Watertight Watercare

WORST EXPERIENCE! We purchased a home in May. Two weeks before we purchased the home, the seller purchased a water heater at Home Depot. Home Depot installations in southern WI are managed by Crew2. Crew2 contracted Watertight Watercare to install the brand new heater. The home seller said he clearly explained he had a propane system when he purchased the water heater at Home Depot.

A mistake was made and a natural gas water heater was brought to the house for installation. The installation occurred at the same time as the house-inspection. My fiancé and I, our parents, our real estate agent, the seller, and the inspector were all present when a man named [redacted] from Watertight Watercare came to install the new heater.

[redacted] removed a PROPANE water heater and installed a NATURAL GAS water heater. These units are NOT interchangeable and improper install can be extremely DANGEROUS. At no point did [redacted] question any of us about which gas system we used and proceeded to install the improper heater.

We purchased the house a few days later. Within the first week, we stopped getting hot water. We called the manufacturer of the heater and were told it was a natural gas unit. The unit was fried and not covered under warranty because it was improperly installed.

I called Crew2 and was told to contact the installation company- Watertight Watercare.

I SPOKE WITH [redacted] AT WATERTIGHT WATERCARE. I calmly explained the situation and asked how we can proceed to have it resolved. [redacted] immediately became defensive and told me I wasn’t his customer. I told him the unit they installed was a week old and was broken, and void of warranty, due to improper installation.

[redacted] continued speaking to me in a loud and harsh tone and reiterated that it wasn’t their fault and that, "I was crazy if I thought they were going to come install a new water heater. It wasn’t [redacted] fault. The wrong water heater was installed. It's not their job to check which gas type a house has!!”

I replied that I expected a professional installation company to follow basic safety steps. [redacted] again became defensive and told me it was the customer’s fault for not telling them it was a propane gas system. I calmly asked to speak to the owner of the company. [redacted] told me no many times. I repeated my desire to speak with the owner of the company and [redacted] simply told me that wasn’t going to happen and I wasn’t getting a new water heater. [redacted] hung up on me.

I called Crew2 and explained what happened. I was apologized to profusely and told that was NOT how they want their customers treated. Crew2 agreed that the installation was faulty and very dangerous. Crew2 agreed to pay the full price of a brand-new PROPANE water heater for us and paid for a different company to install the water heater.

I would NEVER allow anyone at Watertight Watercare to do any work on my home again. They put our family at risk and didn’t take blame for a very dangerous situation they caused. If there was ever any question about the water heater type, [redacted] had nearly a dozen people on-site in the home that could have pointed out the 500 gallon Propane Tank in the back yard. [redacted] treated me horribly, called me offensive names, yelled at me and eventually hung up on be.

I am just happy that Crew2 and Home Depot stood behind their customer care and replaced the water heater at no charge to us. Watertight Watercare is a family owned and operated business, so I expected much more. I was horrifically disappointed. Please be warned. Don’t put your family in a dangerous situation.

Review: Watertight Watercare told us they would "squeeze us in" when hot water heater parts on 2 different occasions were sent over night from the manufacturer. When the part arrived, it was "too late" for them to come because it was after 12 noon on the 24th. The technician came out on the 26th, installed the part but never re-booted/re-started the water heater so when I got home we again had no hot water. Rheem diagnosed it as a "different" problem now. The technician did no diagnostic work on the hot water heater when he was out. When Rheem told us they were sending out yet another part, we called Watertight Watercare on the 27th, told them that another part was coming and the woman again told us that they would "squeeze" us in on the 28th in the afternoon, as if this was some major inconvenience. When the second part was shipped, it arrived at 11:30a.m. When I called them the morning of the 28th, telling them that the part would be here by noon (it arrived at 11:30a.m.) the next woman who answered the phone told me "that was too late". They close at noon - again.

So I asked her if they could schedule us for 2pm on the 30th to which she replied "No I can't guarantee that because if 'my guys' don't have enough work on Monday morning we send them home. I can't tell you IF they will install the part on Monday." Each time we were treated like this was a major inconvenience to them. We were forced to call another technician to come and install the 2nd part - he was able to diagnose the problem stating that we need a new water heater - at 3pm on a Saturday, the weekend before New Years. Watertight knew that we had been struggling without hot water since the 23rd. Their customer service is severely lacking - particularly whomever is answering the phone. It was as if we were bothering them by calling and requesting serviceDesired Settlement: I would like a refund for the two $75.00 trip/labor charges we had to pay for poor/inadequate service resulting in us having no hot water for 6+ days. I would like to suggest training the Watertight Watercare people who answer the phone on the fine art of providing good customer service so others who are struggling with plumbing problems are not snubbed like we were.

Business

Response:

When having issues over the holidays, Watertight does it's best to accommodate customers. Watertight has no control over when the manufacturer ships out parts or when they will arrive to the customer's home. Watertight is a regular plumbing company as well as technicians for Rheem, therefore our plumbers do have other work during the day that has been scheduled prior to. We do our best at scheduling each job that comes over to the customer's request, yet sometimes there is a limit in which we cannot scheduled anymore jobs in a day. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Please understand that Watertight has no control over manufacturers decisions of when or what part will be shipped to their customers.

Business

Response:

Watertight WaterCare Inc, has agreed to refund customer all trip/labor charges.