Flat Rate Plumbing, Inc.

Scheduled a same day appointment. Very friendly customer service. The technician, [redacted], was very polite and thoroughly explained what he did. Also gave me a complete quote before he even started, which I appreciated. All together a pleasant experience.

Review: The following business complaint is in regards to Flat Rate Plumbing repair that resulted in additional damage between, November 4th-5th, 2013.

The originally intended repair Flat Rate was contracted to provide was valued at $3,694.19. As [redacted] (#77) attempted to shut-off the main water line in my home, the main water line broke open spewing water throughout the area. Shortly thereafter, [redacted] contacted the City of Milwaukee Plumbing to manually close the water stemming from the outside of my home and the job has not been completed.

At this point, Flat Rate provided me with an additional invoice for $1,708.30 to repair the now broken main water line, which was induced by [redacted] (#77).

Due to the additional unexpected said damage -- I feel extremely uncomfortable with the resulted scenario. Can you please help?Desired Settlement: The desired outcome is to be provided with an itemized list of labor & materials for Flat Rates provided services. Since the services included in the $3,694.19 original invoice were not fully completed due to the repair having been stopped by Flat Rate, an adjusted bill reflecting work Flat Rate completed is still needed. The additional $1,708.30 repair damage would be exempted.

Business

Response:

Thank you for forwarding me the concern from our customer [redacted], residing at [redacted]. I apologize for not getting back to you sooner. I actually took care of the customer's concerns during the project. For some reason she felt it necessary to contact you during the job to insure we pulled a permit (which had been pulled). Also, she didn't understand how aged and deteriorated her lead water service was (and which was the reason we needed to do further repairs). I actually split that part of the bill with her which she was extremely satisfied with.

Do not do business with these people. They will find other things wrong (that are not wrong at all) and will rip you off greatly. They did it to 2 elderly relatives!

I recently relocated to the Wisconsin area an bought a new home. Soon after moving in, I realized the house had too many issues for me to handle myself. There was an odd, musty smell coming from the bathroom sink with a “gurgling” sound in the sink piping nearly every time I flushed the toilet. To make matters even worse, the heat was hardly functioning at all, and being winter time, I could barely sleep the first night, it was so cold. I asked one of my new coworkers if they had a company they could recommend and they pointed me to Flat Rate 24 Hour Home Services. I am so glad they did! Not only did I hear amazing things about their services after asking around, I could not be happier with their services! They fixed all of my new home’s issues at a cost that was reasonable, and ALL their staff were amazing from the first phone call to the technician coming to my home! And…everything works beautifully! You can even schedule their services on-line!

I was impressed with the courtesy and professionalism of your plumbers. What was a horrible emergency turned out to be a minor inconvenience - thanks to Flat Rate!

Bought a kitchen faucet from Home depot and they wanted $160 for install, but I had to wait a couple of days. I was in a hurry because my faucet was leaking profusely. I called Flat Rate and they wouldn't give me a ball park figure, just $99 trip charge and the plumber would write up the work order. He wanted $524!!!!I almost passed out! I asked how long it would take and he said about an hour, and then asked how much he charged and he said $100 per hour. $99 + $100 = $199. He called his boss and they lowered it to $337. I reluctantly gave him the $99 and asked him to leave. He also told me that Home Depot doesn't use plumbers. Home Depot uses Master plumbers. Home depot came out the next day and it didn't even take him an hour.

I had a leaking pipe in the shower. Flatt Rate came out and fixed the leaking pipe. Since then I've had 3 appointments with them to repair the wall, retitle, grout, and put the shower head on and drain pipe. Each appointment has been a no show. Each time we call its another excuse as to why they didn't come. I'm left with a hole in my shower wall waiting to be finished. This project was started Aug. 2013 it's now Oct. 3. Soon I will looking for another company to finish the work.

on Friday they came and checked my water heater for leak. They found leak and fixed it. I asked if they were certain it was the only issue. They said yes. I left them to finish job. Came home to find floor flooded from an additional leak they did not initially find.Unsure how they could miss it. I have asked for them to come back and examine at no charge. Got answering service guy ( kids in back ground).who told me they won't be here till monday. Told him that's not acceptable..they missed something in thier inspection ..I want them out today w no added truck charge. Floor is soaked in watet. they missed something in inspection and if in fixed it may cause damage . I will hold them responsible for damsges.I will re post and change rating if problem is fixed to my satisfaction

Review: On 11-15-13, Called to request service. Boiler needed servicing. Tech. sent out same day. The person proved lacking in knowledge in basic boiler knowledge. The service tech. with basic operation of an oil fired boiler. He didn't know that upon ignition there is a loud whose sound made in the combustion chamber of the boiler ( hen got the unit to fire twice and each time cut power to unit to stop firing); he didn't know that the safety light is inoperative because safety controls have locked; he didn't bleed the air line or depress the reset button.

What the service tech. did do was adjust a pressure gauge below 0.2 & 0.4 psi and he did use a voltmeter.

What the service tech. didn't do was: check the oil nozzle to see if clogged, clean the flame retention ring, bleed air out of line, or check fuel filter,

He did not get unit to fire-up. He did leave a written proposal for work needed before unit will start. His estimate totaled $1267.81; while services proposed are good to maintain unit

they are not essential to restart unit.Desired Settlement: Because the service tech. did not perform a service; because tech. didn't restart unit and the proposals offered had nothing whatsoever to do with the issue of restarting the system

the fee should be returned.

Business

Response:

Thank you for forwarding me the concern from [redacted] residing at [redacted]. I have already refunded the $89 service call, per the customer's request and she is fully satisfied. Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Recently had septic line work done by Flat Rate along with getting my toilet fixed. I have been using them for years because I always feel they put me, the customer first. They are some of the kindest people I have ever dealt with. I have recommended them to other family members, as well. Good folks here at Flat Rate!

The ad on the phone book said drain cleaning $99. That's a real set up. The plumber arrived and started looking at the pipes to see where he could snake out the main line. On the floor trap, he banged away to try to remove the cover, then announced that he could not get it off. He then said he'd have to cut in a new clean-out and gave me a total price of $1131.00. I choked, then said that could not happen. I just don't have that kind of money in my checking account. He quickly 'reminded' me that they take credit cards. I told him I no longer have a single card. He hemmed and hawed and asked how much I was expecting to spend that day. I said I thought a major clean out could have come up to around $300, but not what he was suggesting. I asked why we couldn't remove a toilet and use that opening - too many bends in the pipe was the way he explained it. I said there was no way and gave him my debit card to pay the $89 trip charge. He got out to his truck and I was bringing in our dog when he 'suddenly' got another idea how to attack the problem. He could cut off the clean out cover for $125, then snake out the drain for $329. I felt that I still was being taken for a ride, but that was better than starting over and I wanted the problem resolved. So I spent $543 for a drain cleaning. What happened to the $99 'flat rate' that was advertised? I've run into these types of businesses before. Present the most expensive and costly option (far more than was promised) and think people will not 'push back' about it. I will never call this business again and I will make sure to tell anyone I can not to call them either.