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We've used Fred Smith, Capital Care and ABR Plumbing for years. The quality of work's gone downhill. They now have a bad attitude, are often rude, and say, "If you don't want to use us again, don't." They won't guarantee their repairs or fix a problem we thought was fixed unless we pay them to do it again or they do more work that will cost us more.
All 3 companies are disappointing us repeatedly. We never had problems with them and we're not a demanding group. There are many plumbers in NYC, and we don't need this. Can anyone recommend a plumber who does good work, won't argue with us at every turn, or try to convince us we need a lot of costly work done that we know we don't need? Thanks.
BP we all need good plumbers but are your expectations a little too high. I have worked with many plumbing companies over the years some good some bad. If your are looking for a plumbing company to agree with you all the time, then they are not honest and doing their job. Do you have enough knowledge of plumbing and how it works to second guess these companies?
FN.
FN - I know what you're saying, but our expectations are not too high and we don't try to second guess plumbers on everything. Examples of why we're dissatisfied
- Didn't keep an appointment or call 3 times in a row, said later they "forgot" or "had more important work to do".
- Billed us twice for the same work (4 times!).
- Replaced an old broken pipe with...an old broken pipe!
- Ignore "details" like putting in a washer or filling a hole. Still have leaks and they want to charge us to come back and do what they should have done the first time.
- Broke mirror on an owner's medicine cabinet with a wrench (super saw him do it), won't pay for it, claims he didn't do it and it's his word against the super's (super is very honest, been with us 14 years).
- Says pipes (put in 6 months ago by another plumber) are causing leaks because they're "poor quality copper" (?), wants $1,000 to replace them.
One or another of the 3 plumbing companies we use did the above (the same one didn't do all of them), and these are just a few examples of incidents in the past year. Any recommendations for a plumber are welcome.
BP - I use Tana Plumbing and they are great. They are straight forward and reliable. Call them at 914-393-8620, Harry is the owner, tell him Virginia sent you from the Bronx, 1910.
Gin
Now I understand your frustration a little better. You have been so unlucky I guess. I use one of the companies you have issues with Fred Smith and have found them OK. Here are a few suggestions which may help.
1. Try to find similar buildings to yours (when built, plumbing layout etc), and who does their plumbing.
2. Monitor your plumbers a little closer when they visit.
3. Can your Management Company recommend a plumbing outfit? (they obviously have many buildings).
4. Does you super network with other supers (on your block,)
They may have a good plumbing company.
5. If/when you do get a good mechanic, try to schedule the work so he is available. If I find that an individual is very good at handling my service repairs, I am more than happy when possible to ask for the specific mechanic to carry out my repair.
Hope this is some help.
FN
Thanks, Gin, for the referral to Tana. :-)
Thanks also for the suggestions, FN. We used other plumbers our mgmt co. uses - they were even worse. We can't monitor work more closely than we do. The super's always present and sometimes even a Board member. Supers in other bldgs on our block like their plumbers even less than we like ours. A couple repair men did a good job and we try to get them if we can, but their companies say they won't work that way - they send whoever's available.
We'll just keep looking, but thanks for the help.
Try these plumbers
A C Klem 718-433-4300
Pro-Tech Plumbing & Heating 718-767-9067
Ideal Plumbing & Heating 718-392-0480
A Steinman Plumbing 212-737-5857
Mike
Thanks, Mike, for the plumber referrals. Appreciate your taking the time to send them.
As avid Habitat readers our board has always felt it supportive of the magazine to call one of the advertisers when lookiing for services.
We have had positive experiences with this approach. Of course caveat emptor as always. Our latest success story is DeWaters Plumbing and Heating.
They are prompt reliable and reasonable for big and not so big jobs.
Call (212) 942-1011 ask for Michael Hill.
http://www.dewatersplumbing.com/repair-service.php
Thanks for the info on DeWaters Plumbing ~
Good luck with your plumbing!
Steinman Plumbing
Ask for Dave
212-996-6777
Top notch guys
solved numerous problems for us...
Best Regards,
RH
yes except it is one of the plumbing companies that paid off building managers in 1994 so the background is not great (this may have changed but still - someone was corrupt...) :
NYT: "...District Attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, yesterday translated a code used in the indictments to shield the companies cited as having made payoffs.
They were identified as Central Pump Plumbing of Brooklyn; Chelsea Hardware of Manhattan; Fred Smith Plumbing of Manhattan; M. Kraus Plumbing of Manhattan; Richardson & Lucas, a waterproofing and renovation company, of Manhattan; Steinman Plumbing of Manhattan, and Utility Painting of Manhattan."
Try Kapnag, (212) 929-7111. We've had good lunk with them.
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also, you should ask the superintendent's club...
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