Magnolia Plumbing Heating & Cooling

Katie M.

I was very disappointed with the customer service at Magnolia. On three separate occasions this week, I called them to address a gas issue with my water heater, at the suggestion of one of their other techs servicing our first floor unit. I called Wednesday evening and was told that dispatch would call me back, and never received a call. Thursday I called again to try to set up an appointment. We set an appointment window and I was told that I would receive a call when our tech was 30 minutes away. 30 minutes PAST our two-hour appointment window I called Magnolia to get a status update, and they told me that their tech was running behind and they would just have him call me when he was on his way. As a working professional I told them that wouldn't work for me, and asked to reschedule for the following day.

So now we're at Friday. Again, 30 minutes PAST our two-hour appointment window I received a call from Magnolia saying that the tech was on his way and would be there in about 30 minutes (an HOUR past our original window). Ok, great, after two days of trying to get something set up he's finally on his way. JUST KIDDING! 45 minutes later I call for an update, and am told that he's coming from Baltimore, hit traffic, and would probably be another 45 minutes to an hour before he could arrive. Obviously upset because we've now spent three days rescheduling meetings and rearranging, without any sort of outreach regarding delays from Magnolia, we ended up having to cancel because we couldn't wait around for another hour or more for the tech to show up.

Overall, very disappointed with the lack of communication from Magnolia about our appointment. I would feel less upset about this experience if they had let us know they were running behind so we could also adjust accordingly. It's challenging to remain available to meet the tech when you're also balancing a full-time job. Instead we just sat in an unproductive limbo for two days hoping that he might show up at some point. And even when I asked Magnolia about their policy for notifying customers of delays, they seemed unwilling to take that extra step saying ""there's not really anything we can do.""

We've used Magnolia for a while, but after this experience plan to go with another company moving forward.

MV P.

I paid top dollar for a new system in 2015. Sadly it has been nothing but problems since then. The magnolia answering service has been rude and unresponsive. Dealing with their own employees is better, but they have not been able to fix the problem in 4 years. I am very disappointed.

Michael B.

Crazy high pricing and poor business practices.

My experience: I knew exactly what I needed because my main sewer gets clogged with roots about every year and a half, but Magnolia refused to quote me over the phone. They charged $75 to come look at my situation, and in two minutes the guy explained it would be $1000. This is for work that takes me 2 hours with rented Home Depot equipment, but I was just ready to hand over to someone else. I would hate to have these guys show up and feel like I didn't have options, because they are predatory.

Anna P.

DO NOT USE.

I called Magnolia Plumbing to get a quote for a a wax ring on the toilet to be replaced. They said it would be $75 for the technician to come out and tell me what was wrong which was fine, but they refused to give me any sort of quote. When the technician came out, he looked at the water on the floor and said it would be $400 minimum to take apart the toilet to see what was wrong. I said absolutely not and was still charged $75 for them to come out, look at the toilet, not diagnose anything, and leave. In short: I said I needed a new wax ring, asked for a quote, they said $75 to come out, looked at the water on the ground, then said it would be $400 minimum to tell me what was wrong- and not diagnose anything.

When I called back to talk to a representative they were unbelievable rude. The woman said over and over again ""Did you, or did you not agree to pay the $75 for them to come out."" She must have said this 5 times on the phone- as if I didn't hear her the first time. I was under the impression that I was going to pay $75 to see what was wrong. Not $75 for him to look at the water on the floor (which I told them over the phone), and tell me it would be $400 to see what was wrong. When I told the woman that I called two other plumbers to get a quote and they gave one to me right away (who also DON'T charge to come and give you a quote) her response was ""well then, why didn't you get one of them to do the job?"" (She's right- I DEFINITELY should have gotten one of the other plumbers to come out instead) The woman wasn't apologetic, didn't care about a word I had to say, and also didn't care about their horrible reviews online.

The plumber was honest and very nice- but the woman on the phone was extremely rude and I will never use this company again because of her attitude and comments towards me during the conversation. She was insulting and used metaphors about cars and mechanics as if I've never had work done on my car before.

Lesson learned: Read the reviews online before you call this company.

Harry D.

We had a leaking faucet at our business and we got a referral from the building management. We had two other plumbers come in and give estimates before calling Magnolia. They couldn't fix it but could replace the fixture for $800. They charged us $49 to come in, give the estimate and that $49 would be credited to the repair if we used them. We called Magnolia. They said they could fix the sink and presented us with a bill for $329.60 leading us to believe that was the cost to repair it. They came in today, made the repair, and presented us a second bill for $451. We could have had new fixtures from the other two for the same price. Outrageous price. We are filing a complaint with the BBB, DC Dept of Consumer Regulatory Affairs, and notifying the local Chamber of Commerce.

Robert C.

I have been using Magnolia for my HVAC and plumbing needs for about a year now. They've been great at diagnosing and fixing the issues at our property. Saeid has been especially helpful with our HVAC needs; so much so, that when I call to schedule our semi annual maintenance or repairs, I request him specifically. He is very knowledgeable and helpful in explaining things to me. I would highly recommend Magnolia and especially Saeid.

Jerry M.

Saied the HVAC technician for our home is knowledgeable, thorough, professional and friendly. He carefully explains the mechanics involved in heating and cooling and recommends options without a sales push. He has been our technician for 4 visits and I could not be happier. We've installed several upgrades to our system and the results were archived as he explained they would be. He remembers our home and the work he performed and helps us with the progression of our system. I have complete confidence in him.

Charles F.

I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the posting from Billy V., which has come at a perfect time. By way of update, after receiving my fourth consecutive electric bill for $600 this winter, I decided to call out a different local HVAC company to look at the items installed by Magnolia - the electric heat strip and the heat pump.

Regarding the heat strip, unfortunately they found that after not installing the unit when I was told Magnolia would last September, being dishonest about the need for an additional 240V electric line (which cost me additional money to run after our renovation was completed), and four subsequent visits during which your team members left my house without any heat saying that there was a bad ground in the air handler and that would be a new separate install charge, I was stunned to learn from the new company that currently only one of the two 5kw coils is actually now working. Short answer, it was still never installed properly despite the months of headache and numerous visits.

On the heat pump, which Magnolia had subcontractors install, Sam did come out after it was installed to address an issue of a constant loud rattle sound that began after two weeks of use. He deduced that it was overcharged with refrigerant and drained some, eliminating the rattling. When the unit froze over a week later, Sam was able to next determine that the unit was wired incorrectly from initial installation, and that the defrost control board was fried. A week later living on 5kw of electric heat, the new control board was finally installed. Unfortunately, the new team just found that because all of that refrigerant was initially (possibly incorrectly) drained by Sam, the unit is now short-cycling, which means we fall back on our only 5kw worth of heat strip for our house, driving up our electric bills dramatically.

Billy, the money spent to hire a second company to double check your team's work was the first good money I spent on HVAC during this project.

On your other three points, I am sorry I inferred that Magnolia fired the ""comfort specialist"". I don't root for anyone to be fired, but to think that you were still sending him out to homes across the DMV area up until the time he left the company, I am concerned you have a lot more problems out there.

And when all of the issues were found initially, Sam did make a very generous offer to fix everything without labor. What did he offer? A completely new system for $18,400 with a 10% discount - a pretty typical M.O. from the comments on upcharging I have read in other reviews. As an alternative, he offered a second option of just a new heat pump, a new trunk line, and to re-do all of our duct work for $11,985 with a 10% discount. I went to the home depot myself, and for $200 and a weekend of work, I re-configured all of our flex duct myself. I ended up negotiating the purchase of the trunk line and the still-not-fully-functioning heat pump from Magnolia for $4,600. That means that $6,000(!!!) of the second estimate was for labor that Sam promised not to charge me to make up for Magnolia's initial errors.

Finally, you mention the two ducts that should have been installed during our initial work last September. I have no option but to now do those at cost to me. Unfortunately, I already paid Magnolia for them under the initial contract, and your team decided not install them when promised, telling me after I paid that they were not needed. Well, they were needed as Sam now agrees, but those rooms were renovated in the interim. After all of this nonsense, there is no chance I am going to let a team from Magnolia loose on our new floors and walls to cut holes to install those two ducts. Another example from my initial post about how I will be paying for the correct job for years to come.

Billy V., in summary, when told by you and your management team that Sam needs to make a bad situation right, he can actually be non-combative. I understand when something just doesn't get installed correctly the first time - it happens to the best of us, but the frustration for me comes from the fixes to those errors being completely botched as well; all while my family lives in a house where the temperature barely crested 60 degrees for the entire winter (our work was supposed to be completed in September!). A Magnolia warranty isn't worth the paper it is printed on. You can understand my frustrations and concerns all you want, but I stand firmly on my initial rating, and wish it could be zero stars. My hope is that it might be helpful for other families who may consider using Magnolia in the future.

Carter M.

Humberto and Kevin were prompt in their response and did excellent work following a clog in our main drain. We called multiple other providers with minimal or no success in getting ahold of anyone. Magnolia was responsive, explained everything they were going to do, transparent about the cost, and worked extremely hard to ensure no damage or spillage happened during the service. His team also installed our backflow prevention valve several months ago and did a high quality, efficient job while ensuring our home was minimally disrupted. I can't recommend Humberto, Kevin, and the rest of their team enough!

Caleb R.

I can't say enough bad things about my experience with Magnolia Plumbing. They quickly came out and gave me an estimate on replacing two heater/AC units, higher than the other estimates I received but predicated on claims they would do everything needed to make the job simple. They then delayed for several weeks and attempted to renegotiate the contract after it was signed. They did not perform the full work promised and I now have two machines that leak substantial cold air because they were not sealed properly. The machines are also damaged by drywall and duct tape because they did not clean up after themselves.

The actual technician they sent out was friendly, professional, and accommodating but every time he called the central office I could overhear them telling him to speed up, do less, and avoid things I had been promised in the original estimate.

This company is dishonest and you'd be better off looking elsewhere. They employ some great contractors but then substantially curtail the ability of those contractors to do good work.