Shafer Services Plus

Linda C.

Hired Shafer to test gas lines and pull permit from city in order to get a larger gas meter. They checked the gas meter, said his office had pulled the permit and he was finished. When I called to check on this 2 and 3 weeks later, CPS said there was no permit pulled. So after calling Shafer back, we did this all over again twice, but this time the plumber new the routine. Obviously, the plumber had never done this before.

valentine L.

Excellent work and good job Shafer Services. Your technician (John Collins) was great as well. A $60 service visit to inspect and check my A/C unit as it began making noise recently - happily remained $60. I've been poked in the eyes recently by a company from Kyle TX and sought somebody I could trust. Enter Shafer Services... Thanks again and hope to see y'all soon, but not too soon. Sincerely, The Lugos

Larry S.

In December 2021, we heard water running/leaking in the wall downstairs in
our custom built home, now 18 years young! We felt we needed a really good plumber to locate the leak and then propose options to fix whatever the problem might be. We NEVER saw any damp spot on the wall. We decided to have Shafer come out because their online information said they could detect leaks. Shafer sent a tradesman plumber along with an assistant (seems they all have one). The work began. We removed everything from the downstairs coat closet and they cut through the drywall in the closet, which exposed a manifold where the water coming into the home gets redirected. They used some type of "sounding device" attempting to locate the leak. The coat closet is positioned down the foyer hall from the front door and is by the family room ... it's also located approximately 12 feet (on a direct line) from the kitchen sink. Next, they invade the cabinet wall and drywall under the kitchen sink by removing 2 foot by 2 foot cabinet and drywall pieces. They determined that the leak was a foundation leak ... if you've never had one in Texas, feel fortunate. From the kitchen sink, the water line also runs in the opposite direction to the point where it services the refrigerator for water and icemaker. The line dead-ends there. So, to be certain where the leak was they pulled out the refrierator and cut the drywall behind it too. We now have three (3) places where they've destroyed drywall. While under the sink, the plumber looks at our garbage disposal and quickly states that it's one of the cheapest ones made and it's NOT stainless steal so is probably already rusting. It's worked fine for 18 years and was still working; however, we told them to go ahead and replace it. Big mistake!! When we got the bill for the leak detection and new garbage disposal, they charged us $891 for the garbage disposal alone! We researched online and found the same disposal for $270, so they charged us
$621 for twenty minutes work to install it. Outrageous ... yes, we think so!!
So, now, we're $2700 and change into this ordeal. Oh, and the leak isn't fixed yet.

To fix the leak they wanted to run pexpipe from the closet through the ceiling and down the wall in the kitchen, drill through the bottom of the
cabinets and over to the sink. The old line would be capped off. But, they couldn't assure us that they wouldn't have to cut the wall in the hall that backs to the kitchen. Now folks, these walls have been faux painted and would never be the same again. They also were unsure how much more damage they would need to do to the closet drywall or the ceiling. Their estimate for the repair, which did NOT include repairing the drywall or cabinet piece under the sink was over $6000 MORE. As this point we told them NOT to proceed. After the garbage disposal fiasco, we felt our head was being ripped off by this company. Fortunately, this story has somewhat of a positive ending. Bear in mind, Shafer is a 130 year old company, but we were told by the plumber, "Mr. Shafer has overhead" .... we understand companies need to make money, but fairness seems foreign to these folks.

The good news is that we located another company in Schertz, TX ... they sent out a tradesman plumber, who quickly stated he didn't want to cut anymore drywall inside the house. He found a different route to run the pexpipe and to make a long story shorter, he not only thought outside the box, but worked magic. He ran the pexpipe from the cold water line coming into the hot water heater in the garage up through the "unfinished" attic above the garage down the wall (had to cut a 10"x15" piece in the garage drywall (NOT inside the house) and connected the water line back up to the line that feeds the ice maker behind the refrigerator which then back feeds the water back to the kitchen sink. Alas ... the problem was fixed. He was outstanding and extremely respectful the whole time while treating our home with the type of TLC everyone would want. Oh, and his repair cost was 1/3 of Shafer's estimate. I believe we can honestly say that Shafer Services is solely out for Shafer Services and they don't mind taking your hard-earned money if you let them. So, be careful out there. Our sincere thanks to the Schertz company and their wonderful plumbers ... they enabled us to have a Much Merrier Christmas!!

Carlos J.

At about 4:15 pm on 2/4/22 we discovered a leak on the side of the house. A section of PVC pipe had burst. The pipe was used for filling the pool. It had its own valve and connected to the copper feed from the street. I cut off the water at the street and then started calling plumbers.

Schaffer, which I called about 4:45 pm, was the only one of three companies we called that could make it out the same day. (Everyone was very busy because of freezing weather). They said they'd be here between 5pm and 7pm. They were here around 5:45pm. They capped the copper that fed the PVC and we were done. They also did a number of other checks.

The phone attendant was really courteous, and took the time to find an available plumber, after I explained that it was probably a 20-minute job at best (which it was). The plumber, John, was professional, courteous, and explained everything to us perfectly clearly regarding what we needed to do next, etc. I couldn't have been happier with the response and the service, especially with the prospect of going without water for anywhere from 2 to 5 days again (After the Feb 21 snow event/loss of water). The invoice we received in email was detailed, and included a number of high quality photos of the repair site.

After a really, really bad experience with another A/C and plumbing company last year, Schaffer was a refreshing change.

Carla R.

Call the company on a Monday they were able to send a tech that day-the tech arrive introduced himself was professional I explain to him that my garbage disposal had not been working for a week I told him I had pressed the reset button nothing no type of sound or anything I also informed him that the disposal had been smoking he immediately told me The engine was burned out he looked inside the disposal he said there was something jamming it and basically said it would cost 880+ dollars to repair, asked why so much he stated he's a licensed plumber.... Called my mom to complain her neighbor came over that evening looked at the disposal stated it was jammed got a steel pipe manipulated the inside and now the disposal works fine!!!

Rudy G.

I called to get my water softener repaired for a 50.00 diagnostic fee. It was a sham, no attempt to diagnose or repair. It was a sales pitch to buy their water softeners and I paid 50 buck to hear it.

Michael H.

Called about a waterline leak their ad said they had equipment to locate a leak made an appoint for 3-5 pm
Tech called at 11:00 to say he was at my house
10 minutes later he said $1200 to tear the walls to find the leak and $2-5 k to fix
Tech said that they didn't have the equipment to find leaks
This bit of information unfortunately cost me $60
Miscommunication and corporate plumbers
False ad info

Amy W.

We learned today that Shafer Services in San Antonio, Texas has been scamming us on our A/C system for 5 years. Claiming to need to replace parts under warranty so they could charge us expensive labor. We caught them in a lie when our A/C certified contractor took a look and saw the leak in the coil they were claiming to need to fix at a cost of $1200 was perfectly fine. By the way the same coil was replaced one year earlier. They claim it's bad from the manufacturer. There was no leak at all. Then they went to the trouble to try to cover it up. We recorded everything and have proof of the fraud. However, sadly we also learned that most A/C companies do the same. They will confidently tell you to get a second opinion because they are all in on it. my contractor fixed what they broke in trying to cover their tracks for $125

My advice if you've also been having lots of trouble with your A/C according to Shafer or any of these scam companies, is to ask for proof of what is broken and then when they try to show that proof, hire a contractor who is A/C certified to verify it. Our contractor told us exactly what they would do, word for word and that is exactly what they tried to pull on us. Do not trust them. We originally trusted them and gave them five stars all over the internet. We fell for this little scam where they pretend to save you from everyone else and then they just start scamming you with their "regular maintenance" and fixes when issues come up. And I promise, there will be issues.

Me A.

I contacted them for an estimate. Technician was professional, explained everything, courteous. Bid was given, I applied for financing and was approved because my initial research had given me an estimated budget of 10k and estimate was much higher than anticipated. I had already scheduled 2 other estimates and figured they would all be very close but I liked the technician from Shafer and fully intended to use them. Other bids were 9400.00 and 11.000. I contacted the Tech. to get a break down of the bid so I could see why Shafer was so much higher ( 16000.00 ). I didn't get a breakdown, had to ask specifics and was given them without issue. Nothing wrong with Shafer that I know of. Just much more expensive than competitors. The bid I took for 11000 added cosmetic covers for the wiring and hoses, surge protectors and extended warranty.

Bradley O.

The company is outstanding.
We purchased a service plan with our new a/c heater install.
The last man at our house had said in order to replace a wire from the heat pump to the attic a special Higher Boss would need to come see the proposed work.
I took off Wednesday from work only to learn from Rio the scheduler that the requested inspection had never been scheduled. Which was odd because I recall the servicing tech/install man calling to get me scheduled the week prior when he was here.
Inititally the dispatch lady said they'd have someone come out next week which meant another Wed day off. But she called around and the team came that VERY DAY to do the wiring upgrade.
I was very impressed by the entire crew: the install manager and the technicians who installed the new wiring.