James A Wheat & Sons

Tori J.

Smart technicians but WAY way way overpriced. Look elsewhere. Wanted to charge us almost $800 to fix a toilet issue that we could go to the hardware store and fix for $20. They do not want to find you the most reasonable fix for your issue - definitely get multiple estimates, it will save you thousands.

Joseph S.

I saw one of their vehicles today traveling on the Clara Barton, and then on the 270 weaving between traffic without signaling and overall performing a menace to the general public around them. Immediately decided that it would be better to leave a terrible rating than settle for honking my horn. Service providers like this are why Maryland drivers have such a bad reputation in the national capital region. Zero stars for representing your business.

Joe M.

I called James A Wheat &Sons out to my home to repair the outside compressor on my central AC unit. the appointment was easy to set. and the technician came at the end of the window I was given. After he opened the outside unit he suspected the capacitor, he retrieved one from his truck, installed it but the unit still did not work, he inspected more, said I might need to replace everything, both furnace and the outside unit. As a ball park guess he gave a figure of $17000.00. He said he would not be able to fix it that day as I need more parts, he then tried to charge me for the capacitor, $774.00, I declined because this did not solve the problem. The particular one he pulled from the truck, listed on Ebay for 13 to 75 dollars. so that would be a 1000% to 3000% mark up. Apparently James Wheat, as a company had no trouble charging that much mark up. I also had to call the company to get a receipt for the $125. service call and diagnosis, when no diagnostic price was provided to complete the repair. I will seek out another company to do the work. I would avoid this company in the future.

Mary A R.

My bathroom toilet needed to have the fill valve replaced. The part costs between 16 and 30 dollars at Hope Depot. Jose quoted us over $500 to replace the part with no warranty. If we wanted a warranty or the toilet replaced it would cost $1700. Are you kidding me! This is total price gouging. I will never call them again. Basically asked the guy to leave. It was $35 cash for them to price gouge me.

Adam W.

Paid the $35 service fee for a small plumbing job. Plumber arrived and agreed this was less than a 1 hour job. He guessed maybe 20 minutes. It involved cutting out a short section of copper pipe, and adding a ""T"" - so a few dollars worth of parts.

I was quoted $800+ dollars. Ridiculous, and completely unjustifiable. Its not even close - where does this number even come from? I wish i had read the reviews here BEFORE trying this company - ironically i tried them because they acquired the exceptional HVAC company I always used (Mathers Mechanical) and I thought that made them trustworthy. Clearly not.

I will say that the plumber was pleasant and courteous - he also clearly understood that what he was being required to quote was completely unreasonable. I felt bad for him - i hope he can find a job at a better company, or at the very least they're passing on plenty of their swindled money to him.

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EDIT - response to Mike comment
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Cut out a short section of copper pipe to replace 2 saddle valves with ""T""s. That was the job, just that. Not an emergency call, just standard. For that i was quoted $800+.
You refer to a leak he found in a separate location which would have required cutting drywall etc. I said to not bother quoting on that.

I explicitly asked if this was an hour or less job, which was confirmed and told ""maybe as little as 20 mins"". Image attached - will let the community decide for themselves how long this would take for a skilled plumber? I've never left a review for anything and joined yelp today just for this because it was so egregious. All data i can find has plumbing service calls $150-$350 for the 1st hour. I'm not sure how you justify well over double the high end as fair and reasonable.

Anyway, appreciate you refunding the $35 and I would go as far as to say all other aspects were excellent: Booking/scheduling process, notification when plumber on route, friendliness & professionalism, speed of response. For people with unlimited money i would recommend you.

GA B.

Contacted this company to come out and assess heating requirements for my basement and after the first visit and a promise to send me a quote within 48 hours, I never heard back from them. Not even professional courtesy to decline the job. Radio silence...

Mike S.

This company charges a service fee , then a evaluation fee , then a fee to do the job . They didn't even call back to tell us the had to order the part . We have used them in the past and it was great service. I know some of thier employees which are good employees. All these extra fees are ridiculous . We understand the economy had a alot to do with prices, but not the SERVICE

Abi P.

The technician, Eric did a fine job in solving our plumbing problem. We appreciated the careful explanation of what had to be done and what caused the problem. He was efficient and very pleasant.

Jake S.

Rarely do I write reviews unless I am genuinely impressed. The other day, I was quite frustrated after a tech came to fix my air conditioning unit, but did not turn on/ the next next day. I called immediately the day following and was connected to a very friendly and responsive woman (who dealt with my attitude very well.) She ensured I would have the issue fixed, despite a completely full schedule. Medhi/Matt our assigned tech called me very shortly after on FaceTime and walked me through potential solutions in the meantime. He was very kind and helped me fix the entire issue (relatively simple and no one's fault) and then come over/ follow up that day to make sure everything was working properly. Thank you for your patience and help!

Mary D.

This business completely ripped me off. We have an oil burner that heats our home as well as our hot water. Our oil burner was out a week before Christmas. We had heat for our heat pump but no hot water. Wheat came on a Saturday and did a temporary fix that may go out at any time. The technician told me that we need a few parts- showed me quickly what they looked like, and promised an estimate on Monday. I receive the estimate- it's a little over $1500.00. I find one of the parts online- it's a 13.00 nozzle- Wheat's price- $402.00. My air filter replacement was $115.00 for a 10.00 part. The other main part was $830.00 to replace. I could not verify that actual price online so I went with that. Later I find out from another company that the part was about 30.00 as well. The topper for the estimate was $242.00 to put in about 8oz of an additive into my oil line to prevent sludge. So hundreds and hundreds of dollars of pure profit. When I called the office I was stonewalled by the sales manager that offered to take 15% off the invoice. So now it's three days before Christmas - I am hosting 17 people on Christmas Eve. I am in a bind so I decide to use them. Of course for the ordering of maybe $60.00 worth of parts- I had to pay a third of that atrocious estimate. They did the work in an hour and a half tops. Immediately my credit card was charged the WHOLE invoice amount- not the discount discussed or the $125.00 initial service call that was also supposed to be credited back to me. I know that some of these technicians work on salary AND commission- so my suggestion would be to anyone ever using this company to DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Unfortunately, the nature of their business is rooted in either no heat or no AC. My invoice was at least double what it should have been. The kicker- I was a recent REPEAT customer from July where I had a VERY pricy invoice to fix my outdoor AC air handler. CONSUMER BEWARE!