Plumb Rite

Frank C.

Last summer my 73 year old mother had Gil Porcelli, owner of Plumb Rite, replace the Pressure Reducing Valve (PRV) on her house. Gil ""gave her a deal"" and let her pay him through his professional account. Here's the ""deal"" he gave her - he installed a knock-off chinese PRV and charged her for two hours labor when he was at the house for 20 minutes. $405 for a $40 part and 20 minutes work. If it had worked, I wouldn't be writing this review, but of course, the PRV he installed failed. So after multiple calls, he sent out a technician (who turned out to be his unlicensed brother) to replace it (with the same knock-off part). Once again, the PRV failed. This all happened within two months and the threat of disputing the charge on the credit card was enough to get him to replace it again. This is when we learned the first two were knock-offs and we insisted on a reputable brand. They installed a new, different part that also failed. Gil refused to take our calls and when we went to the plumbing board, he argued it was not his fault or responsibility. We requested an estimate from a company of one of the board members and the technician they sent immediately noted that the PRV installed was too small for our house. There was no way it would last. We now have a claim with the Westchester Consumer Protection Agency. They have already told us we will lose because of the second underhanded thing Gil did - what he referred to as his ""professional account"" was actually his account at a plumbing supply store.

Clearly, this was not handled very well on our part. I personally feel somewhat responsible because I didn't take a more hands-on approach. I just didn't think someone would take advantage of a 73 year old woman. Needless to say we will never use Plumb rite again and I wrote this review so you can avoid making the same mistake we did.