My Plumber Plus

John T.

I just spent what seems like a large sum of money to fix my furnace, but I really don't feel very good about it. It started with the gas furnace not lighting, so I figured it was the igniter needing replacement. We've used MyPlumber for various things over the years and they were OK. The repairman came in the appointed time frame and declared that he could fix the igniter and it was one price without a guarantee and another price with a guarantee. What was that? You won't guarantee your work? What's more, in order to warrant the work, we needed to have a ""comfort consultant"" visit us later in the day to ""validate the warranty"". This was when alarms bells started going off, but what can you do? Furnace needs fixing, kids sick, etc. We said OK, agreeing to $600 with a warranty, but upon further inspection, the control board was burned and needed replacing. He said probably the igniter shorted and burned the board. OK. Plausible. Now the price goes up by $900, but again, what can you do? In the end the, the furnace works, I paid a lot of money, I have no idea what I paid for (receipt is not itemized), but I know that I paid extra to have someone come to my home, take my valuable time, verify that their own employee had done what he said he had done, and try to sell me a new furnace. What I want from a contractor is someone who will stand behind their work, provide me with the confidence that I am paying a reasonable amount of money, and assure me that the technicians in my home are trustworthy. MyPlumber failed on all counts.

Steve F.

I'd give them 0 stars if I could right now. I'm sitting in my basement watching my ceiling drip water into my floor from my master tub 2 floors up.

I called a couple weeks ago to get an estimate to get my master bath tub replaced. I had told them that I had a plumber come out already and he determined that the jets were leaking. I made that ridiculously clear as well as the fact that I wanted an estimate on a new tub. So first appointment who do they send? A plumber. ""Sorry sir but I can't give you an estimate on that. You'll need someone from renovations (or whatever it was)."" So missed a few hours of work for nothing that day.

My estimate appointment was made. The day of the estimate, I received a call that they would be at my house in 30 minutes. 1 hour and 45 minutes AFTER that 30 minutes, they showed up. No calls or anything.. I actually called them twice. The first time they ""couldn't get a hold of him"" and the second time he was 15 minutes out. They came, we talked about options and I picked a new tub... great. (Another half day of work gone)

Got the call that the tub was available a couple days later and setup the install appointment. Appointment time was 10 am (not a range, but 10 am).

10 am comes and no one shows. 10:20 I call and the dispatcher tells me they had to go pick up the tub because it wasn't delivered to them directly, but they'll be at my house ""within the hour"" (so 11 am). 11 comes and goes without an update. 11:15 I call again to find out what the hell is going on. Oh they'll be there in 15 minutes.... finally at 11:30 they show up.

Mind you both times I had to call to get the update. (That's customer service right there)

So the guys come and are installing the tub. My wife has to remind them constantly to close our front door all the way till she finally about blows up. (We have 2 savannah cats that aren't cheap plus a 4 year old in the house)

9 hours and almost $6000 later they are done with the tub. (Full day of work gone)

At this point I'm like whatever, it's fixed.

But today? HELL NO! There is water damage in my kitchen on the mid level AND water damage in my basement because the drain pipes weren't setup right!
So it's still dripping... called them but of course everything is closed with all this damn snow.

Now I get to waste another day or 2 of vacation time for them to fix this damn mess.

My Plumber, you better make this right. I've already spent 2 days of vacation for your services and now I'll need my tub fixed and all the dry wall and painting fixed.

Wayne W.

They do arrive on time and scheduling a service is easy. However, they charged almost $700 for changing two pipes on a water heater. Because of that, I won't use them again. They sent me letters asking for more business, well, for long term, customers will figurte out which companies charge reasonable prices.

abe l.

Do not do it! Being from the Boston area I was used to having a plumber that I called every time I needed plumbing. They charged reasonable rates and wanted to maintain me as a long tern customer. Here in Northern VA the market is so big the model is different. Here, the plumbers want to get in, charge the highest price possible and do not care if you ever call them back again. My Plumber fits this model to the tee! The ironic thing is then My Plumber will spend tens of thousands of dollars a month on Google ads, yellow pages, etc looking for the next new customer. So that new customer will be costly to find. If they only took care of their current customers and tried to keep them as long term clients their acquisition cost wold be much lower, and maybe the would not have to inflate their prices to cover the fortune they are spending on advertising. Also, you get referrals, the best from of advertising! While dropping off a plunger with a $35 dollar coupon is a nice gimmick the overall service from My Plumber is modeled after the new paradigm: do the job, charge outrageous prices, and hustle up to the next job.

Kim M.

Tim H. helped me with assessing the broken plumbing in my relative's house. He also did a check for any leaks and provided a thorough inspection. He was patient and non-judgemental about the condition of the property which needs a lot of work. He was fine with my shadowing him to the different plumbing locations and my asking lots of questions so I could learn more about things worked. He did not rush our appointment. He offered suggestions on what to repair with no pressure at all. I felt like Tim was my consultant, helping me to navigate through options. He was professional, polite, and timely. I recommend Tim to other customers and will request him again for my next plumbing needs. Thanks, Tim.

Deb H.

Sorry, I have to tell it like it was for me... Nice tech,a little pushy but professional. I was solicited by this company via phone for a $49.95 HVAC cleaning and inspection. After numerous phone calls I finally said yes. After a brief look at the unit I was informed via photos on techs tablet that my furnace was dirty, moldy and too dry and dirty air was being sent thru my home each time the furnace came on. Unit is 7 yrs old, filters changed regularly.
Fee to address these issues!! OVER $4,700.00. Humidifier, duct cleaning, and furnace cleaning. Was also informed about a service contract for $30.00 a month for this unit. When he went outside to that unit he told us that the capacitor was gone. It would be $536.00 to fix this issue. I was shocked! I kept inquiring about what the total costs would be since he tended to change amounts with stating ... The part is this and the installation is additional. Finally I asked for the total and he proceeded to tell me the $386.00. Still this is for a $20.00 part! Less than 5 minutes to install it. Come on. Realizing every business should be able to make money, however this is extreme price mark ups and hourly installation fees are not reasonable at this rate. He had my husband scared to death of electrocution if he did it himself. We could have purchased the entire furnace unit for the costs of this entire estimate. The $4,700.00 plus $386.00. If I wanted duct cleaning, a humidifier etc I would have contacted someone on my own. All I was interested in was a check up, cleaning and knowing if there were any mechanical issues at this time with the operation of the unit. Not $4,700.00 worth of unnecessary add ons. In addition the service policy appears over priced as well. It costs $30.00 a month. You solicit $49.95 for check ups. If I had someone check it twice a year for that it would be about $100.00. $30.00 a month is far more than that fee. That is what you stated your s/c covered. Two check ups per year. When I brought this lesser cost up I was then informed that includes a 10% discount on parts. I just had to laugh silently. Well if you mark them up 400% what kind of discount is that? I was also shown a step down in services from above amount all the way down to about $500.00. Then you can get this and this for $3,000+ or just this for bla bla bla... You may very well be an excellent business who am I to judge other than my own experience, but the fees are ridiculous which I am apparently not the only one that has experienced this. This is just an opinion of my own. Thank you.

Mike M.

I called MyPlumber Heating and Cooling on the recommendation of a friend, and double checking it with the Yelp community. I needed a furnace check up for the winter and didn't think my whole home humidifier was working.

The positives: Mohammed was very prompt, arriving when expected. He was extremly professional. He checked the furnace system (Trane) and found it in excellent working order. I watched the inspection and he explained what he was doing when I asked questions. He was very clean and took care to ensure my house stayed clean throughout the service call. He explained a maintenance agreement that I could purchase and did not pressure me when I said I would talk to my wife about it.
He diagnosed my humidifier problem and determined that the humidistat switch was bad. He also let me know that my humidifier system was old and he recommended a complete new unit. I asked for an estimate for both options. He said he would go to his van and contact his manager and give me a quote.

The bad: When he came back from the call with his manager, he quoted me $515 for a humidistat and $975 for a complete humidifier replacement. I told him I would consider it and get back to him. I paid the $89 service/inspection fee and he left. Once he left, I thought to myself ""What model is this new humidifier system?"" and ""why is a switch $515"". I called the my plumber office and asked about it. I was told that they were not sure which humidifier the quote was for, but they would call me and let me know on Friday (service was on a Wed). Friday came and went with no call.......
In the meantime, I researched humidistats and humidifier systems online. I was shocked! The EXACT SAME humidistat (Honeywell H49B 1009 sail switch) was $54 on ebay and Amazon! (only a $461 markup) . Of course I ordered it. Since I never got the call about what model humidifier they quoted $975 for, I researched that as well. I currently have an Aprilaire 440, and found the newer models for my size house (Aprilaire 600) available for $175-$250. Of course these prices do not include installation but come on, talk about markups again!

The weird: I paid the $89 fee for the inspection via check when he finished, the following Tuesday I received a printed sales receipt showing I paid $79.50. I said ""huh?"" and called the office again! They danced around it and were not sure which was correct, but promised to send it to accounting for correction. They could't tell me if I was overcharged, or if the mailed receipt was a misprint, but things do not add up. I don't know whether I will get a $9.50 refund or new receipt for $89, based upon my experience of not being called back, I do not expect either.

Bottom line: I think Mohammed did a great job on the inspection. I cannot believe the prices that the management had him quote to me. I installed the $54 ebay part and my humidifier is working great..........Trust but verify, and get additional opinions. I do not expect to call them again for my maintenance needs.

Alvin B.

I've been using My Plumber for years. Maybe a decade and more. They always arrive on time and give you pricing prior to doing any work.

Chris W.

Proceed with caution. Had a recent main line break, was quoted some work that wasn't actually completed, took a few weeks of back and forth to have the charge removed. Without pushing back they would have simply allowed me to be charged for work they didn't do.

Additionally, the work performed was much easier than was explained and certainly not worth the very very high price tag to complete. Paying someone to dig a 4"" deep hole in your yard about 4 feet long and quickly replacing a pipe should not be a $4200 job. Major rip off. Seriously, take my advice and pay half with a local plumber rather than paying a major premium for My Plumber. You will find much lower prices elsewhere for the same exact work from companies that conduct themselves more ethically.

Joyce C.

I was quoted a price for replacing the sewer pipes from my house to the street of 16k with the possibility of 18k that I might have to pay to the county and no promise that my flagstone walkway would not have to be broken. It was also scheduled to take upwards of three days.

Because they told me it was an emergency, I didn't think I had time to get a second opinion, but luckily a family owned company was able to come out that same day, gave an estimate of 7,500, got all permits and worked with Miss Utility and had the job complete in 6 hours, and they fixed a leaky faucet in their spare time. My Plumber is a rip off.