Gary McKinney Plumbing

Jason L.

No longer a quality company. I had used Gary McKinney for 8 years, NEVER again. After reading others reviews I see I have encountered the exact same issues. Horrible customer service and absolutely zero follow up.
Had them out for a sewer back up, after an hour it was determined to be a collapse sewer line. I said lets schedule the repair asap. First off they were unable to generate a bill as the service mans phone was dead. I said call me tomorrow so we can settle up and get a day scheduled to begin work. NO CALL No nothing. 2 days later I called to see what was going on. I was told no notes on account and NOTHING had been scheduled, I was also told my the lady who answers the phone, that she was leaving a 1pm and if she didn't hear before then, well too bad. I called a second time to ask Gary to contact me. Well to this date still no phone call no follow up, and still have not paid for the first visit. This was going to be a 2 thousand dollar plus job. and to add to all this I refered a friend to them, they left a message and NEVER got a phone call back either. BE AWARE OF THIS TRASHY ASS BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE COMPANY.

Russ C.

Mr. McKinney and I discussed replacing a lift station pump and the lid with it. He had to order both parts, but the pump came in first. When the office called to replace the pump, they told me that the lid was not in but they would be back to install the lid. I expressed some concern because I knew they would have to cut the pipes again to put the lid on, but he said they wouldn't charge me for that.

When the lid came in, they did not make the courtesy call as they stated they would, showed up and worked for more than an hour to disassemble what they had just replaced a couple of days earlier, add the lid, and reassemble the pump again. The worker billed us for both the lid and the labor and my wife paid the worker by check. My fault for not making sure my wife knew the arrangements. But then again, I did not expect to be lied to and overcharged for the agreed upon work.

After two calls to the shop, leaving messages both times, Mr. McKinney refuses to return my call to discuss the issue.

Very unprofessional.

Daphne G.

I have used McKinney Plumbing numerous times. Several times I have had to have them come back to repair what they fixed because it was already leaking on the same day they fixed what ever I needed fixed. (I have owned many homes at the same time here for years)

What really burned me was the last bill I got from them. They charged me over $450 for a small (less than an hour) job they did for me. How did they get the bill that high you may ask? They itemized every thing in lieu of their hourly rate. Mind you that I had everything they needed to complete the work on site. I have had numerous rental homes in the Joplin area for over 10 years, so I am not exactly a novice. I had never had them bill me in this fashion before.

My husband and I were obviously not happy. My husband tried to call Gary to no avail. I agree with AJ that Gary avoids discussions about his billing practices. I paid the bill on the same day the work was done, as I always do. That was the last job they will ever do for me. They lost our business because of GARY MCKINNEY'S unwillingness to have a conversation about his apparently new billing practice. Had I known that he was going to Itemize everything on that visit there were several things (nearly all) I would have done myself.

HOMEOWNER BEWARE if you choose to use their services you may encounter the following:

Repeated calls to fix the same issue that they just fixed.

Billing practices that are inconsistent. They may bill you one way one time and then a totally different way another time.

Stonewalling when you have a problem that you would like addressed. Gary will not talk to you if you have a problem.

Now, obviously my experiences with them have not been all negative. I'm just saying beware.

Good Luck!

David M.

Quick service, friendly and efficient. And the service fee a lot LOWER than I expected. These guys are the real deal. Highly recommend

Joshua M.

Came out and couldnt fix the problem due to machine breaking. Didnt charge me a dime though.

Don H.

Drippy Spigot
Our house outside water faucets had ""leaking"" - let me rephrase - ""streaming"" water flooding our side yard. We'd put up with it for the year since we purchased the house and it became progressively worse. About a month ago I contacted a plumber and he said it would cost us $250 to repair the leak on the south side of the house. Our dog (a Corgi) is low to the ground and would run through the muddy mess and spread it all around our house. Enough! Decided to look for a local plumbing firm (Gary McKinney) and they said the earliest they could come out was the next day. To me, that's a really quick response time and was impressed they made it happen. Over and above that, they repaired the faucets for under $100 - in fact, using the voucher purchase on Yelp saved an additional $25 for a total bill of $70. Definitely will use them again for plumbing services I can't handle myself.

A J.

What started as a 5-star experience has sadly become a 1-star (zero star?) experience and a recommendation to not do business with this company. It has to do with communication and honesty and follow-up. We had a great experience with Gary's crew when fixing some plumbing issues at a rental property we invested in about a year and 1/2 ago. They were timely, they did solid work, the price was reasonable, and the quote, invoicing and payment process was easy.

Cut to 3 months later and we had gone out of town for work for 5 months. Our adult daughter was house sitting. The temperature dial on our shower broke and we told her to call Gary. He sent someone out who wanted to take the part away to do some research, but we had already done the research and knew that the thermostat needed to be replaced. It would've been (was, ultimately by another plumber) about a 1-hour job.

Even though our daughter asked the plumber on-site to not go do any research, he took off and started making calls and visits to figure out how to do what we'd already said needed to be done. We never heard back, so we had another plumber come and do the job... that was until we received a bill for $170 for the plumber's time to do research we didn't need performed.

Originally the bill was coming to our daughter's boyfriend (who signed for the quote visit), and when the first one arrived, I called long-distance to talk to them to explain the bill amount was bogus and we'd pay for the house-call. I left 2 messages and never got a reply. When we got back, I got another bill, finally in my name, and called them twice before speaking to a gal in their office and re-explained what had happened. She said she would have Gary call me back to discuss and we left it at that. He never called back... I don't know why, I was nothing but courteous and professional, and felt it was totally fair to pay for the house-call. We planned on doing years of business with this man and his company.

Now it's months later and I've had to leave town again to care for an elderly family member out of state, and now my daughter sends me a picture of a bill... the bill that I never got the call back on has been turned over to a collection agency. Unbelievable! No calls back and instead of facing me and discussing what happened, he just writes off our family and our business and sends the bill to collections.

I run my own small business, and I would never do this to a customer, so I'm sad to be writing this review. This guy is willing to lose lifetime customers - not only me, but my family and friends born, raised and still living in Joplin over what amounts to $110. It's petty, incredibly rude, and bad business. I don't recommend hiring Gary McKinney plumbing even though their work is solid, because their backbone is not.

Susan H.

I am so pleased with Josh for the work he did at my house today. For a month we have not been able to do laundry, take showers, use our garbage disposal, dishwasher or wash dishes without being flooded. He was on time, courteous, professional, and just overall amazing! I will definitely recommend this company to EVERYONE! Great job guys! Thank you soooo much!.....Susan Heard Joplin, MO
Josh came out a second time, at no additional cost, to remove even more roots from our sewer line. He was prompt, courteous, professional, and was able to resolve our issue. We had our annual prevention checkup, at no cost, and was able to find out pertinent information that, unfortunately, is detrimental to my health. The man who did the prevention checkup was thorough and precise with his findings. He provided information that is going to help us. I have never seen a company, besides my employer, who has a genuine concern for their customers. Kudos to you Gary McKinney Plumbing. You are a life saver, literally.

David L.

My wife and I could not be more happier with Gary McKinney Plumbing. Last year we bought a house and shortly after we moved in our sewer busted and was not covered by any insurance and just out of the city's responsibility. He gave us a very competitive quote, arrived on time and completed on time. Then he was nice enough to hook up our ice and water on our fridge and even gave us a discount. This company also cares about the community as they volunteer their time and money. You CANNOT go wrong with Gary McKinney Plumbing