Patel's Plumbing & Sewer Service

Our home warranty company provided this company as a service provider, which we wanted to use so the the service provider could deal with the home warranty company directly. The service provider literally spent less than 10 minutes diagnosing problem, and was rude and dismissive to my husband at our home. I called him to followup and he was rude and dismissive to me on the phone. Based on this company's report, the home warranty company denied our claim. He spent less than 10 minutes in our home. In the end, we got our own service provider and we were eventually reimbursed. This company didn't want to do the job.

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He rot out my kitchen line last year. It went okay. I have a home warranty now that covers. He actually didn't replace it but he caused a lot of issues with my home warranty. The sub pump has failed and the crawlspace is filled with water. He said, its filled with water. What do you expect the sub pump failed. I was standing out there with him. I called my home warranty company. I said, give me somebody who can do both, who can pump it out and who can replace the sub pump. I guess he called me back. They sent me somebody who can p[ump it out and fix the sub pump. He got mad, calked the home warranty company back and said there was ice in the crawlspace and that's why the sub pump failed. There was no ice in the crawlspace and that's not why the sub pump failed. I would never use him again. He wants $74 just for coming out. My deductible for my home warranty was $75. I said you just came out to inspect and didn't do anything. When I first called him, I didn't get any answer and there was no voice mail. I kept calling back, I got a woman who said, he's not here right now, call back. They gave me a three hour window and he came within that three hour window.

We had a leak in our second floor bathroom one night, which caused a mini-flood in our front hall, directly below the bathroom. The next morning, I called our home warranty company, who said that Patel's Plumbing would come to the house to deal with the issue. We would need to pay Patel's $75. Patel's would call us in 24 hours, or we could call them directly. I called them directly and was told that a plumber would come to the house the following day between 1 and 5. I asked for a text message when the plumber was 30 minutes away, so that I could come home from work to meet him. The next day, no text came. I got home a little early, which was great, because the plumber happened to be there. He seemed like a nice guy. He diagnosed the problem and said he'd need to find parts and would be in touch. We wrote him a check for $75. Then: nothing. No calls, no information, nothing. We'd call Patel's, we'd call the home warranty company, we'd listen to hold music. Oh, parts were on order. "We'll call when they come in." No calls, no information and of course, no shower! On day 16 of the ordeal, we called BPG Home Warranty company and asked for a different plumber. This time, the company name didn't even match the phone number and we never heard from them.

Came to house a total of five minutes and took two days after claim to get to house. Collected my $75.00 deductible to look at my hot water heater, which he stated needed to be replaced. I told him that it was leaking in multiple places and pilot light was not staying lit. He did not look at the water heater closely and only took pictures of leaks. Told me he would call me later that day or early the next morning after he talked with warranty company. On Thursday two days later I did not hear anything form Patel's plumbing. Called warranty company and they also said that they did not hear anything. They stated they would call Patel's plumbing. On Friday called warranty company again and they told me the claim was denied because Patel's plumbing stated that leak was caused by sediment build up. First sediment build up does not cause leak and he did not even look at hot water heater. Requested a second inspection on water heater, which warranty company honored. Royal plumbing, Inc. came out to my house on Saturday. A technician by the name of Bob spent approximately 10 minutes inspecting the hot water heater. He found multiple leaks and a bad pilot light. He talked with warranty company at my house, got hot water heater covered by warranty company and replaced that day. Royal plumbing is obviously a reputable company and Patel's plumbing is just out to make a quick dollar without doing work.

It was a terrible experience.

They checked the water heater and said the temperature was set to low.

As stated above, we were directed to Patel's Plumbing & Sewer Service by out home warrantee company, without being given any choice. The experience was entirely negative (due to both the plumbing company and the warrantee company). Patel's Plumbing & Sewer Service arrived within the specified time frame and visually inspected the problem we were having. Without looking any further the plumber concluded that the wax ring of the toiled had failed and the sub-floor was weakened to the point of needing replacement. This would have meant a very significant outlay for us and much inconvenience since this was our only bathroom. The plumber's report was not transmitted in a timely manner to the warrantee company, and it took several calls and much stress to receive a reply (which was a rejection due to the flooring issue). We felt that the plumber's interest was primarily to "pass the buck" and collect his deductible for the service call, we contacted another plumber who was personally referred to us. The (real) plumber's inspection and assessment varied dramatically: The toilet was installed without a collar on the floor, causing the seal with the toilet to fail. Installing an appropriate collar and wax seal was deemed more than adequate for the near term. While the sub-floor has been damaged by the moisture over the previous weeks/months the floor was sound enough to avoid the $2,000 repair that Patel's Plumbing & Sewer Service insisted was necessary. Even though there is some degree of "gray area" in the assessment of the situation and the (costly path) it may have steered us down, I had a bad feeling about this company from the beginning, and would encourage others to take their advice with a grain of salt.

On the morning of 9/13, I contacted another (reputable) sewerage company to come to my house to investigate a foul odor in my basement and outside on my property. They discovered very elevated levels of sludge, threatening to enter the basement,.....due to a blown pump (among other even more expensive problems, but that was the pivotal issue). As a matter of fact, upon seeing the problem outside, they were very surprised to learn that my basement was not already full of sludge. Needless to say, I needed this to be taken care of asap. I called my home warranty service. They insisted I have *their* recommended plumber out to look at it.....and this is when Patel's enters the picture. I explained to the woman on the phone that I needed to take care of the problem immediately. As an unemployed single mom of 2 little ones, I can hardly take the chance of having a basement full of sewer water. I asked her to try to have their provider (Patel's) come out right away, and that otherwise I would just have to move ahead with the repair for the safety of my family and property. I would rather be out $900 and forfeit my warranty than risk more substantial problems. I heard nothing from the warranty company or Patel's all day. I had the other company complete the work (which they did professionally and promptly). Without calling me, Mr. Patel showed up on my doorstep at the end of the day. I told him the work had been done. He asked me to show him the pit, and I did so (after he and his assistant fumbled around with the manhole cover for 15 minutes and rustled around the truck for tools to try to remove it. This was my first clue that they were charlatans, as the other company accomplished the lid removal in about 2 seconds with their own fingers.) In any case, he glanced in the pit for one second, and said he would write me up a 'receipt' and I should pay him $80 toward my "deductible." I knew that seemed suspect, and I questioned him further about what, exactly, I was paying him for ..... but for some reason stupidly handed him over a check. I worried that I was being conned, but he assured me all I needed to do was give the warranty company his receipt. I should note that I also felt uncomfortable and suspicious b/c I had told him about the other plumbing problems that had been identified earlier in the day and invited him to give me his own estimate for those add'l repairs. He provided no response and made no attempt to win my business. Clearly, this is b/c he had no intention of actually DOING any work.....he just wanted to con me out of $80 for doing nothing and be on his way. The moment he drove away with my check, I went inside and googled the company....found a number of people describing horrible experiences and also feeling that Mr. Patel had taken advantage of them. I was outraged...called my bank and put stop payment on the check. I called him this morning to voice my displeasure, and he was extremely insulting and unprofessional. Told me, in fact, HE was dissappointed in ME (?!?!?!) and that he would "see me in court." Huh? I am an honest person and a homeowner simply trying to keep my family safe and secure. He intentionally misled me, and tried to cover his tracks and blame the home warranty company. I'm disgusted and have filed a complaint with the BBB.