Hurst Plumbing Inc/Water Heater Solutions

Ling Y.

If your home warranty company wants to assign this company to do repairs under the home warranty plan, say NO. We just had our nightmare.

Our toilets were leaking due to cracks on the water tanks near the levers. These toilets are over 20 years old installed by the original builder. Home warranty assigned Hurst Plumbing to repair. The plumber came, took a picture and then left. We did not hear anything for over 3 days while we could not use the toilets as they were leaking. I called Hurst Plumbing and left a couple of messages. No one would return my call. I called Home Warranty. They said Hurst Plumbing did not submit its report and they could not authorize the work. Finally Home Warranty got hold of the elusive plumber and called me back with the shocking news that my claim was denied based on the plumber's report. Hurst Plumbing told Home Warranty that the cracks were caused by improper use and by the lid hitting tanks too hard. I explained to Home Warranty the cracks occurred near the levers due to wear and tear and repetitive force applied to this area. Home Warranty said Hurst Plumbing did not provide a picture and they had to chase Hurst Plumbing for photos to verify my statement. Anothet day went by without any progress. Finally, I took the photos and sent to Home Warranty. They looked at the photos, found the cracks were not new and resulted from normal wear and tear. Home Warranty authorized the repair work.

I was initially puzzled by Hurst Plumbing's mis-diagnosis to cause my claim to be denied, as if Hurst Plumbing did not want the job. Then I realized why. They had to run to Concord from Brentwood to get the toilets and might not make much with the time spent, etc. If my claim was denied, Hurst Plumbing could still get paid for $65 for its ""diagnosis"" by spending only 2 minutes in my house.

Finally I received a call from Hurst Plumbing about installing the toilets, telling me that the toilet model was so old that replacement tanks were not available and they needed to install new whole toilets. But when the plumber came, he started working on replacing the water tanks instead of removing the whole toilets. I had to explain to him the situation and direct him to the right task. Then he said the toilet seats were not included. I was doubtful and together we called Home Warranty. Home Warranty rep said the seats were included. Plumber said he would go out and get the seats and return in 20 minutes. That was the last we saw him

After waiting for over 2 hours and saw no plumber, I called Hurst Plumbing. The receptionist said she would call the plumber and call me back. She never did. I called Hurst Plumbing the next morning and asked about the plumber's disappearing act. The receptionist said she did not call me because her boss Todd told her he would call me himself. I told her it was not acceptable to keep a customer.waiting for 2 hours and I never received a call from her boss. I told her I would write this Yelp review about my bad experience.

Then I got a call from the business owner Todd Hurst. He said that Home.Warranty told him the toilet seats were not covered and that he did not call me because Home Warranty would call me. I reminded him that I was his customer and what they did was not acceptable. Home Warranty did not call me and I was still waiting for his plumber to return. Then Todd threatened me that he once hired an attorney to force a reviewer to pull down a negative review about his business on Yelp. I told Todd as long as I was telling the truth, his threat would not work. If he brings a frivolous lawsuit against me and loses, he has to pay my attorney fees in addition to his. I told him if he wants a 5 star, then act like one.

This company is so unprofessional that they never even bother bringing a work order form for us to sign and keep.

If you still want to use this company after reading my review, please get some air freshener ready. The plumber smelled very bad on both visits.

Alphonse L.

I found Hurst Plumbing to be responsive and professional. I have used Hurst Plumbing on and off for nearly five years. They showed up did the work and departed. I have never been disappointed.

Linda L.

Well, my one good experience with them has now been overshadowed by my last one.

On June 29th 2016 I had a contractor working at my home. He was there to install reinforcement beams in the kitchen / dining area as the floor was not even. When he opened up the floor in the kitchen he saw water on the ground, and he saw there was a broken pipe (the kitchen sink was draining onto the ground). I called First American and asked for a service call to be done as an emergency. I was referred to Hurst Plumbing. I called them immediately and left a message. They never called that day, and I called early in the day.

The next day, June 30th, I called Hurst Plumbing first thing in the morning. I spoke with Misty and told her that I had to have a service call that day, as my floors were opened up and the pipe was broken. She told me that she would send someone out to my house, to see if they would be able to do the job while the floor was open and accessible.

My contractor messaged me and said that the plumber came out, he looked at the area and said he had another job to do so he would call me later (which he failed to do) .

I called Misty again and she advised me that the plumber told her that he could not do the job, as there was no access to the pipe. He stated he would put that in a report and send it to the warranty company. She also said since it was a holiday weekend there was no way to get it done in a timely manner. I even told Misty that I would stop the work on my floors and leave them open if they could do the repair in the next day or so.

I called First American and talked to a representative and told her what was happening. She called Hurst Plumbing, while I was on the phone. She said they faxed over a report and it said there was no access to the pipe and in order to fix the broken pipe there would be digging / excavating involved. I told her the floor was open and the pipe was 100% accessible! I told them the plumber was basically lying through his teeth, the floor was wide open!

I called Misty back at Hurst Plumbing again. I told her that what the plumber was saying was absolutely untrue. I told her that my floors were open and the pipe was totally accessible. I was very distraught. I told her that it doesn't make sense to do digging and excavating and cause damage to my home when the broken pipe was accessible. Especially since my warranty does not cover any secondary repairs / damage done from the digging and/or excavating (and you can bet there would have been damage) She told me was that she had to go by what the plumber told her.

My contractor was able to fix the broken pipe that day, and he charged me $250 for the parts and labor.

I just received a bill for the $65.00 service fee being charged for the service call / work that was never done by Hurst plumbing. Seriously?? what a joke. Now I have to dispute it!

For whatever reason, the the plumber from Hurst plumbing did not want to do the job
The floor was open, the pipe was accessible - lucky me I took a bunch of photos!
I was told that he would call, he never did
I was told that they couldn't get the job on their schedule as it was a holiday weekend (this was on a Thursday morning and July 4th was on the following Monday)
I was told that in order to fix the pipe digging and excavating would have to be done. Again, NOT TRUE!, it was fixed by my contractor the next day ..... by going through the hole in the floor where the pipe was located.

Never again....

SD M.

Our garbage disposal started leaking and since we have a home warranty I called it in to the warranty company who referred the job to Hurst Plumbing. I was very happy to have a local company coming as I always prefer to use local whenever I can.

Having never had appliance replacement done through a warranty company I was very concerned about the process and replacement product. The kind lady in the office, Heather(?), was great at answering my questions and put me at ease with the process. I realize it was simply a disposal not a stove or range or other major appliance, but I still wanted to know what the process was since I know that service providers have access to different products typically than the everyday joe homeowner who typically goes to Home Depot/Lowes or Amazon.

They gave me a 75 min time window for arrival which was amazing since many companies are 4 hours. They did call 30 min before the end of that window to let me know Todd might be a little late, a pro active phone call that I appreciated! He was only 15 min late at that.

Todd arrived, quickly assessed the situation, replaced the disposal and was in and out in under 45 min (maybe less than 30)! Quick, easy, no fuss. I am very pleased with how the process transpired.

MiAmor 1.

This company came out on a few occasions, sent by our warranty company for a few things. I always had kind of a ""not so good feeling about them"". Now I know why and I will never have them out again. Our water was not getting warm so they came out and said our water heater needed to be replaced. They didn't really look at the water heater very much just hand tested the kitchen sink water to see if it got hot (which it didn't). They said it needed to be replaced without much more information or being more thorough into looking to see what the cause even was. To them it was no hot water = need a new water heater.

The water heater was only a few years old. They went ahead and replaced it and then charged me extra for some work on the invoice they never even did. I had to call and email at least 5X to get refunded. After paying the $600 or so to get it installed (warranty paid the rest) the water was still not hot. The technician called in to the office and after being told to further investigate around the house and what our piping set-up (something they should have done to begin with) was like we found out that for some reason the washer basin in the garage is connected to the water heater. The original water heater never even needed to be replaced the handles on the wash basin were turned off disallowing the hot water to move through. All of this and out $600 because of their unprofessionally skilled work.

To top it off, we were having some recent work done and the new contractor needed to secure a permit but couldn't because Hurst never closed/cleared the permit for their job!

Rediculous!!

David C.

I'm a local property manager working for a company that manages over 400 rentals in the Brentwood/Antioch/Oakley area. I first found Hurst Plumbing through a home warranty company that usually assigns vendors that do only the bare minimum amount of work in order to get paid for the job. Hurst Plumbing has been and continues to be the exception to that generalization.

When other companies have blown me off or told me it would be another few days before they could complete a job, Hurst Plumbing has gone out of their way to work after hours and expedite true maintenance emergencies for us. I have been so impressed with their work that I've actually started using them on work orders that aren't covered by a home warranty policy. The office manager, Heidi, has always been extremely accommodating to our companies' needs and I truly value the expertise of Todd Hurst and all his employees who always have the most effective and cost efficient approach to an issue.

I personally and professionally recommend Hurst Plumbing to my friends, family, and colleagues.

Kim S.

Todd came out to check our leaking toilet and ended up fixing 3 of them! I've worked with home warranty companies before and they weren't particularly easy to deal with but Todd was a true professional! (Even my dogs love him)

Angie C.

I am a mother of 3 with a husband on active duty with the army and currently on orders away from home when my water heater exploded and flooded our first home just purchased less than a year ago. I was devastated and funds are limited so I was so relieved to find out that our home warranty covered the cost to replace the heater. Not only did I wait a week with no hot water till they got someone out here to replace it, but they also tried to stick me with a $560 bill of ""non covered items"" (i.e. $95 for a drip pan I bought at a local hardware store for $9.99 and $65 to dispose of the old heater which I had scheduled to be picked up by a free service). The other items listed on my out of pocket expenses were things involved with plumbing and since I know absolutely nothing about it, I could not determine if it was necessary or if I was being over charged, given the $85 over charge for a drip pan, I can only assume the worst. None the less, I have an infant and two pre-teen girls who desperately needed hot water and as quickly as possible so I signed off on the work order.
I explained to the Office Manager (Misty) the situation of my husband being gone and the fact that I was unable to reach him and unable to acquire any additional money outside the deductible I had already had to fork over for the insurance claim for damages as well as the warranty for the water heater. I requested Hurst bill me, or even take a partial payment and defer the remaining balance for another week. She offered to speak with the owners on my behalf and get back to me. Less than 10 minutes later she called back with a ""no go"" and said that all out of pocket expenses were to be paid in full on the day of service.
Ok, I tried. I borrowed money from a family member and went ahead with the order; That wasn't the worst of it.
The plumber came, did the exchange of old with new and despite my offering to move the vehicle from the garage and his insistence that it wasn't a problem, he managed to dent the hood of the car anyway. My brother even offered to help him carry out the water heater so as not to bump anything in the garage and again he refused help. I am not sure what caused the damage to the car (the water heater itself, tools he was using etc) but I do know that he packed up his things, loaded up the old water heater which I requested to stay so as not to be charged, and let himself into the home to leave the invoice. He made sure to mention that he had closed up and left out the front door. Later when I was in the garage, I noticed the damage. Of course by then the office was closed for the day and this happened to be the Friday of memorial weekend so I sent a short email requesting a phone call first thing Tuesday and attached photos of the damage.
I had to call Tuesday because I never heard back from anyone. I was told by Misty that the owner would return my call promptly however she was the one to call back, She insisted the damage could not have been done by that plumber (Todd) because ""He is SOOOO strong and can lift a water heater with one arm, so there is no way he could have accidentally hit my car with it."" She refused to let me speak with the owner, she yelled at me for about 5 minutes accusing me of ""sticking her with a tab for my car"". I honestly didn't know what to say at that point, I wasn't able to get more than two words out before she was yelling at me again. I am so glad I chose to record the conversation.
I have since contacted my Warranty company and filed a claim with them since they are the ones who contracted Hurst for the job. I have also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and am writing my very first bad yelp review.
I don't recommend their services.

Teresa K.

I have read some of these reviews. Unfortunately, sometimes the ratings of the warranty company effects the ratings of the sub contractors they are associated with. This is not fair. I am a third party in this situation. Fidelity Home Warranty will get a separate review, as they are the WORST warranty company I have ever dealt. As far as Hurst Plumbing is concerned. They were able to come out on a rush work order. They honored the time they stated and the individual-Representative (Ramon) was very kind and professional. He found the problem immediately. What a pleasure. I would recommend them to everyone.

J A.

Rude, horrible customer service by plumber. Unprofessional.plumber was not thorough at all. I informed him that the problem was that my kitchen sinks were all backed up and the dishwasher wasn't draining. He snaked the sink, ran water on one side of the sink, packed his stuff and got ready to leave. I thought he went to his van to grab something but he was sitting there writing up a work order. I told him the sink on the island was still pooling water. He looked very irritated, returned to the kitchen with a plunger, plunged it and then collected fee. As he was leaving ( standing outside my house) he suggest I do a test run of dishwasher to complete the clearing of the pipes. (Seriously?)

I will never use this company again.