Payless Water Heaters & Plumbing Inc

It went fine.

Work was punctual and no problems.

excellent !!

It went Perfect.

Extremely well!

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I will tell everybody I know about them. Wow what a great company!!

I told the tech I would contact another plumber via Bradford-White (the maker of the water heater) as it is under warranty until 2013. For now.. I am off to the gym to shower :(

I was very dissatisfied with this company. After calling several plumbing companies, I decided to use this one because their phone estimate for a new thermocouple and service visit charge both seemed reasonable. But when the technicians arrived, they immediately began to upsell me to replace the entire thermostat -- a much bigger, costlier job. I asked them to try replacing just the thermocouple first and see if it would light, but the technician was unwilling to do that and gave me some double-talk about having to charge me two service fees if he didn't do it all at one time. When I questioned the logic of that and called the home office to complain, he finally relented and agreed to switch out the thermocouple first, but he said the pilot still would not light. I had no way of knowing if I really needed a new thermostat or not, but because I was already into them for the service visit fee, I let them do the work. Afterward I called two other licensed plumbing companies and got estimates for the same work that were half the price. Meaning a company that calls itself "Payless" actually charges twice the going market rate. I called the company two times and left messages without a callback. (I suspect they were just waiting for my check to clear.) I persisted and days later finally got to speak to a supervisor. I tried to resolve the issue amicably with without success.

The day of the installation, 2/9/07, after the guy took out my old water heater and installed the new one, I was told that I needed to replace our existing water pressure regulator. On the contract #8181 dated 2/9/07 under the first total a note that says 1 in Reg needs replacement. I balked at this, especially because of his timing. He waited until after installing the water heater instead of telling me before he began. It seemed to be a ploy to extort more money from me. And he waited so I would not make a decision not to go ahead with the job. I tried to avoid paying for this extra. I said I would think about it. Then he wrote a note a little further down that said I had 2 weeks to replace the regulator or the warranty would be void! It is scratched out, but it is still legible. It is scratched out because the installer offered to take $50 off the price if I would go ahead and do it. Under duress, I agreed and paid. I wrote a check for the total $1326. On Saturday, November 14, 2009, I noticed there was no hot water. I went into the utility room and smelled gas. I called a plumber, and he came right over. He inspected the heater and determined that the heater needed to be replaced. He shut off the heater and the gas and water going to it. Because of the previous experience with Payless Water Heaters, I did not want to have them handle the replacement. The plumber took the heater in to exchange it. The staff at the place where he exchanged the unit made a photocopy of my receipt because they thought it was interesting. Bradford White, the manufacturer of the water heater, does not offer a water heater with a 12 year warranty. The heater that had been installed in our home was a water heater that comes with a 6 year warranty, not the 12 year we that it written in the paperwork that we paid for. In addition, we had recently discovered that the workmanship for the installation was shoddy. We found out that out in September 2009, when we had another company here to inspect the soot and ash damage we got from the Station fire. The representative pointed out that the installer had damaged our venting and it would need to be repaired. When the plumber replaced the water heater, he repaired the venting. It cost almost $1000 for doing everything that needed to be done, exchanging the old heater, installing the replacement and repairing the venting. We did not pay anything additional to get the replacement water heater. But it is not free. A "warrantee" is not worth much on a appliance that requires professional installation. We have to pay for the labor to replace the heater. I wonder how long the new water heater is going to last. We had to exchange our existing water heater for another six year one, because that is the one we have. I am not happy with that at all. When I agreed to get a water heater from Payless, I thought I was paying to have a top-of-the-line quality water heater, one that has a 12 year warrantee, installed in my home. I have found out something unpleasant. It seems that what Payless does is to put in a bottom-of-the-line heater and then "warrantee" the product themselves for a longer period of time. They probably fully expect that the product will fail during the warrantee period, and they will get more work. I am not a legal professional, but the words "scam" and "fraud" come to mind. I can only tell you what I experienced and what I suspect. This is going to be investigated by professionals. My perception is that Bryan and his team are dishonest. I am probably not the first or last to be cheated by them. I may be the first to take the trouble to file a complaint with the California State Contractors board. I tried to call to talk to Bryan about this. He was not available. The State Contractors board sent him a notice of my complaint and I gave him more than the required 7 days to contact me, and he has not attempted to do so. It is my hope that as a result of an investigation he will lose his contractor's license and the public will be protected from this kind of business practice. In the meantime, beware.

I called Saturday evening and got an estimate of $818 from Brian to install a new a 50 gal. Bradford White water heater. It was for model # U45036frn with 2" of insulation. He volunteered that it would qualify for a $30 gas company rebate. I asked if there would be extra charges for parts, saying I could provide the pan for under the heater and had a new set of earthquake straps still in the box. Brian said it was company policy not to use owner provided parts as they would not assume responsibility for them in guaranteeing the work. He also said my earthquake straps might not install in the same manner as the ones their service man was familiar with. He said the only additional expense I would have would be for the pan which would be $39. Brian scheduled my job for the next morning, Sunday, between 8 and 10 AM saying we would be the first job of the day. Sunday at 10:15 AM, no phone call, no serviceman, so I called and was told he was on his way. At 10:30 Steve G. arrived. Steve looked over my existing water heater and said he needed to replace my copper flex water lines with new, replace my gas line and gas valve (said my old valve was no longer to code), install a new pressure relief line and basically replace everything. This would cost an additional $300 over the quoted price. He said they normally replace all of those parts in installing a new water heater. I asked then why weren't these costs included in the original quote? After some negotiation between Steve, Brian and myself, the price was reduced to $1039, an increase of $182 over the original quote. Since this was however right around what the other quotes I had gotten were, I agreed to go ahead. Steve said to me "the water heater you are getting is a single, right?" I asked if by single he meant 1 inch of insulation and he said correct. I told him the model number I was supposed to be getting had 2 inches insulation. He said OK, however I double checked the model number on the unit he took from the truck. The installation and workmanship were fine with the following exceptions: 1) The hose Steve used to drain the old water heater was only about 25 feet long so rusty water was sent down my driveway. 2) I asked about the procedure for periodically checking the anode that stops corrosion in water heaters. He said this water heater would not corrode since it was glass lined. I then opened the unit's manual to find checking the anode to prevent corrosion as being recommended every 2 years. 3) After he was finished and preparing to leave I noted that the unit was missing a cover plate on the bottom (called outer door in the manual). Steve claimed this unit did not come with one but he could take one off another unit. I didn't see where he got it from but it did fit my unit exactly, what a coincidence. There is no reason not to use a pan provide by the owner. Just a way to charge $39 for a $19 part. Fortunately the water heater is working fine.

Pricey. They were not clean about appointment times and who would be doing the work.

The work was okay but they tend to oversell on things that aren't needed. The plumber recommended a water pressure 93 psi regulator for $340. Had another plumber come out and he tested the pressure. It was fine.