Hetherington Mechanical & Plumbing Contractors

Petey K.

I have been using Hetherington for years since we first bought a condo in the early 1990's. I still use them. They are knowledgeable and have repaired errors made by other plumbers. Their prices are very reasonable.

Liz K.

Disgusting in lack of ethics. Constant overcharging of owners in my building. We finally had enough and fired them. No one was pleased with their 2-hour bills for stopping by for 15 minutes to shut off and turn back on water. Whenever invoices were questioned, we only received entitled responses that this was the standard. Well, it isn't for us. We should have fired them years ago but our property manager allowed for this to happen. Never rely on your property management company to look out for your HOA's bottom line. You have got to do that.

Missy D.

The worst... my property management company uses them and am pondering hiring my own plumber.

- Customer service has a superiority complex and makes excuses, blaming the customer for their inability to manage time efficiently
- The plumbers are contract hires that, in addition to often being sexually inappro to me, do fixes that require future visits.
- My favorite answer from one of the plumbers regarding a radiator issue: ""just don't turn it on"" (so no heat!)

I long for the days of old when Bill and his wife ran a tight ship. Just a few years ago Hetherington was 4 star, now down to one.

Rich J.

I had a similar experience to all the other negative reviews. The customer service over the telephone deserves more stars, but I would give negative stars for the actual visit if I could. The only reason I used Hetherington was by referral from Citiscape, the company who manages my building's HOA. Citiscape even said they've had both positive and negative experiences with them, but used them because they're relatively cheaper compared to other companies, $85/hour. I should have cancelled the appointment as soon as I read the yelp reviews.

I had a gas leak. I live in a condo. The leak was approximately 2 levels below me and 3 levels above the meter room. PG&E had already shut the gas off days before. I contacted Hetherington to find the exact location so we know where to open the wall. To do this a full pressure test needed to be done. From the person who got it done in the end, the proper procedure is:
1) All appliances need to be disconnected
2) All appliance gas lines need to be capped
3) A full pressure test needs to be performed, i.e. the gas line needs to be pressurized to at least 30 psi's
4) Find the location of the leak by listening for the hiss, even if the pipe is behind a wall (sounds weird, I know, but it really did work)

Hetherington's guy shows up. He takes a look at my stove and gas fireplace, and basically says he has a bad back, and wouldn't be able to pull the stove out nor get down to the fireplace to properly cap the gas lines. HE SHOULD HAVE STOPPED THE CLOCK HERE AND TOLD ME HE COULDN'T HELP ME, AND REFERRED ME TO SOMEONE WHO COULD!!! At this time I only had a very limited understanding of what needed to be done so I didn't know to kick him out.

This is what he does next:
1) disappear for an hour = I HAD A FULL MEAL WHILE WAITING FOR HIM
2) upon returning, he ""light"" pressure tests the line to a few psi's only = POINTLESS
3) confirm I have a leak = NO $HIT
4) rule out a leak in the meter room = I ALREADY TOLD YOU THE APPROXIMATE LOCATION IS 3 FLOORS ABOVE THE METER ROOM (the only gas smell upon the pipe cracking was around the 3rd floor)
5) refer me to a helium test company that ended up costing me $100 for a competent plumber (separate from helium test company) to cap the lines, and another $400 for the test itself

This company was able to narrow it down to within 6 feet of the leak but they didn't know what the next proper step would be. In the end, I had to call around before I was referred to someone who could do it right, then realizing everything the Hetherington guy said, did, and referred me to was POINTLESS!!!

*****EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED AFTER HIM NOT BEING ABLE TO CAP THE LINES WAS BASICALLY MILKING THE CLOCK. EVERYTHING DONE WAS ABSOLUTELY USELESS AND POINTLESS. DON'T KNOW IF THE GUY ACTUALLY THOUGHT HE WAS HELPING ME OR IF HE WAS MILKING IT ON PURPOSE. EITHER WAY, IT'S BAD!!!*****

Hetherington did adjust my bill in the end, but I still paid for something that was USELESS and POINTLESS!!!

dee l.

Used them in the past, since they were recommended by my HOA. Last time, Bill, destroyed a wall while fixing my bathroom and they tried to place the cost to repair the wall on me. This time, they submitted a work proposal for $2500 to fix a ""pipe"" that was leaking. I decided to get a second opinion from a contractor/plumber and the issue was related to something else. I had my own plumber fix the problem under $1000. There seems to be collusion going on between Hetherington and my HOA. I have filed a complaint with the State.

Carolyn R.

Tom just left after doing a great job with my bathroom basin. Originally, it was just the faucet I was having problems with, but when he noticed the slow drain (which often clogs) he said, ""well, since I'm here . . ."" and took an additional ten minutes to fix it. Now I have not only a happy faucet but a happy basin. Oh yeah, and he was early to the appointment. Awesome!

Sean M.

I worked for hetherington for about a year in plumbing , i found that they under charged 95% of their customers and speaking for myself i never a callback and all the people that work there are hard work working people, it kind of annoying to hear so many people complaining about their service and price, try calling cabrillo plumbing that charge 450 per hr and wear fancy white clothing and red belt, i know coz i worked for them and it felt horrible ripping people off.
I now work for myself subcontracting so i know how hard it is to run a small bis.
Susan was also a great woman.

Lucy L.

I think I have figured out how Hetherington operates. The company wants to cultivate business with property management companies because no one monitors their billing closely that way. Our property management company uses Hetherington and they are very responsive and they do top-notch work. The glitch came up when Hetherington was contacted for what was believed to be a building expense but it turned out our unit in the building was responsible for the problem so the bill ended up with me. I was shocked at the price. I knew how long their first visit was and they billed me for three times as many hours as they were in the apartment. Now granted, there were two people that showed up. But the one guy just stood around and told the other guy what to do. Not sure why they needed two people to turn off the water. I've contacted plumbers before and just one person shows up. Anyway, there was padding of hours across the board (there were two follow up visits). I could go on, but I've made my point.

Jeffrey A.

Dan is the best. Heatherington has taken care of our building for over 10 years and we keep coming back every time!

Michelle L.

I've paged them over and over to please call me back after hours. I am having several problems with a drain backup from my sink. They keep telling the property manager that the clog is due to my misuse of a garbage disposal. Surprisingly, I haven't been using the sink for 24 hours and water keeps leaking out when the upstairs neighbors turns on their faucet.
The non-responsiveness combined with their infuriating prognosis that makes no sense whatsoever, is quite simply, inexcusable.
Follow-up: After 72 hours, they have finally come, and been able to snake out the drain which had a blockage 50ft into the pipe. In-unit garbage disposal issue my-arse. Thanks to their slow response and poor diagnosis, my hardwood floors are flooded and ruined.