Winters Home Services

They estimate was way to high. I felt they were kind of cocky and I will never call them again.

On toilet repair they sent a couple of youngish men who offered to stop the leak for $275 or put in a new one. I did not pick the bottom line unit and ended up paying $800 for the new toilet which looks like most . I tried to order an off-white tiolet, but think I got a white one with an off white lid. They also sold us a $50 fast service agreement. On the second visit they unclogged the bathtub drain, charging $100, their minimum fee I was told and refused to alllow me to use a discount coupon mailed to the house. When my boiler stopped working while in Florida I called Winters a thrid time as had an OK experience with the last plumbers they sent and new they had a reputation for coming quickly. This time they sent another person who did not seem to have much experience. He spent a 1/2 hr tinkering with the boiler amd talking on the phone and then prepared a sales agreement with 4 prices starting from $1300 to altleast $8000. I repeatedly questioned the $1300 price, but was assured the work was difficult and a specail had to get part would have to be ordered. I assumed that is the work ended to being too time comsuming I would not get charged the full price. A few days later he cane back, but was missing one of two parts required. One small rod was replaced in about an hour and when I again questioned him about the price, he said he would get aproval to reduce the price, but the price was a fixed price not related to the actual time spent. A week later when the furnace was still having problems and was leaking gas, I complained to management, who was not sympathetic about my feeling that I had been overcharged for shoddy work, only offereng to have the same person come back to fix the problem again. I had very little faith in Winters at that point and called a second plumber who I knew personally and he replaced both the part Winter's had installed and the other part they had failed to get, fixed the leak caused by a loose screw for less than 1/2 what Winter's charged after the $300 refund I eventually recieved after writing them letter and emails and visiting their offices in West Cambridge.

Winters is a well-known name in my town because of long-standing HVAC and plumbing business. First surprise was tyring to figure out who was who since they seem to have split into many different "Winters". They responded promptly--to check out heat not working, maybe a broken thermostat. Serviceman disappeared in basement for ~30 mins then came up to try to sell me a service plan for $5200, then a less expensive service plan for $3500. I told him I just wanted the heat fixed and he said "maybe it's the thermostat", wouldn't I like heat in the rest of the basement? I then asked him to leave and said I would call someone else. He got upset, agreed to put in a new thermostat for $370. I will never use them again, most unprofessional experience I've had. Installed it, it works.

I wish I'd read the reviews on Angie's List first. Fortunately, we only lost some time. 1 of our CO/Smoke Detectors went off the other day, signaling CO. After replacing the unit, replacing the batteries, turning off the furnace, etc., and even placing another unit (which didn't signal) in the same area, we figured we probably had a CO problem, but we weren't certain of the source. Our first suspicion was the furnace - only the CO signals didn't occur when the furnace was running. I called Winters, explained this to the dispatcher and said, "while I suspect it's the furnace, I'm not a professional and I only have anecdotal evidence. I'd like you to check our furnace for CO leaks." The dispatcher was prompt and courteous and set an appointment for after 4pm the next day. The serviceman arrived just after 4pm. I retold the story to him, and showed him everything he wanted to see. Finally, he said that the problem would have to be the heat exchanger in the furnace. (The heat exchanger separates the hot air from the furnace exhaust; if there's a leak in it, CO can get into the hot air going to your home.) He said that replacing the heat exchanger was a very expensive and time-consuming job and that it's easier and cheaper to replace the entire furnace. I thanked him for that explanation, and asked about the CO test. He said that that had to be scheduled separately and requires special equipment. I asked if he could do that test now, and he said he'd call the office. At this point I was wondering why they sent him out at all. After he called the office, he said that there was no one available to do the test now, but that I could call and schedule it. He also said that he'd have to shut down our furnace and take some of the parts out: the law requires that a serviceman shut down a furnace that has a CO leak. I said, "but you haven't performed the test - and that was the entire point of having you come out." He said he'd have to shut it down and take the parts - but when I objected, he said he'd ask me to sign a waiver, which I agreed to. He seemed to think I was objecting to the cost, but he'd not given me a firm cost of the CO test (which he couldn't perform) or what the cost of the service would be IF they found that the furnace was the problem. At that point, I figured, "enough", thanked him for his time, signed the waiver and he left. The next day (after a cold night without our furnace), I called NSTAR (the local gas and electric company). They came out within 1 hour of the call, performed the CO test over the entire house, and determined the furnace was NOT the problem. As it was, they noticed that our gas oven was dirty, and tested it - and that was the source of the CO. They turned off the gas to the oven (legally required), said they'd come back and turn it on once the oven was clean. Cost: $0.00. And NSTAR says our service is in great shape and doesn't require anything at this time. Oh, and the "special' piece of equipment that Winters said was not available? NSTAR had it with them: a hand-held reader with a "wand" used to "sniff" out CO. It showed us in detail that there was no CO being released by the furnace, but that we had terribly high readings at the oven. (I just realized: Winters never even asked about the oven. Maybe they don't sell ovens, just furnaces?) Again, Winters Company wasted my time; fortunately, I stopped before asking them to do more, and it didn't cost me any money.

Winters Plumbing took advantage of my terminally ill husband to gouge us for $1,200 for minimal work. We had used them before and found them very expensive but they did ok work. When my husband, who was at home with hospice care, asked for some minor work on a shower and installation of a short rail on the stairs, I privately informed Winter Company's plumber that he was ill with advanced brain cancer and was in no condition to make major financial decisions. The plumber areed that they would not do work without my explicit approval. When they came to do the work, I was on my way out the door to attend my father's funeral, leaving my husband with a home health aide. I told the plumber I was attending a funeral and reminded him of my husband's illness and our agreement, which he again acknowledged. When I returned from the funeral, the home health aide told me the plumber had been there for approximately 45 minutes and got my husband to write them a check for $1,200 for the service. I immediately contacted Winter Plumbing and they said they would have someone call back. The person who called me back acknowledged that I had told the plumber of my husband's condition but said the plumber spent three and a half hours doing the work. He also described the plumber as a "good guy." (An independent plumber later told me it should have taken 20-30 minutes at most). I informed him that the home health aide directly contradicted that account, and stated that he had been in our home for no longer than 45 minutes.After two days of calls to Winter Company, and only after I informed a manager that I would take the matter to consumer regulators and report the fraud of a terminally ill man, they agreed to return the check. It arrived in my mailbox the next day with no note, no apology, and no explanation. I have to believe this is common practice for them; this time they were caught. We were refunded because my husband had a home health aide and a wife looking out for him. I wonder how many elderly or infirm people have been victimized by their unethical business practices and price gouging. If they can blatantly and knowingly defraud a terminally ill man whose wife was away at a funeral, then it is hard to believe they have any values (other than profit) at all. I can't say it strongly enough: WInters Plumbing gave us dishonest, unethical and fraudulent service. That they knowingly took advantage of a terminally ill man while I was attending a funeral says everything about this company's utterly unethical culture. I would never use them again.

Experienced water backing up into our shower after a flash rain storm. Found Winters online based on search for emergency plumbers. Didn't use Angies List for this (wish I did). They came out promptly. $125 for the emergency/late night response. Guy arrived with a power snake and put it down the clean out. Before putting the snake down the pipe, he showed me the cost estimate, which was roughly $800 on top of the emergency fee. I was a little shocked, but stuck at that point, as we hadn't asked on the phone up front. After getting through some clogs, the snake got stuck and could be pulled out. The guy spent a solid hour or two trying to get it loose to no avail. He ended up having to abandon the snake to return the next day with another guy. They brought a camera snake as well. At this point, the cost had increased to $1300 for the two snake package. Again, I didn't seem to have a lot of choice. They discovered what appeared to be a collapsed lateral pipe. They cut the snake off and left it in the ground. They provided an estimate for the work of excavation at $15k. I ended up getting quotes from other contractors found on Angies List which were about 1/3 that cost. They weren't on the city's approved contractor list for the necessary work, so we didn't bother following up (and neither did Winters). Although nice guys, punctual, and hard working, their costs are ridiculous. Ask before they come out or you're going to be surprised.

Winter's pricing is pretty ridiculous. I fell for the $99 - A/C tune-up offer in the mail, ended up being charged $562 for 1 lb of coolant and to have the coils cleaned. I had this type of work done 2 yrs ago - don't remember which company - and it cost about $250. They tried to sell me a $2200 5-year tune up package. I wont be calling them again.

The work performed was good, but the price really was outrageous for the type of work performed. I had used Winters before, and I thought I would be offered a reasonable price in the hopes of maintaining my business. Instead, the person who serviced me tried to sell me more, more, more. He kept telling me how I could save money if only I'd sign up for a service contract for my clogged sink. A service contract for a clogged sink? This company is more interested in maximizing the bill, instead of building relationships with customers. After he left, I noticed that my driveway had lots of cut ties and remnants from packaging. Given the price, one would think that they'd clean up after themselves. Would not recommend them - there are better, more reasonable alternatives.

The company simply does not pass the smell test for me. Every time they looked at something, they found something else that needed to be fixed. And it was always expensive. Air Conditioner: We used Winters when we moved into our home last year because that is who the previous owner used and they seemed to like the company. We called early summer 2010, just when it was starting to get hot, and they came to tune up the unit. Extremely professional, showed up on time, friendly all-around. Had trouble tuning up the units, so they started to take the thing apart. By the time all was said and done, they told us they needed to replace two entire condensers, total cost $5,000. These were new units and we couldn't understand what the problem was. Old owners, who had been straightfoward with us the whole time, had had no problems with the units (It had been too cold during the inspection to test them.). But it was 100 degrees every day last summer and we had no choice. Didn't think much of it until I read a review on Yelp where someone had a similar problem and brought in another HVAC guy, who realized that they only needed a minor tweak. Still, laziness kept me from moving on, so I used them again. This year, while checking the basement furnace, they told me they found a CO leak. Instead of calling the fire department, as they should have done, they just shut it down and refused to do anything without a fix. It is supposed to be shut down with a CO leak, but they absolutely should have called the fire dept. We needed hot water, so we let them fix it. $2,500. Bottom line: Every time they came over, they blamed the problem on shoddy construction from when it was built. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, time to find a new contractor. There are a lot of HVAC people and plumbers around here who are not only excellent but more honest and a heck of a lot cheaper. Since Angie's list tends to be biased toward positive reviews, all of these negative reviews should tell you something.

Didn't end up having them do the work because the estimate wasn't even close to reasonable for 1 days work.

I needed an plumber pronto and my aunt had recommended Winters. The work was of very high quality and the plumber was extremely professional and polite. He was extremely neat and cleaned up afterward. The work was of very high quality, but the price was outrageous!!! We couldn't use our sink, faucet or dishwasher so we had no choice but to pay up.

The guy came in and said it would be $576 to snake my toilet, plus the $125 for after hours call. He told me I needed a whole new toilet. I questioned the $576 just to snake a toilet, and he told me that he could get it down to $492, but that I really needed a new toilet. I turned down the repair because it was too much. He said they were a good company and he even put on paper booties over his shoes. I don’t care about that, it was just too much money. I also told him I got his company from Angie's List but he didn't say anything, he did add that they are an A rated company on the BBB, so I will call them as well. I had another company come in and snake the toilet and they only charged the $150 and told me I did not need a new toilet. So, I felt like this company was a complete scam.

They were hired to connect a sink. "While we're here" they said, we have a special -- and they offered us a free video "camera view" of the septic line. The video they showed us showed roots and cracks in the line. They offered to do the repair work for $16,000. We hired someone else to dig out the line and replace it. When the line was dug out and examined, THERE WERE NO ROOTS OR BREAKS IN THE LINE. They showed us a totally fake video. DO NOT HIRE THESE PEOPLE. They are scam artists and operate out of white and green "Winter's" trucks all over Greater Boston and the North Shore. Six months later they called us and claimed we had never paid the bill for the sink work. We sent them a copy of the cancelled check. UNBELIEVEABLE.

They were exceptional! Everything was perfectly aligned. They cleaned up at the end of the day, and put away their tools. If they went inside they would cover their shoes. I had the boiler re-located. They always showed up on time for the week they were working here. The workmen were courteous and knew what they were doing.

Winters sent someone out within 60 minutes, which was extremely impressive given that I called quite late in the day. The technician looked at the furnace and said it would have to be replaced because it was in such bad shape. I give him credit for being so prompt and for correctly diagnosing the situation. What happened after that is appalling. He went back to his truck and came back 15 minutes later with a sheet with six different options on it. The top option cost $15,000 and the minimum option to replace the furnace cost $8,500. I was astounded at these prices and asked "Is this the best you can do?" He said, "I'm glad you asked this" and pulled out a $1,000 off coupon that he said I could use if I hired him within the next 24 hours. This type of high pressure salesmanship was such a turnoff that I said I'd consider it but get another estimate. I got another estimate the next morning from a plumber we've used before and had great success with. That estimate was for $4,500. We hired him on the spot and told him this story. He was shocked at the behavior of the rep from Winters and explained it's a franchise into which individual service providers pay a fee. I still can't believe how much Winters was willing to take advantage of us because of the emergency nature of the situation. Stay away!

It went very well. The same day service is why I like them. I've used them a couple times.

The shingles do not match. There was mold under the part they fixed and I asked them to wash it with bleach, but they did not do that. The company also does plumbing and offered to do a free evaluation. They came to look at the hoses and the valve of the washing machine. They offered to replace those at would cost $1000. I thought that was outrageously expensive for those items. I did not go through with that work.

I will never use them again. They are more interested in selling work that has not been requested than in competent work that has been requested.

They were very punctual and responsive but very expensive and the plumber seemed uncertain about how to fix one problem so I decided not to pay the high estimate ($700 for a leak) if he didn't know what to do about it. They've been our plumbers for a long time but I will look into others next time due to high prices charged.

The estimate was FAR higher (by a factor of about 5!) than what I expected it to be given a previous estimate. The company was incredibly prompt in sending someone out, though - next day. And they confirmed by email, with a photo and description of the employee that was coming - that was nice. And he did show up right on time (it pays to be first of the day!). He was courteous and professional (though not enthusiastically so - I think he was tired!), but I felt that he didn't adequately explain why the estimate was so high. He did notice that our water heater was at the end of warranty, which I hadn't given a thought to, and quoted us prices for a new one. I was grateful for that. He wasn't pushy, and he was very nice, but it just seemed like the prices were inflated. I plan to get another estimate, so we'll see... I may end up with them anyway. And I'd use them for smaller jobs, maybe, or emergencies (I did notice that they have 24/7 emergency service).

They are very responsible. I have known the previous owners for the last 35 years so I have a very long personal relationship with them.

Overall, we were *extremely* satisfied with the work performed on this project, and we will definitely use Winters in the future for our plumbing, heating and AC needs. I think the price they quoted was just a little bit high, but given our overall positive experience, I think it was worth it and I would pay that price again rather than going with one of the companies who quoted a lower price. We got estimates from around five different companies for this work. Keith from Winters was extremely knowledgeable and helpful. He spent hours speaking to both my wife and me about the work, carefully and thoroughly examined all aspects of the job, answered all of our questions, and did everything necessary to satisfy all of our concerns. Although I am a very demanding customer and I was particularly careful to make sure all the i's were dotted and t's were crossed for this project, Keith was patient with me throughout and treated all of my concerns seriously. The subcontrator who did the duct replacement portion of the job, Brian Shea, was also professional and helpful. There were three "blips" worth noting. First, I felt that one of the large ducts installed on the first day of work was too low. I brought this to Brian's attention, and without any complaint, he took down and rehung the duct to satisfy my concerns. Second, I felt that the duct installers did not properly dispose of their trash (i.e., either take it with them or bag it properly for removal on trash day). I brought this to the attention of Keith at Winters. He said that Winters had decided as a result of this incident that they would require all of their subcontractors to go through the same customer-service training as Winters' own plumbers. Given the extremely positive experience I had overall with Winters, I actually believe him. Finally, Brian forgot to paint the inside of a couple of the ducts (most of the ducts were painted black inside so that they wouldn't shine up into the living space), and this had to be resolved by Winters as described below. It is worth noting that, extremely to their credit, the duct installers worked for an entire Saturday, staying until something like 9pm, to get our heat up and running. We were not charged extra for this (as Winters promised, the all-inclusive price we were quoted before the start of the job was never raised) even though I assume that Brian had to pay his workers time-and-a-half because of the weekend work. I was so impressed by this that I gave the two workers a $40 tip each to thank them for going above and beyond. The Winters plumber who installed the furnace worked quickly and efficiently. Here, too, there were a few issues I had to bring to their attention and ask them to resolve, but I think this is par for the course for work of this sort... I expect the homeowner to stay on top of the work and let the workers know if s/he has concerns, and I am more concerned with whether those concerns are addressed promptly and well than I am with there being no such concerns in the first place. The concerns I had to raise with Winters and that they addressed well and promptly were: * As noted above, the duct subcontractor forgot to paint two of the ducts. Unfortunately, when Winters painted them, they did an awful job (they looked *much* worse than the other ducts that had been painted). I complained loudly, because I felt that they should have had the guy with experience at this, i.e., Brian, come back and paint the ducts he had missed, rather than having one of their plumbers do it at the last minute and do a bad job. Winters came back and spent, literally, hours sanding off the paint, vacuuming out the ducts, cleaning them thoroughly with shop cloths, and repainting then properly. It's unfortunate that the problem occurred, but they most assuredly completely addressed it! * When they installed the vent pipes for the furnace, they didn't seal the holes they had drilled through the sill. They took care of it after I asked. It's possible that they had been planning on taking care of it anyway and just hadn't gotten around to it. * They did not install an outdoor air temperature (OAT) sensor with the furnace. If we had AC, the sensor would be built into the AC compressor, but since we don't, a standalone sensor is needed so that the thermostat can adjust the humidity automatically to prevent condensation in cold weather. When I asked what could be done about that, Winters said they would be happy to quote me a price for installing the sensor. I complained in response that I felt that the sensor should have been part of the initial installation because the system wasn't fully functional without it, and they agreed to install it at no charge. All this is a very long-winded way of saying that Winters was great to work with, did high-quality work, and promptly and thoroughly addressed all of the concerns I raised. Well done!

They were very prompt. Unfortunately they charged me twice what they should have charged. I found out the list price of the heater was $835.00 and they were only here 2 hours. I would not recommend this company and would never use them again.

I didn't ask them to do an analysis of the whole plumbing system. However they came up with a whole bunch of jobs that I needed to have done, but I didn't feel that I could afford it and I also didn't feel that they were immanent.

We were left disappointed & frustrated after 6 visits to replace a gas hot water heater. Visit 1: Plumber #1 (Apprentice) It was time to replace 10 y.o. HWH. We wanted a Tankless HWH. We were told our current gas pipe would not work with a tankless & therefore it would be $8000 to do the job. Instead, we opted for a new power vented HWH. We were replacing a 40 gal tank, he wanted to up-sell to 50 gal, but when he measured he said 50 gal would not fit in our space (a closet), so we stuck with a 40 gal (fine by us). Visit 2: Plumber #1 After performing the work, he was rushed to leave. We questioned him about the fact that our new HWH barely fit inside the old drip pan (totally wedged in). He said the pan was fine & that they didn?t make pans in the size needed to fit our space. He then ran out the door. We called the next business day & requested it be replaced with a new pan. Visit 3: Plumber #1. After some double talk & showing that a standard pan wouldn?t fit, he said we would need to pay more for a custom pan. We resigned ourselves to the small pan. We had a working HWH & we just wanted to be done with it. Visit 4: Plumber #2. (Journeyman) 3 weeks later we got a call from the plumbing company saying that they were clearing up old tasks for permits & that a new plumber needed to come out. We were hopeful that the pan issue would be resolved with no extra cost. When he came he said he would put in a new custom pan & also a WAG valve. He said they do custom pans all the time, which was opposite from what Plumber #1 implied. Because we were curious we checked with the town plumbing inspector. He told us that Plumber #1 had installed the HWH without a permit. He knew this because he happened to be across the street conducting an inspection on another home the same day we had our HWH installed. He now needed to inspect the work. The inspection is what prompted the company to come out again. Inspector said a WAG valve, although not necessary to meet code, was a good option for our specific situation. We called company to agree to pan & WAG. WAG was something we elected to do after some negotiation on price. Visit 5: Plumber #2 with Field Supervisor. Installed drip pan & WAG. We mentioned to them how disappointed we were that the tankless scenario didn?t work out. They looked puzzled, so we explained what Plumber #1 had told us. Plumber #2 & Field Supervisor said that a tankless could go in with no refitting of pipes & that we were over-quoted by Plumber #1. They offered to remove HWH, provide a credit & discount a tankless, but by then we were exhausted & feeling slightly burned by this company. Visit #6: Plumber #2 & Plumbing Inspector. Passed inspection. In the end we didn?t get what we wanted, overpaid for poor service & got a lot of frustration in the process. Note: Plumber #2 was MUCH better than Plumber #1. Most of the grade is reflective of Plumber #1?s work.