgeable and quick to schedule us an appointment. They showed up and saved us when our toilet was clogged! The plumber came to our home on schedule and was incredibly polite and professional. The quote they gave over the phone was what the total came out to be which we thought was fair and reasonable. He solved the problem very quickly and even offered to help clean up the mess afterwards. They accept credit cards as payment which was so convenient. We are so grateful and have used them several times since and would highly recommend 1st Choice Plumbing!

Jesse G.

Everyone we dealt with at 1st Choice was nice and polite, so I was reluctant to write this review, but after still dealing with the repercussions of their work nearly six months after it was done, I feel like it's my duty to share my experience.

Our home's main sewer line had been backing up for years, and each time it backed up, we had to have someone come and grind out the roots that were causing the back-ups. We got tired of forking over a couple hundred dollars for each visit, so we decided to have the line replaced.

1st Choice gave us a very good quote, so we made the decision to have them do the work. They showed up in a very timely manner and got the job done in a single day, which seemed nice. It was getting close to dark as they were finishing up and I had to go pick up my child from daycare. When I returned home, they were ""finished,"" but it was dark by that point, so I wasn't able to get a very good look at their work.

I checked it out the next morning and saw that half of our lawn was now buried under rocky clay that was nowhere close to being level with the rest of the yard. All of this was from digging a maybe two-foot wide trench about 20 feet long. Additionally, the sewer clean-out pipe they installed was nearly one foot high, coming out of the ground at an angle, and located about 15 feet from the foundation of our house, which would put it in the middle of where our lawn used to be.

My wife complained to them that our yard looked horrible, so they were kind enough to send a couple guys over to ""level"" it, which they did, sort of. But we were still left with our lawn covered with the clay they had dug up, and littered with rocks. When my wife asked the workers why the yard had been left in that condition, they asked her how much we paid. When she told them, they said that was a great price (which other contractors have told is true), and if we had wanted our yard to look better, we should have gone with a more expensive company.

The condition they left our yard in was bad enough, but the biggest cause of stress for us was what happened to a tree on town property near the street. 1st Choice apparently started the work before obtaining a work permit, later getting one under the guise of it being an emergency repair (it wasn't). Had they gotten a permit before starting work, the town likely would have told them that digging the trench directly adjacent to the 50-year-old tree would cut the roots and be a violation of our town's code. When the town inspectors came by later, they determined that the cut roots had compromised the integrity of the tree and they would need to remove it. The town initially stuck us with the bill for the cost of cutting down the tree, the value of the tree, and buying a replacement tree, which was north of $8,000. After going to town meetings, and months of back-and-forth between us, the town, and 1st Choice, the town finally worked with 1st Choice to resolve the problem. In the end, we didn't end up paying any money for the tree but it caused us a huge amount of stress.

I suppose I appreciate their blunt honesty, but after six months of stress and yard covered in dirt, I guess the old saying is true: you get what you pay for. It would be helpful if 1st Choice was clear upfront about exactly what you'll be getting for that great price.

Sean P.

I hired this company to redo a botched job done by another plumber. The technician showed up on time, honest and very thorough. He gave a good estimate and did the job in impeccable manner. Hamza is really nice guy to work with. I'll definitely recommend and use them in the future.

Mike S.

very very very poor service!!! these guys are not even licensed ! they are just hamdyman that know a little bit of plumbing & heating. look them up on the state of nj board website. nothing is there! what a shocker, these guys are theifs

Marc Z.

Had an issue with my furnace. They responded within 35 minutes. Very knowledgable and fixed the issue and now our heat works much better. Will use again and again!

H L.

Called up the company a few days ago to get a free estimate on major repairs in the basement. Some guy did show up a few hours later but he couldn't give me a quote and he roughly moved my dryer without any care (brand new dryer) which scared me since it's connected to gas. After that, he was on the call for a while and took a lot of pictures. I was told I can get a quote next morning but it's been 3 days and I've heard nothing. Can't imagine they can fix anything if they can't even provide a quote.

Jared L.

Wrong diagnosis and robbery

Let me preface my review with:
1 star to me means ""You suck and you should go out of business""

2 problems:
1. One of our toilets was humming
2. One of the bathroom sinks was draining slowly.

2 diagnoses:
1. The guy told me that it was not the pipes but the left toilet part that was reverberating fast and making this noise. Said the replacement would be $150
2. He said the slow drain is b/c the pipes need to be snaked through with their professional one instead of liquid plumbr and the like - $150. I told him I didn't think it was the drain b/c there's a bubble forming around the stopper. He insisted it was the drain.

Sucky remedies:
1. He 'fixed' the toilet song but it returned after 2 months. Been living here for eight years with no problems until this year, they come and fix it and it starts again in 2 months. Hmm...
2. It wasn't the snake b/c the sink was still draining slowly. Told me they did a great job cleaning out the drain by leaving me a mess. Anyway, when it started draining slowly again, he then told me it was the stopper and that replacement would cost me $300. What the frack!

So I had to pay out $300 for a job that was less than par. $300 for mediocrity. That's America!

I'm happy for those who've left positive reviews for these guys since they must've done a decent job but businesses are hard to trust when they're decent half of the time and rob you the other half.

In my situation, I don't care that they showed up an hour after the call b/c I'll take 4 hours after the call if it meant doing the right job and getting the results I needed.

I will NEVER EVER use these guys EVER again. You guys really suck.

Nisa S.

I would really like to give no stars as they don't even deserve one star. Firstly the appointment time was for 6pm but no one showed up until 7:30. I paid for new hot and cold knobs at a cost of $250. Fast forward one month and 20 days later and the same knobs that were changed has an issue, the cold water won't turn off with this ""new knob"". I called 1st choice which should really be called last resort/last choice to have someone come to fix it. I was surprisingly told that the expense would be mine because the part only lasted for 30 days. Ridiculous! I would rather spend money and pay a new plumber than to ever give this shifty 1st choice plumbing another dime. Homeowners beware and proceed with caution, you've been warned!

Deepa K.

The heat stopped working Saturday. Temp dropped to 50 degrees by Sunday morning. I started calling heating/cooling companies at 730 and these guys were the only one to promptly answer the call. We had Mo come over in less than 30 minutes. Very courteous and professional. I would highly recommend them.