Winters Home Services

The whole process went excellent! I was a little shocked at first with the sticker price of the job and after some small negotiation I was more comfortable with the final price. Winters is typically higher priced than most but the work you receive is top notch and done right the first time! Dan came and quoted me out within a day of my request and by the following day I had a standing quote. I worked with Tim (the president of the company) with some questions I had. Yes, Tim actually answers emails! That impressed me! Michael was very prompt in calling me to get the work done where the weather did not cooperate in June and got pushed to July. Eric came to do the work and he was very professional, answered all my questions and worked hard! He was also very excited to do the job because it will a little more challenging than the usual daily work. In the end the job was done right, the units look great and my central AC is back up in running... all in one day!

We had a leak in the vicinity of the toilet. The Winters guys said it needed to be re-seated, for which they charged the above enormous amount. Afterwards, I heard dripping and identified the problem as some degraded rubber gaskets in the tank - they emitted clouds of black goo when touched, and water was dripping off the ends of the bolts under the tank. I went to the hardware store, bought replacement gaskets, and fixed the thing myself. When I complained, the Winters guy got super-defensive and consented only to pay back only the $95 "diagnosis" fee. I had zero plumbing experience yet manged to diagnose and fix this problem, whereas these 'professionals' missed the bleedingly obvious- and charged and arm and a leg for the privilege.

These folks are excellent plumbers and extremely professional. They are clean, responsive, resepctful, communicative and are excellent in every way. But BOY DO THEY CHARGE FOR IT! We bought a new washing machine (which cost us $700) and called them to install a new catch pan for it. Parts, material and installation cost $850!...more than the machine itself! On the most recent semi annual check up they found a small crack in a toilet bowl. They recommended that it be replaced and priced the job at $2200. I went to Home Depot and ordered the replacement bowl with tank for $438 and had another (less expensive plumber) install the commode for $400. I saved $1362! They are excellent, professional plumbers but they charge way too much money and for this reason I will not be using them again.

The work went very well. They were quick to respond, showed up within a couple of hours and did exactly what they needed to do.

First off, the office scheduled me on the wrong day despite the Friday morning date that I had set up with the office manager. When there was a no show by the plumber at the appointed time, I called the office and they told me I had a June 1 date. After I protested, they agreed to send a plumber that afternoon. The plumber finally arrived and told me the tub trip waste water valve was non functioning and it would need to be replaced. The plumber then had to go and get the part as he did not have one even though I told the company in detail what the problem was that I was encountering. The actual replacement took all of 15 minutes at most. (Two screws and hook on to the linkage). The bill was $390. Unfortunately, I had agreed to the job prior as I was distracted with a crisis, had company coming, and the plumber was here. I did call the office and speak with the office manager to ask how they arrived at their prices as this job only took 15 mins. He told me the plumber had put in for 1 hour!!! (Where did he get that from? Travel time to the job and getting the part-doing the paperwork??) I was told that was the price and other variables are factored into their price-training of plumbers, quality, etc, etc. I know plumbers are expensive but feel given the time and nature of this job that this was excessive.

They called later that day to say their technician would be at house between 12 and 2 PM. Arrived at 12:04. Wore booties to not track dirt in house. Evaluated problem, brought in heavy duty electric snake/router and worked for about 45 minutes and got drain totally clear. Cleaned up, and left the basement in better condition than when he arrived. Price was exactly what he estimated and well worth it. (A month or 2 ago I had another basement drain back up and the company (also from Angie's List) was late, charged more than they estimated, and did not include advertised discount for finding them on Angie's list. Winters was professional, prompt, courteous and did the job as promised. The young man who did the job sent a note to follow up, and Winters also called later thatday to check that everything had gone as promised. They are the best...use them.

Don fixed the pipe and I believe he did a good job but the charge was appalling . According to my tenant who was present in the unit when the job was done, it took ONE plumber 1.5 hours to complete it. The charge was $1,738.73 with a discount! Don did tell me before he began the work that it would cost $1841 and asked me if I would approve the job. He added that if I had purchase WinSaver Plan, a priority service, I would receive a discount (7-8%). Thinking that this was a serious leak, I gave him my credit card number in advance. Because the charge was so expensive, I thought the major work was required. After I found out that it took only 1.5 hours, I tried to call Winters to ask for the details of the job. I left a message EIGHT times before I finally had a chat with Dan. He said that this was "Tab Drain Repair Standard (Major Exposed)," according to Winters' company book, and that it was a difficult job . When I complained that the charge was way too much, they said that they even cleaned the drain for free of charge, which should have cost another $405. Jack and Dan insisted that they performed $2200 work for less than $1800. $2200 for the 1.5 hour job by one plumber? I find it outrageous! After all, they agreed to give me another 10 percent discount of the original charge . They promised that I would hear from them about how they would refund the amount. It has been a week since I talked with them and I have not heard a word from them.

I called Winters at 1:45pm, but teir plumber didn't show up until 7pm. He inspected the leaking toilet and then asked me to sign an agreement to pay a total of $777, including a $125. fee for work performed after 5pm. My husband and I were taking a flight the next morning, the toilet was leaking and it was too late to call another plumber. Also, we had no idea how serious the problem was. The plumber worked for about 45 min. We have since consulted other plumbers, etc. and find that we were outrageously overcharged for this very simple job. Normal fee would be $80/hr plus parts plus a possible after-hours fee. Upon complaining, Winters agreed to remove their after-hours fee. We asked if they had a manual listing per-job pricing; they said that they did, but refused to let us see how much our repair was priced at.

Winters Company was very prompt. They had the required parts available to complete the work and installed it very quickly. After they completed their job, the furnace worked very well which I was pleased because it was a very cold day.

I have used Winters in the past and felt they were professional in manner and service. They have really changed, and I feel have become dishonest. I am furious at myself for being conned into thinking I had 3 major plumbing projects. The plumber wrote up the estimate - which of course I needed to sign before the work began - indicating the "economical " way of repairing the dripping faucet for $529.00 (with only a 90 day guarantee) as opposed to the more "permanent" solution of installing a new faucet for $909.00. The toilet could be "rebuilt" for $628 versus replaced for a mere $2,766..... There was discussion of the special "winsaver discount", etc. I thought the plumber was a nice guy..but he was actually selling me snake oil... He completed the 3 tasks in less than 2 hours ! I was shocked and asked how it could all be done so quickly..he said he knew what he was doing! By the time he left he was telling me for another $99 (a special rate ) he could unclog any drain and they also provided a "free" camera inspection of the main water line. Sure enough a company rep called 1/2 hr later to schedule the inspection...which I declined.

The heat was off, I tried many things to fix the problem..... So when I called they said they'd come as soon as they could, but the min. cost would be around $175 to $250 to turn it back on. I did not schedule the work, I called handyman that I found in angie's list, came over and it took him five minutes to diagnose the problem...The electric gas switch was turned off......I'm glad I called him. His service cost me $30.00. Winters came highly recomended, but way expensive for a reasonable diagnost request or repair.

I have continued to use Winters because I have a relationship with them as a long time customer. They are always courteous, responsive and professional. However, in the last couple of years their prices have skyrocketed. I don't bother with quotes since I have used them for so long. Although their prices have never been cheap their prices seemed reasonable for awhile for a top quality dependable plumbing service. However there was a sudden change at some point in the last year or two.The first time I was shocked by a bill the plumber explained that they had moved to flat rate billing. I was told that the flat rate was based on years of experience on the average time it takes to complete the repair. Then I was given a card that showed all of the expenses that come into play before the plumber comes to your home like professional development, support staff, vans, etc. While I appreciate the cost of running a top quality business with well-trained staff the prices still seemed incredibly high. Here are some recent examples: replaced leaking faucet by replacing stems. This was the 2nd time they had to do it, the first time was 2-3 years ago. I don't remember what it cost the first time but I know it didn't cost $385 ($355 with coupon). The plumber was here for 20-30 minutes. I was charged $736 for clearing kitchen drain. This was the worst case of overpricing in my experience. There were no problems. It did not take that long. I was charged over $1,000 to install a new dishwasher. $1096 to repair furnace. I like the company but I will be looking for a new plumber because I simply cannot stomach paying the high prices when I feel they are not justified.

I agree with the other reviewers who found Winters' prices extremely high. Other negatives include failing to supply an energy star hot water heater and forgetting to turn circuit breakers back on after completion of the work. On the plus side, they were prompt and professional to deal with. Winters was always a little expensive, but it was worth paying a small premium for good service. I now feel that they gouge their customers, and I won't call them again.

I'm very satisfied with the level of professionalism and the quality of the work that was done. The service tech was extremely informative and very thorough. He walked me through the system, explaining where things could go wrong and recommended several preventative maintenance measures that I can take to keep the system in good shape. At no time did I feel I was being pressured into agreeing to non-essential work. I'm on very satisfied customer, and will definitely be using this company for my heating needs from now on.

The heat was off, I tried many things to fix the problem. I called they said they'd come as soon as they could. In the evening two men came. Put on booties to protect my floors, went down stairs and as if doctors diagnosed different parts of a 6 year old forced hot water heater. Everything seemed to work okey so they they went to look for the on and off switch which they found and turned on. This cost $175 which I thought was very expensive for a 15 minute visit.

Our gas furnace wouldn't heat up, we found Winters in the Yellow pages. John came to our house and charged $249 for a diagnosis of the problem. During the first visit he flipped a switch off and on a few times and it started(I had done this also with no luck). He said he didn't know what was wrong with it and said to call if it happened again. Then he handed us a company flyer that tried to justify the large fee by explaining the cost of running a business. When it happened again 2 days later they wanted to charge us $125 for a rush visit. When he came he did the same thing again. This time he said we needed a circulater pump for $700. We said no and called our oil delivery company (even though this furnace was gas). Their man showed us that the pump was running fine and the problem was a stuck valve. I WOULD NEVER CALL THEM AGAIN, they don't have a clue.

We have an unusual set of toilets in our house and they took the time to fix them. They are very knowledgeable and good and figuring things out that aren't very straightforward. However, they are expensive. My experiences with them has been relatively positive. They are good and troubleshooting and are very friendly.

We called and made an appointment to get an emergency broken pipe and non-emergency hydrant repaired on 1/02/09. Winters Company called us back and attempted to cancel our appointment since some people had situations they felt were more serious. We asked them to honor the appointment since we had a broken pipe gushing water in our home. A young man named Ben came to our home and repaired the broken pipe. He then failed to turn our water back on. I am not strong enough and lack the knowledge to turn our water back on safely. We were without any water for hours. Finally, after multiple calls to Winters Company, Ben returned and turned on our water. He was very apologetic, knowing he had made an error. After examining the bill and getting other estimates to repair the broken hydrant, I felt that we had been grossly overcharged. I called Winters Company on 1/05/09 and asked for an itemized bill. I was informed that as a company policy they do not provide itemized bills and was told that a supervisor would call me back on 1/06/09. My call was never returned.

I think that given what was described about the job and what was involved was the reason for the high price of the estimate. It is going to be an all day job. I think we might get another estimate just to see if they are similiar, but in terms of service they were great. They came within a day or two of our call, and the guy that was here was really helpful.

They are very professional. The guy was not rushed for time and I could ask him questions. He gave me answers.

Woke up with the heat not working, called in the morning and got help by afternoon. The heating problem turned out to be just that the system had sucked water in through the fresh air pipe somehow. They figured that, got out the water by dismounting the pipe and improvising a bit, and charged me the minimum fee of $70.

It was a very good experience. They were nice people. They did nice work and cleaned up when they finished. They kept me updated throughout the process.

The installers were polite, prompt, and very, very neat. During the installation there was a problem (the water intake pipe broke) that they dealt with efficiently and effectively. The installation supervisor/ manager was very professional. Two issues: 1. The sales person said that a number of pipes needed to be replaced that did not need to be replaced. Winters did adjust the price when I pointed out they had not been replaced, but buyer beware of aggressive sales people! 2. The outside vent pipe was much more visible than I had imagined, and had to be redone because it was not installed with sufficient ground clearance. I found it odd that the installers did not know the code, but it was corrected within two days. Otherwise, I was impressed with the overall professionalism and responsiveness. They left behind no traces of a dirty job.

Set up an appointment for an in-home HVAC repair/replacement estimate for $40. Note that it is not free anymore, despite what it said on Angie's List when I called Winters initially. They said they would contact Angie's List to update the information. Winters now charges $40 per visit, no matter for what reason. They did not arrive the morning they said they would. I went to work late in order to meet the serviceman, but they never came, so I wasted my time waiting at home. When I called Winters, they did not apologize and offered no explanation for the mix-up. They rescheduled me for another day, but I decided to cancel it.

It went very well. We had a problem scheduling with miscommunication. They were courteous, worked hard and they did the work that needed to be done.