Penning Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electric

Robb M.

THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS PENNING ANYMORE ***con artists, commissioned plumbers looking to gouge the needy and even the elderly****

Used them way back and do most myself so I know what it takes. Winter I call them to fix a compression fitting leaking on a condensing boiler with indirect hot water tank. I say its an emergency call and will pay overtime rates. This is Tuesday night.

They finally show up friday afternoon at 4pm. No returned calls, no scheduling nothing. The tech proceeds to tell my assistant (who knows nothing) that its a ""non standard"" installation (aka I have no idea what Im doing if its not all labeled like they taught me in class) He then proceeds to tell my assistant that he doesnt want to have to baby sit it all weekend since it a non standard installation. My assistant bought it all. Again all this was was a loose compression fitting I correctly diagnosed over the phone.

Well there is NOTHING non standard about it ....there was a heat recovery loop on top I threw in for fun that threw him but if he wasnt an idiot it would have actually helped him out as the make up water goes through a heat recovery loop duh. Months later I am working with HVAC guy who tells me they worked with this tech and his problem is he DIDNT know what a primary or secondary loop even was so it scared him.

I had to explain to my assistant that many residential htg and clg guys are the flunkies in the business and they he just learned a life lesson as it is well known that none of these scum bags wants to work past 5 pm especially on a FRIDAY...... my assistant now understands his mistake. Wearing a nice crisp clean work suit does NOT make you a professional.....

My mistake was ever calling in Penning to perform anything., Im an idiot....but learn from my mistake or send me an email with any questions.

If you dont have the time and money to get competitive quotes than by alll means NEVER call this company to do anything that you dont want to part with 3-4 times what the service was worth.

And remember the guy you are talking to has a commission riding on how much profit he can make off of his visit to your home and lift from your pocket because you dont know any better. These guys even took advantage of my 80 yr old mom and my 87 yr old dad... $500 to augar 2 drains on same line in two hours......they are the most shameful I have ever heard of in the business. Enough said.

Cheers and best of luck

Janice K.

We had a new boiler installed over a year ago. It needed some adjustments because it was not working properly. Still trying to get them out here to fix the problem. They have come numerous times to look at it and say they will get back to us about what the real issue is. Almost two years and still no resolution and very poor follow up to repeated calls. Very frustrated. Owner very unresponsive. I would not recommend their service.

Amanda T.

Less than 1 star. This place is a huge ripoff. They charged is $1450 for a new hot water heater with install. The list of things we needed was explained but the charges didn't match. I was charged $325 for a drain pan that costs $30. I called 5 times to talk to someone and the phone was not answered 1 time. After a couple messages, they finally returned my call. The owner called and said they explained the charges upfront and if I didn't like them, I should not have agreed to the service. I explained that I called other companies and explained exactly what they did and got 3 different estimates in the range of $750-$800. He stated they aren't in the business of competing with other businesses and their prices. I told him he's in the business of ripping people off. Don't ever use these guys. Total ripoff and terrible customer service. The owner clearly has no morals as he is totally ok with ripping people off.

Dennis W.

We requested an inspection of heating and cooling system.
When technician arrived, we told him that it had been awhile since it had been looked at, we wanted to make sure all was well. We were told that it would be $159 for each system. We hesitated because it was more than we expected (no price was mentioned when we scheduled the appointment). Tech mentioned that there were coupons on the site, we decided to go ahead and he had me initial the quote. of $318.
The coupons said $25 off a repair or a tuneup for $89 and $79 for second system.
Final bill was 159 + 159+ 49.00 service charge (which wasn't mentioned) and $25 taken off for coupon. $342.00
I signed the sheet onscreen on his iPad and did not see the service charge. When we realized how much we paid, we called the office and found that while we should not have been changed the 49.00
Since the tech did a combustion check, we did not get a tune-up (verbiage on the coupon) we got furnace service. We were not offered that choice when he started nor was the difference explained to us. I feel we were taken advantage of and overcharged. When we complained we were offered a refund of 49.00 to be applied to the next service call... as if that is ever going to happen!
We will certainly not be calling Penning again.

Amy S.

My company has a loyalty to Penning Plumbing......well not anymore. Penning came to look at a stinky sink..... Look is all we got. The plumber left, our sink still smelled, and we received a bill well over $400!!!! When I called to ask if he could come back out, they would not do so without charging us again. The problem wasn't fixed! Godwin Plumbing just left, cleaned the trap in the sink (which Penning charged us for 2 weeks prior) and left us with a $80 bill. WILL NEVER USE PENNING AGAIN.

Todd B.

Tried to make an appointment to quote a heater and AC replacement. I was told that it would have to be before 5. We agreed on 3:00 and I took time off work to make it.

At 4:00 I called to see if they were still planning on coming. I was told that they are running behind and they asked me if 6:30 7:00 would be alright. I wasted personal time for this?

I cancelled the appointment and will find someone else.

John M.

""Penning is known for our up-front guaranteed pricing on all the work we perform. Our technicians are trained to offer options to all customers to help them make repair and replacement decisions that are in each customer's best interest.""

LOL...yeah okay, Jim Penning.

To whomever reads this....for some reason I'm still trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. Spoke to Jim today, who said if his tech (Jeff) did not provide me with an upfront pricing, invoice, etc. then he would ""make things right"" with regards to pricing....read on everybody. (PS - always nice when they talk about small claims court within first 5 minutes of the conversation..lol).

Well, we will see, because you guessed it...the tech provided no written pricing, etc. When I called, they stated they had a $49 service visit fee (okay, no problem...I have no heat...please come out ASAP). When tech showed up, stated they work on standard fee base...okay, so $279 was mentioned in brief...still fine with me as long as you can get my boiler going again or least point me in the right direction...I don't mind paying! Well, 2 hours later, the tech presents a bill for $519! ??? (all he did was diagnose/troubleshoot and did change out only 2 parts...$30.00 safety relief valve and $90.00 air switch..even after I informed him the air switch was found to be in working order...he took that of course).

I'll provide the whole story at a later date...but, short version, my system worked no better than when he got there and looked at it (system was in working order, just short cycling)....he did bring the pressure up in the system, which seemed to help a little (longer cycling), however, told him it would lock out again....sure enough, just as he was going to leave...it short cycled and locked out again. 2 more hours later, after talking with the manuf....still no fix and basically blamed it on outside gas meter not supplying 7wc pressure at the boiler (note; his manometer showed 7 wc to start and then 6.12 wc until system short cycled...for those of you that don't, know...a boiler will run at 6.12, although not ideal)....bigger issue was he then presented an additional $279.00 bill....Yep, once again...never once, stated and/or provided any up-front pricing on the above (now 0 for 2 on their above statement).

SO, we will see if they make it right....Jim Penning stated he would contact his tech and find out if he provided an invoice (hey, Jim...I didn't even get a final invoice until I printed one off myself...which was after I paid (which is ONLY time I signed and/or acknowledged anything by your company)...to make the payment on their invoice!). I have a lot more for you all, however, lets see what they can come up with first.

Oh, by the way....I contacted Frontier Hearting and Cooling of Caledonia, MI. They were not able to solve the matter either, but they only had to spend two hours (completing much the same work (diagnosis/testing) of the boiler) and charged only $90.00. **I gave them the exact same information to them as Penning...not even mentioning I had another contractor (Penning) in before them..until after the fact. Plus, they diagnosed the possible issue to a temp. sensor. I replaced that myself..but still was not the issue. Yeah, I know, I'm the dumb one for paying them (which Jim brought up as well...God bless him..lol)...but not knowing a boiler (my first experience with such a system), like to think you can rely on a company to do the right thing....not knowing the billing expenses, rates, etc. SHOULD HAVE NEVER PAID THEM.

I'll let you all know the outcome....if they call back. Oh yeah, they like to reply in a reasonable time...although Jim could not even give me time for that either, other than he would get back to me within a reasonable time...must be nice to operate like that...call back when you find the time (I called them for a week and finally got in touch with them today (I called them..again))....I would be fired if I treated my customer like that!

If your having trouble with your home...call these guys at your own risk! More to come...

Rob H.

Penning came out and did some work on my parents toilet. After the technician spent the 1st 1/2 hour sitting at my parents table doing whatever on his computer, he finally got to the work. He worked another 1/2 hour on the problem and fixed it. Then he sat and did more work on his computer.
All that he needed to do was replace the pipe that goes from the water supply to the toilet.
About $25 total costs in parts.
They charged my parents $450.00 for $25 of parts and 1/2 hour of total labor.
I was furious and called the company and talked with the owner. He was very rude
and his response was we are a large professional company and we work by the ""TASK"" not by the hour. So the task cost to work on a toilet whether a small piece of pipe or replacing a toilet or whatever has to be done doesn't matter, it is just a flat rate task cost.
I could have had it done for maybe $100.00 at most somewhere else if I had been in town I could have called someone who would have done the work for a reasonable cost not someone who rips off elderly people.

M. A. H.

I am posting this for my 84 year old widow neighbor . Plumber never pulled permit as required by State law. Then there is the OVERPRICING issue ! Regardless of what his ""National service rate book"" states - this is little old West Michigan - not Chicago or New York. J. Penning charged $670.00 for a basic Mansfield round toilet - AND...... it still runs. Another local company charges $330.00 for a better ADA height elongated bowl Mansfield toilet. Tried to discuss this more than double the price issue with J. Penning and he was a corporate narcissist seeing things only from his perspective. Call ANYONE else for your plumbing needs. Is there a negative 5 star rating?

David K.

My Penning Plumbing ""Service Partner"" service contract proved to be worthless at the very moment I needed it most, and the reason I needed A/C service so badly turns out to be the poor quality installation work done by Penning in the first place.

The new A/C system Penning installed for us 15 months ago failed on the very first day of a week-long period of high heat advisories, with 90 degree plus temperatures forecast for days to come. When I called Penning desperate for help, they told me that they were too busy to get to me. They could schedule an appointment six days from now. That would be four days after the heat wave ends. In the meantime my family is just supposed to slowly roast in the heat. This in spite of the ""priority service"" supposedly delivered through the ""Service Partner"" plan that I've paid $172.50 for. And I quote:

""Priority Service. As a Service Partner(TM), you are our priority and jump ahead to the head of the line when you call! Your job will be scheduled ahead of others. This applies to routine and emergency calls!""

If this isn't an emergency, then I don't know what is.

I told the lady from Penning who was returning my call for help that service six days from now was unacceptable, and she told me that there were other people with service contracts ahead of me and that there was nothing they could do. And that was it. No offer to help me find an alternate contractor. No suggestions as to what to do. Nothing. Apparently Penning has no plan for helping out their good customers when they get overwhelmed.

This has cost them my business, and we've been using them exclusively for plumbing work for the last 15 years. From now on we'll be going somewhere else.

After talking with Penning I was afraid that everyone else would be totally booked too but, to my surprise, not so. The first company I called after hanging up with Penning said that they were slammed as well, but they were re-prioritizing work, pulling some guys off their non-critical commercial jobs to get help out to customers in trouble. They didn't know me from Adam, I certainly wasn't a ""Service Partner"" of theirs, but the guy I talked to promised me that they'd be at my house within 4 hours or less and they'd call me if that estimate changed.

Their tech was knocking on my door 2 1/2 hours later.

The tech diagnosed the problem, gave me an estimate for the 4-5 hour job it was gonna take to fix things and went right to work when I okay-ed that. Five hours later there was cold air coming out of our vents. And the job came in $50 under the estimate.

And the icing on the cake? The problem turns out to have been caused by the poor soldering job that the Penning techs did at installation. Chunks of excess solder broke off from a poorly done joint in the liquid line that runs between the AC compressor outside and the furnace inside and lodged themselves in the little piston valve that's at the furnace end of that line. (I saw the tech pull these chunks of solder out of the piston valve and I have them in a box sitting here in front of me as I write this.) This obstruction of the piston valve was causing the pressure in the AC system to rise so high that the compressor was repeatedly cycling up and then shutting itself off to prevent damage to the system. This was what was causing the odd noises we'd originally heard coming from the AC compressor unit outside.

So after all this, guess what my new mission in life is? To make sure that you all out there know, no matter how loyal a customer you may have been, when it matters the most, Penning may let you down like they did me. And to top that off, you've really gotta wonder if you can have confidence in the quality of the work they'll do in the first place.

I've canceled my service contract with Penning. I don't suppose there's much chance of recovering the $550 I paid to repair the problem caused by their bad soldering. But at least my house is cool now, instead of having to wait another five days for Penning to show up.

Good luck!