We have been using Papalia to service our home HVAC system for approximately 6 years. Up until this year we would have rated them 3 to 4 stars. Although a little pricey, the service has been good with special recognition to Keith, who has been our Service provider since we began using Papalia. In fact, my wife was willing to wait several weeks to have our HVAC unit serviced so Keith could do the job. On the day of service, no one showed up in the allotted time slot, so after an hour, my wife called. She was told they were running late and that they were not sending Keith because he was too busy. Someone showed up 90 minutes late. The overall experience was unacceptable and we will be seeking out a new HVAC service provider. read more

Edit: I just saw the owner's response. $533 to do an AC check up and add 3 pounds of refrigerant. I have a receipt. You be the judge! Wow, did I just get ripped off! Papalia did some service work following an AC "tune up." The estimate actually seemed very high, so while he was doing the work I called two other local AC contractors to see what they would charge to do the same thing. The HIGHEST of the two bids for the tune-up and service work (assuming it was even necessary) was literally just less than half. The tune-up cost more at what I consider to be the reputable competitor. The estimate for the service portion was 30% of Papalia. I talked to the technician about it before he left. He did a dance when I asked him how he was able to estimate a price before knowing how much R22 was needed for the job. He did give me the name of his manager to call. The damage is done, in my view. Papalia has NOT tried to follow up in any way. How do I get that SUCKER sign removed from my forehead? read more

$450 -$600 per hour!!! Are you kidding me! Should have read all the other negative reviews regarding outlandish prices before I scheduled them. While I was glad they answered the phone on a Saturday, they told us they would be at our house first thing Monday between 7:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. They showed up at 8:35. We had a toilet supply line break so I turned off the water supply to the tank. When they got here they looked over the situation, went out to the truck to write an estimate and came back with a quote for $151 to replace the line. The material cost maybe $10 max. The line was installed in seven minutes and he was done by 9:00. At $151 for roughly 15 total minutes (time to look over the job, go back to truck and write a quote, and installing and totally completing the job). Oh...and did we say they also charged us an additional $49.50 for just coming to house. I kick myself that I did not do the job myself but one of the connectors looked strangely broken so I thought I'd rely on a professional. I would strongly encourage you to check with other plumbers before working with Papalia. Outrageous prices! Stay away! read more

While they diagnose stuff quickly, their prices are pure ripoff! Do not use them. I used them this week. Tech diagnosed the reason our furnace was not turning on was because of pilot not being on (I already told him that) and then he found that the "thermo couple" needed replacement. The part costs about $30 max. The quoted price to fix $325 + $50 dispatch fee - pure ripoff. It was less than 25 min of work for the technician. Based on the cost, I told him your hourly rate are more than a neuro-surgeon (they charge $450/hour) and he was smiling. I refused to pay that amount, he finally changed some codes and we settled for $250, which is twice the amount for that service. PLEASE DO NOT USE THEM UNLESS ITS EXTREME EMERGENCY!!! read more

I realized this past Sunday (9/15/13) that I had a plumbing problem as there was a spray (mist) of water in my basement and the ceiling and floor were absolutely soaked. Because I am not familiar with plumbing I wanted to get someone out ASAP to resolve the issue before it got worse. Papalia's emergency service was easy to reach and they responded quickly. It took about 2 hours before they were able to show up, but that is what they quoted over the phone ahead of time. They were upfront that it was going to cost $155 for emergency service (just to show up), but I was under a time crunch so I couldn't shop around for a better deal. The person who arrived (whose name I forget) was a very nice guy. He did explain that low pH could have caused the hole in the pipe. When he did the work he did so in about an hour, which seemed reasonable, and didn't leave any kind of mess in my basement. My real concern with this company, and while I'll never do business with them again, is that on top of charging such a high rate just to show up at my house (the $155), they charged me $350+ to replace a tiny section of 3/4" copper pipe. I knew this was pretty high, but not until I did my homework afterword did I know just how badly I was ripped off. Speaking with another plumbing company I found that a similar job, also on a Sunday, might have cost me $250 instead of the $505 it did cost me ($155 for emergency appearance at the house, $350 to replace a tiny section of pipe in about an hour). I feel that they were taking advantage of my lack of knowledge and eagerness to resolve the problem immediately. Also.. for how big the hole was I could have fixed it with some duct tape until Monday which would have saved me a ton of money. Very disappointed overall, despite the friendliness of the plumber who showed up. read more

After open discussions with Papalia Plumbing and Heating, I now have a better feeling about this company. They responded positively to my concerns that I had after they completed a service call to replace my kitchen faucet. Melanie Z. read more

Ok.. So another update. They refunded me half of the original money so that is good. I appreciate them doing it but I wish it never came to that. Let's see what the future holds. read more

Way overpriced and a huge ripoff. I will never call them again. They came out to tell me I had to replace a 4 foot plastic pipe in order to unclog a drain. Two technicians to replace a pipe in 15 min. And charged me over $500!! Will never use them again. read more

I came home on a frigid night in January to find my 50-year old furnace leaking from three sides. I called Papalia Plumbing and Heating after hours to get advice on stabilizing the unit until someone could come out in the morning. After a short but thorough review of my options, I agreed to a full replacement at a fixed cost. Papalia's team of conscientious workers spent the next 12 hours at my house making sure the job was done right in one day. Had it not been for their diligence and quality of work, I might have lost pipes to freezing the next day. Instead of a reputation for being the most expensive, Papalia Plumbing and Heating deserves a reputation for being the absolute best service, well worth a premium price. read more

Great as always ... responsive to our emergency need, great service, competent and friendly.

Mostly neat work, though they made a real mess one time. They do a fixed-price deal. Sounds good, because a job can run over. But they cost about twice what other guys do. I switched to Kirkland and Shaw, and its worked out real well in cost & service. read more

I believe that Papalia is hearing their feedback and is now attempting to improve their service. My problem was an old main drain pipe that periodically gets clogged with tree roots. So, my cellar got flooded. Papalia came on the same day & waived the emergency fee as 2 plumbers became available. Yes, I gulped at the quote but agreed because it was a Friday afternoon & I had no time to shop around.(My old plumber retired)! I did appreciate their quick response. They camera'd & snaked the pipe. Two weeks later the pipe clogged with additional tenacious roots. Mike, the operations manager, was very concerned & kindly returned himself with a plumber to personally banish the stubborn root at no additional cost. In fact, to be fair, he returned some of my original monies. I ended up a satisfied customer & am comfortable recommending Papalia as an ethical company! Give them a chance. read more

A plumber came to my home today and behaved in an incredibly inappropriate manner, which is very frustrating in and of itself, but just another issue to top off the ridiculous strong arm sales tactics employed. He came to repair a clogged toilet. While here, he really tried to get my wife to commit to many unnecessary services up to and including replacing two perfectly good Kohler toilets. These tactics are annoying and so absurd that they are amusing to watch. What is not amusing and is not acceptable was his description of his personal bathroom habits. He described in great detail what he does when he uses a toilet, using language such as, "when I take a shit, I wipe first and flush before wiping some more and flushing again. I'll wipe again and flush again, just to be sure. That's what I do whenever I take a shit and I think you should too." Extremely inappropriate language to be using at any time, but especially to a woman, home alone. Ridiculous. I will never use this company again. There are far too many other options in the plumbing world. read more

I have been able to work with this company for several years and navigate their prices by providing my own parts, and asking what labor would be, etc. Recently, I had an emergency when the kitchen faucet broke. I was in an "I gotcha" moment and had to plan the service when I could not be home, but left my working from home hubby in place to receive the plumber. My husband was duped into paying a small fortune for a job that should have cost around half as much. When I called to complain, the office refused to cost out their work and stood their ground that we had agreed to their "flat rate". The faucet they provided and installed was a low end of the brand I had, and the young man doing the work was not even a "master plumber". Clearly this company has too much overhead if they need to charge such exorbitant prices. Stick to a small independent plumber! This company has become too big for their britches. read more

Keith was at my home at 6:30AM today to diagnose why the furnace was not staying on. He figured out the problem and fixed it. Then, he took an extra 4 minutes to explain what had happened and why. Very efficient. He was here for less than 20 minutes total. read more

I'm done with these guy. I should have learned after my gas fired boiler was cycling off and on, obviously having problems. They sent an inexperienced guy who insisted it just needed a tune up ($200!). WASTER OF MONEY. Finally they came back and found it needed a complete rebuilding. Then i hired them to replace my kitchen faucet. (i purchased the faucet myself). Just my wife was home, and a guy was here for about 1 hour, had to call a friend for assistance (he spent 15 minutes here) and they charged me $587. TOOK ADVANTAGE OF MY WIFE!. I called to complain, and the owner promised a rebate of $130 that he never sent. These guys are sleazy, incompetent and and overpriced. STAY AWAY!!! read more

I called the Papalia office and explained that i needed a shower drain installed, and that there was open access to the drain as I'd demo'd the ceiling to determine the cause of a ceiling stain. I asked what the approximate cost would be for the job, and the person in the office explained that there was no way they could estimate from there, and that a technician would need to evaluate the job and give me an estimate (for $39). I made the appointment, the technician arrived, and 5 minutes later he quoted $500 to install a new shower pan drain. When i could speak again I asked him for a breakdown of the charges; he told me that there was no breakdown, that shower drains were installed as a flat rate job. Somehow this could not be communicated to me without coming to my house and charging me $39. This business practice is simply a method to part each potential customer from $39 in the eventuality that they balk at an exorbitant quote. Needless to say I told them "bye bye". read more

I signed up to Yelp just to leave a review of Papalia. I am shocked by how much this company rips off its customers, yet somehow stays in business. I recently had some work done at my house and naively trusted their professionalism to provide me with an honest repair. I have had Papalia do work before and they have done a good job and provided quick service. So when they quoted me on the price, I thought it was expensive, but reasonable. Later, after looking up some pricing online, I realized that they charged me 10x for what the part costs - even compared to the manufacturer's price book! I called to complain and they claimed that labor and overhead are included in that rate. There is no way labor, overhead and they typical product mark-up added up close to what I was charged. The head of operations conceded to charge me the "member" price, which was about 50% off. Sounds like I originally I got the "sucker" price. Despite the refund, I will never use Papalia again and hope that others stay away. They are dishonest, swindlers that care more about stealing your last dollar, than providing genuine service. read more

my air conditioning and furnace had to be replaced. I had gotten two quotes from other companies and they were extremely over priced and were also pocketing rebates for the replacement. I had Papalia come in to give me an estimate and they were priced correctly with what a job like this should cost and provided all the rebates that I should be getting. Dave was great he didn't come off as an obnoxious sales person like the previous companies. I would recommend them to anyone who needs work done. read more

We've tried to use this company 3 times now for plumbing issues. Each time we get hit with some type of EXPENSIVE fee just for them to come out AND THEN FIND OUT IT WILL BE AN ADDITIONAL $141 JUST TO DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEM. And then you have to pay for the parts...I'm so upset! It's one thing to be expensive it's another problem with the plumbing issue doesn't get resolved! Do NOT USE THIS COMPANY. read more

Needed a simple drain collar replaced in my old bathtub. They spent less than 2 hours and, for parts, used about 1 foot of pipe. That's it. Access to the tub was easy as the ceiling below the tub is a drop ceiling. They charged me almost $800 for that job! Soooooo plumbers make about 400 an hour? Wow. Additionally, the porcelain around the drain was left chipped with a hairline crack. I didn't complain because it just a couple of small chips and I plan on having the tub repainted anyway. But geez . . . at that price I'd expect the tub to be in the same condition as they found it. read more

I waited around all morning for them to come in their three hour block they gave me, they were a complete no show. I contacted them to see what the story was and they said they put me in for the week after by mistake. No excuse for that sloppiness. read more

I used them twice- the first time was good- nice plumber, OK price, good work. The second time (last winter) the nice plumber had quit, the job was simple (replace pump in basement sink) and I realized later I was TOTALLY overcharged (I am beyond embarassed to tell you what I paid.) I think they have become a rip off. I need a plumber again- that is why I am looking on Yelp - but I ill never use them again. read more

I refuse to use this company. I called to schedule an appointment, and asked what the hourly rate for work was. They told me the rate was not hourly, but was fixed on a per-job basis. So I asked the pricing for replacement of a shower fixture. The office told me that they could not disclose the pricing -- I had to ask a technician, but to speak to the technician was a $49.50 service call fee. The office staff insisted that no one in the office has any idea how much the technicians job fees are. read more

OK so we had our electric water heater replaced by Papalia a bunch of years back, my recollection was there wasn't any problem with the work but it was expensive. We've had other quotes and they are always high (we go elsewhere). But the other day I get a letter in the mail saying they haven't been able to get in touch to inspect the water heater, several attempts, and have REPORTED THIS TO THE TOWN. What's up with that?! It would be like my tax advisor notifying the IRS that I should be audited AND THEN suggesting he could advise me in the audit (for a fee no doubt). That's called extortion (if you don't do this then this is what's going to happen). I wish I had kept the letter but I was so pissed off I threw it out. read more

Hahahha. Never ever use these guys! Between the super-shiny trucks, free refrigerator magnets and spiffy corporate attitude, their pricing is astonishing! They wanted over 10k for a simple oil to gas conversion, not even high efficiency or any of that stuff. This is even after I showed them a quote from a National Grid approved contractor for $4400. Part of it is they wanted $6k for a boiler that you can get from National Grid for $900. I am not kidding, check NationalGrid's oil-gas conversion program. You can even buy it online (retail) with free delivery for $1700 read more

I'm only giving one quote because the service tech who came to our home was very nice and polite and he replaced the small hose under our bathroom sink that was leaking. But because he did not have the right size hose in his truck- he had to go out and get one. So I was charged for him to show up, leave and get a second hose, on top of labor and parts. It cost $350 to change a hose that took about 15 minutes. WAY OVERPRICED. I WILL NEVER USE THEM AGAIN BECAUSE THEY TOO EXPENSIVE. read more

Their administration was so professional when I called to request a quote and they answered their phone in two rings. However, when I met the plumber in person to quote a lot of work at my new home I was greeted with a horrible attitude and a "Can't do attitude". They wasted my time and simply created more hassle than it was worth with their plumbing tech's lack of professionalism. read more

I have been using Papalia Plumbing for my needs for a few years now... I have had them at my house at least 5 times and each time the work was done well and the personnel have been very professional. When needed they are VERY responsive and are the cleanest plumbers I have ever used... Yes the prices are a little higher but to me it is totally worth it! read more

I wrote a review for Papalia Plumbing a few weeks ago that has mysteriously disappeared from this site but it is worth re-writing. I was in a panic when I woke up to a flood in my basement and a broken water heater. I went to the phone book and made and appointment with someone but I was apprehensive because I had to spell the name of my street three times (easy one) and I think I woke the guy up ( 9:30am).He didnt ask any questions. I decided to try another and right away the experience was completely different. The woman was so friendly and concerned...asked appropriate questions (what size heater, gas or electric) , that I decided to cancel the first one and go with Papalia. I was going to be alone and I felt more comfortable with these people. They called 15 minutes before the plumber arrived and then there was Travis to save the day! The work was done quickly and efficiently. The area was left cleaner than when he came certainly and he explained everything to me. I see a lot of people complaining about the price but you get what you pay for and I am completely satisfied and grateful. read more

I called Papalia based on some great reviews I had seen on Angie's List. We weren't getting any Central A/C inside the home. When I called, I was told there was a $79.00 dispatch fee for a tech to come out and diagnose the problem. Simple enough. (I was not told that they charge by the job and not by the hour.) In the meantime I had done some YouTube research about losing Central A/C and learned it is usually caused by a failed capacitor. A replacement capacitor runs about $20.00 on Amazon and is a job that can be done fairly easily (excellent videos on this on YouTube). The tech showed up promptly, and sure enough, it was a bad capacitor. The tech repaired it in about 20 minutes... to the tune of $450.00!! The repair itself was $371 and they added on the $79 "dispatch fee" (usually this is rolled into the time spent on the repair). When my wife told me, I called and complained, and at the end of the day, they did refund the dispatch fee so the total was $371.00 to do a job that a handy, CAREFUL homeowner could do for $20. You make the call: they charge by the job, not by the hour. Be prepared to find someone who charges hourly. read more

We had Papalia do a sink fixture replacement about a year ago. We were satisfied with the work and the price. But after a few months the sprayer attachment began to make noise and leak. They came back and replaced it for free because they had a generous 4-year warranty on faucets. A few months later, the sink spray attachment pulled off the flexible hose and water went everywhere. This was on a weekend. Papalia sent a plumber out and he said the problem was a defective connector and that the part was still covered under warranty. At first, he said they would charge $155 for coming out on a weekend. After further discussion with the office, he said they would waive the $155 charge. In the end, he put in an entirely new faucet and spray attachment for no charge. It seems to be working fine now. So what to conclude? On the positive side, they did respond promptly and honor their warranty without charging us anything. But they have been back twice to fix problems with something that shouldn't be breaking. And their special weekend charge seems a little steep. So I'll cautiously give them 3 stars. read more

I've worked with Jim and his team since the 1980s. The company does quality work, stands by their products and services, shows up on time, leaves the worksite clean, and they are very transparent about costs, warranties, and +/-of products. I highly recommend this professional company. read more

I do much of my own plumbing, but have had Papalia do several jobs for us over the years that were more complex or risky than I care to tackle (e.g. installing a water heater on a formerly tankless hot water system, gas piping a heater) and have been very satisfied with their customer service and quality of their work. Granted, they are expensive, but we'd certainly use them again. read more

I would echo other posts that their pricing is extremely high. No amount of satisfaction with their work would justify their prices (over $400 for 35 minutes of work). Please consider other plumbers who will not gouge. read more

If I didn't have to pick a star I wouldn't. So my toilet doesn't flush properly. So basically all they had to do was replace the inner workings of the tank. They charged me 400 and the toilet still doesn't flush properly. And btw this is my first review ever. So their incompetence as a business has caused me to warn others of my horrible experience.... read more

Sound great over the phone and arrived on time. Cost $423 to install a grab bar in the bathtub. (I already had purchased the grab bar - so was just installation). I had no idea, of course, that it would cost that much. It took 2 guys 2 hours partly because they hadn't done too many. I called in the morning to ask for a price adjustment. Most companies would do this to keep a customer. They held firm and quoted the time the guys logged in and out (recorded on the truck). Nice guys, got the job done - WAY too expensive and not customer oriented. Find someone else! read more

I needed to replace a toilet that had broken so I called them. The guy arrived in an hour and quoted $700+ to replace the toilet. I asked can you do it today and he said yes. As I was busy, I said go ahead and do it. He then said it the flange needed replacement that would be another 150. He did it in an hour then gave me the bill for $990 for the toilet. The toilet is availble online for $300. It's my fault for letting him do it and ripping me off. There is no reason to charge this amount of money for a toilet. Go with someone else - there are many many plumbers who will do it for a reasonable price. read more

We received a call at 3 a.m. from our tenant that the hot water heater in the unit had died. It was a Saturday, which meant that the two other plumbers I would normally use were not available as they don't have weekend hours. Papalia was the closest plumbing outfit that offered emergency weekend service, so I called them first thing. They were responsive and got someone out there promptly, so good marks for that. However, once I got the pricing estimate it was downhill. I have had hot water heaters replaced in the past and I am friends with someone who owns their own plumbing business, plus I know what a 40 gallon tank costs. So I knew what approximate price to expect, even adding on the $150 weekend charge. Imagine my surprise when it was double the cost I expected. Unfortunately I was in a position where I felt we owed it to our tenant to get it fixed ASAP, and not ask her to wait around without water for a couple days until my regular guy was available. When I got to the unit to meet the plumber he was not there. Turns out he brought a 50 gallon tank even though I ordered a 40. So he had to leave for an hour to get the correct item. Finally, when he came back I pushed for exactly why it cost twice as much as it should. The long, begrudging answer involved overhead costs, markups, personnel costs, etc. The short answer could be summed up as "we're bigger than the other plumbers around so we have more stuff to pay for, so we cost more". I told him I understand the concept of overhead and operating costs. But I don't find that to be a compelling argument. If operating costs/company size translated directly to product cost, then when I order a DVD from amazon.com it should cost about $300. Companies get larger because they operate on the basis of selling more volume; the operating costs increase, the margin shrinks, but the volume rises to compensate. He also mentioned that, while they don't charge on an hourly basis, the hourly rate they use to calculate their service charges is $270/hr. $270 per hour?? I've experienced $100 to $150, but never anything nearly that high. Perhaps I've just been lucky enough to work with exceptionally reasonable plumbers in the past, and Papalia is the norm. But I doubt it. This was a weekend and a semi-emergency, so I had to work with what I had. But never again. Their work is fine, and if you want to pay double-premium rates for perfectly adequate work by all means call them. Otherwise keep shopping. read more

Our furnace replacement with Papalia stands out in our minds as having been a massive, massive ordeal. Their technician initially came for a pre-winter service, but while here he diagnosed our old furnace, which we had not yet started up for the season, as dead. Fine, we opted to have them replace it. He told us he would put in the same size one as the old one; 80,000 btu. Fine. The work was done, just in time for a downturn in the weather, and immediately we noticed that the house was cold, and the furnace was running nearly constantly despite it not yet being that cold out. The new furnace was not warming our house nearly as well as the 35 year old one it replaced. The moment I raised this issue with the company they started criticizing various aspects of our house (old, uninsulated, improper ductwork,etc.) and that IF these things were better the furnace size would be fine. I pointed out to them that nobody thought to mention these things BEFORE selecting a new furnace for us. I also noted that the new furnace, while having an input Btu of 80,000, only had an output btu (the btu that apparently matters) of 63,000. Eventually, I wrote a letter to the owner, who did not contact me himself but had a polite and helpful manager contact me. The manager said they would do a detailed calculation called a Manual J. Fine. This was done, but the results were not made known to us. The manager simply told me that our furnace would be replaced by them with one that had an output of 80,000 btu. The new furnace was installed, and I noticed that it has an output of 96,000 btu. I brought this to the manager's attention, because this new furnace now seems oversized, and he said as far as he knew his team was supposed to install an 80,000 btu one, and that he would investigate. After this, both Papalia and we lost the thread of this debacle. We were worn out by it, and I assume they were too. My wife and I missed a few half and full days of work each as Papalia tried to sort things out. There are two stars here, and not one, because they did try to sort it out. But so much work was missed by us, this dragged on for so long, and we had to have a cold shower on the morning after the initial installation because the technician forgot to reignite the water heater's pilot light after shutting down the gas to do his work! Lastly, we have been hounding them to no avail to get the required city inspection done. Three months have passed since the first visit. This all just felt very, very shoot-from-the-hip at every step, and we still don't feel like we have the right furnace and we still haven't had a city inspection. read more