Fisk-It Plumbing

Holly G.

SO disappointed!!
I have used Fisk-It MANY times over the past 15 years and they used to be a very reliable and honest company. A few years ago, their service seemed to change and sure enough, they are under new management. Still wanting to stay loyal, I called them for a stopped up sink. No one showed up during the two hour window but when they finally did, they told me that I needed to Hydro jet the sink - a cost of over $600! They said snaking it wouldn't work - the clog was too bad. Thinking this seemed a bit suspicious, I called another plumber, Legit Plumging, and guess what - within 15 minutes the sink was fine and has been fine for two weeks since. And the cost? $80. I will NEVER use Fisk-it again. They are either clueless or dishonest and in either case, I would not recommend them to anyone. Such a shame.

C H.

You should engage Fisk-It Plumbing (and its sister company, Ritz Plumbing) with caution, particularly if ethical matters and physical safety are a concern.

Fisk-It installed our 40-gallon water heater in 2011, understanding that we needed a mainstream brand (American Water Heater) with parts readily available for repair. The water heater failed on Friday, March 14, 2014, and a plumber arrived on Saturday. At that time, the manager, Carlos, said that he would order a part from the company because there were no such parts available in the Los Angeles area, and they would install it on Tuesday.

I called at noon on Tuesday, and Carlos told me that he already knew that they would not receive the part until Wednesday; he just had not bothered to call. Carlos said that the company would honor the warranty only for parts the company provided, and that was the reason for the delay. I called the company and learned that this is not true; the water heater company regularly covers parts purchased from local plumbing supplies. In fact, the company provided names of three local stores that regularly carried this part. I told Carlos that he merely needed to get the authorization from the company and take it to a local plumbing supply, which to his credit, he agreed to do.

The plumber arrived late Tuesday with the part, and had some difficulty installing it but finished on Wednesday. When I returned home Wednesday night, I smelled gas and called the gas company emergency number. The gas company representative shut off the heater and red-tagged it, issued a written hazard warning, and emphasized that only licensed plumbers should repair water heaters.

After four business days without hot water (plus two weekend days), the manager, Carlos arrived to supervise the repair. At the same time, I asked the dispatcher whether Carlos is a licensed plumber, and she did not know. In any event, the water heater works now and I have not needed to call the gas company again.

For this, Carlos and Fisk-It charged us $325 for labor.

Not only was customer service sorely lacking, our physical safety (and that of others in our building) was put in jeopardy.

Sara H.

If there was a zero rating I would use it for fisk it plumbing. I had a gas leak by the heater in my pool. Called fiskit, then they told me that I needed a new water heater and plumbing to the water heater, the cost for the work was 2600. then they mentioned that the sewer line of two of my bathrooms was connected to the sewer in my kitchen.

they used scare tactics that worked being a woman alone. that cost me 6100. they then proceed to let me know that I did not have a water shut off valve for the main water line, which they would come back to give me a definite estimate for. this already sounded fishy. I called my brother in law and found out that I did indeed have a shut off valve, which fistkit guess estimated to be over 4000. yet to be determined.

I called the main office and cancelled their appointment which was on Monday. so come Monday they showed up. when I told them that their job was not needed they asked me where the shutoff valve was. I showed It to them, next question was , are you sure this is the shutoff valve? wehad tried it but what plumber does not know what a shutoff valve looks like.

I then questioned them as to why they did not see the valve before giving me an estimate of over 4000. answer they did not go to that side of the house.Last straw they offered to check my pipes with a camera, which I told them that it would not be necessary as If I could ever trust them again. I would never use thois company again they are crooks.

Neil R.

xxxBEWARExxx
My house flooded after their bad pipe connection.
NO calls returned.
BEWARE
BEWARE
BEWARE

Tarabu B.

This is one company you want to avoid at all costs. Our sewer line backed up near our laundry room near our back clean out. I was at work and my co-tenant called Ritz Plumbing right around the corner and Fisk-It showed up. We later learned that Ritz has been bought out by Fisk-it. They ran a camera down the line, then diagnosed the problem as invasive roots right near the front clean out at the top of our lawn. They cut through a small section of concrete, and replaced a three foot section of pipe and left an open pit. For this they charged us $2.200. When I got home my co-tenant was in a panic saying that Fisk-It said we needed to reline our entire 4 inch sewer line about 80 feet, and also another 40ft section from our lawn to where the 4 inch line meets the city 6 inch and for that job they would give us a great price of $18,300. I was furious. I knew the scam was on and we had been had.

The guys from Fisk-It came the next morning to do the back fill and I told them flat out that their price was a joke and there were other less expensive options to resolve the problem, at which point he said let me see what we can do. I knew we'd been had for the $2,200 already so I played along with the scam just to see how far this guy would go. The he presented me with the option of pipe bursting which I was aware of and said they could do that for $12.500. I was so disgusted with these guys I didn't even let them do the back fill. I just wanted them off my property.

I called three other plumbing companies to bid on the same job and when they came out they each remarked that those guys from Fisk-It are notorious rip offs. When they surveyed the work that was done and for which we were charged $2,200, to a person they each said it was a $700-$800 job, a grand at most. The highest bid for the other work Fisk-It wanted to charge us $18,300 for was $8,500 and there were other options, less permanent, being even less that we could consider. But of course Fisk-It didn't present those options. These guys with the big fancy trucks are not owners of their own company and they're out there on commission, so the higher they can yank your chain, the more profit for them. So my sincere recommendation to any unsuspecting consumers is to avoid Fisk-It Plumbing like the plague. These guys are crooks. Zero stars!

Mark L.

I just had Fisk-it out today. The plumber fixed my problem which took him about 20 minutes and then charged me almost 500 dollars. The parts couldn't have cost more than 30 dollars. So his labor costs were about 470 dollars for twenty minutes of work. Pro-rating that it means I was charged 23.50 per minute of labor which means Fisk-it charges 1,410 dollars an hour. I used to use fisk-it when they did good work and charged a fair price. Won't be using them again.

Kurt S.

Have you ever had such a bad customer experience, you were simply beside yourself?

I called FiskIt Plumbing of Culver City, CA because I had their ""Call us"" magnet stuck to my refrigerator & in past years, and I hadn't had terrible things to say about them.

The last time they came, they guy was waaaaay outside the window of time they'd promised, (over an hour & a half) and was otherwise rushed and dismissive, but their past work had built up some goodwill equity with me & ultimately, I was able to accommodate the time shift in that case, so fine. Nothing worth writing about.

But today was different. I had no such luxuries.

MAKING AN APPOINTMENT
A few days ago, I called to make an appointment with Fiskit specifically when our condo building's water was being shut off during a window of 3-6PM on a Monday. I explained very specifically that I needed repairs done during this time because what I needed done required the water to be shut off and having the water shut off meant the WHOLE CONDO BUILDING'S water was being shut off. This is a big deal for us.

The girl on the other end said she understood and would make a note of it and she could have someone arrive around 4PM with a two hour arrival window. Wait - two hour window? I absolutely NEED this to happen between 3-6PM. This is the time during which all the neighbors have been notified that the water is being shut down for repairs in the building. I need the repairs done then - there's no option in this. She repeated that she'd make that clear.

AND OF COURSE, NO ONE SHOWS UP
I took half a day off and waited at home for FiskIt to arrive. Of course 5PM rolls around, and there's still no one at my home. I call and ask if anyone's coming and she tells me she'll call me back. 5:20PM hits and I get this on the phone:

""Um... like, we're having... um... computer problems and some appointments got deleted... and your appointment was one of them.""

What?

Awright, whatever - just get someone down here ASAP. I have only between 3-6PM - I made this very clear when I made the appointment - and y'all have 40min left. This isn't just an mild inconvenience: I took time off from work and you're burning my time, in addition to losing the window I had to do this in. She says she'll call back. At 5:40PM, she calls & says she talked with a plumber and they'll work ""late"" (as if they're doing me a favor at this point) & she says they'll be here at 7:00PM.

7:00PM? What the heck good does that do me? I said 3-6PM repeatedly: Get someone down here NOW. If this was an overflowing sewer line, I can't imagine the world of hurt I'd be in if I'd trusted you with my business. I get that you screwed up and yes, these things happen & normally I've very understanding about this but you folks made a commitment to me - one that cost me time & money by taking part of the day off - and 7:00PM doesn't fulfill that commitment one bit when I've repeatedly said over and over and over again that I need someone between 3-6PM. What are you going to do to make this right?

She says she'll have a manager call me. I'll give you one guess as to whether or not anyone ever called.

AND AFTER THE WATER GOT TURNED BACK ON...
Without a call to confirm, two plumbers showed up out of the blue late in the evening, long after the water had been turned back on. I told them to leave since there was nothing they could do now that the water had been turned back on and all my neighbors were home cooking dinner, bathing their kids, and otherwise needed the water on.

They talked about ""coming back"" later to do the work at another time and I explained that FiskIt wouldn't be doing any future work for me. I wasn't blaming the plumbers but rather their front office: Never mind their costs: They wasted my time & that's something I have in very little quantity these days. You don't get a second chance from that.

A NOTE ON THE YELP REVIEWS
I was astounded at how little their front office seemed to care that they' screwed up and they put me in a bad position so I checked Yelp. Lo & behold, something has apparently happened to this company because it's clear that they've got nothing but 1-star reviews over the past few years.

Now I typically don't trust Yelpers with only 1 or 2 reviews to their credit, since the reviews are usually emotional & inexperienced... so here's my review: From someone with a Yelp record going back to 2007.

Note that I'm giving them 1 1/2 stars (rounding up to 2-stars) because as disappointed as I am with them, I can see how this could have been even worse. (Like if I let them bill me) But still, after sitting on my refrigerator for a long while, I tore up FiskIt's refrigerator magnet and threw it in the trash.

Linda S.

We hired Fisk-it for plumbing in our shower. The tile man finished and when I called the man who did the plumbing, WHICH DID NIOT6 FGINISH HIS JOB, he was not with the company any more. Then I called Fisk-iT and NO ONE has helped. I paid them in full and NO USE OF SHOWER! WHAT MORE CAN I SAY!

Doree K.

I recently called Fisk It because I was having hot water problems. I told them that I needed something done right away because my tenant couldn't take showers. They came and told me that they had to open the wall and re-route all my hot water lines at a cost of $1265. I was shocked. When I called them next morning and told them that I needed another plumber's estimate, they immediatly dropped the price to $900. Why didn't they quote that in the first place??? I called Plumber to the Rescue and Warren sent James out to ck it out.James took some time diagnosing the problem and said ""let's try something"". 5 minutes later I had hot water! Thank God for James, Warren, and Plumber to the Rescue. Shame on you Fisk It.

E G.

Never again! I used this company under a previous owner and it was great. This time was totally different. I had two stopped drains and a leaky faucet (needing its washer replaced). $120 later, I had one stopped drain, a basin full of dirty water under my sink and a recommendation to replace my faucet. The inability to clear the drain was especially annoying, as all it took was a look at the internet and a few seconds with a toilet plunger to open the drain--shouldn't any plumber worth his salt know to try this?