Peterman Brothers

Aj B.

Where to begin?

Last month called Peterman Brothers to do some electrical work in my house. The gentlemen who came to do the work were friendly enough. Overall, I thought their service was expensive, but ultimately things worked out fine. They convinced us to sign up for a membership to get discounts on future work, and at the time it seemed reasonable because it would be nice to have a reliable company to contact when things went wrong around the house.

This week, we had some plumbing trouble. The sewer main was blocked and sewage was backing up into our shower. We made an appointment to have folks from Peterman Brothers come out and help us before the situation got any worse. They unblocked the drain and ran a camera to check the pipe, then showed us the video to demonstrate that there were several sizable gaps in the pipe where the ground had settled and pulled the pipes apart, allowing dirt and roots into the pipe to cause blockages. We agreed that replacing the sewer main was necessary, to prevent future problems. The service was expensive, as I expected, but the estimate was more than twice what I was quoted a few years ago by another company ($16,000 compared to $7,000.) I ultimately agreed, thinking that the ridiculous amount of inflation, combined with the cost of quality and reliable work, explained the cost difference. Additionally, I was very stressed and confused, and just wanted the peace of mind that sewage wouldn't back up into my shower anymore.

Admittedly, they were very quick to schedule the service, and said they could get started the next day. After 811 came in the morning and marked the utilities, the gentlemen arrived to do the job and got started digging. They hit and broke the gas line to our house, which then spewed natural gas for a solid 45 minutes while my housemate and I had to go out into the back yard and fret the entire time about whether something was going to explode or catch fire, or our pets which couldn't be removed from the house at short notice would asphyxiate.

After the fire department and someone I assume was from the gas company resolved the gas line issue, the gentlemen left for the day and left the partially replaced sewer line open to drain raw sewage into the hole in the front yard until they could come today to finish connecting it to the city sewer line. I don't know if that is common practice, but I wasn't warned it would be left like that way.

The incident with the gas line also completely disrupted my housemate's work as a triage nurse for the duration of the incident, as they couldn't answer patient calls while we were outside the house. The entire experience was stressful, and at some points terrifying, on top of being so expensive I had to take out a loan to pay for the work.

Then I contacted their customer experience department, and was offered a $50 gift card and 3 months of free membership as consolation for the stress and disruption. It felt like an insult considering I genuinely felt our lives were endangered by the gas line incident. I cancelled our membership. I won't be calling them again for anything.

John P.

We have used Petermann Brothers for a number of years. They always give great service, and have very friendly servicemen. We had them come to clear a clog in our drain, and also to replace our garbage disposal. The person who came to do the work was very friendly, respected our home, and was great with our dog. The price for any of this kind of work is always very high, but theirs doesn't seem as bad as many. I am happy with the work that they did, for the price that they charged. And it's always nice that when they come to do the work
we request, whether it be plumbing or working on our air conditioner or furnace, which we also had them replace a few years ago, they are always friendly, get the job done quickly, and get out of our way.

Lindsey P.

FREE FURNUCE , If you have them clean your DUCT work ask for FREE DUST RAGS!


They called a few times to see it they could help resolve this and then they just stopped calling with no resolution.

On one call they asked if they could come out and do some measurements and count the number of vents to get a price on doing another cleaning,

What did they do with the first measurements and vent counts to that I paid over $600 for, she said I will call you back
NO REPLY!!

++++

We had Peterman Brothers clean all of you duct work during the pandemic, January 26, 2021, that is less than 2 years ago, till this day we still have to dust the entire house every other day

Right after they completed the job we could not figure out why it is still so dusty, I pulled the filter out and it was caked with dust and big pieces of dust. I called them and the gal I talked to shipped us a new filter

Waited a while to see of the new filter helped, did not

I called back again and they offered to come back out and redo it for 50% off.

Been less that 2 year and we are still dusting the house and when the sun is out you can see the dust floating in the air

If you are looking for Duct Cleaning, keep looking

Rachel C.

Whatever you do do not hire peterman for your plumbing needs. We hired them to install and move our water heater in our basement. While reconfiguring the plumbing and electrical, the genius plumbers decided to unplug our sump pump. Why, who knows. Over time our sump pump began to fill and overflow into our finished basement ruining our personal belongings and our carpet. At the time we had no idea why this was happening but we realized water was coming out of the drain. When this first started we called peterman and they said they couldn't come out until the next day. Since peterman could not come out, we called roto rooter and they had 3 guys here in 30 mins. After a hour and a half of water coming out, turns out the sump pump was unplugged. When we realized why this was happening we have yet to hear back from a manger of their team and it has been 17 hours now since the incident occurred. Their customer service rep keeps saying they have a team who handles this and they are ""researching"" the incident to better train their team.... Yet their management won't pick up their phone and call from their negligence. I immediately canceled my membership with them- yes I was a member!!!!! As a realtor i have never seen such poor customer service in my life. I will STRONGLY advise any of my clients or any homebuyers to steer clear from this company.

Diana D.

I had a brand new furnace installed yesterday, 10-31-23. 20 minutes after they left there was a safety message on the display of the thermostat saying safety issue, pressure problem, contact your dealer. I did. This was about 5:30 pm. By 7:30 pm the temperature was dropping and the furnace was not on. I texted the information to customer service. I got a response that they would try to get to me. About 8:00 pm it tried to kick on and something started burning. Smoke filled the house and there was a burning electrical smell. I called and the CR said they were full and could not get to me. If I had not been home to shut the gas and power off to the unit, I could certainly had a fire. I will be calling again this morning. I felt pressured to buy the unit in the first place when they say it will be $2000 less if you get it installed the next day. My gut said no, but my mouth said ok. I did the financing, but I'm going to tell them just to come and get it and stop the financing. I'm just sick over this $10,000 experience. Really ZERO stars at this point, but you have to check at least one, I guess.

Reaunna M.

Poor communication and unexpected charges are just a few things bugging me. The original appointment was canceled 30 minutes before they were supposed to arrive (after I took off work to be home). Then they left the reschedule up in the air saying it might be Thursday or Friday. Thursday evening rolls around with still no word. We call and it's ""oh ya we can come tomorrow"". So very little notice. The installers were great. Nice and professional, but they still left the system unfinished. Our old system was old and inefficient but it worked. They claimed our electric panel and wire was at fault...again, it worked fine before they touched it. The next week an electrician comes out and now there's an additional $5000 charge to replace electrical stuff. That's scheduled for ANOTHER WEEK OUT. If I knew this would be our experience I would never have agreed to use this company. Peterman had good reviews but our experience has been terrible. We have a giant brand new system sitting there doing nothing while we play the waiting game. Meanwhile there's no air and it's miserable. Old system was not great but it at least worked. All of this could have been discussed at dealt with ahead of time as well instead of surprising us with extra charges and dragging the project out for three weeks. I'm disappointed and angry. They need to communicate better and be more upfront with their process. Not happy. Would not recommend to anyone.

Nick D.

Funny when. Companies have thousands of positive google reviews but terrible yelp reviews. Shame on me for trusting google. This company wasted my time. Not recommended. After approving their estimate for repair, I received the runaround from customer service as to when the part would arrive and repair be scheduled. My tenant was without hot water for 5 days while this company dicked around. The customer service rep had no answers Telling me someone from the warehouse would give me a call but no one ever called.

Don't waste your time.

Highly recommend LD Smith who came in to save the day.

Olivia C.

We paid more than $800 to have our drain line ""fixed"" by peterman. Their work caused our outdoor plumbing to fail, and their only solution is to charge us $4,000 to replumb the house. The tech cut a pipe and left it draining into our trash can and NEVER RETURNED. Now the pipe is leaking all into our walls in the basement and all over the floor. We haven't been able to use our kitchen sinks in a week and haven't heard anything from Peterman about making this right. AVOID using this company.

Carson M.

Had them come out to check a leaky Moen shower valve, that I later found just had a bad cartridge ($40).

Came in, took a 15 second look, then left and sat in his car outside the house to built out a few quotes.

30 minutes later walks in and provides 3 different quotes all acceding $800. All involved cutting through the backside of the shower?

Of course, charged me for the visit, but I sent him walking.

Ordered the part off Amazon and installed, all under the amount I paid them to come take a look. Dumb business model. Would not recommend.

Eric V.

Sewer pipe attempted replacement:
Absolutely deserving of a one star rating. We feel like we were bullied and attempted to be taken advantage of. Luckily we questioned things and sought outside guidance. This was a nightmare experience. I'll spare the details but many days of worries and lost sleep.