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CB Electricians and Plumbing My Plumber Heating and Cooling 9975 Pennsylvania Ave., Manassas, VA, 20110, US
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My Plumber Heating and Cooling
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My Plumber Heating and Cooling company logo

My Plumber Heating and Cooling

9975 Pennsylvania Ave., Manassas, VA, 20110, US
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10:58 pm EDT
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My Plumber Heating and Cooling - Incorrect diagnosis and trying to sell me work I don't need!

In Nov 2010, the water backed-up when we ran our wash machine. It would come out in the kitchen sink (but never overflowed, thank God) and water would spill out of the airpipe on top of the roof located over the washer. We had a local company fix the problem for us (for about $400) but were only able to warranty it for 30 days. In April 2011, same problem happened again and we decide to go with another company since the work from the first company lasted only five month. We picked Myplumber.com since they look to be a big company in this area and also had the video service so we can ensure the work is properly done.

First issue with them is communication within their own company. We explained to the dispatcher that we had this problem before and they would need to send two guys with a ladder to get to the problem as it needs to be snaked from the roof. Only one guy came, with no ladder. I could either help the guy myself using my own ladder or we can make another appt and start over. The guy did the job and did give me a discount for my assistance (came to about $400 again WITH the discount). He says he cannot give me a warranty period until the the video guy came to do a free video inspection of the line.

This is the good part. The video guy to come out a few days later and scoped the line. Told us there was a break in our underground pipe beneath the family room and marked the location of the break. The family room is next to the kitchen which is next to the laundry room. Told us we can either replace just the section of the underground pipe beneath the family room for about $5000, that came only with a 2-year warranty OR we can replace the underground pipes from the laundry room to the kitchen to the family room for about $10, 000 and they will warranty that for 20 years. (Plus, I would have needed to shell out another $4200 to replace the flooring for the laundry room, kitchen and family room!) On top of that, we don’t even know what’s beyond the pipe breaking point in the family room as the camera was not able to go beyond the break. This is very disturbing as once they open up the ground, there’s no going back. There may be other pipe issues from the family room to the street that we don’t know about. We could end up needing to replace ALL of the underground pipes to the street! The guys says there are three guys in the company who’s full time job is to do video inspection of the line and often they are the bearer of bad news.

After he left, I was stressing out so I asked around for a plumber recommendation for a second opinion. Jimmy is the owner of Alpha Plumbing and is my sister’s neighbor. I explained the situation and he came at the appointed time with his assistant. He did a video inspection of the line and came to a stoppage about the same place as marked by the video guy from myplumber.com. Jimmy told me that he cannot make any conclusion based on what we saw on the monitor and snaked the pipe further with different snake head/length setting. More than an hour later, Jimmy cleared the blockage and the video camera had gone pass the mark, all the way toward the main drain. It turns out the so-called breakage in the pipe was nothing more than shoddy work (blockage in the pipe was never fully cleared) done by the previous plumber from myplumber.com.

At this point, I think myplumber.com should really refund our money for not properly clearing the blockage. If it was fully cleared, then the video guy would have not assumed the stoppage point of the video camera was a breakage. Also, this could have been avoided if they had the same guy doing both the clearing and the video inspection.

How do you like that for making more money for your company!

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MyPlumber
Manassas, US
May 31, 2011 4:26 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

My Plumber Heating and Cooling takes your comment very seriously. However, without a name or an address to attach to your complaint we can’t formulate a plan of action to deal with the problem. We retain our video records for a time in order to review them and it is likely that we still have your video in our records.

Typically, multiple stoppage behaviors indicate the likelihood of something larger at fault. We would welcome the opportunity to re-inspect the line, with anyone of your choosing, to ensure that you have a proper and complete diagnosis.

Please contact me at wecare@myplumber.com with your name and telephone contact number and I will be happy to accommodate in a time most convenient for you.

Phil Hopkins
Director of Services
My Plumber Heating and Cooling

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1:43 pm EST
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My Plumber Heating and Cooling - Price Gouging, Hidden Fees

I called them to have them fix our water heater which broke down yesterday. First off, they will try to charge a “dispatch fee” of $80 just for sending someone to your house. The CSR I spoke with told me that she would waive the fee because I was a new customer. I asked for a ballpark figure for how much it would cost for them to fix the problem and was told that only the field technicians had the “book of prices.”

I get a call from my wife that the man wrote up a bill for $150 JUST for looking at the water heater. The total to actually repair the heater would be $850 total, or $1500 to replace the whole system. They did not say that actually looking at the heater was going to cost anything, let alone $150. I had a second plumber come in after they left and fix the same problem. The total charge for diagnosis AND repair was $180.00.

Obviously, the man would not have left the house without being paid, so my wife had to pay him with our credit card. I was able to have my credit card company reverse the charge. We would not have been so lucky if we paid with cash or check!

These crooks are trying to take advantage of people by price gouging heating services in the winter time. They are THE first result for “plumber in northern Virginia” on Google and unlucky people WILL try them first!

Read full review of My Plumber Heating and Cooling and 2 comments
Update by riptoff99
Jan 21, 2011 1:02 am EST

@AZshine:

Sir, I understand that you may be acquaintances with the owners and that they may very well be wonderful people. Their social pleasantness doesn't change the fact that their business policies are ridiculous. Frankly, and I sincerely apologize if this offends you, but such a blatant third party "attaboy" for My Plumber just feels suspiciously like a paid shill attempting to do damage control. To be even more honest, I've had several weeks of perfectly hot showers to almost forget about the incident and this comment has only served to rekindle the flames of anger that I felt when my wife told me the result of the "diagnosis."

Again, I hope the best for your friends in life, but people need to be and will continue to be told about My Plumber's business practices before they get burned. And again, sorry if I offended you.

Cheers,
(almost) riptoff

Update by riptoff99
Dec 17, 2010 3:43 pm EST

Susan:

I spoke with your CSR the same day this happened. I was told that a manager would call me back the next day. That never happened.

It's good that you take this seriously. Perhaps in the future you should inform your potential customers of your prices UP FRONT, particularly the cost to even give you a work estimate. In the meantime, I will continue to inform everyone I know of your business practices. "Diagnosis fee" notwithstanding, charging $200 to change a single element and then another $300 on top of that to change a thermostat is extortion, pure and simple. The fact that this is being done in the winter time when people are freezing is unconscionable.

Respectfully and Sincerely,
riptoff99

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The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer's satisfaction.

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Lynn Washington
Fredericksburg, US
Mar 24, 2014 10:41 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

We also had work done with My Plumber years ago we have been smelling gas on and off called they came out 2 or 3 time over the years said nothing was wrong We called the gas company they came out and said it was leaking! wrong water heater was put in and the meter read 400, Called them Sent a WONDERFUL Man out The company wanted to Charge us for it They did eat the cost of a replacement My bird died the day they changed the water heater, we have been living with this for years now I'm wondering what it has done to our health it explains bad migraines stomach problems Now they don't want to give us a warranty Would not recommend them to anyone

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AZshine
Ramona, US
Jan 20, 2011 11:50 pm EST

I have known the owners of My Plumber in Virginia and San Diego for many years. I have never worked for them but I am a plumber with 32 years of experience and have the privlege of being able to call them friends. They are fine, upstanding people and want everyone within their organization to do right. Their Service Plumber may have screwed up or may be new and still doesn't fully understand the My Plumber systems. (Just guessing here.) Do yourself a favor and call them back. Believe me when I tell you the last thing owners want to hear is an unhappy client. I pity the person that works for them that does not do all they can to try to make the situation right. Customers are too hard to come by and keep today. They don't want to lose a single one. Right Mark?!

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