Hers and His Plumbing

Normally it would cost me $75 copay per warranty agreement and installation would be covered. However, the water heater had not been installed according to code and warranty company would not cover installation. The plumber took the opportunity to overcharge me on the installation. My friend had paid $400 to have her water heater installed by a different plumber. I was charged over $600 which seemed like I was being gouged.

Their plumber showed up and looked exhausted, sighing heavily when we asked if he was ready to go to work and when he trudged heavily up our stairs...very unprofessional. When we told him what we wanted done, he said that is no longer covered under the Home Warranty and then charged us a $75.00 service call fee for doing nothing. Apparently our Home Warranty coverage changed at renewal and of course the company doesn't point out any of the changes to you. The point is this: If His and Her Plumbing are the agents for the Home Warranty Service and I told them exactly what needed to be done when I was making the appointment, they should have told me then that they can't do that kind of work: Instead, they scheduled the appointment anyway showed up, told me they can't do the work and had the audacity to charge me. They would not issue me a refund.

All this company knows how to do is pressure relief/regulator valves. And conveniently they are not covered by the home warranty. We have American Home Shield as our home warranty company. His and Hers was the designated provider for our service ticket. They are based out of Tennessee. They are not a quick turn-around once you request service. We called on Wednesday and they weren’t able to come out until Saturday. When the service rep came out, he immediately said (as he was getting out of his truck) that we were going to need a new pressure regulator valve (our complaint was that recently our pipes started to vibrate when we would flush a toilet or have more than once source of water being used in the house). I’m not sure why he already had that in his head, but he did a reading of pressure at our spigot and said it was 95 psi and that it should be at 60 or so to be safe (I did not see the values that he found…just had to take his word for it). He recommended a fix that cost about $400 and would not be covered by our plan (install a pressure regulator valve). It would also require our lawn to be dug up to put the fix into place. Something felt a little suspicious (since I had read on a previous “His and Hers” reviews that a similar fix was done for several other customers, so I started wondering if this is all they know how to do). My husband is an engineer, so he went and bought the pressure testing device that the plumber had used and did the readings again (at various times of day, since it will change from day use to night use, etc). In testing the pressures, we never did get the 95 psi value that the plumber stated he got. All of our readings at all faucets were at 60 psi. We ended up calling another plumber to evaluate the problem. In the end, we did need to have the pressure relief valve replaced, but not because of high pressure, but because of low pressure. The other plumber we had told us they get alot of "second opinion" calls from people that had "Hers and His" come out first. So although we did need the part H-N-H initially recommended, it was for the opposite reason they suggested. So it's kind of like a blind mouse...even a blind mouse can get a kernel of cheese once in awhile (so even H-N-H can get the part right once in a while).

Appointment was scheduled for 8 am. He arrived a little early (which was great for me), completed the work quickly, and took some time to explain exactly what he did. He was very personable and professional.

He was very hands on. He gave me a lot of information. He dint try to sell me another product. He explained the longevity of my product that I may need another one but as of now he was able to repair it. I leant a lot of things like how to read the installation date and whether it was under warranty; he showed me the little trick that they had with numerology. That was really good. They were very informative. The quality of work was excellent. I would like to use them in the future.

Stan came out and put it on and gave me an estimate. He mentioned that he would have to dig up my newly seeded grass from the street to my house. I had spent all summer working on it. I was hesitating and he said that it had to get done but he would see what he could do. Actually what he had to dig up was less than two feet. I couldn't be more pleased. He went way out of his way to do that and he didn't have to. He put the regulator on the house instead of putting it at street level because he knew that I didn't want my grass torn up. His price was very reasonable compared to others. It was $588 for the regulator, shutoff valve and replacing the pipe. It took two visits. He did the work the beginning of September and my September water bill was already down $40 so I figure it will pay for itself in a year. They have replaced the shower in the bathroom because I had a leak. It started out that it was just a drip and then it wouldn't shut off at all. He was very quick and walked through everything with me. They came out last spring because I couldn't switch from heating to cooling. He said there was a broken wire somewhere along the line and he charged me $20. No matter who has come, they have always been very nice. I am a single woman and I thought they would take advantage of me but they have all been wonderful. I couldn't ask for nicer people. They did a good job. They didn’t stand and talk and charge me extra. They did what they had to do and then explained what they were going to do so I could ask any questions right then and there. They are usually here within 48 hours of my call. They come when they say. This last time they called and said that they could come earlier. They are very professional and I couldn't ask for more wonderful people. I would use them again in a heartbeat.

I spoke with Pam around 4:30pm on Wednesday, September 28, 2011 and explained the situation and informed her that it was necessary to shut off water to the entire house and that I have five children. Despite the call being classified as a "Priority" call, they were unwilling to come that evening. Pam offered two appointment times for the 29th; 9:00 to 1:00 or 10:00 to 2:00. I had a meeting scheduled at 8:40am, which I told her, so I chose the 10:00 to 2:00 appointment slot. When I left the meeting at 9:35am I saw a missed call from them at 9:07am. I returned the call and was told that the tech had been at my house and since no one was home left. I told her that of course I wasn't home, I was at the meeting I told her I was going to be at, therefore, the 10:00 to 2:00 appointment. She would not have him turn around even though he had left five minutes before I called her. She told me that he had finished early so he came to my house and waited 15 minutes, but they could squeeze me in from 2:00 to 4:00pm. I informed her that I pick my children up from school from 2:20 to 3:25. She said she could try to get out Friday, but that day was already booked. I asked her why the tech would show up prior to the appointment time and why he would not wait until the appointment time to "consider" me a no-show. She repeated he had finished early and was unwilling to accept responsibility for failing to meet her responsibility. I told her that since her company was unable to tell time, honor an appointment and display professional and competent behavior I did not want to use her company. I ended up having to call Roto-Rooter; they showed up on time and fixed the sink.

We were quite disappointed in them. The guy tried to tell us there were things we had to do to replace our hot water heater that were required by code and they are not required by code. He tried to jack the price up on us by several hundred dollars by being dishonest. Our home warranty company had sent another plumber out because our hot water heater was leaking and that plumber wanted a second opinion that it needed to be replaced. They sent out this company. We did not hire them and we did not pay them. He was under contract with the home warranty people. He told us there were requirements because of the building and zoning codes that we would have to get other things done. He said that we had to add an expansion tank to the tune of $250 and several other things that were absolutely not necessary and not required by the code. His price was outrageous. We didn't pay him anything but I don't know if the home warranty company had to pay anything. He didn't answer our questions. He was out here when he said he would be so he was dependable. He was punctual. We would absolutely not hire him again.