My experience with United Plumbing is almost more comical than bad, but I don't want saying that to make it seem like it wasn't awful.
We had United Plumbing called on Wednesday to fix our linking bathtub. When we were turning off the shower, we still got a stream of water coming out. Realizing we're in a drought, and that United Plumbing perhaps considers themselves "plumbers" they agreed to come out the next morning. We agreed to pay the $60 to have them come take a look at this.
Gary walked in with no tools. I showed him the leaking bathroom. He replied no problem, this was easy to fix. Great! I then walked into our other bathroom to show him our bath tub also sprayed in random directions there. He wouldn't look at it. We hadn't included it on the call for the $60. OK, hilarious, he won't even look at it, but on we go.
Gary calls me back into the first bathroom and says "I can fix this, no problem, but I can't warranty it. Your schmitty plate is too small for the hole. We need to order you a new schmitty plate, shut off the water to the building and install the new schmitty plate in order to warranty the work."
My initial reaction is, of course, man, probably getting screwed, but whatever, I'm in. Gary spends a few more minutes in the bathroom and comes to tell me he'll check on the parts today and give me an update on timing. We're going to have to shut off the water to the building and cut out the old Schmitty plate. He also says, don't tell the building yet, they'll have to set a date a week or two out and we'll need parts first, etc etc. This part of the project is clearly going to take a few weeks.
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine he wouldn't fix the current leak first though. I didn't even check before he left, it was so obvious the need to stop water from leaking out of bathtub faucet at a ridiculously painful rate for drought ridden California.
Crazy, I know, but being "plumbers" I feel like they might be willing to fix a relative emergency leaking situation and would at least have some sense of urgency or business. Not United Plumbing Services!! We're 72 hours in and still have a stream of water coming from a bathroom and not a word from Gary or anyone at the office. Even better, try calling their "24 hour line" which sends you straight to voicemail
Just totally perplexed by this, I can only give me theory here. These guys get $60 to come out from our HOA insurance. They only make money when they can bill you other things, and Gary wanted to make sure he could bill me for a new schmitty plate. He was careful to tell me multiple times that first, insurance won't cover it, and second, don't call your insurance and ask. I didn't even fight it, I'm totally fine getting a new "schmitty" plate, sounds kind of cool really.
It's like I'm in the middle of the long-con by plumbers, who are so invested in conning us, they're willing to let good water literally poor down the drain. But then, the weekend came, and they forgot they were supposed to be conning us. Thankfully, I've only poured sixty bucks into their pockets for literally nothing. I wish Gary would have been honest and said I'm taking your sixty bucks and you should call a real plumber to fix your problem. At least then I wouldn't feel so terrible about waiting 72 hours to get this thing resolved.
I think if you read the recent reviews around here, it's pretty clear these folks sold out to an insurance middle man. Lucky for policy holders, you don't have any choice in who you get, so I'm sure you'll be coming to Yelp just like I am. Hopefully you read this first and save yourself $60 and taking a few hours off work.