Gillece Services

The electrician came to my house and tried to charge us $1800 for a diagnostic test. Or wanted us to take out a line of credit to replace our service for $12,000! When a respectable electrician came he found a loose connection in a hidden outlet in the wall and fixed our problem within 2hours. He is coming back to put a junction box in and said it would cost less than $500 total! I hope no one falls for Gillece scams!

Gillece Services technician asked me to sign the contract paper for replacing the part but at the end, technician just clean the part and put it back in the furnace and charged me for about $275.

Technician never changed the part and he asked me to sign the contract for replacing which he never did.

My service invoice # [protected]

Location: 2618 New Butler Road, New Castle, PA, 16101

JOB ID

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My furnace stopped working. I have regular maintenance over the years.

The low 95 dollar service call fee and quick response should have been a warning sign.

Two guys show up, one guys does the general look over then the other guys runs the camera to tell you the heat exchanger is cracked/broken. Both tell you the repair can’t be made due to outdated part availability and the camera guys does the sales pitch of a new 20k furnace.

I saw this dog and pony show years ago with my first house.

Based on reviews here it ooks like they are doing a similar camera scam with plumbing and “collapsed” drains.

Shameful, I would not recommend, definitely get a 2nd opinion.

I called on October 31 about a clogged drain and asked if they could come out the next day and was told yes, he asked if 8 am to noon or noon till 4 was better, I said noon till 4 was better, I never received a call from them untill 4:38 saying that they were running late then at 6:60 pcall that they would not be able to make it today and asked about Saturday I said I would be there all day then the same thing happened on Saturday. Not very reliable. She tried to offer a discount, but what good is a discount if you never show up. I said I would have to think about it and get back to them which I have not yet.

Had a problem with my toilet flushing real slow. Tried snaking and a few other things that I could do. Nothing worked. Got tired of the situation and called Gillece. My pipes are collapsed, they are going to have to tear out my walls, replace my pipes, for just a small price of $9, 000. I asked the plumber 10 different times: please just try to unclog the toilet. He can't. Going to cause more damage to the house, and so forth. I didn't agree to any of it. Called my buddy who said he would take a look. Took the toilet off and found the problem. 4 matchbox cars stuck inside the toilet. So they were going to charge me $9, 000; when all I need is a new wax ring? Really ? This is why all the bad reviews ! Never again.

I contacted Gillece due to a clogged sewage line. Their representative came to my property used a camera in the line and told my wife and I that a traditional snake would not work and that they had to use a Hyrdojet which would clear the line unless the line was collapsed or broken and in that case we were looking at a major repair in the 10-20 thousand dollar range. The hydrojet was ordered at a price of 1900.00. The hydrojet came and attempted to clear the line to no avail. The next day a representative came back to the house, ran a camera and informed us that the sewer line was broken and we would have to dig and replace the line. This at 2-4 thousand dollars a day. Upon hearing this I called another plumbing company. They came to the house, used a traditional snake and the line was cleared in 1 hour for the cost of $165.00. The company (I am happy to provide the name) guaranteed the work for 2 months, assured us that the sewer line is not broken, it was just clogged. The new company also said that the hydrojet was the wrong application for our type of pipes. Upon doing some research online (home advisor) the cost nationally for hydrojetting is 300.00 with a highend of 600.00. I believe we were mislead throughout this entire process. First we were told that a traditional snake would not work. It did. We were told that the hydrojet would work, it did not. We were then told we needed a new sewer line. We do not. I also feel we were outrageously charged for the hydrojetting and it did not work. I didn't tell Gillece that we had gotten the line cleared and their reps were calling me day after day to start on our 20, 000 dollar repair. Shame on them.

Our furnace stopped working and the next morning we called Gillece to come out. They said there would be a $95.00 service charge just to come out and look at the problem. Fine. When they arrived they said the motor was dead. They charged over $1, 200.00 for the motor and service. Fortunately they did not have a new one on their truck and said they would be back later with the new one. In the mean time my husband wrote a check for the full amount and gave it to them. I freaked out. Told him to go on line and find the cost of a new motor for that furnace. He did - $117.00. Take the cost of the motor out and the cost of their service call of $95.00 out and that left a $1, 000 labor cost for a 45 minute job. I went on line and found a site that gave instructions on how to install it and he did the next day when we got the new motor ourselves. Took him 45 minutes. We are senior citizens and I truly believe this is a classic example of senior citizen price gouging and white collar crime. Terrible company.

After a good experience with Gillece's electrical services, they offered me a "free" AC check-up. Upon that visit, they told me that my furnace needed to be replaced due to a cracked heat exchanger and that my AC was old and should be replaced too. The staggering total for this would be $9, 800. Luckily I did not sign that contract. Instead I called my regular furnace company for a second opinion. They inspected the furnace thoroughly and told me there was nothing wrong with the furnace or the AC. They also told me that there were safety sensors that would have been tripped. I had to pay him for the inspection and to put the furnace back together since Gillece ripped a hole in the duct work. I learned nothing is free. Don't use Gillece for heating/AC, use someone you know and have dealt with before

I guess I was lucky. Overflowing toilet @ 4:30 PM. Called Gillece. Made sure to tell them this was an emergency call as water was coming through my ceilings and I only had one bathroom. Was told someone would be there that evening. Gillece was kind enough to call @ 6:30 assurring me they were coming. By 7:30 the woman called back and said all their techs got called out on a "big emergency job and won't get done till very late." I said 'what about my emergency job? I have no bathroom! " DO NOT CALL THEM. Wish I would have checked first. As it turned out, I called another and he talked me through it. Didn't cost a dime.

I hired Gillece to first inspect my furnace and it did have a cracked heat exchanger which is a costly item to repair and a danger if not addressed. The furnace was 13 years old so it made sense to replace the furnace and AC with a Goodman system. It was late at night when I found out the furnace wasn't operable. The cost to replace both furnace and AC was $9, 990 and while I thought that sounded very high I didn't realize I payed about $6, 000 in labor (which involved one day w/ two guys to install) until I did some research. When I called the next day to ask for an itemized list and an explanation of fees the company refused to itemized. While I feel this was a quality job and techs were professional I way over paid and wished I had time to research before I was in a bind. Buyers be ware!

Gillece is a huge cancer on the body of Plumbing Services industry. For a company that
has been in business of 30 years, their lack of knowledge of local codes is mind boggling. The technician that came to my house assured me that he contacted the township and got permission to perform the repairs. Two days into the project, I get a call from the township inspector and was advised that the project was not approved and that the technique used did not meet local codes. We had to change to an approved procedure. After work was completed, I took my receipt to other plumbing companies with the finial cost crossed out and asked them what they would of charged for the work . All of them would of charged at least $2500 less. One was $4000 less. Do not deal with this scam artist company

I called because I had seen many ads for Gillece /plumbing and they had a 99 dollar for snaking. When they arrived and decided what would need done-it would include pulling down my basement wall-the total cost-not including what would be charged to my insurance company was 12 thousand dollar- I decided to get a second opinion- the total cost was 3, 000 dollars-when that plumber was done-he cleaned the basement floor w/ cleaning solution/ removed all garbage.

Here is the complaint I left with BBB. I think we should all know how they operate:

I bought a Groupon coupon for a comprehensive furnace service and expected a thorough tune-up for the upcoming year. Instead, Gillece came and the first thing they did was to put a camera inside my heat exchanger and found what they called a "crack". The technician immediately called a salesman who then preceded to hard sell my wife to purchase a very expensive replacement system in the range of $10, 000. I came home from work and they showed me the "crack", which to me did not look like a crack (which I told them). They reluctantly tested for carbon monoxide (CO) in the heat exchanger and eventually got a reading of 2 parts/million. They insisted that we open doors and windows and told me my furnace was "condemned", and red tagged it and turned it off. They took a reading outside the heat exchanger and never got a reading of 0 but didn't test any other area. After the CO readings, the salesman subjected us to a lengthy and arduous high pressure sales pitch complete with substantial discounts if I signed a contract immediately. After I made it clear to him that I wouldn't sign without 2 additional estimates, he eventually left.
The first responder to our calls was Zeigler Heating. They tested the furnace and found no evidence of cracks. To be sure, they did CO tests in every room and found no evidence of CO whatsoever. They also pointed out that Gillece hadn't done any of the expected service work on the furnace at all.
IMHO, Gillece used the coupon to get into my house to find "damage" so they could high pressure sell us expensive replacements. They didn't do anything that I paid to have done, and upset my wife a great deal with their actions. They did a poor job of confirming the existence of the "crack" and ignored industry wide standards of confirming any common symptoms of heating exchange damage. They were there to sell us something. This is clearly unethical and gives the HVAC industry a bad name.

Gillece gave me an estimate to replace my furnace after telling me that it could not be fixed and was beyond any kind of repair. The estimate was for 30, 000 dollars. The salesman did say that he wished he could sell my the cheaper furnace but because he had found asbestos covering a pipe in my basement, he could not as it would require a hazmat team, repointing of my chimmney and a new liner for my chimmney. I said no and I would get more estimates. The next day I called another company who came and fixed the furnace for less than 100 dollars. All it needed was a thermostat and thermocoupler. And there is no asbestos in my basement. It is a pipe covered by insulation and taped. It was all a scam. Stay away from Gillece. Spread the word that this company is a predator and not to be trusted.

I was away on business when my 6 months pregnant wife called Gillece because our basement drain was backing up. They claim to run a special for $99 to unclog any drain but we quickly found out that's a part of the scam to get them in the door. The plumber who I think was more of a salesman came in and stuck a snake down the drain and wiggled it around for about three minutes before he told my wife that our lines were busted. My wife asked him how he could possibly know that and he told her he's been doing this for years and he "just knows" when lines are busted and need replaced. He went on some sales pitch and told my wife that our situation was extremely dangerous and need replaced ASAP. My wife told him we had never had a problem before and our house is only 14 years old and there's no way they would need to be replaced, she was positive the problem was our 3 year old flushing too much paper down the toilet. He told her no, this was a serious issue that would need to be resolved right now and he scared her half to death and even went so far saying that this could somehow cause birth defects to our unborn daughter. He wrote her up an estimate of nearly $27, 000. My wife became extremely distraught and emotional because she was not expecting a price even close to that and began crying. When she said she wanted to seek a second opinion from another company and she would like him to leave he refused to leave our house saying he was not going to let us live in this situation and he wanted her to sign an emergency work authorization form so they could get started today and there was no need for a second opinion from anybody else. She explained to him we do not have that kind of money just lying around, and he said she could finance it and when she told him that's not an option he suggested we use the money from our son's college savings account and finance the rest! My wife was floored. She kept asking him to leave and he kept refusing and pushing her to sign the paperwork and she became more and more upset. Eventually he left and my wife called me and explained what had just happened and I was fuming. About 15 minutes later I received a call on my cell phone from a guy named Harry from Gillece and I told him I did not want to talk to him, his plumber had upset my pregnant wife to the point of tears and scared her. He said well it's a very scary situation and a very real problem and the plumber was only doing the right thing by trying to help us out! Wow, what help let me tell you. He said he could knock 3k off the price if we went with it today because there was a cancellation in our area so he has guys with the equipment sitting around and they could be there to get started today. I told him to kick rocks and he can call his crew and tell them to head back to where ever they came from because they weren't going near my house. He kept pushing and I hung up on him. My wife called another company who came out and unclogged our sewer in 20 minutes. Turns out she was right and it was just toilet paper and our lines are just fine and not broken at all! In fact the second plumber said our kids will likely be out of college before we have a real problem like a broken line! He also said their estimate of $27, 000 was completely out of line. Gillece uses hard scare tactics and their prices are ridiculous and we will never call them ever again and I will tell everyone I know not to use them and I will post my story on every complaint website I find so as as many people as possible can see how horrible they are. They have tons of negative reviews online, a poor rating with the BBB and Channel 4 even did stories about them and apparently the Attorney General is conducting an investigation. Don't call Gillece!

I called gillece on a monday told me a tech. Would be down from 8am-12:00pm .I called back at i:00pm told me a tech is in the area and would be there shortly. He never showed up until 4:30pm. I told the tech the problem, he ran 70 ft. Of cable said that is all he had on the truck.So he told me that he would send a tech with a camera and to inspect it the next day. I waited until 12:00 no one showed, i then called they told me that i wasn't on the list at all. So she told me she can send some one down in about an hour i said okay. Some one showed up at 4:30 pm. Said that he put the camera down 65 to 70 ft. Thats all he could of done. Said he wanted me to dig up where the 70ft. Mark was .He told me it would cost around 4000.00 dollars.I said what. I told him i will the office tomorrow which at this time was friday morning. Nobody called be back so i called back at 3:00 pm. Talk to a justin fellow, he said he would call me back and never did so i called him back in a couple of hours talked to a lady she aid he would call me back in six minutes and never did.So i waited until monday morning to talk to a tom fellow told him the whole story told him i would like them to go about 30 to 40 more feet. He said that the max. Is 75ft. I said why didn't the first tech tell me that. I then rented a snake plus 180ft of cable from kenmac and when 136ft. And got it unclogged.Called tom back three times left him messages telling that i would like a refund back 1/2 what i paid the first day of $150.00 he has not return my calls. It has been 5 days so far since 2 /6/12

Here is what happens.

1) They will ask you a ton of questions on the phone. This is so they can screen calls to prioritize customers they can most likely scam money out of. If you say your furnace or AC unit is new, you get to the bottom of the list, but if your furnace is 15+ years old they will get a speeding ticket just to get to your house.

2) After determining that you are a victim, er, customer, they will come and do a "check" or some other low-priced service of some type such as a $99 drain cleaning. They usually have a really lower price than respectable real plumbers. This is just so they can get in the door and up-sale you. Its a sales tactic from http://www.hvacprofitboosters.com/ (thier sales guide). They will take an initial loss in hopes of making up the difference for "repairs" they find you need.

3) They will come and do the supposed low priced service. But rather than a quick drain cleaning or furnace "check", its really a tool so they can look for things to tell the customer they need replaced. noticed I said replaced rather than repaired. Don't be fooled into thinking Gillece repairs anything, they only replace. A furnace check will turn into a customer needing a new ignitor or a drain cleaning will turn into needing an entire new sewer trap. Never telling you that these things are un-necessary.

4) After they scare you into thinking you need all of these expensive items, they will quote you an outrageous price. They will quote you a new furnace like it was -50 out in the middle of winter, or a new AC like it was the fourth of july and 120 degrees out. They will at least double or triple what is typical for any other plumber. They do this so they can anchor the customers brain and give them what a customer thinks is a discount. Meaning if you sell a $1, 000 car for $2, 000 and a customer balks at the price, well you can do them a favor and take $200 off making it $1, 800 instead making a customer think hes getting at least some sort of deal. They also tell you that they have GE financing if you can't afford it - and more than likely you won't be able to afford it. Whatever the problem is, there is a 99% chance it will be in the 4 digit or 5 digit range of cost.

5) After they shoot down any of your objections like a skilled car salesman, they will draw up a contract and have you sign it. They will also most likely get you to sign an Emergency Service Waiver which waives your right to legally cancel a contract within a 3 day period. They will typically hide this fact under a guise such as "We can get started right away fi you sign this. We have a crew ready to go."

6) After they have your signature they call up their standby crew. A person or two will come to your residence and do something to "start the job". This means that once they technically "start the job" - they are entitled to half the contract legally if you give them any problems. If they didn't start the job, they would only be entitled to 25% of the contract amount, but starting gets them to at least 50%. Example being a Gillece saleman sticking a shovel in the ground, busting up your yard or driveway to get at some pipes, or anything that they can say "See look - they job was started!". They also work very fast to prevent you the customer from having buyers remorse or thinking to much about what just happened.

7)You get screwed by Gillece and after looking on the internet, realize your mistake and write a complaint. Hopefulyl you also write to the BBB and the Attorney General. You also tell your friends and neighbors to avoid these people.

Source: First hand experience and going to small claims against Gillece. They have a full time lawyer just to battle all of their law suits.

Bottom line - NEVER SIGN ANYTHING FROM GILLECE!

Tom Gillece has been screwing people, as well as his parrot for several years now. Maybe it's time for him to start being an honest businessman instead of fraudulantly charging people and insurance companies. Gillece plumbing only employs top of line LIARS, THIEVES, AND SCAM ARTISTS! Do not ever call them for ANYTHING! They will verbally explain something to you; and once you sign their little 'sexual consent' form (service agreement), YOU WILL BE SCREWED! I can't understand how Gillece Plumbing still exists.

I strongly advise anyone who has a plumbing problem NOT to call Gillece plumbing of Bridgeville, PA! Gillece plumbing is a major scam company who grossly overcharges, and takes no responsibilty for their inability to repair sewer problems. They rip off consumers, as well as insurance companies. The owner of this company must not have any conscience at all. I think I've figured out one of the reasons they charge so much for so little- so they can pay lawyers to keep themselves from being put in jail where they belong. It amazes me that this company is still allowed to exist (just look at all the complaints about them)! It is very upsetting to me (being a business owner myself) that gillece plumbing has grown as large as they are by taking advantage of, and lying to their clients AND the so called "better business bureau". YOU'RE BETTER OFF BATHING IN YOUR OWN URINE THAN CALLING GILLECE PLUMBING! UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD ANYONE EVER "CALL GILLECE"!