NIGHTMARE UPDATE 7/19/2010 THE LATEST: Apparently, Rob's now looking for another attorney to help him avoid his responsibilities and thumb his nose at the law. Thank God for the Attorney General http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/consumers/conscomp.pdf . Background: Hired Rob West as a GC for a bathroom a couple months ago. Wrote him a big check up front. Then he disappeared. In the six-week span of the project, I think he was here twice for 15 minutes. As to his workers and subcontractors, here's a testament to their work: - Plumbing misalignment, drains and feeds not in sync (needed to be redone); - Shower pan grade wrong (needed to be redone); - Bad drywall installation: bowed wall (needed to be redone); - Shower step-up wrongly installed (needed to be redone); - Shower soap niche poorly installed (needed to be redone); - Hole too small for sink faucet installation (wall tiling needed to be redone); - Medicine cabinet repeatedly installed off center (needed to be redone); - Faucet leak; RW's plumber admitted to not properly sealing joints (needed to be redone); - Vanity, faucet, sink, and drain off center (all needed to be reinstalled requiring retiling a section of wall); - Repeated sink leaking at drain assembly due to improper installation (needed to be reinstalled); - Drain assembly crooked due to improper alignment (needed to be reinstalled); - Shower ceiling bubbling due to improper surface preparation (needed to be redone). What a mess. Insult to injury: Not only did this take twice as long as the contract stipulated, the topper... Rob ultimately abandoned the project significantly incomplete. Now I'm left with considerable damages he refuses to address. Let alone the gouge taken out of a brand new high-end Italian vanity; we've sadly been told by an expert floor and stone inspector that the new travertine floor needs to be completely replaced. It too was installed incorrectly. That's close to a thousand bucks in brand new stone that will need to be just thrown away. What a waste. I WANT MY MONEY BACK! According to Illinois law (815 ILCS 505/2Q (c): "A person engaged in the business of home repair, as defined in Section 2(a)(1) of the Home Repair Fraud Act, who fails or refuses to commence or complete work under a contract or an agreement for home repair, shall return the down payment and any additional payments made by the consumer within 10 days after a written demand sent to him by certified mail by the consumer or the consumer's legal representative or by a law enforcement or consumer agency acting on behalf of the consumer." Well, Rob got that letter 10 days ago demanding $5,934.50. His lawyer then told me: "I am confident you will prevail in recovering all your money shortly." But so far, NOTHING! As I said up top, Rob is now looking for another attorney. Bottom line: If it's anything like his modus operandi, restitution will be late and inadequate. This is EXACTLY the kind of guy the authors of the Home Repair and Remodeling Act, the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, and the Home Repair Fraud Act had in mind. Advice: BEWARE OF ROB WEST PLUMBING! read more

Had 2 really good experiences so far with these guys, specifically Tom. They have a) shown up on time b) done the job well and c) charged reasonable rates. Tom was really great, explaining everything he was doing, what my options were, and making recommendations that were not based on the most expensive solution, but the best. Highly recommended. They also provide a host of other services like heating and a/c and other skilled labor. read more

Fantastic. Our kitchen sink clogged, we couldn't get it fixed and were on a tight deadline. I called, spoke with Tom and he was at my house 12 minutes later. Literally. Within 20 minutes he had our drains working again. Clean and neat, will definitely use again!!! read more

Top notch service. I had called other big name plumbers and then found Rob West Plumbing. Chad and Ozzy came right away. They were so professional and carefully explained everything that had to be done. I highly recommend they won't disappoint. read more

Excellent service, he showed up on time and fixed the problem quickly without making a mess!

Couldn't be happier with my service. Professional and prompt. Made sure to do the job right. Both Rob and Ralph are good dudes!

First class all the way. Rob was real and knowledgeable. Straight about my water heater options. Focused on my problem immediately; got a new water heater and two associates to install it within a few hours. They were on time, didn't waste time, and did a professional job. Shook hands with me and said Thanks. Can't beat that. I recommend them totally. read more

What a great team! Tom, Rob and Luke were responsive; time sensitive; and professional. They helped me out fast when I was in a jam with a gas leak in a water heater. Their fee was extremely fair - a very competitive rate. I recommend Rob West Plumbing in the highest terms. read more

I have nothing to say but great things about Rob West Plumbing and the person who came to us, Tom. We had something stuck in our garbage disposal and when I called Rob he was very friendly and easy to talk with. I emailed them and within minutes I had an email back saying they would be out the next morning at 8am. At 8am on the dot Tom arrived and fixed our problem in 15 minutes. He was friendly and showed us how he fixed it in case something similar happened again. I will recommend these guys to anyone who ever needs a plummer. Very very happy with their work! read more

We had a plumbing issue in an old building with 3 condo units. The drain pipe was leaking somewhere inside the walls. Rob West Plumbing sent two people (plumber and assistant) out to investigate and make the necessary repairs. The project took all day and required opening up walls and replacing a significant amount of the original (rusted out) sewer pipe. Not only did they replace the pipe, but they also did a nice job of sealing where the pipe enters the building's catch basin. They did an excellent job and we are very satisfied with the result. I strongly recommend Rob West Plumbing for their skill and professionalism. read more

After hearing from Roto Rooter that I had a clogged sewer line requiring $6K worth of repairs in addition to property destruction, I decided to get a second opinion from a less corporate type of shop. Turns out my sewer line was only partially clogged on the city side. Rob West was more than helpful. After the job they even went through the house explaining the plumbing in general. Also, their employees are paid by the hour, unlike Roto Rooter that uses unlicensed plumbers who work on commission. read more

WOW! These guys made my life so much easier! I have a renter in Chicago, and the hot water heater went out. They called Roto Rooter and got a ridiculous quote, on, of course, a late Friday afternoon. A former student recommended this company, and as I am 200 miles away I took her advice and called them. Got the owner, and needless to say the heater is installed. The photos of the work look outstanding, my tenant is thrilled and the quote I received was reasonable, especially on a weekend. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! I finally know who to call with plumbing issues. There are still good, honest people in this world. This could have turned out so badly. Thanks also to my former student - I had smart kiddos! read more

Water heater went out and my landlord got a recommendation from a friend. They recommended Rob West Plumbing. Rob called me and told me his workers will be out on Sunday. Ozzie and Chad got here at 830 am and were done by 1045. Ozzie and Chad were great and told me step by step what was happening and even showed me how to light a new water heater. I've already told my mom about them and will be telling others. Thanks to my landlord Martha, Rob, Ozzie, and Chad for a job well done!! read more

I have dealt with a few plumbers since being a homeowner and have never had a plumber swear at me before. This was after he had to come back and finish his work. He kept telling me that it was my fault that his work wasn't completed. I had these guys out to do a half day job. Well $1200+ later, they had to come back because they forgot to finish all of their work. If you hire them, make sure they check and double check their work before hand. I even spoke with their manager who did nothing but make excuses. If you hire them, watch out. Go with another plumbing company! read more

It pains me to have to give Rob West a bad review, but after today's developments I will never use his services again. Rob replaced our ejector pump about 4 weeks ago. However, yesterday we discovered it was not working properly. Both my husband and I left messages for Rob. Immediately upon calling back, Rob was giving us a hard time about sending someone. I know it's Thanksgiving weekend, but at least get someone out here to check it out. All he kept saying was that he stands by his work and that there are fees associated with the visit. He also insinuated that we most likely clogged the pump. I don't care about paying to get it fixed, but we were on vacation for two weeks after we got the new pump, so technically we've only lived with it for two weeks. Instead of coping a plea, he should have said he'd look into it and that we'd have to pay a fee if we had managed to clog it. So In the end I had to call another plumber to come out here and as it turns out Rob's plumber let a piece of our old pump in the pit. That was what was causing the issue. At least our pump works now and we only had to wait an hour to get it serviced. read more

Let's start with the good news - the plumbers were polite and clean. We have no problem with them. We have a huge problem with the "scam-like" behavior when it came to the billing. We pay for services received but have a huge objection to the attempt to double charge. The job took four hours. The effort to charge an extra $150 (equivalent to an hour of work) for removing and replacing the a brand new toilet is absurd. That is called labor and is in the four hours already charged. My advice to you is to use a different plumbing company that is not known to attempt to double charge unless you like the idea of paying twice for the same thing! The last thing I need to complain about is the attempt to obtain credit card information over the phone which was another "scam-like" behavior. When a customer is already unhappy an immediate demand for credit card information can sound very threatening and cause for alarm. Please be cautious when dealing with this business. A plumbing problem is stressful enough without the addition of a problem plumbing company. read more

Rob is amazing! Even though Rob came recommended to me for a backup problem we were having in our basement, I was a bit skeptical after past experiences with other plumbers. However, Rob called me back immediately and stayed on the phone with me for an hour free of charge. He walked me through all the possible scenarios based on my description of the problem and gave me cost estimates for all of them. His guys came early the next morning and showed me everything that they were doing. When we found out that tree roots had crushed part of our main pipe (one of the scenarios he outlined to me), he got his guys right on it. They were able to dig in under my porch and avoid going in through our basement wall even though the problem was right by the foundation, saving us from having to destroy our basement which we had just redone. When he needed a carpenter to bolster the porch, he got one immediately and got more guys in as he needed them. They finished the same day and did a great job. And when it was done, he gave me the estimated price he quoted me even though the work took longer and he had to call in extra guys. I highly recommend Rob and will certainly be using for all of my plumbing needs in the future! read more

I had these folks out to replace my kitchen faucet because it was down to a trickle even though the faucet itself was less than a year old (we had purchased a new faucet a year or so earlier which our neighbor's handyman friend installed for us. Rob West Plumbing sold us a replacement faucet and took my old one. Well, about 6 or 8 months later the exact same thing happened! So, I talked to another plumber and he showed me how I could just use a wrench to unscrew the faucet at the neck, clean out the gunk that had accumulated on the side of the filter where the water comes in from the water line and goes into the faucet head (easily accessible when loosened by a wrench). Sure enough cleaning that out fixed the problem. My guess is these guys sold me a new faucet and charged me to install it when I didn't really need one. I won't use them again. They then offered to dispose of my old faucet, which at the time seemed reasonable to me. However, in retrospect, I think it is suspect because the problem was so minor and so easily remedied and they could have easily cleaned it out themselves and resold it. Taking advantage of the ignorance of the homeowner is not good business in my book. I feel I was taken advantage of because of my lack of knowledge of the work required. read more