HELP Plumbing, Heating, Cooling and Drains

Allie F.

HELP website claims:
Work Provided within Hours, Not Days
Open 8 to 8, NEVER Late (8 a.m. to 8 p.m.)
Friendly Representatives Are Standing by to Take Your Call

As a repeat customer found none of this to be true! Called first thing Monday morning to have stopped up drain cleared, and was advised earliest available appointment was 2 days (not hours) later on Wednesday afternoon.

On Wednesday morning I was left a voicemail that due to some other emergency appointments my appointment was cancelled and we could call to reschedule. When I called I was advised next available appointment was Friday. Another 2 days (not hours) later.

Again, I am a repeat customer because my first experience with HELP was good, but apparently friendly service retired with Marty! The representative was neither friendly or helpful. When I asked to speak to a supervisor I was told none was available, but someone would call me back. Not holding my breath that I will be called back by HELP, but their competition was here within hours to clear my drain for less than HELP's ""special"" price.

Kate K.

Two guys came out to our house to look at our air conditioning unit. They said it would cost about $1200 dollars to fix it and if we are paying that much we ""might as well"" just install a new unit. Well their quote for a new unit was $11,000!!!
Another company came out to our house and fixed the issue for $500.
These guys are con artists. I wouldn't send help to my worst enemy's house! DO NOT CALL THEM!!!!!

Anne T.

My outdoor part of the unit caught on fire. When calling the company to ask to have them come out to look at the unit their response was they would need some time to talk it over and call me back later. How hard is it to schedule an appointment to look a little a unit that was installed by your company....that has only been in for 3 years? Seems odd that things need to be discussed before scheduling an appointment to service a product that was installed by your company. Anyone have thoughts on how to proceed?

Sean P.

Called after hours line Sunday night and got an answering service. Central air unit was frozen and dripping water around the furnace. Waited for the return call for a couple of hours and when it didn't come I called back. The answering service said the on call tech was not answering but someone would call back in the morning.
I don't think they are aware that there are numbers lower than $700. Just had a tech out to check on central air unit. 3 lbs of r22 cost $600 + $60 show up fee. R22 will be outlawed in 2020 but still only cost $13/ lb not $200. Did not fix the problem. Just put dye in the lines and told us it might take a few months for the dye to show where our machine is leaking. Said they would check again in August when they come for furnace tune up. Hopefully the furnace still works since the ac was dripping water around it. They wanted $700 to replace a toilet $2100 to replace a service entry cable for our electric line. $8500 to replace our furnace and if you act now for only an additional $5600 we throw in a new central air unit.

J M.

I called HELP to take advantage of their drain clean out special. The techs came out and did a great job. It only took about 30 mins to get the drain in front of my garage cleaned out and draining again.

My issue arose with their subscription program. The same tech that did the clean out explained that the subscription program included 3 key things: 1. an AC and heating annual inspection/tune up of the system, 2. an annual inspection of plumbing and gas to look for leaks, and an electrical inspection to check for grounded wires, problems, etc. The electrical inspection was a big plus for me since I'm in an older house. The tech even tried to schedule the electrical inspection for me but was told by dispatch that their system was down and to just call back.

HELP called to set up the AC inspection and when I asked about setting up the electrical inspection I was told, ""we don't do that anymore"". Really?! I signed up for the subscription just over a week ago. When I said I wanted to cancel, they said I had to pay for the entire year, even though they aren't providing the service I was sold.

After a very nice discussion with Holly, a manager, they did cancel the subscription. Holly was very helpful and understanding. But this felt like a classic bait and switch. I get it if the company was losing money on the electrical inspections, but they're still selling this service and staff should be kept up to date on this stuff. I'd use them again for a drain clean, but can't say I'd recommend for anything else.

William S.

Terrible service. Did not receive owners manual when paid for system. I am a veteran and a senior citizen. They took advantage of me, I paid way, way, way, too much for a furnace and ac unit. I was overcharged about 7,000.00 for this system. So please people check other companies before letting this company do any work on your house. I also never received any warranty information for this system. Can you say PRICE GOUGING!!!!!

Ryan K.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!!! Their report was incomplete and makes very little sense. The whole point of having HELP come was to clean and service the furnace in preparation of selling the house......and they did absolutely none of that. If a wire was corroded or rusted, why wouldn't they fix or replace the wire as part of a normal service call. If there was dust or grease on the blower motor why wouldn't they clean it as a part of the service call.......that was the entire reason they were called to come in the first place, but they did nothing. All they did was point it out in the report and then give an outrageous qoute of $2,857.00 for upgrades/preventative maintenance/repairs. Moreover, whats even more unbelievable and dishonest, is that in their report, they want to charge $888.00 to replace the blower (i priced that blower and its less than $100!!)......but they should've checked their records because their company just replaced that blower in Feb of 2015. We still have the paperwork and receipt from HELP from Feb of 2015 from her late father that it was replaced........so why would it need to be replaced again now?? Had her late father not saved the receipt, we would have never known that they were wanting to replace a blower that he already had their company replace. The only thing noted is dust and grease so why wouldn't they have just cleaned it.....that's the whole reason they were there. To treat anyone, and in this case, a grieving family that just lost their father and a woman with a sick child and no HVAC knowledge in this manner is disgusting. The furnace works properly and that is noted in their report, but then they try to leverage them with preventative maintenance/upgrades to such an excessive amount because they are selling the house due to the loss of their father. Dishonest, unethical and terrible business practice. Obviously, I had to get a second opinion from a much more reputable, knowlegeable and HONEST HVAC contractor. He provided service, inspection and minor repairs for a cost of less than your service call.....a service call in which you did absolutely nothing. HELP is terrible and dishonest. They work on commission and prey on people with scare tactics and excessive fees. To take advantage of the most vulnerable is pathetic. I would give them a negative rating if it was an option.

Bethany H.

The pilot light on our hot water heater wasn't working and the plumber that we usually use, recommended Help because ""they have all of the parts on their trucks."" It took them 2 hours to give me a quote, while also checking other things that we weren't having issues, such as water quality and water pressure. They decided we needed a new water pressure regulator (which has nothing to do with the hot water heater), and a new burner unit for the hot water heater.

The tech kept trying to tell me that our heater was 10 years old, when in fact, it's 7 and a half. He really was pushing me to replace the hot water heater for the bargain price of $2,500....if I also joined their $20/month club. Otherwise it'd be $3,000. I didn't see the hot water heater, but at that price, I would assume it was made of solid gold.

He also wanted to sell me on a whole house water purification system and a water softener. Based on all of the prices quoted, I knew I was getting ripped off, went elsewhere and got the hot water heater fixed for about half the cost Help quoted. The guy who ended up fixing it said there was no need to replace the heater and now it's like I have a whole new hot water heater with the parts replaced.

Oh, and in looking up water pressure regulators on YouTube, I was able to see how I could, myself, easily turn down the water pressure and not have to spend $500 replacing it. I've always heard Help's reputation is terrible and this solidifies that for me. I'm just out 2 hours of my life and $89. Don't let this be you!

Matthewm H.

If you need a plumber in Cincinnati don't call help. As a veteran I thought i should support this local veteran friendly company... wrong. They charged us $1160 for less than 90 minutes of work. The work was to detach a claw foot tub and raise the drain pipe 3/4 in inch and remove a commode and and insert a flange to raise it 3/4 without reinstalling either tub or commode. They have their ""upfront"" pricing which we thought was extremely high but... I am not a plumber I thought the work would be way more involved so we agreed (the pricing was also convoluted and not a representation of the work we requested i.e. said fixing leaking pipe, open wall, etc.).

When I called to talk to someone about pricing they charged and how the work that was done doesn't justify what we paid they said they would have a manager call me back in 24 hours. No call. I called back and finally a ""manager called me back"". They said in a condensing tone did you want him there longer? Did you want him to make holes in your walls? Of course not. They said the disclosure and upfront pricing covered the scope of work and allows for changes in the pricing when the job is complete.

I then said well isn't that work supposed to include putting the commode and tub back in. She said yes. I said that didn't happen. She then said he can do anything with refunding only the installers manager can do that. She would not give me a name or a number but said he would reach out.

Waiting...

Clifford D.

I have been a member of Help's heating cooling and plumbing for several years. I use them primarily to take care of my heat pump and furnace. As a member of their club I am supposed to get a discount for any work done. This costs me about twenty dollars a month. I had a leak from my water heater and called them. They came out and quoted me a price of over six hundred dollars to replace the pressure relief valve and the expansion tank. Upon research I found that the parts cost a total of fifty five dollars and the job takes only twenty minutes. Both literally screw in like a light bulb. Do the math. This comes down to their labor cost is thirty dollars a minute or $1800.00 per hour. Are they nuts? No, they can get this kind of money because most don't find out the real cost of things. They guarantee that you will get your money back if not satisfied, but they will only give me a credit. After talking to them I pointed out the outrageous labor cost and they said that is indeed what they charge. I went to another plumber who has been in this area for about 40 years and he did the twenty minute job complete for $195.00. When I told them that, they were shocked but still refuse to really do anything about it. Watch out for them. I will no longer do business with them.

Please don't believe the ""owner"" response. It's all an attempt to make themselves look good. I already had the conversation they refer to and they said they would do nothing about this. If one calls the number listed you will NOT get to talk to the owner. It is all bull like so many have already said..