My sister referred me to this company. I called on a Sunday with a stopped up drain and two slow ones. The message taker took my number and a technician called me back right away. I spoke at length to this technician, Stal, who was very nice and informative and I told him I was referred by my sis, so they knew it was a referral client. Their rates were $105 per hour, then they go at half hour rates, but double on the weekends; I didn't want to pay the double rate and he pointed out that it wasn't an emergency (not flooding) if I could wait till the next day, so I said I would wait for Monday morning.
I was concerned who they would send, knowing many companies contract out, and Stal was so patient and answered all my questions, so I asked if he would be my technician and he said no, that they do different specialties, but he knows all their people and he said he would check the calendar with Fred, the owner, in the morning and try to send Mike or another guy who was also good. I asked how soon in the morning, he was very specific and said they are in before office hours around 6 or 7a to go over the calendar with Fred and schedule out calls that come in over the weekend, and that the office opens at 8a and that someone would call me in the morning to confirm a window of time on Monday. I really liked him; I thought if this is what the company is like then I found a great plumber.
I waited till nearly 930a and no phone call. So I called them to follow up and got a woman in the office; her tone was not friendly at all, it was like I was bothering her right off the bat. I expected that they may still be scheduling and hadn't gotten to me yet, but she didn't know anything about me or my service request. I told her that my sister referred me (an existing, loyal customer), that I had spoken to Stal the day before and asked if my information was conveyed by Stal. She said he might have conveyed it to Fred. I asked is Fred in, she said he might be (at this point I could tell her tone was getting snippy), but she didn't offer to check. I told her that I talked to Stal at length and what he told me. She immediately got defensive and said they had 100 calls and she was doing the best she could (at the same time she was yelling over at someone else off the phone). I would have been sympathetic to her if she had shown any courtesy and apologized for not getting to me yet, but she had an attitude from the minute she answered the phone and then said they MAY get to me later in the day as they were prioritizing and taking care of other customers that didn't have hot water, but she said it in a way that was very dismissive. At this point, I was over the rudeness and being dismissed, as I was only trying follow up. I said that really wasn't my problem, but that her attitude towards me was, that she was turning me away from this company. So she said she would get Fred and put me on hold. Then Fred came on and I told him I was a referral and what had transpired and that his person was being rude...HE was then rude and said they couldn't service me and did I get the 'message'.
If I had cold called them or had been demanding or rude, then I could see her being rude to me back, but I wasn't, I was just confused and inquiring if my information had been conveyed as promised by Stal (what if he hadn't?), but she wouldn't follow up on it, she just got defensive and rude...and then her boss, the name on the company, also came back rude and refused to service me over something that they, as a company, did not handle properly. If they always prioritize customers by their situation, then Stal should not have promised me a phone call in the morning for an appt time, he should have said they prioritize and I may get a call later in the day, but he said the company would get back to me first thing in the morning. If they don't get back to a customer when they promised to, even if they were swamped, they should apologize and make good on that situation at the time, not MAYBE later in the day and get defensive and rude about it because they are overloaded with call backs. Very bad business model.
I believe that it's not unreasonable to want to hire a company that has good technicians, good customer service throughout the company and decent prices. I had called other companies that had a specific rate for the service I needed, that did not charge hourly or double time on a Sunday and were available, but I was so impressed by Stal that I waited the extra day and wanted to use this company. But this ended up being the worst experience customer service wise...and then to refuse service because of their bad behavior is ridiculous and offensive. It's too bad, because I would have been a loyal customer that would refer them out; instead I'm compelled to warn others here. I'm only giving 1 star because I liked Stal, otherwise it would none. read more