Lake Tahoe Plumbing & Heating

K C.

Wow, DO NOT USE THESE GUYS........................................................... My heater went out Dec 9th 2013. Because of recent freezing and needing a Leenox dealer we had to use 1 of 3 local dealers, so we called them. I had called on Dec 19th they said they would be out before Christmas, but not hearing from them I called back Dec 23, to learn it would be after Christmas. They showed up Dec 26th and told us our heater was leaking CO due to a BAD HEAT EXCHANGER, and could not be used. So Steve, the boss would give us a bid to replace. UMM where is the bid ??? So made several calls....
Dec 31st......., left message for Steve (the owner)
Jan 2nd 2014, Steve was checking on permits
Jan 7th.........., Steve still working on Bid
Jan 10th........, left another message
Jan 13th........, Received Bid $4800.00 No breakdown just a price
with an open end for Building Dept propane
requirements. Steve told me that is how he writes his bids.
In the meantime I found out the Lennox would sell us a new heater at a reduced cost (about 1/2 under warrenty) since they no longer sold our heater. So I called Steve and asked for a new bid reflecting the discounted heater.
He tried to tell me it did not apply to us. Since you had to have bought the heater. I informed him we did. Well to this day (Feb 12th) still no new bid. I think he was gonna send the bad one in and keep the money and not pass the savings on to us.
But we called Bill (Sierra Heating and Sheet Metal) for a second opinion. GUESS WHAT..... the heater just needed a slight adjustment and has been working Great ever since. He also checked and found no leaking CO and the Heat Exchanger is fine.
So we went without heat and cancelled 3 trips out of town because of being told faulty information. I was told Lake Tahoe Plumbing and Heating also told two other Lennox Pulse owners the same thing.

Nancy M.

Built a new home in South Lake Tahoe and got rid of this overpriced, dishonest company. Would NEVER do business with them again

Brian M.

Lake Tahoe Plumbing installed a high efficiency furnace and a hot water heater in the crawl space of our house about 5 years ago.

* Instead of installing the exhaust vents and combustion air pipes on the side or rear of the house they ran them to the front, next to the door. It looked ugly from the road and was noisy for us and our guests entering the house.

* They installed the hot water heater in a hole they dug in the crawl space. Upon the first spring thaw, the water heater was sitting in 2 feet of water and the electronics were ruined. They offered to split the cost of the 'repairs' and give me a sump pump if I would install it myself, which required me digging a hole 3ft across and 3 ft deep. Imagine the conversation I had with myself as I was standing in 2 feet of water in the cold in my crawl space digging a hole to fix a problem that I paid good money to create. I wasn't loving life.

* The original water heater limped along for 2 years then died. They offered no help on repairs or replacement. So, I paid for a new one - a low boy - using a different contractor and have not had any issues since.

* The furnace has never made it a full winter without needing repairs. There are weeks at a time where we can't get the temperature above 60*F due to issues with the way the air intake and condensation lines were installed. At this point, we've spent more money maintaining the system than we did on the original purchase and install. And we're about to finally replace it for even more money.

* I found interacting with the owner to be frustrating. There was little sense of accountability for the poor work his company did. Instead, his first reaction was to use the product or the environment as an excuse.

Even if this were just bad luck with the products and the installs, the customer experience was stressful and frustrating. The other HVAC specialists, who repaired our furnace and heater, consistently shook their heads at the poor quality of the work.

I would avoid working with Lake Tahoe Plumbing & Heating.

Ken H.

Perhaps I'm unique but I had a great experience with SLT Plumbing & heating. Steve & his team are very nice, responsive, knowledgeable, problem solvers, and patient. I installed a new furnace, water heater, and water pump valve. I got competing offers and his was about the lowest. All installs were done accurately and timely. The only minor issue was the surprise extra cost of installing the water heater in the crawl space vs the garage because it would not fit which was explained well and made sense. He also halved the extra cost of putting it in the crawl space. He even provided a loner thermostat when mine would not work. Thanks Steve!

Lori D.

I calle this company to come replace 2 of my hose bibs and add a 3rd. we talked over the phone no one ever showed to do an estimate for me. They were suppose to call me in the morning before they arrived. No One ever did. I waited till noon. I ended up on YELP and found another company. This company is unprofessional and inconsiderate. Here in Tahoe Your word is your promise. If you want a good reputation? DON'T screw over the local residents. This company is not for you if your looking for a trust worthy plumber. Their hrly rate is also $110.00 an hr. & only have a 1/2 star reting on yelp. The awsome company I chose other this these guys is only $95.00 an hr and they have a 4&1/2 star rating on YELP. DONT choose these guys..

Tahoe R.

DO NOT EVER USE THIS COMPANY!!!! Once the tech showed up spent an hour getting stuck in my crawl spaces couldn't even get the area to fix the issue. Put a temporary cap on the end of the pipe to hold it for now, and then proceeded to charge me $196.00 for this! The cap only cost $3.00 for a fix I could have done myself! Then let me know they'd send someone back out next week to fix the problem which I have since cancelled if for them to not even fix the problem was almost $200.00 I could only imagine what I'd be charged the next time around. Save yourself from being raped and use a different company!!!!

R. B.

They are the worst. They over-charge, charge for travel time (which they exaggerate), and charge a 2hr minimum. They are a large corporation that doesn't care about our community. Just ask one of their employees.

Joan W.

If there was a zero-star option I would choose that. Whatever you do, avoid Lake Tahoe Plumbing & Heating at all costs, unless you want them to charge you an arm and a leg for doing absolutely nothing but making them matter worse. I have a management company for our Tahoe rental house and they called to say the pilot light was out in our house. They called this company and the guy went out and ""fixed"" the problem by re-lighting the pilot light, charging us a good amount of money for that ""fix."" The very next day the management company called again and said the heat wasn't working again, so they had Lake Tahoe Plumbing & Heating go out to ""fix"" it again. This time the guy ""cleaned out"" the furnace's pilot light, again charging us a fortune to do so, and said that would do the trick, but in the meantime he also replaced our thermostat upstairs for no apparent reason (he said he thought that might be the problem - how that could contribute to the pilot light not staying on I don't understand) and charged us $90 for a $15 Home Depot crappy thermostat, plus another $90 for installing said unnecessary thermostat. Supposedly now, a couple hundred dollars later, the problem was all fixed. But in the meantime, Steve from Lake Tahoe Plumbing & Heating also told our management company that our gas fireplace needed overhauling and we need a whole new furnace, to the tune of several thousand dollars for those two jobs, neither of which actually needed to be done and we passed on those extra charges. I begrudgingly paid the $250+ for the service charges and unnecessary (and cheap) thermostat, thinking the issue was done. Not two days later our management company called again, saying that our renters were complaining because, you guessed it, they had no heat - in the middle of winter when temps. were in the 20s at night. I told our management company that they were NOT to call Lake Tahoe Plumbing & Heating again to do any work on the furnace, and instead we called Rudy's Plumbing to go out and take a look. They actually fixed it the right way and said that in looking at what Lake Tahoe Plumbing & Heating did, they can't see how they even had attempted to fix the problem. I would never, ever do business with this company again and think they do a discredit to all the other reputable heating and plumbing businesses in South Lake Tahoe. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES - EVEN IF IT'S A DIRE EMERGENCY - SHOULD YOU HIRE THESE GUYS. Absolute ripoff! I'm still trying to get my $250 back but I've pretty much kissed it goodbye at this point - I'll never see that money again unfortunately. I really wish our management company had read these reviews before hiring this company to do the work, but I'll tell you they're not using the company anymore for repairs on the houses it manages because of all the complaints they've received not only from me but other homeowners.

Ryan T.

Have you ever gotten the feeling from a contractor that they have you over a barrel and are going to take full advantage of that? That's what happens when you call LTP. Exorbitant rates for shoddy work.

b M.

They came out the same day I have called them on 2 different occasions (once for a water heater issue, another for a furnace issue). both times they diagnosed the problem quickly and made the repair quickly.

I found their prices to be inline with the other repair folks in town.