RAY DUNCAN PLUMBING INC

Heavy sales pitch to upsell, quote was all over the place with no explanation of how they arrived at price. Plumbers were great, excellent work, but be prepared to stand your ground on what you’re needing done because the salesman uses scare tactics to upsell.

The man Ray Duncan Pluming sent out to give the estimate took our information and model # etc. He never looked to see what might be wrong with the pump , even as simple looking to see if it had a blown breaker. He did nothing to examine the pump. He called to price a new unit and gave us an exorbitant price for replacement. I was very disappointed as they were the company that originally installed and also repaired it in the past. We paid a service call for a waste of our time. Another company did our plumbing job and charges were 1/3rd of Ray Duncan's written estimate. Sad.

The repair went fine - there was nothing wrong with the garbage disposal. The hose under sink needed to be reattached so the dirty water didn't back up. It was a super simple fix (advanced plumbing skills not required) that took under 15 minutes, so it seemed expensive. I preferred the company before ownership change - now it seems more sales-y, less service-y. They did the work & were friendly enough; but I didn't love being told my newer appliance was 'not the best brand' and they could sell me a better one (even though mine was working). Fortunately it wasn't high pressure sales - they left me with info & pricing for when I was ready.

After the leak was detected, we decided to re-plumb the whole house as the uncertainty that another leak may occur and the damage that would have been done to the interior of our home would have required a lot of repair work. The Ray Duncan team completed the re-plumbing in one day. They were very professional and knew what they were doing. The two man team came from either Bradenton or Sarasota and have worked together for some time. The building inspector said that they did an excellent job and we agreed. The Ray Duncan company was the only company to guarantee their job for the life of our home.

The faucet was installed. They took away the box with the paperwork for the faucet so we no longer have that. They charged my 85 year old mother about $225 for a simple installation. Research indicates that the going rate is about $100. I called them. I learned that they have changed the way they do business and no longer charge by the hour, but by the job. They could have mentioned this to my mother at any point during t he many times she told them she had been doing business with them for almost 40 years. When I called to complain, they said they would refund some of the money and return my call. They did neither. They are changing their business model, apparently so they can become creeps and rip off old women. A second call was not answered at all.

Ray Duncan Plumbing 727-733-0968 Completed work on Mom’s place the week of 4/10, for $900.00, no invoice provided. Call History: Monday 4/18 2:48pm I spoke with Greg, I told him I thought the bill was too high for the work performed. He said that he didn’t have the invoice information in front of him and asked if he could get back to me shortly. I told him it was close to the end of the day and that he could just call me tomorrow, he said thanks. Tuesday 4/19 5:55pm after not hearing from Greg all day, I called the number and got the answering service and left a message for Greg to please call me the next day. Wednesday 4/20 1:30pm after not hearing from Greg, I called and he answered and said he was just getting ready to call me. He told me the bill was for $900.00, I asked for him to explain it to me. He said the initial visit was $279.00 which included a trip fee (approx. $79.00, best recollection of what he said) which started when the plumber left wherever he was when he received the call until he arrived at my mother’s trailer. I asked him if my mother was aware of this charge and he said he wasn’t sure as the trailer park had called him. I said Ok, please continue explaining the rest of the charge. He said that my mother had opted for a temporary patch for the leaking pipe that was found. I told him no, your plumber told my mother that he didn’t have time to fix it correctly during this visit but would patch it so she would have water and return the next day. Greg said that “the work was done” so we charged appropriately for it. I said what other option did my mother have? He said a lot of people opt to just let the water run until we return the next day, I told him that I highly doubted that anyone would opt for that option. I then asked him to explain the charges for the next visit, that they dispatched two men and quickly said we only charged you for a plumber and a helper instead of two plumbers. I asked what a plumber is an hour, he said approximately $80 per hour. I said Ok, he continued that the two men were there a little more than two hours, replaced some piping and several fittings. He explained that the labor was approx. $400.00 and the materials were a little over $200.00. I asked him how the labor could be that high when from what I could see they replaced two sections of pipe and a couple of fittings. He said that their system is all automated and when the time and materials are entered it automatically calculates the charges. I told him that I thought the charges were exorbitant for the work done and the materials that were provided. He said that they are a trusted provider and that the trailer park calls them because they don’t take advantage of the elderly that live in the park. I told him that I wanted him to talk to the owner of the company to explain my view of the charges and ask him to lower the cost to something that I felt was still high but reasonable, I told him I would be willing to settle for $650.00, he said he would talk to the owner and get back to me. I told him I would be out of town the rest of the week and would hope to hear from him Monday. Wednesday 4/27 10:29am after not receiving a call back from Greg I called him, he said he hadn’t had a chance to review it with the owner yet and asked for my number again. He said he would make sure the owner got the message. Wednesday7 4/27 10:45am – I called Greg back and asked that he email me a copy of the invoice as my mother wasn’t given a copy of the invoice she had to sign electronically when the work was done. Greg did promptly email me a copy of the invoice. I immediately noticed that they charged $2.50 a linear foot for 70 feet of ½” CPVC piping ($175.00) which would normally cost about $35.00 at a Home Depot or possibly even cheaper at a plumbing supply house. When I called back and questioned Greg about this, he said that it had to do with risk mitigation, in case one of the pipes they installed burst. I asked if they had insurance, and he said “yes but it doesn’t pay for everything” so they charge extra on the piping in case something happens and they have to pay out of pocket for damages. I told him that I thought it was exorbitant and not fair to charge anyone such a fee when they have insurance. I asked him why the same thing didn’t apply to the fittings that were on the invoice and he said he didn’t know why. I also noticed that the labor was $455.00 at #130.00 per hour or 3.25 hours, my mother said that the two men were at her house for less than two hours, Greg said he has to go by what the guys log in on their automated system. I told him once again that I felt my mother was being taken advantage of and that I wanted him to speak to the owner and get back to me, he said he would. Monday 5/1 1:00pm – after not receiving a call back from Greg I called him, once again he says that his boss hasn’t had a chance to look at the situation. Friday 06/10/2016 – still no response from Ray Duncan plumbing.

I had a leak in the plumbing under my mobile home. The repairman was here 3 hours and spent a lot of that time in his truck. He said he went to the local Home Depot and they did not have a replacement fitting and that the entire plumbing under the home should be replaced. He then informed me that his office tried to find a replacement fitting, but to no avail. When he finished he informed me that the problem had not been repaired. What ever he did under there actually did reduce the leak, but as he said, it was not repaired. I was charged over $300 and the problem was not repaired. I emailed the company and complained. Their response was that I would have to replace all the plumbing under my home at a cost of $2500. Very frustrating. I later called another plumbing company. The new company sent a plumbing technician who diagnosed the problem, went to the same Home Depot and found the necessary parts to replace the split fitting. He uninstalled the split fitting, installed the replacement parts and was finished in about an hour, total time. I asked him to take photographs of the split fitting and of his repair work. When I looked at the split fitting, the split itself had been filled in with pipe dope or another similar product. I mentioned to him that Ray Duncan Plumbing had quoted me a price of $2500 to replace the entire system and I could tell by the look on his face that he was surprised at the amount of the quote. He charged me less than half of what Ray Duncan Plumbing had charged me and actually properly repaired the problem. I was very upset that a company would charge over $300 for not repairing a problem, and then try to talk me into replacing the entire plumbing system at an additional cost of $2500. I, like many people in this area, live on social security and every penny counts. I am still out the $308.16 paid to Ray Duncan Plumbing plus the $150 that it took to actually have it repaired.

Called for service in am. Service provider to my house about 12 noon the same day. Went to work immediately, completed the job in a timely manner and cleaned up after himself. The plumber how came to my house was Corey, who was polite , personable, and efficient. Would recommend to friends.

I discovered a spray coming from the flexible tubing leading to my hot water heater in the garage and saw that a puddle was quickly forming on the floor. A friend had recommended Ray Duncan Plumbing so I called them.. They agreed to send a technician out that same day around noon. There was a mix up in recording my address on their GPS which caused the technician to be over an hour late in arriving but he called twice to explain his mistake and to apologize and offered to reschedule for another time if I could not wait for him to arrive. Brad Heyns was quick to assess the problem when he arrived and explained two different ways that he could fix it and which way he recommended. Since he is not a fan of flexible tubing, he also suggested that I might want to replace the second flexible tube which was not leaking now but would likely break down over time and cause another service call. I elected to have both replaced at once since a service call cost $90 and he could replace both tubes in about an hour. The labor/service call part of the final bill turned out to be $110 so I was glad I decided to replace both at one time. After he finished his work, he needed to wait around while the glue on the PVC was drying to be sure the leak was completely fixed and everything was running smoothly. It was during this time that I noticed that my bathroom shower was dripping. I tried turning off the faucet more firmly but it continued to drip so I brought this to his attention. He said that the drip may be happening because the shower had one valve for both the hot and cold water and the work he had done had changed the pressure on the hot water system. He said it would probably right itself when he turned the entire system back on (once the glue dried) but that he would check on the shower again at that time to be sure. He was right. As soon as the glue was dry and he turned the water pressure back up, the shower leak stopped. I appreciated his honesty about the shower not really needing repair. I would gladly hire Ray Duncan Plumbing again.

Excellent service. Arrived on time, made the repair quickly. Knowledgeable and polite. Disposal works better than the one that originally came with the house when it was brand new.

He really did an amazing service. She loves them. He was pleasant. He had a really great demeanor and a good customer service. The work that he did was outstanding. He did different things and he spent probably four hours there. He was there when he said he would. He's getting an A all the way across.

The repair seemed to go alright. I got the bill and it was higher than originally quoted. Labor cost for 1 hour was supposed to be $110.00. The bill arrived and the total was $130.00. I checked with my tenant to confirm how long he was there and I was told "a little less than an hour." I called the company and they did lower it to $110. Fast forward to today. My tenant calls and tells me that he's having the same problem again with the hot water tank. OK no problem....I'll just call Ray Duncan and they will take care of me. After all it was only 2 1/2 months ago that the "repair" was done. I wanted was to have them go back out to take a look to make sure that they installed the factory part correctly. To the disappointment of my wallet, they wanted no part this. I was told that they would only go out if I gave them another $90.00 for a diagnostic/trip charge. Really? They are more interested in money than working with their customers!

Permits are pulled and work will be performed next week. The workers were rude and they left me with a mess. When they did the plumbing, they did not install a T trap and now it smells. They put the drain next to a wall, the toilets would not flush and all the gases came up. They would not respond to me. I had to have porta-potties for my business through the holidays. It was very upsetting.

I had Ray Duncan come out to our home a few months ago to fix a leaking pipe in my yard. They did so in a timely manner. 4 months later, it someone came loose underground and began leaking. They came out free of charge within an hour of my call and fixed the problem again. I can't say it was there fault it began leaking again as my pipes are old and really need replaced. I will definitely call them again!

Quick response , came the next day. Was able to fix problems at a reasonable cost.

The phone contact was great, they scheduled me quickly and provided an estimate. The work was scheduled quickly and done well. I cannot recall the date or price - but remember being happy with the work and the price they charged for the work. We were happy with this company and would call on them again.

We will definitely call Ray Duncan Plumbing for any future work.

We were so happy with the service. We thought our problem was going to be a big issue but we found out because of their honesty that our shower issue was a minor repair. The service man explained what he could do and how it would solve our issue. This is our second time using Ray Duncan Plumbing and they are our plumber of choice for any future issues that may come up. Thank you to all.

BEWARE - Ray Duncan no longer owns Ray Duncan Plumbing. Ray was great but the new owners couldn't care less about customer satisfaction. I had a new hot water heater installed by Chase on 9/2/12. 5 days later It quit working. I was told it was because I turned on the power before the tank was full. Chase had not told me not to turn on the power but the unit was working when he left and he said not to worry, he was sure it was OK. Besides, he said, new elements only cost about $55. When it quit working I called and spoke to Chase. I asked for some kind of discount since I had just paid $777 for a unit that was working when he left I was flatly told no. I said that they obviously didn't care about keeping a customer happy and that I would be sure to let everyone know, Chase hung up on me. I then called Al (I believe he is the new owner) he also said no to any kind of discount. I was not looking for any thing free, just something. They offer a senior discount on Angie's List but even that wasn't offered. I didn't want to call in a different plumber at this point in case there was some manufacturing defect. A technician came out while I was at work, my neighbor opened the door. He installed new elements. I received a bill in the mail for $237. Of that $170 was labor. Bottom line, Al doesn't care about keeping customers. Plumbers are a dime a dozen, find anyone other than Ray Duncan Plumbing!

Mike arrived on time and was very professional and nice. Did the job promptly and cleaned up after himself. I will use Ray Duncan Plumbing in the future.

I am pleased with their services. They are prompt. They are reasonable.

I have two Kohler toilets. One malfunctioned. I called Ray Duncan. We discussed the repair options. The option we selected was to install a new part. But the Ray Duncan employee installed the part wrong, and then I had to call repeatedly to get a re-visit. The employee came again, but it was clear that he did not know how to fix the toilet. This was at Christmas-time and with family and friends visiting; the bad repair was causing embarrassment. Instead of saying, "We didn't fix your problem, we will refund your money," the Ray Duncan representative tried to blame me and Kohler for the repair failure. He got his facts wrong, on purpose. You could tell that his real agenda was to not refund my money or do the work over again until it was done right. His real agenda was to keep my money and do nothing. I had to pay another plumber to redo what Ray Duncan Plumbing did wrong. The second plumber was far more skillful, professional, and timely. In general the problem with plumbers and other contractors around here is that this county is so densely populated that there's plenty of customers for plumbers. So the contractors don't have to care about customer satisfaction. They can afford to treat a customer badly, not refund his money, because there will always be more customers to sucker. I paid twice for the same repair. That's why it's obvious that you should not use Ray Duncan plumbing.

They replaced a faucet, and removed a water filtering system. I was happy with their service, and am leaving a note for the new owners to use this company.

We had our water problem very late in the evening the week before Christmas or so and it was spraying out over everything. We had them come out the next day and fixed they problem. It was a very reasonable price to fix the connection. It was a great experience and came out right away.

They are a little pricey, but it seems most plumbers are. The quality has been excellent. We had one issue with a recall and they were back within hours to take care of the problem.