McDonald Plumbing/HVAC Inc.

McDonald Plumbing and Heating is a fantastic small business with honest and conscientious employees. Bob has been servicing our furnace for several checks now and has consistently given us good advice and great peace of mind. We can highly recommend him and the company for all heating and plumbing needs, and have done son. It is difficult to find fair and honest people in this sector, so we give high praise to the owners.

Josh P[redacted] from McDonald Plumbing has always done a great job servicing my heating and AC system, as well as other recent major jobs including installing a new tankless water heater. Very happy with his service and expertise. Highly recommend. Thanks, [redacted]

Review: Long story short, our main sewer was backed up while we had a house full of guests. Some of the guests had pulled the basement toilet and tried snaking it out. After several hours to no avail, the tech from McDonald showed up. We already had the toilet pulled, so all he had to do was snake the main.It wasn't until the following day and $500 later that I realized the bill stated 2.5 hrs is what I was billed for. The tech hadn't arrived until 10:30 (the bill started at 10:00). He also originally only brought a small drum snake machine and had to leave to get "the big machine". Well I was billed for the at least 30 minutes he was gone for that.I've never heard of a company charging for travel time, or also for time because they didn't bring the correct equipment in the first place. Also, I was left to reset the toilet, so the guy didn't even have to do a complete job. I feel I was billed unfairly for an extra hour of labor.Desired Settlement: Refund of 1 hour labor rate which was unfairly billed. I was only told the labor rate of $120/hr when I had called to inquire about the time discrepancy.

Business

Response:

In response to complaint #[redacted], on Saturday, February 22, 2014, Mr. [redacted] contacted our on-call technician, [redacted], to snake his main sewer line. [redacted] explained to Mr. [redacted] that we charge over-time rates on the weekends to which Mr. [redacted] agreed to due to his situation.

We charge a trip charge to and from the customer’s home of $75.00 which includes a 15 minute diagnostic of the problem. This is standard and common in the residential service industry and our fee is well below what our competitors charge. Our technicians keep a small shake machine on their vehicles which is sufficient to snake a line, but the blockage at Mr. [redacted]’s home was packed full, so [redacted] had to get our largest snake from our facility in order to clear his sewer line.

Mr. [redacted] needs to understand that we biil from the time the technician is in route to the job (which was 10:00 p.m.) until the time the job is complete, which in this case was 2.5 hours (10:00 p.m. to 12:30 p.m.).

Mr. [redacted] spoke to both secretaries on Monday, February 24, 2014 and it was explained to him that our fees to snake a sewer line is based on what size machine is used, how far out we snake the line, and includes set up and clean- up of the machine. Our normal fees to snake a line can range anywhere from $240.00 to $350.00 on regular business hours, and we normally cannot quote an exact fee due to the nature of the job.

We did not puil Mr. [redacted]’s toilet, and therefore we are not responsible to reset it, however, upon Mr. [redacted]’s request we would have reset the toilet but he would have incurred more costs for us to do so.

The charge to Mr. [redacted] were reviewed by myself, the owner, and I verify that his charges are accurate. Had he been able to wait until normal business hours, his charges would have been much less. While I understand his urgency in the matter, he agreed to pay the overtime rates and therefore was fairly charged by us. McDonald Plumbing and HVAC takes great pride in accommodating our customers, and we made every attempt to satisfy the customer in this complaint.

Consumer

Response:

The tech was told the blockage was INSIDE the house, yet he insisted "st runs down hill" and snaked the exterior main with the small drum snake. The blockage had already been diagnosed prior to his arrival. At no time, either on the phone, nor while the actual cleaning of the drain was occurring, were the labor rates disclosed. Had they been appropriately, I would NOT have consented to the service, and waited until a rental facility was open to perform the job myself.

I personally believe the tech was inexperienced and initially made a poor judgement as to snake the exterior main, which had already been confirmed was running clear prior to his arrival. He should have attempted the small machine INSIDE, as had been asked of him, before deciding it was inadequate, resulting in an additional hour of "labor". By his own admission, he is an HVAC tech, so this company should more carefully schedule who is dispatched to the specific type of call.

Brad is always available - I swear he never sleeps. He is personable, efficient and professional. He's one of the last boiler guys around, lucky for us. I appreciate his dedication to his job.

Everyone was extremely friendly and professional. Josh P. throughly checked out my sewer issues while explaining everything in terms I could understand. He really went above and beyond to get my problem fixed quickly. I will definitely be using them again in the future!

As usual, I was extremely pleased with the quality of service and professionalism of Brad from McDonald Plumbing & Heating. The work was done efficiently and effectively, in a reasonable amount of time, at a reasonable time. I have and will continue to recommend Brad and McDonald Plumbing to my friends and neighbors.

McDOnald's was very responsive, knowledgeable and reasonably priced. Highly recommend!

Review: McDonald Plumbing installed our toilet in December. They did not tighten the bolts enough and one of them was dripping. The woodwork in the bathroom became all moldy. I spoke to Megan and was told that if it was their fault, they wouldn't charge. Bob came out and tightened the bolts. He told me that the toilet was "condesating." A few days later, I received a bill from them for $85. I called back and spoke with Megan. She said, "I don't do the billing. I'll leave a message for the person who does." I want them to cancel the charges and perhaps replace the moldy woodwork.

Note: This is not the first time that they have done work for us incompetently. They came out the last time to fix a shower and did not charge. I was shocked to see that this time they did.Desired Settlement: To zero out the bill and possibly replace the moldy woodwork.

Business

Response:

McDonald Plumbing & HVAC, Inc. August 26, 2015 Attn: [redacted] Revdex.com [redacted] RE: ID [redacted] Dear [redacted] Please consider this letter to be a response to the complaint you have received from [redacted] on 8/20/2015. In December of 2014, McDonald Plumbing and Heating, Inc. installed a toilet [redacted] (customer) had purchased herself at a local hardware store. Please note, McDonald Plumbing and Heating, Inc. does not warranty fixtures that are supplied by customers. In fact, we have a policy that customers must accept those terms if we install fixtures the customer provides. The policy states, we will only warranty fixtures we supply since we purchase our fixtures from vendors who are able to provide us with a certain quality that we are accustomed to. This was the case with the toilet installed for Marilyn. Marilyn placed a service call again in August stating her toilet was leaking creating her wood work to become moldy. On August 18th our Service Manager went to the home, he noted there was water on floor around toilet. He stated he did a thorough inspection of the toilet including checking the floor bolts and tank to bowl gasket noting they were in good repair and tight. The finding was that the condensation was due to the temperature fluctuation between the water in the toilet tank and the air temperature in the residence. Our technician explained to the customer, the air temperature within the residence was quite warm and the water coming into the residence was much cooler creating moisture build-up on the tank thus creating what she perceived as a leak. Customer disagreed with the findings. A standard service fee of $85.00 was charged to the customer for the service call but was later credited due to the dissatisfaction of the customer. It is our position, the toilet is functioning property and no mechanical failure or malfunction could be found. We believe the temperature of the residence is directly related to the condensation of the tank. Considering, we did not provided the toilet nor did we charge the customer, we are not sure how to appease this customer nor do we believe we are negligent in any way. McDonald Plumbing and Heating, Inc. has been in business for thirty years and we value our reputation within the community; we have been in operating this long due to our ability to provide exceptional service to our customers. We have taken this complaint seriously and have tried to remedy this situation to no avail. We appreciate the opportunity to provide a response regarding this matter Please let me know if any further information is required or necessary. Kind Regards, Kenneth M[redacted] President McDonald Plumbing & Heating, Inc.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Excellent service! Very prompt (within 2 hours of call)