Allens Plumbing Supply

Mind you, I have never written a review before, and hate spreading negativity, however, the door you give through is the door you receive through. This one is warranted. Where do I start... First off I asked the owner, Allen, if he had a price match guarantee. He asked why, so I showed him a piece of paper where I wrote down the cost of an oil tank from Bender Plumbing Supplies in New Haven. The price was $544.44 which was about 40 bucks cheaper. I was a bit shocked by Allen's answer.... "You can write anything down on that paper". "That paper means nothing". WOW! I stood there in shock as I'm thinking to myself, did he just call me a lair? So I let it slide and completed the transaction. When I got out to the car I was still in disbelief thinking about what had just occurred. I left Allen's and Just then my sister called. I asked her to text me a copy of Bender Pluming Supplies quote. Now armed with proof and still in shock about being called a lair, I decided to clear the air... I spun around and went back to Allen's. I asked to speak to Allen and the counter guy was freaking out about not needed the stress. I told him I wasn't hear to start trouble, I just wanted to show him the proof of my claim. After about 20 minutes or so, Allen finally shows up and in a very aggravated voice he ask, "you want a talk to me". I said "yes". He said "about what". To which I responded "Well you basically just called me a lair, so I wanted to show you the quote I got from Bender". I showed him the quote and off he goes again.... telling me that Bender is lying, they don't have any oil tanks in stock, they give you that price just to get you down there. etc. etc. The discussion went on as escalated to shouting as Mr. Allen rambled on like a babbling idiot. Not one attempt on his part to consider or acknowledge my claim. So I again left, Mr. Allen still shouting, trying to prove his point as I got into my car and left. I will never step foot in that store again. PS: I called bender from my car and they had plenty of Oil Tanks in stock at the time.

We have hired them previously and we have been very happy with them. They were recommend to us by friends. They are always extremely helpful when you go into the shop too.

The experience has been very good. They have a special for $9.99 for a 20 pound tank. They are consistently good.

The counter person appeared to be out of touch with helping customers as the questions I asked were answered with short, curt answers without much explanation. Considering this business hosts a local radio show extolling the virtues of buying from them and benefitting from their "expert advice" it seemed that counter man Peter could not be bothered (had I known more about what I needed would I be asking all the questions?). He scratched some info on a piece of paper and handed me off to another employee who brought me to the part of the building where the parts were located. After determining some of the information was not quite correct the required items were selected to be rung up. It wasn't until I arrived home later to discover just how much I overspent for items that weren't any different quality wise from going to a home improvement box store. I overpaid to get poor customer service? After speaking to somebody more knowledgable than myself I discovered I was sold an incorrect part for what i wanted to do and since they don't take anything back as their receipt states no returns then you're out of luck. Lesson learned, while I try to support local businesses they have to earn my trust and I no longer trust Allen's for any of my plumbing needs! At least the big-box home improvement stores take their items back if you you buy the incorrect item.

I checked everywhere to find the lowest price and these guys were by far the lowest price and everything is backed up by factory warranty. They are awesome people. The guy took time to show me everything and go through the calculations to determine exactly what I need so I don't over pay. He really took his time to make sure I had the right heating system from my house.