Watson's Plumbing Heating & Building Services

Cory A.

I am a health care worker writing this email in the middle of the COVID crisis -- as you might imagine I am very busy at the moment so if I am taking the time to write a review then I must consider this to be a pretty egregious issue, which as you can see from the email below is indeed the case.

We have lived in the same house in Hamilton Heights since 2008 and we have always used Watson Plumbing for any of our plumbing needs. For example, in Fall 2019, we called Watson to install a new kitchen faucet and to reset two of our toilets and they did a great job. So, we did not hesitate to contact Watson for the relatively straightforward work of (1) replacing the flapper mechanisms in our toilets; and (2) unclogging some drains. We fully realize that this work could have been done by an experienced handyperson, but we had previously had some great experiences with Watson and we did not hesitate to call them to take care of these relatively simple problems .

Boy, were we wrong.... What a disaster. To make a long story short... They sent a clearly very inexperienced person who spent most of his time chatting on his phone rather than replacing the flappers on our toilets. When he could not figure out how to replace the mechanisms in one of our toilets, he tried to talk us into getting a new toilet! Can you imagine - instead of replacing the flapper he told us we needed a new toilet.

When I complained to the compandy, they sent the supervisor as well as some more experienced technicians. However, 8 hours later - and 8 hours that they charged us for - we still do not have functional toilets. In fact, here we are now in a house with 2 college kids back home and 2 other adults and in a house with 4 toilets only 1 which is working. AND we paid $1000 for their incompetent service. I would like to emphasize that BEFORE Watson came NONE of the toilets were running yet now 3 or the 4 toilets run continually after their ""service"" -- so now we can use only 1 toilet. We had to shut the other three toilets off because we got a letter from the City indicating that the water flow is excessive - so this is not our ""imagination"" the City is also concerned.

We called Watson back twice to try to address the issues yet the problems persist. And of course, we cannot call a ""real"" plumber at the moment because we cannot have anyone in the house during the COVID crisis. And by the way, I am not sure what they did to snake the drains, since the same drains are now clogged again - so, clearly, they did not even snake the drains properly.

Having said all of this, I would have chalked it all up to experience and had planned to call a ""competent"" plumber when the COVID crisis is over but APPALLINGLY they sent us a bill for the visits that they came back to deal with their incompetence - can you imagine the gall of that - plumbers who after three visits cannot change a toilet flapper competently and then try to charge us for it....Can you imagine...

Tammy C.

Don't ever call this man to fix anything. Not reliable. Called about a leak in the kitchen sink, never returned call for several days. Finally showed up to repair the leak, 5 minute repair he said the pipe just needed to be tightened up, charged $20, problem wasn't resolved . We had to call a handyman to replace the entire sink. You would expect a plumber to be professional and fix the problem the first time you call them, instead of ripping people off. Will not recommend this business to fix anything!!!

Defero N.

Good plumber Be careful of the bill. They will try to charge you more than the submitted quote.

Matthias H.

We needed to replace gas meter pipes in an apartment due to a change in the code. I reached out to Watson´s Plumbing because they are close by our building. Joseph Holmes the dispatcher seemed to be responsive and made a good first impression. However it turned out this impression was wrong. After exchanging several emails and sending photos he said he will send someone to check to job onsite to be able to give us a quote. This appointment was supposed to happen on a Friday and was confirmed by Joseph. Unfortunately nobody showed up. Our tenant also reached out to Joseph. His answer was ""this fell through the cracks"". Our tenant even sent him more photos and a video so that Joseph could give us a price. Still nothing. Nobody ever got back to me or the tenant again. After having lost 1-2 weeks trying to work with Watson´s we decided to hire another company which was super reliable and did a great job.

Nic Q.

They were at my apartment an hour after calling them for help. Did a speedy and thorough job fixing my leaky sink. Plumber was very nice - explained the source of the issue and talked me through what he was going. Price was above what others quoted, but it was a job well done so it was worth it.

Diana B.

CUSTOMER SERVICE IS HORRIBLE
I have used Watson's for over 6 years. During this period whenever I call the office to set up my appointment I was always treated courteously and professionally by Ms Ericka.

My last service call was horrible! Someone at this company made the worst decision to assign Joe the responsibility for managing customers and dispatching service technicians. He is rude, dismissive and disrespectful. He is so busy juggling people on the phone and in the office, he is gruff and impatient when you ask him questions. Preferring not to deal with this behavior from an employee, I requested a call back Kelvin or Konroy. The actual work was completed to my satisfaction(they get 1 star), however I have no paperwork or an invoice detailing the work that was done. I have called several times leaving messages for Kelvin. I have emailed him with my request along with a description of my phone experiences. As of today, they have taken my money but I still do not have the invoice, I have not received call back nor a reply to my email.

If you care about respectful customer service, this is not the company to use. I have notified my Condo Association and all the owners to remove Watson Plumbing and Heating from our preferred vendors list.

Alice S.

No stars! This company does repair work for the city of NY. He charges astronomical prices and is a rip off. Claims to have done work but is questionable what was actually done. No detail billing. No breakdown for charges. Just a large bill. Stay away, run the other direction.

J C.

I have had excellent service with Watson's on 2 of my buildings. On one occasion, my tenant had a ceiling leak and Garcia the Tech found a defective shower spout in the apartment above. He repaired it and did not have to break the ceiling in the apartment below and he saved me a lot of money. They come on time and respond to their customers. on another occasion, I had a burst water main and although Watson's does not handle it Mr Watson himself came to the job site on a Saturday, he had recommended a fellow plumber that did and they handled the DEP notice promptly and completed the job cleanly.
I can't say enough good things about them they honor their work. Great Office Team in Erica, Regan, Shereeta. thjey are always respective of me as their customer.
Jeff C.

Pia V.

So we rescheduled the job from last Friday to today, with the same estimate as last week, 8-11am. This morning there was no confirmation call so we called in to verify that someone was coming. We received confirmation after calling in and so the waiting started again.

Around 9am we were told that the technician was running into traffic in the 70s and should arrive within 30mins. Then around 9:35am we received another update that the technician was still on the way and should arrive in 30mins......ok. Then at 9:45am I was asked for photos of my faucet and told that the technician should arrive shortly. At 10:45am, still no technician and no call. At this point we call in and get told that the technician probably won't make it till after 11am, possibly after 11:30am.

So, appointment cancelled. That was their second chance. If you actually want a job done, then you may want to stay clear of a company who doesn't show up..........twice.

Lawrence S.

These guys have the worst customer service. Every time we call them, their go to response is ""we can't do that"", then we remind them they have done work for us before, but they can't find the records, even if it was only a few weeks before, always much more of a hassle than it needs to be.