Pipe Spy

Christopher B.

Tuesday, 1/3: I call to request a plumber to come check out my house. The lady takes my name, number and description of my problem. I tell her I'm calling because I've tried other local plumbers who won't return my calls for some reason. She tells me to expect a call back within 24 hours to arrange an appointment.

No call ever came.

Friday, 1/6: I call again. The same lady answers, and I tell her no one ever called me back. She says, ""Yes, I see your message right here. I'm surprised no one has called you back.""

Me too, man, me too.

She says, ""Do you want me to send the office another message to call you back?""

""Will that help?""

""Uh...yes.""

""Will someone call me back this time?""

""...Yes, sir.""

""Okay.""

She confirmed the phone number she had written down the first time was correct and told me I would get a call soon.

I'm peeved I never got an ""I'm sorry"", but she did call me ""sir"", so, whatever. Maybe it's a fluke and I'm just the 1 out of 1000 people this has happened to at this highly rated place.

But no, it's no fluke. Today is now Wednesday, 1/11, and STILL no one has called me back. Incredible. Even after I told them the entire reason I chose to call them in the first place is because other plumbers had been terrible at calling me back, they ignore my call not once, but TWICE. This is apparently how they operate. I'm tired of having to call and beg people to do their jobs and take my money. Call people back when you say you will.

nancy b.

After contacting one other company with no response for 24 hours, and a second who could come the following day, Pipe Spy was at my house within 45 minutes. Roberto quickly diagnosed the problem (actually two problems) and will fix it tomorrow. He would have fixed it today, but the issue turned out to be my neighbor's, who needed to get back to him.

This is service as good as it gets.

Erik T.

I talked to Heiko about replacing my sewer lateral. He did a quick camera view as part of the estimate and got me an estimate the next day. It wasn't super cheap, but reasonable, and after talking to a couple companies I have the impression that Pipe Spy does very solid work with no corners cut.

They did most of the work in a single day, and had the hole paved and cleaned up the next day. All in all pretty painless.

Rudy P.

Pipe Spy turned this around in less than a week, was very reasonable in pricing compared to some other folks and very efficient. I have dealt with them a number of times and always have the same great experience. Thanks!

Chris C.

Wow... after dealing with a LOT of contractors after buying a warehouse in Oakland and working on a major build-out for a new event venue, I have already experienced the full spectrum when it comes to quality and customer service. Pipe Spy (and in particular, Ray Braggs and Alex Buna) are easily at the top of my list for being super responsive, focused on providing an amazing customer experience, and for ultimately going above and beyond in how they handled their project. They even completed the project in a very short window of time in order to meet some tight deadlines. Exceptional results at a fair price! These guys rock. Thanks Ray, Alex and the rest of the Pipe Spy team!

Allen H.

The work was fine. The bid/invoicing process was not. If your job is simple (a short, straight run from the house to the street with no unknowns), go ahead and use them. If there's any complexity at all, read on.

Since it was unclear how much work would actually need to be done, I asked for an itemized bid based on various scenarios. What I got was a confusing hodgepodge of very large items without a clear indication of how costs related to the work. I was being pressured by the City to do the work, so I agreed based on a verbal description the actual breakdown of items. I should never have done that.

The original bid was itemized into three line items. One for the basic work, plus an additional item to cover digging a rather deep hole and handling a potential lateral (plus a third charge that would apply only if I didn't do a complete repair and the partial repair didn't pass inspection---I didn't do that). That lateral wasn't there, so the hole covered by the second line item was never dug. The final invoice nonetheless included that work. When I complained, I was offered a mysterious ""discount"" that covered some, but not all, of the bid cost of the extra item. When I called about that, I received a third invoice that contained a much smaller ""discount."" That is, the third bill was considerably higher (more than $1000) than the second one! There has never been a direct correlation between line items on the original bid and items on the final invoice. The numbers are completely arbitrary.

I've called them many times and just gotten a runaround when asked for a detailed explanation of the bill (I keep getting referred to Raymond, who makes random ""discounts"" and won't explain were the numbers come from). I talked to the company owner yesterday, who said that he was the one responsible for upping the charges (again, without an explanation), but then said that he had to research the issue further.

After much back and forth, the owner finally came to my place, and we worked out a compromise which, as is usually the case in this situation, neither of us is ecstatic about. I've upped my rating from one to two stars as a consequence. However, even though I have no problems with the work at all, given all this grief, I'm reluctant to go higher than that.

if your job is not dead simple, and you're saddled with Raymond as your contact, you should demand a detailed unambiguous bid (and keep pressing until you get one. Raymond has zero understanding of what that actually means). If the job could go one of N ways, either demand N bids, that between them cover all the eventualities, or demand a detailed itemized bid. Finally, demand that the things you're charged for in the final bill actually match up with items in the original itemized bid. Make it clear to them that you won't pay for arbitrary charges that are not listed in the original bid, and don't let them lump items together on the bid and give you a verbal explanation of what that means.

Bill N.

They honored a quote from several months ago. Work was started and finished just as scheduled. Work area cleaned up completely and concrete repair matches the old patio as well as can be expected.
Correspondence by e-mail makes things very convenient.

Milo R.

Dealing with Alex by email was convenient and the appointment fit my schedule. My tech Cory was professional, showing up on time and explained details of the process. He finished the inspection in no time. While I had no findings, dealing with a company that is straight forward and delivers good service is important!

Jackie L.

Wonderful people who have saved me more than once. I have had such professional educated information and service and I appreciate that they have saved me money. Thank you!

Josh M.

Thank you - after what was months dealing with this issue and another plumbing outfit - my contractor had me call pipespy -
Cory came in 2 days had a look and told me that no amount of rootering or power washing was going to fix the issue and that I would need to have our 80 year old sewer line replaced -

He did not know if it would be a patch job or a complete replacement - but would give me a worst case scenario quote. The crew was out here the following week - did the job (which was much worse than we originally thought) in one day - and had the city out twice for inspection and final approval.

bottom line - they knew what they were doing and got to the issue at hand - professionally and without any BS

Thank you..