Wighton’s Plumbing, Heating, & Air Conditioning

Louellen J.

Our furnace went out Christmas Day 2024, so we put **Bee Right** on call for a diagnosis. They'd incorrectly identified the inducer motor as the culprit, with the wrong part identified in the order sheet.

We called **Monarch** to address the inducer motor installation. Per Shaun, the existing motor was functioning - smart dude. But their 4-cylindar Moto Upsell Guy showed up randomly calling for a completly new furnace for 12K. Literally sizing up the sale before Shaun could finish his diagnostics.

4-Cyl Guy gave the hard press for a complete furnace replacement on credit for over a hour. Good thing my credit *does suck* or I'd be on the hook for $165/mo for like the next 2 decades. Not the vibe.

On to ***WIGHTONS*** (believe after all this that I DID ask for their best technician.)

**Anthony Richardson** shows up and literally in under an hour diagnoses the correct issue (the thermostat). Dude is young, smart, and honest. If you're fortunate enough to get Anthony on a call, tip the guy 3x, cuz he's solid.

Furnace burning solid and reliable.

Tricia W.

First I need to say that even though I am giving a one star review, I spoke with Jon to resolve the issue; he was kind and professional. He was the only part of this experience that we don't have complaints about.

My mom, who is in her 70s, had a leaky pipe in her yard. After calling a couple local companies, she settled on Wighton's because they had availability. She asked if she could pay some up front and if it ended up being more, if she would be able to make payments on the remaining balance. They said it could be done so a young man came out (I believe his name was Alfredo) to assess the situation. My mom had already started to dig before he came and after talking about the problem she agreed to let him do the work. He had her sign on a tablet, her eye sight isn't great so she couldn't read it. She asked what she was signing and he said it was for permission for him to do the work. He later claims that he told her what the total would be at this time but she either didn't hear him say that part or he didn't actually tell her because there is no way she would have agreed to have him continue. She has a lot of plumbing materials in her patio and he asked if she had a pipe he could use to do the repair. After she searched for a bit, he determined she didn't have what he needed. He then found a PVC end cap in her patio that he used to cap off one of the openings in the three-way tee fitting. She estimates he was there for about 5 hours. (They said they have GPS and he was there for 7. A friend who was on the property saw him leave approximately an hour earlier than they said he left.) So after he waited 2-1/2 hours (according to the invoice) for it to cure, he turned the water back on. She then asked how much it was going to be and he said $2,719.02. When she questioned him, he said he told her in the beginning. Once again, if she heard that she would have never agreed. She never received an invoice or anything she could look at. She gave him a check for $800 and refused to sign anything else. I called the office the next day to ask how much their hourly rate was and was told ""they don't do that"". I then asked for an invoice to be emailed to me so we could see what she was being charged for. I received the invoice the next day, two days after service. She was charged the following:

""Rate for Single Sold Hour"" $300 x7
""Install CPVC water piping up to 10ft"" $619.02 x1.

When I called to question it, they assured me it was a fair and reasonable price and one woman seemed offended when I said I felt like they were taking advantage of my mom. She said they have been in business for a long time and wouldn't take advantage of anyone. I asked for a supervisor or manager to call me and after a call from an out of area call center, I finally heard from Jon. They agreed to accept the $800 and considered it paid in full. She still has a hole in her yard because they didn't come back the next day like they were supposed to because they said the appointment was canceled. The pipe is still leaking slowly so we will have someone else come to fix it properly.

We know that plumbing is expensive, as is everything else these days, but for them to charge $2,719.02 while using material my mom had and nothing of their own (other than maybe the glue) is outrageous.

Patty S.

Alfredo fixed my water heater; showed up promptly and fixed promptly also..very nice young man..thank you Alfredo & Wightens

T C.

Actually called Paso Robles Heat & Air, she said they were busy but would send their affiliated co., Wighton's out instead and would waive their regular $79 charge. The plumber came that afternoon , spent 40 min. turning on upstairs faucets, checked outside water meter & confirmed that yes, we had a slow water leak. Water was dripping from upstairs bath into downstrs kitchen ceiling so yes, we ALREADY knew there was a leak. Alfredo asked for 2 signatures, I asked for what, he pointed up to ceiling & said ""so I can cut a 5x5 access area to determine where the leak is coming from..."" I gave him credit card # and told him ""Now I guess I have to call our home insurance(?) I don't know; I've never done this before."" Alfredo looked surprised, asked what company and what our deductible was then said goodbye, he was done, that he wouldn't get paid if we dealt with our insurance. He charged $553 (!!) to tell me what I already knew--that we had a water leak from upstairs. He started to leave & I told him I didn't feel comfortable paying him $553 for basically telling us what we already knew and that he mis-led me. I'm happy to pay for a service call for 40 minutes of work but there's NO WAY that should cost $553! I also asked for a copy of my receipt and he said I'd get it tomorrow. I insisted I wanted a copy before he left and am also disputing the charge with Visa. I would NEVER recommend Wighton's Plumbing. Called the office twice, left messages, no call back. Filled out the Wighton's online contact form on their website, also no call back. BUYER BEWARE!

*Edited Nov 7* The Same day after my original one star Yelp rating was posted, Manager Nate M. called me back and apologized. Wighton's issued a full $553 credit to my Visa card which was very much appreciated. I upgraded to a two star ""Could've Been Better"" Yelp rating because over all it was still a very disappointing experience and we are using a different local plumber as we go forward w/the leak repair.

Eleanor Z.

The prices at Wighton's have soared. We ended up not having the work done because it was 3 times (seriously) what other companies charge. They wanted us to pay $810 (!), or $760 with a $50 coupon, to snake two drains! It took another company 20 minutes last time. We ended up having it done by the same company as before and paid for 1 hour of time ($225)--much more reasonable! With Wighton's, after receiving the exorbitant estimate I then had to pay $79 for having them come out. Giving the estimate mainly involved standing in the kitchen tapping a tablet, which took almost 20 minutes (just the tablet part). It also took four tries (!) to sign the three (!) forms in order to pay the $79 fee. Everything is automated, which means the technician has to stand in the kitchen managing the technology, which took up a lot of both our time while I waited to sign. Moreover, it had been hard to even get an appointment because of the automated phone ""reception"" service. Is it AI? It was really awful and required calling back multiple times just to make the appointment. Then on the day of the visit, I received automated messages the technician was on their way . . . 40 minutes before they actually arrived. It didn't make any sense. If I had to guess, I'd say the main problem with this business is the ineffective reliance on technology, and obviously the prices. Maybe the over-reliance on automation is driving up their costs? I would check other places first, and if their estimate sounds high, that's because it is.

Valeri M.

We had our water heater blow up. They were excellent coming to fix it but when we got the bill, it was not itemized and we still are calling two months later for an itemized bill so we can turn it into our insurance company. They are a huge business so when you call up, you get all kinds of different people to talk to, so they say the work on it and they don't work on it and you can't find that person that you spoke to. Also they are a little higher than other places. We will be finding another company to use.

Angie S.

Had to call Wightons back out for leaky pipes they installed. They cancelled twice knowing it was not a money making appointment. The tech then blamed the problem on my mom claiming someone had stepped on the pipe. She lives alone and does not use the bathroom. Once my husband inspected the work they had done he was shocked to see 2 sections of new pipe with old in the middle. The tech then tried to convince my 80 year old mother she needed the entire house re-plumbed but told a VERY different story when my husband showed up. We own a construction company but plumbing is not something we do so we hired professionals. What a joke!
I just received a follow call to see how things went and when I explained some of what happened the person on the phone just said ""oh sorry, well I hope you have a nice day"" Did not offer to come back and repair the deficient work that they have already been paid for.

M.J. S.

1st called to have a new duct & fan put in my bathroom which has a window for ventilation. I called got the appointment to have them look at it for a quote. Jared came over at the time my appointment was set up for! I had another company come by they took my info Left an never came back! At the time I noticed grey plastic coming from the attic after the other rep came down from the attic. He never mention the ducting covers were falling apart & not heating my house properly. 2014 I had a new heater installed but they only installed from the heater to a box( language isn't quite correct bc I'm not a HVAC person) & DIDN'T replace the 5 heating ducts. My house was built 1989 so the ducting was from that year or their about. So when Jared went into the attic he explained what wasn't done from 2014 to what should have been done. I didn't know I truly trusted the company who installed my heater. It was expensive!! Lennox heater from Costco ( which they use independent companies - it was from Atascadero). Jared Installed 5 new up to date duct covers, new everything from the heater to each duct. It was a big job but he had another person with him. One part of the attic entrance board had fallen but they repaired it. They took away all the old & threw it away. Over all they did a good job! Told me up front & honest..NO BS with this company! Yes I would use them again to change filter & check my heater! I was worth every Benjamins!

Nancy W.

No free estimates. $75.00 just to come out.

We had a new capacitor put in last year but he said due to heat it failed again.

Cost $256 plus $75 to show up. This seems a lot higher than I paid for one at my other home last year.

I questioned it but he wouldn't reduce the cost.

All during the service he made condescending comments to me and constantly wasted time trying to scare me that things were going to fail if we didn't do all kinds of extra maintenance things I had Brent heard suggested before with the exception of spraying off our condenser coils which I said we can do ourselves.

He wanted you to flush the AC drain lines, and about 5 wild things for an additional $1400.00. One item was installing a ""hard"" start on the AC. Mind you. Not a soft start.

We declined and just got the condenser replaced.

I don't trust this repair sales guy or the company at this point.

Asia C.

We are having an AWFUL time with them. Their workers (maybe it's the same one each time) hae shown up reeking of cigarette smoke, and have been chain smoking right outside our door and on our roof while trying to fix the AC. They somehow ruined our ability to use a remote to control the AC, which has been AWFUL during this heat. NOT thrilled.