Bill West Plumbing Inc

I really wasn't expecting much -- given our recent experiences -- but Michael asked what the problem was.....and we told him. Michael outlined several "possible culprits" for the clog....one of which we never heard of. Michael listened to all of our previous attempts, and he suggested a different approach: "sometimes items get stuck in "the horn" at the back of the toilet. "The horn"?? Well, Michael was right! "The horn" did contain some foreign objects. Michael cleaned the horn, and all is good now. I highly recommend Michael Bass. (Ask for him.......if you can).

First he snaked out 3 drain lines and charged $250 saying problem solved. Tenant called back and said sink is still backing up. So called them back, they sent someone new who said need new garbage disposal which will cost $600!!! A garbage disposal costs about $130 at HomeDepot and takes minutes to put in, which my handyman did.

Perfect! For many years I have always turned to Bill West for my plumbing and heating needs. In my experience, they have always been 100% reliable

Very well. Everything looks and works great.

They ended up charging me a lot more money than I was happy having to spend.

A charming, articulate supervisor was sent out to look at the problem. He did a tour of the bathrooms and kitchen. He noticed some scummy build-up in the toilet, looked at the water heater and pointed out signs of oxidation on the copper pipes. If I understood correctly, he diagnosed the problem as huge amounts of sediment in the water heater and pipes because the water heater hadn't been flushed out since it was installed in 2006. He also did a chlorine test to show that the tap water in Santa Monica had more chlorine in it than a public pool, and was unsafe to drink. He explained how the drought necessitated more chlorine in the water because the water sources were less available and less chemical-free (or something). He then spent a lot of time with me explaining different possibilities for replacing the water heater (tank/tankless) and installing a filtration system, both to the tune of anywhere from $4,000 to $14,000. It was clear to me that he, a supervisor, was sent to the house to sell me something, not fix the problem. The fact that he didn't charge for a service call confirms this. I called another plumbing service and had a long, terrifically helpful conversation with the owner. He asked me to send him pictures of the water heater and water storage tank, and noticed that we have solar for our water (a fact that Ralph did not mention). He suggested that that should be the first thing to check. He spent a lot of time with me and was very forthright about the different possibilities that were causing the problem. His attitude was: we can fix it; it just may take some time to diagnose the problem. He told me that any one of the fixtures (toilets, tubs, washing machine, etc.) or the solar could be the source of cool water flowing into the system. He recommended that we have the solar checked first, then we could see if a plumber was needed. No pressure. No sales pitch. Just really good information.

I explained the problem on the phone - my water heater's pilot light was not getting any gas to it so it would not light. They said they would send someone out to look for no charge. They were really nice on the phone and they did send someone out very quickly, that part was great! However once they were here I just explained the problem and they immediately told me it would be $1900+ to replace the water heater. He quickly said that he could call his manager and maybe get it a little lower. He was quite pressuring. I felt that was a really high price and quickly confirmed that Home Depot could do it for $1130. I told them I felt their price was too high and that I'd be declining their service. The worker came back five minutes later with a $100 service charge. I told him I had been told there was not charge for sending someone out and that what he told me he could have easily told me over the phone. I refused to pay it and he cursed at me as he walked away.

We had used this provider many times over the years and when we had a foul odor coming from the drain, I called, expecting the same level of professionalism and integrity I had experienced in the past. When the guy showed up and I asked about the regular plumber who usually took care of our home, this guy had no idea what I was talking about. He also could not solve the problem except to try and sell me - for another $150.00 - some stuff that I bought at Home Depot for $9.99. I asked if the company had been sold and was not given a straight answer, so I assume it was and this is to notify the new owners and others who buy reputable companies, T O STOP MESSING WITH US! I am offering some free advice - you bought someone's goodwill and ruined it with only one house call. You also lost a good customer - and probably more.

It drains fine now. I wish we had done it sooner, and not used Draino so much.

My husband's shower drain backed up into the shower on a Friday morning, and I called Bill West Plumbing at 9:15. They said someone would be there between 10 and noon. They called me at 10 to let me know the plumber was on his way, and he arrived shortly after. The machine he used (like a Roto-rooter thing) shorted out so he had to leave to get another one. However, another plumber from Bill West showed up about an hour later and he completed the job. Both men were extremely courteous, put booties on over their shoes, cleaned up after the job was completed. I have used this company for over twenty years and they have never disappointed me.

Saturday night, just before we had to leave for an awards dinner, we discovered a rapidly growing plumbing problem. Toilet, kitchen sink, and shower were filling up. Zachary responded to our call and assured us that Mike would be there within 15 minutes. Mike arrived right on time, and quickly solved our problem. Both Zachary and Mike were responsive, efficient and kind.

The plumber, David, was friendly, timely and knowledgeable, and everything seemed to be working great when he left. I would consider using this company again, although it was not a perfect experience for the following reasons: (1) I called on a Friday requesting same day service. They said they would "probably" be able to do that and gave me an appointment window of 4-6 PM. AT 3:30 PM they called and said they couldn't make it that day, and we scheduled it for the next day between 8-10 AM. (2) The plumber arrived just before 10 AM. They did not call first to give me an estimate of when they'd arrive, which would have been nice. (3) I thought the price was a bit high - broken down as $175 for repairing a leak under the kitchen sink and fixing a dripping toilet (by installing new fill valve and flap) and $150 for installing a dishwasher that was already unpacked in my kitchen. I didn't try to negotiate, however.

I was given an accurate estimate of how long the work would take so I could approximate the cost of the job. Ray worked quickly and explained the problem with the leaking faucet and gave suggestions for a permanent "fix". I appreciated his professionalism and workmanship.

I have used Bill West several times in the past, twice for sewer line cleanout and once for installing a new faucet and vertical copper piping in a bathroom. In all these cases I was very happy with their work. They came out this time and ran the snake from the front cleanout to the street, and didn't find anything. I described how waste water was backing up in the tub and shower, and taking hours to drain out. They didn't want to run the snake from the cleanout toward the house, citing concerns that it might punch through the pipe and and rip out wiring under the house. They examined the crawlspace area near the cleanout, and advised that there was an issue with the sewer line that ran underground from the kitchen/laundry area to the cleanout, and that it needed to be replaced. They proceeded to do that over four days, at a cost of about $4000 (they came down substantially from the initial bid, if I approved the work that day). Given my previous experiences with them, I authorized it. Did the old sewer line need to be replaced eventually? Sure, some day. Did replacing it solve the problem? No. Maybe not the very next laundry load, but certainly the next couple after that, caused the same backup. I called them out again, they ran the snake from the cleanout to the street again, it didn't help. I still had standing waste water in the tub. This time they came inside, and ran a small snake down the tub and shower drains, which removed material blocking things up. I pointed out to John that this was the problem I called them for originally, and that replacing all that sewer line hadn't helped. He didn't respond directly to that, but when they finished up he handed me a bill and said he would only charge $90 for a simple service call, and not the fact that they sent two people and did the inside snaking as well as the cleanout. I had trouble doing this rating, finding the category to mark them down on. The quality of their work is good. And in general they are professional, but I chose that one to reflect their approach here. The truly professional way would have been to exhaust the easy solutions first before proposing major work. It also would have been professional to acknowledge that the earlier job was not the correct solution, and to make up for it in a small way by not charging for the second visit. I'm glad the backups have stopped, but overall I don't feel good about the experience.

I have been using Bill West Plumbing Inc for about 3 years and he is very good. They are reasonable, they come in and they are very forward about it and they told me what it would cost and they didn't try to up-sell anything to me. They come out once a year just to do small things and when the water heater broke, that was the only company that I could think of calling.

No problem with the faucet installation, but both inline filters were bad. I mean really bad. After installation, we began to notice a foul fishy odor coming from both freezers from the icemaker area and the ice itself (my tenants did not tell me until months later, they just didn't use their ice). When I called to complain, someone came out and told me my refrigerators had gone bad. I called (and had to pay for!!) an appliance repairman to come and tell me that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the refrigerators and that the inline filters were bad. The appliance repairman replaced both filters, and then everything was fine, we had great tasting ice again, and the odor was completely gone. When I called to complain again, they said they would put me in touch with the filter manufacturer. The filter manufacturer insisted that there was no defect in the product - despite my explaining the situation over and over again, and telling him that I had multiple witnesses (including an appliance repairman) to the fact that the filters were obviously defective. It was one of the top ten most enraging conversations I've ever had. I tried to call Bill West Plumbing a third time, and was told someone would get back to me - which has never happened. Bill West Plumbing owes me a refund for the defective filters and installation, plus the money paid to appliance repairman to fix the mess that they refused to fix. Also worth noting, on the invoice, it is written "Note - no guarantee at all on faucet, owner supplied it", which underscores that they do guarantee materials that they do supply (in theory, not so much in my case). In addition, when I inspected the defective filter once it was removed, I noticed it was rated for only 6 months, which is strange because for about $12.00, I can buy an 12 month rated inline filter at my closest hardware store, which has worked well for me in the past when I have had the time to replace the filter myself.

Cleared out a fairly deep-seated clog in the shower drain pipe. Work was quick, efficient, and effective.

I got a 10% discount for being a first-time customer. It was $105 for the rooting and with 10% off it was $95. He was very prompt in responding to my needs; I had sinks in my kitchen that were backing up. They said they would be here within an hour and they were here within an hour. They told me how much it was and I said fine. I said I had a coupon and they said fine and they were out of there. They did a great job and they put everything back to where it was supposed to be. They completed the task in a very short period of time. They explained to me where my clean-out was. I thought I knew where it was but I found out there was another one. I was very, very happy. I most certainly would use them again.

Fred was on time and very clean cut. He checked all pipes. He gave an explanation of why there was low pressure. Was very fast and knowledgable and professional.

They were very timely. I thought it was a small problem but upon further investigation discovered the problem was much bigger. They were very nice and courteous. They seemed trustworthy.

My realtor recommended Bill West plumbing but I found them to be WAY OVER PRICED. They charged me $1,200 for a new insta hot. Same exact one can be bought at Home Depot for $300. They charged $2,000 for a water heater and also tried to tell me that I needed a pressure valve for another $2,000. I had another company come out and do it for $570.

The Bill West plumber came in and was quite professional. The work was done in a timely manner.

They were great. The company was fast, efficient, and very helpful. It charged a reasonable rate and was more responsive than other plumbing companies that I had contacted.

Overall all went well. After previous visits the quality of work continues to be first class. Bill West is my plumber.

We have used them for several projects. Recently they came and replaced a washer in a leaking faucet. They did good work. They did not over charge us or upsell us in any way. They charged us a reasonable rate.