Total Plumbing

Stephen C.

Summary: If Total Plumbing agree to provide a service at a specific time which is agreed upon by both parties before services are rendered then that agreement should be honored. I decided not to file another claim with American Home Shield or utilize Total Plumbing services because honesty and trust are very important ethics a company should have. Unfortunately, both of these companies are lacking these key ethics.


I filed a claim ($75) with my home warranty company (American Home Shield) to repair my hot water heater and they suggested Total Plumbing. Total Plumbing called me the next day and I scheduled the earliest available appointment for Apr 16th at 2PM. I been in the U.S. Army since 2004 so going seven days without hot water is nothing new.

Apr 16th came and I was looking forward to getting my hot water heater fixed however, the technician arrived at my home at 12PM. This time conflicted with my work schedule hence the reason I requested the appointment to be at 2PM. Total Plumbing called me twice at 12PM to inform me that the technician was at my home however, cell phones are prohibited in my office.

Once I got off of work I returned the call from the technician and he informed me that I had to reschedule an appointment with Total Plumbing. So I called Total Plumbing which informed me that they wouldn't be able to reschedule another appointment since I ""missed"" the first appointment and I had to call American Home Shield. Finally, I called American Home Shield and informed them of the situation and they called Total Plumbing. Total Plumbing claimed that the original appointment was for Apr 16th between 12PM and 4PM. So in order to reschedule an appointment I had to file another claim ($75) regardless of the original agreement.

Meron B.

AHS sent them over. I requested for three toilets to be looked at unfortunately, he only went into two bathrooms. He was there for less than 5 minutes.

James K.

AHS referred this company. I am thankful that they made time on my emergency.
However, the technician had cut the hot water pipe by mistake. In attempt to reconnect, he damaged/ bent the top of my water heater. I took picture and texted the picture to the company, of course the technician denied it. They didn't want to see the possibility that a tool used as leverage could damage the corner. The tech had cut the pipe too short and had to pull the pipe forward closer to the heater. He bent the heater to connect the pipe.

Heidi F.

I called my home warranty company (AHS) yesterday to get my hot water heater fixed as we have been without hot water for 3 days now. They assured me Total Plumbing would contact me. I decided to call their emergency service line and a gentleman answered the phone and said that he would call me right back as I requested someone to come out the next day. He called me back and assured me they could come out the next day to fix our hot water heater. Well, I called Total Plumbing the next day as I did not hear when they would arrive. When I called, they said they cannot send someone out until Tuesday. This is truly unacceptable as someone told me last night they would be out today. I have little kids and no hot water. Total Plumbing said they would do one thing and then said another. Not fulfilling what they originally said they would do. The customer service is horrible and they do not make much effort in doing what they say they are going to do. I was lied to and now they could care a less. I would never use this company and AHS is not any better as well.

Rick R.

These people run an outright scam. Read all the other reviews, and judge for yourself. But here's my story of their incredibly illegal scam...

My hot water heater breaks and I call my home warranty company.

The warranty company sends these scammers out.

A nice-enough technician shows up, and determines we need a new hot water heater. He advises me that his office will be in touch to schedule the installation once they get approval from the home warranty company.
He does not advise me of any costs or extra charges. I know I am responsible for my warranty company deducible.

Of course, they never called. It took me three days of them not returning messages before I reached a live person and scheduled the installation for the following Monday. They tried to upsell me a lot of junk extras totaling $850. I declined.

Of course, they claimed all the extra charges were ""required by code"" for my relatively new house.

Before they arrived, I called the county and had a long chat with the building inspectors, who advised me of the exact code and that my home required no upgrades. I did my homework thoroughly.

Now to installation day. Two technicians arrive, the second one with a very large chip on his shoulder. They go downstairs, disconnect my hot water heater and drain it.

Then, about 45 minutes after they had started, they suddenly demanded a check for $850. I reminded them I had already declined these extra charges through the home warranty company and that their office was well-aware of that.

Next, I was again told that the code required I have an expansion tank installed. This was completely false. A lie. No such code exists for the type of system in my home.

When I called their bluff, the story changed quickly. They backed completely off the lie of it being required by law. Their new story was that the manufacturer of the hot water heater ""required"" an expansion tank. That made no sense to me. I insisted we place a call to the manufacturer to confirm this ridiculous lie.

Of course, the story changed again. ""I mean it is **RECOMMENDED**."" He had changed his story yet again.

They are very clearly accustomed to duping most home owners, who usually trust the vendors sent out by home warranty companies. I was in the middle of being defrauded.

Had I not been educated, I would have easily fallen for the scam.

The story does not end here, however. They quickly relented and removed the expansion tank from their demanded payment. But they still wanted $450 for ""re-piping."" More junk fees. Obviously, every hot water heater replacement requires the cutting of the copper pipes and reconnecting them to the new hot water heater. But their scam was that this easy task was a ""major modification."" And for that, they demanded $450 in addition to what the home warranty company was already paying them.

Now these guys knew they had my bent over a barrel. They had already drained and disconnected my hot water. So they stuck to their guns, knowing I had no choice. This is obviously why they started the work before demanding money from me. So they would have all the leverage.

Having no options, and having four children that needed hot water for their showers, I finally stated ""charge me whatever you want - I'll pay and make my complaints later. I'll deal with this later. Just tell me how much you want me to pay now.""

They went outside, presumably to get paperwork and charge me. After some delay, I walked outside (it was getting to be late at night) and suggest ""lets get this going. It's getting late."" At that point, they told me they were abandoning the job and leaving.

With my protests that they must complete the job, they left. No repair. And having disabled the existing hot water heater that, though leaking, could still heat water before they drained it and disconnected it.

Obviously, I will be posting my complaints and experience all over the Internet. More importantly, I will be filing formal complaints against their three contractors licenses.

When I sent a demand letter to them the next morning demanding they complete the repair -- or that I would post my reviews, complain, and sue them; they had their lawyer send me a threatening letter rather than doing the right thing.

They thought they could silence me. But I truly hope they **DO** sue me for slander as they have threatened. The truth is an absolute defense. So I do not fear their threat to sue me.

Everyone needs to know that this company is an outright fraud. They lie about code and fabricate manufacturer requirements. All because their plumbers are on commission. It's a pure money grab, with no truth behind anything they tell you.

BUYER BEWARE.

Shani G.

I really want for American Home Shield to take them off of their vendor list - AWFUL.

I was told by AHS that they would reach out, two days later, nothing. I called them and played phone tag for two more days. When I got the appointment scheduled, they told me they would call when he was on his way. On the day of the appointment, I get a call from my condo front desk that he was there - no call whatsoever.

He comes in and tells me he doesn't see a leak and he would need to open up the ENTIRE WALL to see what it is and that my warranty would not cover it. I call my condo maintenance people who tell him that he needs to snake out the drain and replace the wet seal. He ""says"" he does the work and leaves. I got to the flush the toilet, and it still does not flush all the way.

I call them back and tell them their guy did not fix the problem and he needs to come back out. They say they will call me to get the appointment scheduled. The next day I wake up to an email that they tech would be back out that morning. Nobody called to tell and I most certainly did not confirm the time.

I called and told them this to which they said ""well our guy said he called."" I told her he did and the time did not work for and I would be asking AHS to send out a different company since they were so awful. To which the replied ""well you can try and see if they will send someone else out"" in the most rude manner.

Unprofessional.
Bad service.
Waste of time.
Don't use.

Ned P.

I give this place a ZERO if i could. Ben has the worst customer service I have ever seen. FIRST the company was supposed be there between 2 and 4 and i called at 4 and Betsy said ohhh well our technician is broken down on the side of the road. Understood it could happen, well i got a call at 6 that night and said they would be there at 7pm. R you kidding me? I had to call the next morning, because the Tech said he had no way of relaying the message that he didn't come to my house. (BRIAN).
The company wouldn't even come out to my home and see what was going on. I had a PRV that was bad and they said we are going to charge you $100 no matter what even if we don't find a problem.""AS soon as they step foot on my property"". I agree they suck and the only reason they get business is because AHS. They declined to service my request and told me to transfer the business. are you kidding me??(BEN) Transfer the business to someone else and hadn't even been to my home yet to diagnose the problem.

Needless to say Belle View Plumbing came right out and said YES your PRV has gone bad and fixed the problem in less than a half and hour.

AGAIN STAY AWAY FROM TOTAL PLUMBING AND THE SCUMBAG BEN!!!

Carl J.

Total rip-off. For me they replace a broken water heater. Like everyone else they were a AHS referral. Apparently that is the main source of their business. They charged me a ""flat fee"" of $825.00 for out of pocket expenses including $450 for a new pan and gas line re-piping of $250. I have had other AHS water heaters installed and the out of pocket expenses (tubing/drains etc.) for heaters of a similar age and type was less than $100. To charge a flat rate that totals nearly the total cost of the heater is an example of having us over a barrel and sticking it to us. Incidentally they told us the amount of flat rate fee almost a week after we were without hot water. Originally the tech told us that the $866 total charge was because AHS did not pay for installation but after it was installed and we called AHS they told us that they did pay for installation. I don't mind paying a reasonable fee for items not covered by AHS but that amount for less than an hours work and some flexible piping and a drip pan is a rip-off. They may be great with leaking faucets and I will complement Christie as their customer service rep who was extremely pleasant and helpful. However a ""flat fee"" regardless of the amount of work performed is a flat rip off.

Edward B.

We were very happy with Total Plumbing. Scott went out of his way to help us with our water heater and leaking pipe issues. He answered all our questions and was very professional. We 100% recommend Total Plumbing.

Daniel D.

They are very dishonest and unprofessional. I had an appointment for this company to come out who was referred to me from my home insurance. The company ( Total Plumbing ) called me and set up an appointment. I drove across the city and waited for over an hour past my appointment time. After calling numerous times with no explanation why they had not come, they returned my call and told they would not make it (today). I asked them about the service charge, being as they couldn't make it, and they said it was non-refundable (whether they show up or not) and now I'm out $100 and still a plumbing problem. I do not recommend Total Plumbing. You will lose time from work and money for nothing.
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