J.F. Whitlow, Jr. & Sons

Jessica A.

I cannot recommend hiring them for gas services unless you have the time and expertise to supervise them. It took multiple tech visits for them to fix a simple job at our house. The owner continued to send the same 2 techs out who couldn't seem to get the hang of their job. This entire ordeal culminated in my husband suiting up and crawling the line himself and finding multiple gas leaks. Very loud and apparent ones that were likely there all along but not apparent until we had them increase the flow on the repeat visit. Luckily we caught them before our house blew up or we moved in and lived with a leak. The owner never felt it necessary to show his face and they even had the nerve to wonder why we wouldn't be paying them additional money to repair the job they screwed up. I know there aren't a lot of options out there but only choose them if you feel qualified to run the job, because they sure aren't. If you think I sound harsh, it's because these guys did sub par work in a house that small children were moving into and I don't take that lightly. I wish they took their work as seriously as they take their smoke breaks. The admin who answers the phone is great, but that's the only nice thing I can say. Maybe they are less terrible at plumbing. Good luck.

Dez P.

We've been fighting with our home insurers for over 3 years over our ac unit. They insist on sending repair persons 3-4 times a year instead of just replacing the old unit. I tell you this because we've had so many different companies come into our home but NONE were like J F Whitlow Jr and Sons! First, the 2 times this repairman came, he wore a mask. I didn't have to ask. BZ! We've had the Covid immunization but repair people are in and out of so many homes, putting their own families at risk as well as customers, so this simple act told me this person cared about my family too!
Next, the level of professionalism was just...made me want to cry. When we called the company, the person answering their phone was courteous and professional as well! I thought, this company must hire the best or provides top-notch training. Our unit died, again, Memorial Day weekend. The previous guy didn't even see that the fan wasn't running and we needed a new motor! For 6 weeks we suffered in this heat. Not only did our Whitlow repairman replace the motor, he also went into our 100+ degree attic to replace a capacitor which probably burnt out due to the extreme heat of our house. Amazing, top-notch service! I'm so sorry I forgot the repairman's name.
I'll end this review by saying this - we have seen many HVAC companies and I'm not saying they weren't good companies as a whole, but when you experience great service, that causes you to take time out of your busy day to write a review, you know that anything previous was subpar! When our AC dies again, we're requesting J F Whitlow and Sons!

Angela M.

JF Whitlow and sons came out to my rental property to check out my heat. They had no heat and this company came out and said nothing was wrong. he never checked the thermostat. The technician walked outside said the fan was working fine and dispatched as everything was working. So i called the warranty company and did a recall for them to come back out. Obviously if it blowing cold air there is an issue. They set up an appointment 3 days later between 12-5. The technician called and said he was running behind. Assuming he was going ot come out before it got dark. He called and wanted to come to my rental property at 8pm. I have a tenant who is elder and on dialysis. So we declined the appointment and asked them to reschedule for the next day. The called back and said they had no appointment for 6 days. How it that possible. You did not show up in the allotted time but then you want to schedule an appointment 6 days alter. I called up there and asked why it was schedule so far out. I got Cameron on the phone who told me because we cancelled the 8 pm appointment they were only obligated to get to the first available appointment. Now remember i have an elder woman who could die from having no heat. I tried to explain this to Cameron and he did not want to listen, he came on with an attitude and when i was getting upset, Cameron did the childish thing by putting me back on hold for his appointment setter to come back on the line and she proceeded to tell me how rude i was. WOW -- I feel in my opinion they did not want to service me or my address because my rental property is in an Urban neighborhood and my tenant is older and black. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY !!!!

Todd M.

I have a home warranty and they sent us this terrible company. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!! Our upstairs A/C went out and the first time they sent out someone who looked at the unit and in 10 minutes determined that it was my home breaker and not something with the A/C unit. (A/C unit is the only thing on that particular breaker). They left without checking anything else. We were forced to call another company and pay them to give a proper check of the system. The other company determined that it was the compressor. Through our home warranty, we forced them to come back and finally they confirmed what the other company discovered and that they should have seen in the first place. Finally, after the compressor is ordered and brought in, Whitlow is installing the unit and asks to use our bathroom. My wife is OCD, has asthma and heart disease and in this COVID environment, she is very anal about anyone coming into the house. She says no, so to make a long story short, they fix the upstairs unit and out of spite do something to the downstairs unit for it to no longer work. Do not use this company for any reason!

James B.

I asked for a diagnostic on a leak I didnt know where it was coming from. I was at work and my wife was home and told them I was to authorize any repairs. Plumber tried calling me. Left a voice mail and never spoke to me. (Have multiple voice mails incase anyone wants proof) At that point he should've paused and not done anything further after the diagnostic. He told my wife that I said to do what's needed (never spoke to him). Pulled the toilet replaced a wax seal (it was leaking where I couldn't see). I never told him to do any actual work. So basically took advantage of my wife being alone without someone else there. So I paid a $75 diag fee which is what I agreed to. Plus 225 for a wax seal replacement. A 10 dollar wax seal for 225 that I would've told them not to do. I've replaced plenty. I would avoid them.

Jeffery B.

The Whitlow technician said on 11/20/19 my furnace needed a replacement gas valve. When he returned to install the part on 11/26/19, I asked for a breakdown of parts/labor charges as I thought the cost of repair ($647) seem high. The woman at the company became defensive and refused to give me the information, saying they billed by flat rate. I believed I was being overcharged but reluctantly paid the bill by check.

Next day (11/27/19) the furnace was not working, with exactly the same symptoms as before - fan blowing cold air and wouldn't shut off. I reported the failure to Whitlow (by email for documentation) and said I wanted a refund and that I intended to get someone else to repair it. I had someone else check the system, and he found the electronic control board was defective. The control board was replaced, and the system has worked fine ever since.

Whitlow insists that the gas valve they replaced was also defective (I question that but I have no proof), and that I should have called them back for the additional repairs. But at that point I felt I had reason to doubt Whitlow's fairness in pricing and their ability to correctly diagnose problems and effect repairs promptly, so I didn't want them back.
I feel that I am entitled to a refund but Whitlow refuses to give me one.

Vanessa S.

Terrible customer service. Cancelled the appointment at the very time they were supposed to arrive! When I explained that they took a week to schedule the appointment, that I had already taken off and that the leak had been destroying my cabinets, they said they had no other technician to send. Ridiculous.

Heather V.

I had a great experience with J.F. Whitlow Jr. and Sons for their plumbing service. They were sent to us through our home warranty company (after a failed service call from another company). The ladies who answered the phone were quick, kind and knowledgeable. They had great customer service. The technician they sent out was Lee. He was knowledgeable and thorough and was able to give us full details on the problem we were having with our main line. We are having them back to fix the problem this week! Great service! Thank you all!

Chuck W.

When you move to a new State after living in one for 34 years, you are short on ""go to"" people for necessary things like plumbing. Our house experienced a total stoppage in sewer flow last night and I am one who reads reviews. I immediately noticed this company, in part, because their last name is the same as ours. The reviews made it an easy choice to contact them. A telephone call message left and a prompt call back by a friendly voice indicating their interest in assisting us with our problem. An appointment was made and they arrived ahead of schedule. The level of caring coupled with expertise made the work performed 5 star level. We would recommend this company to any family in need of expert plumbing diagnosis and repairs. In fact, we will get them to come and install a garbage disposal in the very near future.

Liz C.

JF Whitlow did an outstanding job in fixing our plumbing issue. They unclogged the main pipe that had jammed up all the plumbing inside the house, dug up the yard area to get to the pipe, replaced a piece of cracked pipe and installed a clean-out for us from an area of the yard to the city's responsiblity, if a main clogg happens again in the city area of pipe. They put all the dirt back & even managed to save the grass to put back! They communicated with us ever step of the way & showed up on time. Their estimate was right where the actual price was, which was more than fair. It was very labor intense. We thank Lee Witlow, Derrick and the other young man who worked on this project. I highly recommend JF Witlow & Sons Plumbing of Portsmouth, Va. for all your plumbing needs! Thank you to Witlow for their help!