GEM Plumbing and Heating

Aba S.

I scheduled gem to come out to my house on a Saturday for electrical work. the day before I was called and told there wasn't a technician available and asked to reschedule. I rescheduled for the following Saturday. I waited from 8am to 12pm and no one showed up. when I called, I was told they were overbooked and suggested I reschedule again. I will never use GEM again!

Kim J.

I had a new system installed in November 2023, as my old system failed and needed to be replaced immediately. I went with GEM as they had finance options. I paid $11,288 for a new system to be installed. In January 2025, I had to call GEM as I had no heat. There was a PSI issue, tech came in fixed, and left. Next day, no heat or hot water again. System providing the same error code. Technician came out once again and fixed the PSI issue. That night - no hot water, so the technician came out yet again to reset. A week or so later, the system had an issue yet again, and I had no hot water. Final technician came out and recommended I replace a mother board (or something of that sort) with a cost of $1400. He told me they would waive their fee - so I would just need to pay $1200. I, of course, was upset as I just paid off the system December 2024. Remember - I paid $11,233 for a Rinnai combination boiler 120,000 BTU. Best of the best is what I was told. I will say they did not charge me service calls (because I refused). However, I feel it's completely ridiculous to have to pay anything to replace this module/mother board after such a short period of time. Then I called and spoke to their customer service department who stated that the part is covered under warranty - but the $1200 is their time because they need to come out and bleed the system and it will take some time. Mind you - Customer Service was very apologetic and said let me see what I can do and I'll call you back. Never did get that call. So I called again and spoke with someone else who explained once again the $1200 is for their time as it takes time to bleed the system. So, now I have a system that I never know if I will have hot water or not, or heat for that matter and the only way to fix is to replace mother board for the tune of $1200. I googled the price of a brand new Rinnai RINI120CN model number and the cost is $2196. So lesson learned. Never used GEM plumbing if you have to.

Robyn B.

This company is the biggest scam. I had a technician come out for my furnace that wasn't working. He opened the front panel and said there was too much that needed to be fixed and it wasn't worth repairing. I had another company come out the next day and took out the two broken parts and repaired it. GEM doesn't care about their customers, they just want to make their money. I would never recommend!

Maryann D.

We got a Value Pack with ads for businesses in the mail.. had a leaky faucet for months on and off and decided it was time to correct...We purchased the replacement faucet ourselves.. the repair took one hour and 48 minutes.. the Bill $600!... Buyer beware and do your homework! Was just on Angie's list and could have had this done for less than $300!.Shop around before you get taken advantage of !.. Wouldn't recommend this company to anyone!

Fred P.

A concise definition of Racketeering is ""Racketeering is a set of illegal activities aimed at commercial profit that may be disguised as legitimate business deals"".
My 'GEM Plumbing and Heating' experience started a few days before Christmas when my heat went out. My forced hot air furnace is only ~5 years old and the fan failed to operate - it hummed and tried to spin but failed to turn. When I called 'GEM Plumbing and Heating' to schedule emergency service I agreed to their ambiguous $150 fee and scheduled the appointment for the following morning. The tech arrived mid-afternoon the next day and after spending mere minutes with my furnace the GEM tech came upstairs with his estimate fully prepared. He told me the fan needed to be replaced and it would cost $1,768. Online I had read the most common cause of fan issues is a failed capacitor so I asked if he checked it - the GEM tech responded that he checked the capacitor and told me the capacitor was fine but the fan was completely burnt out. When I reacted that GEM's $1,768 estimate was absurd, the GEM tech then told me if I did not have the repairs done that my bill would go up by an additional $250-$300 fee to write the estimate and the bill would no longer be the agreed $150 but now will be ~$450. But if I paid the $1,768, all of GEM's other fees would be removed. He additionally wanted half (~$900) as a deposit prior to scheduling the repair. I told him the estimate was very high for a fan replacement - an OEM fan sells for ~$180 online (PSC motor) and it appears to be no more than a couple hours labor to replace. I had pre-researched the worse case scenario and knew fan replacement for my furnace would generally be a ~$600 job but I had also read that capacitor failure was very likely the issue. As of this point in my 'GEM Plumbing and Heating' experience I no longer merely suspected I was being scammed. I told the tech to leave and I paid the previously agreed $150 fee.
It was now 2 days before Christmas, I had just suffered thru the coldest night of the year using a couple electric heaters, I was still unable to find a reputable repair company with availability so I researched the issue online. I soon figured out the fan problem was a very common issue where the fan's 'run capacitor' failed - other techs I spoke with told me it is the very first thing to check and it fit my problem description. The next morning I bought a capacitor at ACE hardware and installed it in ~10 minutes and the fan worked fine - problem solved. My total cost to fix my furnace was $12.74 compared with GEM's $1,768.
Best case scenario my GEM experience is a case of gross incompetence so I called GEM to discuss. I provided details of my concerns to the woman who answers GEM's calls and she was unable to find anyone willing to speak with me, so I left a detailed initial message on an extension she transferred me to. I have been waiting two days for GEM to return my calls to discuss if this was a case of incompetence or what gives the appearance of being far worse. GEM is not returning my calls which is very telling... Why would they not be concerned and willing to discuss with me?
If you are reading my review after having a similar GEM Plumbing and Heating experience I suggest you google the various MA, RI, and Federal agencies/authorities where you can also report your 'GEM Plumbing and Heating' experience and concerns.

Mike E.

ridiculously overpriced company, wow. They take advantage of people when they are in a dire situation. Greed is a terrible thing ..... good luck to them. Not a company i will do business with again. . There are many other options out there with the same service levels who charge fair prices.

Freddy D.

They are so extremely overpriced it's not even funny. I called and had them fix a switch a few months ago, and it already broke. So, they said that they would come back out and waive the service fee. Well, they came out and wanted to charge me $400 to fix a switch that they didn't install correctly and said that they would not be waiving the fee. Needless to say I told them to get out of my house and will not be working with them ever again.

Stacey E.

Had them out on Thanksgiving for an emergency call. Tech was fantastic, he spent a lot of time getting to the root of the problem. He didn't have the part in stock needed for the (costly) repair, understandable for a holiday. We called back the next day for an update and were told because of the holiday that we couldn't get anything fixed now until Monday. The day after Thanksgiving is not a holiday, businesses are open. We have 2 small children and no heat in our house. When we asked to speak to a supervisor or manager we were told no one was available because of the holiday. We already paid half the cost of the repair, to not have the repair done and now be told we will be without heat for 5 days. Unacceptable for a company that says on their website they provide 24/7 emergency services. Very disappointing.

Robert M.

Still not good. The company I switched to has been fine ever since, but I had difficulties in getting a burner cleaning. I called GEM. They didn't quote the minimum, which is $666 (without a vacuum). You find this out only after you have been charged the flat dispatch fee of $149 (So $815 for an annual cleaning!) Of course, they'll ""waive"" the service charge.

Many of the individuals who do the actual work are generally very nice and down to earth. They're trying to build customer rapport. But the owners tear it down. There is no ""loyalty"" - just money. They're just a brand of HomeX, which is supported by New Mountain Capital ($55B in assets). The idea this is a local, family-run business is not consistent with the ideas of the present owners and investors. Read the other reviews. Trevor's is spot on.

Note to other P&H companies in the area: There are lots of customers for you!
Give up-front pricing, call (or text) back, do a decent job, be pleasant - don't be Scrooge McDuck-level of greedy! And if possible, offer 24/7 service (since that's the only thing GEM has.) But if you grow your business, you'll be able to do that, too (just don't sell out to GEM.) You don't have to be the best - just better.

Takeaway: Avoid GEM/HomeX. Call anywhere else and get a price first. If they can't direct you someone who can give you a minimum cost, it's because the price is too high. Don't deal with them.

Barbara V.

A one star is even too generous. I had an appointment for my fall servicing and waited most of the arrival window and they called and said the Tech was too busy to come, so they re-scheduled the appointment. I waited again the entire arrival window of 4 hours from 8am-12N and had not heard from anyone so I called. They said the Tech was running late and that the truck broke down [this is the oldest trick in the book in my experience. Not buying it]. I was transferred to the dispatcher and explained that I could not wait any longer and had to get on with my day and asked if they could have the Tech arrive later that afternoon when I'm available and I could be the last appointment. I was told yes. I didn't hear from anyone again until 7:30pm when they left a message and said I had to reschedule. Uhhh, duh. Really? Two appointments as a no-show. I feel like I should bill them for my time. This is unacceptable unless you like wasting time and getting nothing for it.