Rakeman Plumbing

Bob L.

I've used Rakeman for the past few years for repairs and things like maintaining our four tankless water heating systems. Not the cheapest but no major issues. A month ago a tech fixed a leak inside a wall and it was reasonable. Then I called for someone to install a simple toilet I bought to replace one that was defective and fix a leak in a shower valve. I did not get a fixed price. I was home. The tech seemed slow on the toilet but ok. Then the shower valve. Literally five trips to the truck to get a correct size socket to remove the valve. Rather than bring a socket set to the site. I finally brought my own set, and handed him the correct size and a wrench in 60 seconds. Then he did not have a replacement valve. Ok. I'm googling one for him. Half hour later as he is trying to find one from HQ he's smoking in the truck waiting for a call back. Another hour. He reinstalls old valve so we can turn the water back on while we wait and turns the water back on and goes to the truck again. But he left the valve open so water is spraying everywhere. I go get him from the truck. Now I have to go out.
He leaves a bill for 5.5 hours - to install a toilet I bought and fix one valve. Over $900 with maybe $65 in parts and $155/hr labor. I phoned in a complaint and spoke to a manager who objected to my term 'ripoff' but agreed it seemed excessive and would look into it and speak to the tech. I waited to post this to see if he would bother to respond. Nope. So they got their money for this job, but lost a customer for life. Sad, it was avoidable for them.

Golucid G.

On April 11, 2024, Rakeman Plumbing sent Mich, their technician, to my home to check my Navien tankless water heater. For some reason, I was not generating hot water.

Despite being told by Rapin Plumbing that this technician had 25 years of experience.

The following happened.

The first clue that the technician did not know what he was doing was that he had to call tech support immediately. No experience with this unit. That is not a good sign.

Next up.

The technician tells me he has to check a valve. He asked me where the bathroom is. I point the direction.

The technician spends time here and can't figure it out and then decides after talking with Navien. that my water heater needs all of these new parts. Remind you the unit is new.

The technician doesn't tell me that he has disassembled my shower. Parts are all over the place.

The second clue that he didn't understand waterflow was that he was having to read through a manual about my brand-new installed shower hardware.

At no point was it disclosed to me that he would disassemble my shower. He took it apart and left the parts on a countertop.

I did not authorize this scope of work.

The scope of work was to look at my tankless water heater and diagnose or repair it as needed.

I did not authorize to disassemble my shower.

The technician tells me he must replace all these parts in my tankless water heater.

The technician leaves and tells me that he has to order the parts and will return to repair the water heater. I was not aware that he had, again, disassembled my shower.

A few days ago, I contacted Rickman Plumbing. I discovered that my shower was disassembled. I asked them to return and reassemble my shower.

I spoke to Molika, and she told me there is no documentation that he had done such a thing.

The keeping to remember right here is that nothing was documented.

She tells me she will reach out to her supervisor or manager and get back to me. They did not get back to me until I called again yesterday, 17 April.

Her supervisor called me this morning and told me that she talked with the technician and that he admitted that he had disassembled it, but he intended to return it.

So here's the critical point. They tell me it is not documented and, therefore, it didn't happen. They speak with the technician, who then discloses that, yes, he did disassemble it.

So the manager told me that to return and repair what he disassembled, they would have to charge me a trip charge.

The bottom line is that Rakeman Plumbing came in, broke my shower, and now wants to charge me to repair it. Key takeaways. They break my shower, disassembling it, and I want to charge me for reassembling it. They did not obtain my consent. I did not authorize the scope of work. The technician abandoned the property, leaving it broken/disassembled.

Just now, Rhonda, the office manager, contacted me at 9:29 AM on April 18. See screenshot.

Rhonda declares on the phone that she will send a technician to repair what they broke at no charge and then says that she's now changed her mind because of the Yelp review.

##### it gets better

I left my house to run an errand, and I was not home. However, at my house, I had somebody working outside. I suppose Rhonda changed her mind and sent Mitch back out to my house. Somehow, they got through the guard gate. Her employee entered my home without without my knowledge. I believe this is a breaking and entering. At any rate, she had her employee install the items that they uninstalled without my knowledge.

There was no phone call, no warning that somebody was coming over. She just had somebody come over and enter the property without consent.

Rakeman plumbing is a bit bizarre.

Rakeman Plumbing is unethical, and they victimize their customers with retaliation.

Cindy T.

The tech from rakeman goes into my bathtub area - appearing to be in a hurry and almost immediately I hear a loud crack which he broke the spout and it looks like there was some metal behind the wall. I wanted to get a closer look at the damage and the spout after he left- BUT he took the spout with him!!!! After that happened I did not want them near my bathroom- but my significant other convinced me to let them come back since he needed something repaired so I said ok. BUT then they did more significant damage so I SAID NO!!!! They made my bathtub unusable. And then the leak my significant other had they never completely fixed since it came back more then once. JUST a very horrible experience

Danny R.

Paraphrasing almost EXACTLY what Daniel P. wrote on Dec 13, 2023: They attempt to charge for multiple service calls for the same job, because, in our case, they installed a refurbished part- which they actually provided and charged us for...and didn't even install it correctly! The additional plumber (from another company) we had to hire simply shook his head and laughed at Rakeman's work. In my opinion, I believe Rakeman takes advantage however they can. Please BEWARE!

Joe H.

shower was leaking wouldn't shut off completely. I was out of town called Rickman. They said they would be out the next day but they didn't come. I called back. They said we would be first on the schedule to the next day but we weren't when the plumber finally showed up, he repaired the shower told my wife it was fixed but on the receipt he wrote that the shower handle had been damaged by someone attempting to repair it and that my wife said that she would fix the handle of course that's not true my wife unfortunately did not read the description of Repairs until the shower started leaking again and when I called them, they said I should've called earlier in the day if I wanted it fixed the same day but it didn't start leaking until two in the afternoon. They then read me the verbiage on the receipt and told me they could come out sometime tomorrow, meanwhile I called someone else. The problem was a stem driver which was just worn from me being used not from abuse. I've had to replace this four dollar part on my other showers in the house before.
Then about two weeks ago before I discovered the shoddy workmanship of this repair, my water heater went out on a Saturday morning I called them they didn't even bother calling back until Monday afternoon. In the meantime I had called another plumber and had a new water heater installed
When I called them to come out yesterday to fix my leaking shower, they basically told me it was probably my fault because someone had tried to fix the shower when I took the handle off and looked at it. I can see that the stem driver is just round it off from the kids turning it on and off 1000 times , and even though I had water coming out at a very high rate and had to turn the water off in the house until I could take it apart and diagnose it, they wouldn't come out because they said it wasn't an emergency. I'm not very impressed.

Daniel P.

Horrendous plumber. They will charge you for multiple service calls on the same job, just because they don't have the part on hand. They take advantage wherever they can. I NEVER write reviews, but couldn't let them completely get away with their blatant lack of integrity. BEWARE!!

Starr-Light T.

Gene came & helped us, from Rakeman. Water heater, hose bib, & new kitchen faucet. Gave us a senior discount & REALLY knew his stuff! We have worked with Rakeman for at least 20 years. I would highly recommend them! Quick & professional.

Mike R.

I would have liked to give Rakeman Plumbing five stars, The service technician is a five. But after spending $3824.68 between two houses I thought they would honor what they print in their advertisement. Seniors and military are entitled to some kind of discounts. I asked and the tech said it wasn't available for the work performed at the two houses. No reason given. I am 74 years young and non-active Marine. (once a marine, always a Marine) So, be sure to ask if a senior discount is available for the kind of work that is to be performed and if you are a veteran or active military, be sure to ask if any discounts are offered. Mike R.

Michelle H.

We had a water pressure issue in our house the technician that came out did a great job fixing the problem. After a few days we noticed the pressure low again called a week after to have technician come back out. Their estimated time 8am-5pm is ridiculous, we're supposed to wait around all day long for someone to come out , and on top of it no one showed up for our appointment. I called after 5pm to see where the technician was they apologized and we reschedule for today it is 2:30pm just got a call from them. So much for being the first house schedule for their morning rotation. Not reliable!

K S.

This is the 2nd work order done with this company and both times they have given me an open availability of 8am to 5pm. At both times did no one show up. I should not have to follow up with a company to make sure a work order is done. The amount of time taken off to have no one show up. This is poor service. This is also my first time with this company. Bad 1st impression. I would not recommend if we can't set up a scheduled time. Poor customer service and takes to long to get work order done.