Capps Plumbing & Sewer Inc

Here to repair or make a sale? Spent 441 and left with no water, a faucet in pieces and no repair estimate Starting this with a little background. In July 2023 I called Capps for a leak behind one of the toilets in my condo. After their visit they convinced me that I needed to replace 3 of the angle stops (water supply cut off handles) and that I should just buy all new toilets instead of fixing the supply line to the one leaking. I agreed as the estimate was 900 for the repair vs 1600 for 2 new toilets and replacement valves. I only bring this up because I called for a repair and instead was sold all new items for an upcharge. Cut to March 2025. I wake up to find my Kitchen Faucet is no longer fauceting . Water is still coming out but very low preasure. I have a touch faucet, and after watching several youtube repair videos, and trying some simple fixes, I decided it was time to call the professionals. I made an appt with Capps Plumbing and Sewer Palatine. The technician came out the next day to take a look. The first charge was 78$ a fee that would be waved if I did a repair. I was a little surprised when the tech asked if wanted to buy a new faucet . before even touching my malfunctioning one. I said no, I would like to repair the current one if possible. He explained to me that would be another 168$ to evaluate . I agreed. The technician did some work, and then called his office to ask about billing. “ I cleaned the filter and I think that it will fix it what do I charge, just the basic evaluation?” a pause on his end… “No she wants to keep the faucet she has now” This is the second time Capps alludes that I should buy a new faucet, when at this time they think it is about to be fixed per what the tech has just told them. Unfortunately , the filter cleaning does not fix the problem and so work continues. I am told that the Solenoid is malfunctioning, and he needs to source a new one. He calls his office and again I hear him tell them that I do not want a new faucet. This happened at least 4 times during the visit. The technician then tells me that the water is shut off because the solenoid was leaking. I am a bit puzzled on that, as I had emptied out the cabinet and looked for leaks, as well as it being paper lined and not wet. Also, why would the tech call the office and state that he thought the problem was fixed after cleaning a filter if there was a visible leak on the solenoid? But I say okay, I will look for the estimate, sign some things pay the 241$ and the technician leaves. I go back to work and am on a work call when he returns to my door, and says the office told him he needs to bill another basic evaluation fee, and then they can source the part . I am distracted trying to get back to my meeting, and sign, and he leaves again. A while later I receive an estimate for replacing the faucet – Labor of 336$ with the faucet provided by me. I wait to see if a quote for repair would come through, but one did not, and I realized I found myself now with no running water in the kitchen, 414$ less, and no clear path to fixing my faucet. I waited about 24 hours, still thinking perhaps the repair estimate may take longer, and I will get it, or really ANY kind of communication from CAPPS. After all they came, took apart my sink, left the parts and told me not to lose them, and said an estimate would be forthcoming. Finally I call Their office, and ask to talk to a supervisor about my invoice, my visit, and to find out if there is any path to go forward. I talk to Joe, who finally sends me the estimate for repairs… for 884$... on top of the 414 diagnostic that I already paid. Joe explains to me that the 78$ fee for coming out cannot be waived, as I did not have a completed repair, and so this is all the cost of figuring out my problem. I’m sorry, but that seems wild to me. I can see a charge for that if they were here for a very long time, or if it was a fee contingent on if you used them for the quotes, but according to Joe it was all for a diagnosis. Joe then old me he could say I wouldn’t be charged another service fee charge if I did repairs.. Needless to say, I will not be using CAPPs again.

My tenant called me on a Saturday night due to corroded gas pipe leaking between the meter and the house identified by Nicor gas. I first called Joe Capps on Sunday morning, at 9:09am: He did mentioned a service fee to come out as this was the weekend (significantly higher than the 195 USD emergency service fee displayed on their website… but who would check?). I shared pictures to get an estimate as I was worried about total cost, but Joe Capps told me over the phone that he couldn’t give me an estimate without having his tech on site, though it was going to be a “small job”. He did mentioned that I had to call his dispatch right away if I wanted the job done same day as he had 7 other customers trying to book for that day… I wasn’t immediately sold on going with him without a price estimate so I called a couple other companies, the first one coming in at 1100 USD based on my pictures, the other company required 95 USD fee to come over on Sunday (no estimate based on pictures)… I trusted Joe Capps on “small job” thinking the 1100 USD quote was high, plus my tenant was happy with selecting Capps plumbing that was recommended to her, so I called back at 11:20am and paid the emergency service fee upfront. You read that right: it was more than 2 hours after I was pressed to hurry up because of the 7 customers in line but somehow when I was ready to put money down there was no problem of availability anymore (that should have been a hint of the questionable business practices…). When the tech made it to the house, he called me saying he had to cut the drywall for an additional fee almost double what I already paid, so he could estimate the cost of the job —> at that point I would be ~800 USD in already and no repair started yet. I first verbally accepted as I thought that was the estimate for the repair (I was driving and misunderstood). After discussing with my wife about what we each understood, I called back the tech 11 minutes later to get clarifications. The technician then confirmed that it was a “drywall fee” ONLY to cut the drywall for a diagnostic and did not include the pipe repair. As I argued the price, the tech was trying to make me feel guilty, talking about the safety of my tenant, he went all the way to mention risk of cancer because of a gas leak?! Lots of BS but I ended up telling him to proceed as I knew my tenant needed that repair done asap… Exactly 10 minutes later I got a call back from the technician estimating the cost of the job around 3000 USD. At that point I closed the call telling he would not get any more work from me. 7 minutes later Joe Capps called trying to convince me to proceed with the job, telling me he would “waive” the fee for cutting the drywall bringing the total cost down a bit… I repeated that he would not get my business but that man kept insisting for 5 minutes on the phone. While I argued that was way too expensive and the fee for cutting drywall was ridiculous, Joe Capps still trying to earn my business for the remainder of the job offered to “only” charge me for time (at an absolutely crazy rate), and waive the drywall fee. I confirmed I would not proceed further and after hanging up, I asked my tenant to provide pictures of the cut in the drywall… Turns out the technician didn’t cut anything. So total, I paid over 500 USD for what appeared to be an over-inflated estimate by a technician that lied to me about cutting drywall. For reference, Check the FAQ on their website saying “Yes we provide free estimate”… I texted Joe Capps to confront the lie of his technician and his “offer” to not charge me for cutting drywall while that was not done anyway. His answer was to qualify me as a bad landlord “all about money”. See Screen shots… Funny as I don’t have “unitS” nor “tenantS”, I rent my house I used to live in because I got a job out of state. Conclusion: the job was done in a total of 3 hours 40 minutes by another reputable plumber at a fraction of the price quoted by Capps plumbing. Also read the legal language pushed on customer if you get a quote… Big redflags.

Terrible service!!! They send out new, inexperienced, plumbers who don’t know what they’re doing. I have had at least three service calls from them requested by my HOA. Not only did they NOT correctly diagnose the plumbing issue, but they were dishonest in their details on the invoice. What actually transpired, and what they wrote on the invoice, were two completely different sets of facts. Don’t waste your money. CAPPS will NOT respond to my phone calls or emails, even though in their response, they tell me to contact them. What a joke! Very dishonest and incompetent company. They will not adjust the billing, even though they basically did NOTHING related to my leak issue, but charged over $1200. Fraud!

My 86 year old widowed mother had her water heater replaced and they charged her $3023.00 That is a ridiculous amount. I spoke to the owner today and we were not able to resolve the price issue in a reasonable way.

Dishonest people. The company quoted me $78 for initial visit. They ended up charging $200 for consult fees. When I called the company they said consult was $125 per half hour after first 15 minutes. The capps technician was only at the house for 15 minutes at the very most. So the math does not add up. They so quoted $700 to replace the faucet. I called the manager and he said it should’ve only costed $615 so I don’t know where the $85 came from. Lastly they diagnosed my sink as no leak. I checked again this evening and there was a 1 foot rotted out wet spot under the drain. Of course there has to be a leak for this to occur. I won’t be using this company again in the future.

My ejector pump went out so I called Capps based on a recommendation. The experience was top notch from the start. I called to book my appointment and immediately received a text confirming the date and time . On the day of my appointment, I received another text telling me that Tristan, my technician, was on his way. The text included his picture which I really liked not only from a customer experience standpoint but also as an added security measure. When Tristan arrived, he introduced himself with a smile, presented his business card and put on his boot covers immediately so as to not track dirt into my home. I took him into the basement where he assessed the issue with the ejector pump and walked me through what he was going to do. After we agreed on the service, he went immediately to work. Once he was done, he showed me the completed product. I was not only impressed with the efficiency and professionalism of his work but he also left the area around my ejector pump cleaner than he found it! All around excellent experience and I would definitely call Capps Plumbing again without hesitation. A big thank you to Tristan for a job well done!

** edited: We had a very bad experience with this company but the owner did call us after having left the review to make it right and refund some of the original charges as the work was deemed unnecessary. It has now been a week and the promised refund has not been completed and they refuse to take responsibility for the leak caused when their employee connected our fridge. We recently had them out to quote on a sump pump, connect a new fridge and investigate a possible sewage that was backing up. (All non emergency, we didn’t even know there is a problem) They spent 8 hours and $$$ diagnosing the sewage problem, not fixing it and just quoting on what else they can do. The fridge was connected but we later discovered the old pipe was leaking. The technician spent more time talking on the phone with his manager or smoking outside than actually performing any work. ** they are coming back to fix the issue and I will update if I am satisfied with the outcome. *** they came back, diagnosed the issue within in 30mins, which just proves how incompetent our original technician was. We will not be using or recommending this business again based on our experience.

Used Capps last year in our bathroom to clear a clog in the shower that backed up with waste that came up. instead of going to the crawlspace to clear the main, they just removed the toilet. Not preferred, but okay.... biggest problem was that not only did they not clean up the waste like the told me they would, they smeared it all over our brand new marble floor staining it and the the brand new grout as well. Additionally, they caulked the toilet, which also had waste combined with it. Finally, when they removed the drop clothes they barely used, they also wrapped up the drain cover in the shower which scratched the marble tile in there as well. We have had 3 quotes to try to fix the issues they caused, and lowest estimate is $1600, which we cannot afford. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!

They were great! Professional and clean (I know)...they stayed until it was clear.

I have used Capps Plumbing for years. Very dependable, fairly priced, professional, there when I need them in an emergency.

The underground pipe connected from the sump pump to the village main pipe is clogged. Capps sent a technician and suggested to take a camera of the pipe. He spent 10 min and failed to get the cable in. I paid $370 and got nothing solved.

My pipes started backing up again this weekend and I called them to have them come out and honor their warranty. Even though they assured me initially that if I spent $4,900 they would guarantee their work and I would have no issues with my pipes in the future and stated if I did they would fix it free of charge as they have a reputation of standing behind their work. They came out and accused me of stuffing items down my system to block it without even doing any analysis. The plumber said my air conditioner was draining into the floor drain and that was causing the issue. My air conditioner does not drain into the floor drain and never has. The pipes that he saw that drain into the floor drain are from the overflow pans underneath my water heaters and they have never leaked or overflowed. Great troubleshooting on their end!! Capps is not interested in finding out what the problem is but only interested in selling you services that are not necessary. After discussion and accusations that I was at fault they said they would fix the issue but it would cost me $205 for the first hour and some ridiculous amount for each 15 minutes thereafter. I told them to leave and I would never give them another penny as they misrepresent facts. I would strongly suggest to anyone that is considering using this plumbing company to reconsider. Unless you want facts misrepresented and services sold to you that are not necessary NEVER USE Capp Plumbing. They are con artists and do not stand behind their work.

they did the job, but i am certain they didnt fill it in with gravel like they were supposed to , like the village demanded, and like i was charged for the gravel. they only filled with dirt.

They were at our house within about 3 hours, which was great. I rated them a B on price only because I didn't have time to research the cost. However, I highly recommend them.

I think they are very expensive. The reason is,its in my mind shouldn't taken two or three visits to do that. Other then I probably would not use them again.

They were lousy. They over charged and they did not find any plumbing leak at all. Their advertising was false. They said the service call, if you go with them, is free as well as 10% off for senior citizens. I got the service call free, as it stated. They would not give me 10% off. They charged me to change the fixture in the bathroom toilet bowl. It was an $11 fixture. I was sick at this time and I did not examine the bill, but they charged me $195 to change a simple $11 item and I was upset with that. They didn't find the leak at all. They tore a huge hole in my garage ceiling and that was that. That's going to cost me probably $1,000 to fix. I trusted them and they proved me wrong. On responsiveness they had no answers and they didn't know where the leak was. On punctuality they gave me a large window. I think it was a 4 hour window. They had clean shirts on with the name on their shirt and they cleaned up after they tore out part of the ceiling. I would never consider using this provider in the future.

They were very punctual and did the job fast. They were very efficient and professional. They got right to it and didn't linger on to increase the charge.

It was quite an ordeal. I have never had to call the police on a contractor before. And, we have worked with a lot of them.

Called on a Saturday and asked for someone to come out Monday since the water was dripping into a bucket that was not filling up too rapidly and the tenant was fine dumping it every few hours. It was the owner and he insisted he had someone available and would come out on Saturday. I agreed. He called me back about 40 minutes later and told me that it was the water line going to the fridge and I needed an appliance person. He said that his guy turned it off so the dripping stopped. Then he told me he was charging me double for an emergency visit! I told him that I didn't ask for that and then he unleashed an all out verbal assault on me. After arguing for over an hour, he agreed to only charge me for the single service call. Two days later the tenant called me an told me there was still dripping in the basement. I went over there myself as I wondered Capps had is technician turn the water back on. I followed the water line for the fridge and it went to the valve under the sink. Sure enough, the valve was turned on! I don't have proof that he turned it back on, but the tenant, who never changed a light bulb, assured me he did not touch it nor would he know how to open or close the valve. I will never use Capps again and would advise anyone who wants to be treated fairly and professionally to find another plumber.

Fixed both promptly. No more leaks. Would use again!

Joe C called me very promptly after he received my review concerning leaking spigots and that I have had numerous problems with multiple visits from Capps trying to resolve the concerns. My review was the result of Agnie's list calling me and getting my input on some of the service providers that I have used this year. When they mentioned Capps (which I have not used since my spigot problem a couple of years ago), I shared with them my problems with multiple visits to fix leaking problems. Joe apologized for my problems and had his office call me to set up an appointment to fix things. This happened today(7/26/14)(Angieslist called me last week). Two of their plumbers came out and replaced several parts within the housing and it now seems to work fine. Joe's original directions were to do whatever it takes to fix the problem. We were talking about replacing the whole unit, but if it is not necessary I really didn't want the mess. We will wait and see if this resolves my issues. Joe assured me that if I have any further problems that I should call him back directly. I appreciate that option and the fact that his response was so quick. I now feel more confident about Capps. I feel that we can see how this spigot continues to work and if there are any further problems, I can have Capps replace it in the future. They will replace with a different manufacture. As part (if not all) of the problems seems to stem from the fact that the current unit and/or parts were not made in the USA. It seems to be rather difficult to keep track of where products are actually made and what they are made of. China does it cheap, but not always well. I remember the first time that they replaced the spigot - the parts in my old one were all steel and worked for 27 years before causing any problems. The new one had plastic components and comments at the time it was installed were that the plastic strips easily The old saying of quantity vs quality comes to mind. Joe - thanks again for making this right. I appreciate your efforts

I've used them for years. they came and did what they said they were going to do. A few years I had them come out to replace spigot front and back I've had nothing but trouble with the spigot since they replace them. They have some back a couple of times trying to fix them and for what ever reason I still have trouble. I'm going to have to have them fixed again and I'm not going to have Capps.

This was a Sunday emergency. This was the first plumber who was able to come. They came within 1.5 hours. The plumber was professional and informative. The backup was fixed. There was a Sunday surcharge Off $165 so it wasn't cheap, but the cost seemed reasonable for the repair.

We had a bad experience. Their plumber arrived several hours later than the estimated time. Unfortunately, he originally misdiagnosed the problem and aggressively rodded the drain line - to the point where he broke open the pipe and flooded my downstairs with sewage. I don't know why these things always seem to happen at night, but by this time, it was about 2 AM. The Capps plumber announced that he'd had a long day and wanted to take a break until the following morning. While we were a bit taken aback by this, what was really galling was that he insisted that we pay him right then for the 'work' he did or he wouldn't return the next day. Having a broken pipe, we paid him. After multiple calls the following day, the plumber returned mid-afternoon and repaired the broken pipe. In trying to fix the damage he caused, the plumber splashed purple primer all over my cabinets and appliances (if you know this plumbing chemical, you know it is indelible). Mind you, the real issue still had not been fixed - still had a blocked line. Again, the plumber insisted on being paid immediately for this 'repair' otherwise no further work on the real issue would proceed. After yet another day, the issue was finally fixed by a different Capps plumber. Capps Plumbing has refused to fully address the damage they caused with the sewage and primer. They did eventually repair the damaged ceiling and cabinets, but they refuse to fix the appliances and flooring. I'm left with over $4000 in damage. I've spoken multiple times with the owner, Joe Capotosto, who I found difficult and rude. When I finally suggested that if we couldn't come to an agreement I'd file a small claim, he actually had his attorney send me a threatening letter calling out some small print clause in their contract that supposedly shields them for any damage they cause and would force me to pay all their legal costs. While I realize that not every job will go smoothly, I think a reputably company should work in good faith to resolve the issues they cause. Sadly, this was not our experience with Capps. Not Recommended!

The service all went well. They were very aggressive in trying to sell other work. They came quickly for the visit.