Tankless Plumber

Robert N.

We have two tankless water heaters and so wanted to find a plumber that specialized in servicing those, thus we contacted Andy Bello Tankless Plumber. It was a mistake.

The water was running cold on both of our water heaters within a few minutes of turning on. Andy Bello's representative, Ray Sanchez, said this should not be happening and that he could fix our problem. He recommended flushing both water heaters to remove mineral build up for $330. We had him do this plus he also capped a pipe which cut off all water to one of our bathrooms. (He uncapped that pipe, but charged us for that mistake he made). He asked that I write a check out to him personally rather than Tankless Plumber or Andy Bello Plumbing.

Flushing the heaters didn't fix our problem and instead CAUSED a new problem: one of our heaters was now leaking when it had never leaked before. Ray explained that we needed a new heat exchanger, which seemed very strange, but since it turned out to be covered by our warranty, we agreed. He installed this for an additional $360. The unit no longer leaked, but the water in both units was still quickly running cold, which was our original problem.

Ray said there must be a crossed water line and for an additional $225 he could find where that was in the house. After exploring this option he concluded there was no crossed line, but suggested the real problem must be inadequate air flow to one of the heaters (which was in a closet with a vent to the outside). I told him that heater had been installed per specifications including air capacity and that it had been working fine for the past five years. I also told him he could contact the manufacturer and they could run a report on all error codes our water heaters had ever had, which he was oblivious about and had clearly never done before for any tankless water heaters he had ever worked on.

At this point we had paid Ray almost $1,000, but still had the original problem we had called him to repair and he still seemed to be clueless as to how to fix it.

I ran the hot water heater with the closet door open for maximum air supply and called Ray to tell him the water still ran cold. He suggested soaking the shower heads in CLR. I did this and the problem still persisted. When I contacted Ray to report this he became increasingly annoyed and his attitude shifted to this being OUR problem and not HIS to fix. He became very belligerent and told us we should go purchase new shower heads and if he had to come to our house again there would be an additional service charge. When I suggested he might consider improving his customer service, here is his verbatim text he sent me:

""TEACH ME DUMMIE. I'M DYING TO HERE (SIC) WHAT YOU GOT TO SAY SO I CAN LEARN HOW TO MAKE MYSELF BELIEVE MY SHIT DON'T STINK, AND SO FULL OF MYSELF, THEN ILL (SIC) WRITE A BOOK... STOP TEXTING ME.""

I would recommend that anyone with a plumbing problem steer clear of this business and
if anyone does know of a competent plumber, I'm still in the market to find one for our plumbing problem.

Robert N.

Dawne E.

Nice guy, quality work, quick, responsive, and reasonable. I would give him 5 stars but some of the guys who work for him are not that reliable.

Robert S.

I have had Andy help us for a few issues, including service to our tankless water heater. He has always been timely in his responses and I have never had any problems with his work after the fact. We have had our tankless water heater cleaned with filter installation as well as installion of an instant-hot water system and a new kitchen faucet. His prices seem really fair and he always tried to explain things well.

He speaks with a New York accent, which I think should be a requirement for all plumbers:)

David S.

Andy is an old-time plumber who understands quality plumbing and customer service. He's like your uncle who offers to help, except he KNOWS HOW to help and does. He cleaned and trouble-shot our Norwitz tankless water heater. He came on time, prepared and delivered. He understood and fixed shortcuts taken by the plumber who installed the unit in a substandard manner. When the unit failed to work properly after his repair, he came back, and found the problem- which he thought he had addressed. He was apologetic for missing the fix, provided great service and backed his work - no charge as I had expected. Andy is a stand-up guy. I highly recommend him.

Steph L.

Andy called me back within a few minutes on a Saturday of a long holiday weekend when others presumably weren't working. (No one else has returned my calls yet, and Andy has already come and gone!)

We had a semi-emergency with a leaking garbage disposal and had been putting off replacing it for months. We had bought the replacement garbage disposal but would have taken my husband half a day to install so we'd been procrastinating.

Andy quoted me $125 on the phone and said it would take an hour. He came through on all the promises. We would recommend him to others in our area. He was friendly, knowledgeable, efficient, helpful and fair. Great service all around.

Nita M.

I called Andy Bello Plumbing when a stubborn toilet in my place of business simply wouldn't unclog even after I used a closet auger. I called Andy in the morning and he came out later that same day! He worked on the toilet for a long time using his tools and kept me informed of everything that happened as he did his work. He was able to fix the toilet with a super long auger and having to remove the toilet. He repaired everything nicely and left the bathroom clean! His price was very fair (I have a plumber friend who informs me of what prices should be) and Andy was friendly to work with. I am happy to support his business as he is local. Thanks Andy!

Amy B.

Andy had been servicing our plumbing needs for many years. He installed our tankless HW heater and calls to service it annually. Always courteous & with humor, Andy responds to our calls with haste. Good plumbers are hard to come by. Andy Bello Plumbing is a keeper.

Joseph R.

Andy is the man. He gave us great prices for all of his work. Thank you Andy for restoring our bathroom and laundry room after that crazy slab leak.

Joshua S.

Andy Bello is a great plumber. He was very easy to reach which is hard to come by with plumbers in North County. He came right on time and got the job done quickly. I will definitely be calling him for future plumbing needs. Thanks Andy.

Online R.

I too received this response from Andy Bello:

""If you left a message and emailed me i would have called you back so with out a name and number to call what can i say. i am almost perfect but only the lord is perfect my friend. my thinking is maybe it sounded like a sales call. try again. and remember be happy just be happy.""

I can assure you I left messages and emails (two of each) with perfectly clear contact information, but no response whatsoever.