Benjamin Franklin Plumbing

Plumber was a nice fellow, but the water heater was too old for him want to mess with, and the toilets he said needed overhauls. Only performed inspection and wrote me a quote for over $3,000 worth of work that needed to be done, including 2 $250 toilet repairs. I knew that the flaps were older in the toilets, but in no way shape or form should a toilet service cost $250. Luckily, I was only out $49 and I've got a "lesson learned" moment under my belt. If you want to get a quote for replacing stuff, ask for a free quote. If you think you are going to get a $49 plumber service, think again!

The outside hose bib was replaced, but I had to call back and have them return because the hose bib leaked when the water was on but the hose was not in use. They fixed that on their second visit. One thing I did not like was the fact that they put a large sticker with their name on it over the existing sticker that was put there by the company that had installed the hot water heater. The original sticker had the install date of the hot water heater. The findings of the inspection was that the shut off valves should be replaced, but I thought that the cost was too much for each one and that there was no discount for doing many of them at the same time. I did not have them do that work as all of the valves were working and none were leaking.

My experience with them was fine. I felt a little bit of pressure, because he seemed like getting the part replaced was an emergency that I needed to do something right then.

We had previously used Ben Franklin at our old home and had never had a bad experience. We called Ben Franklin at 1:00 pm on a Sunday with an EMERGENCY call. None of the toilets in the house would work. They told us we were on the service call list. We called them back at 5:25 pm and were told that a technician would be out that day - probably between 8 and 9 pm. They also gave us the phone number of the technician in case we had any questions. At 9:20 pm we tried the tech's number, but received a message that our call could not be completed. At 9:21 pm we called Ben Franklin back and were told we were still on the list. We called again at 10:46 pm to confirm that a plumber would arrive by the end of the day and couldn't get a straight answer. On that call, Ben Franklin told us that managers and supervisors would call us back. We called them again at 4:38 am and were told that managers and supervisors don't arrive at the office until 8:00 am. That was the first time in all our conversations that information was conveyed. Almost 16 hours after our initial call about emergency service and we still had no toilets and no plumber. Had they been honest with us from the initial call - or even the second or third call - we could have called another provider at a reasonable hour to do the work. Instead, they continually gave us the impression that their tech was finishing up a job and would be on his way. We called them back at 5:33 to cancel service. At around 5:00 AM Monday morning (and after several trips to the neighborhood gas station to pee) we started researching other emergency plumbers through Angie's list. The new plumber was at our house within 30 minutes. The problem was resolved within the hour. Bonus - during one of our earlier calls with Ben Franklin we stupidly signed up for their $6 monthly subscription service that allegedly gets you better service. After cancelling the service call, we were told that we couldn't cancel the contract over the phone, but would have to submit a request in writing. We will be doing that promptly. We have never experienced a more unprofessional, dishonest, and incompetent service provider.

I scheduled an appointment for the annual service of my Neutralizer and was provided a 4 hr time window. The plumber showed up a hour after the end of the 4 hour window. This very young guy looked at the neutralizer and did not know what material he was supposed to add. I pulled the invoice from a year earlier I showed him what the last guy did and he said that was very helpful. He went away and wrote up a quote for $429 which was more than 50% higher than I paid in the past for service. I paid his dispatch fee and sent him on his way. I do not want a person working on my neutralizer that does not know what to do and his price was insane.

Provider was professional, punctual, and efficient.

It took us a while to get connected because we thought the contractor would contact us directly and instead the contact went into our Angie's list account which I did not see for several days. After we made contact, all went fine.

This was over a week ago and I have not heard from them since. If they did not want to do the job I would have appreciated them contacting me to let me know.

Replaced leaky faucet with a shiny one. Had to cut dry wall was access. Performed a good job on minimizing the size of the cut out. Arrived on time and was done quick.

The company arrived promptly. The service person explained the process and answered my questions. My concern is with company charges for additional work. The "Deal" was for an outdoor faucet, the service person reported that he needed to make a hole in the interior sheetrock (not covered by the Deal) because "this type of fixture" frequently cracks the pipe material when faucet is removed. He was willing to try to remove it without making the hole but it did crack. He was required to make 2 two holes in the sheetrock (which I will have to repair) and I was charged the cost more than $225.00 in addition to the cost of the "Deal". I called the company the next day to discuss the charges I was told someone would call me back but they have not.

Benjamin Franklin plumbers did not come out to perform the job. I took a day off work to be at home for the plumbers. They gave me a 4 hour window for them to arrive. After 2 hours into the 4 hour window nobody had shown up or called to say they were on their way. I called Benjamin Franklin's office and asked about the arrival time and they said that they would arrive within the allotted time period. So I called again at 3 hours and they said that they were still coming. At the end of the 4 hour period I called the office about nobody showing up. I was told that they were working on bigger jobs and that I would have to reschedule. What! I called back and asked to speak to a manager or owner. I was told that he could not speak to me, but he would call me later. No return call ever came. I wish that they had told me that my time was not valuable to them and that they gave priority to larger jobs that make them more money. If I knew that I could not trust or depend on the company I would have just found somebody else. There are other plumbers on Angie's List or other places. Benjamin Franklin Plumbers are unreliable, not trustworthy, do not respect customers time, and they are unprofessional. Angie's List is a help to consumers. They started out with reviews. Now they allow providers to offer services on their website. The issue is that reviews are listed under many categories for the same provider. So you have to research the provider under all reviews. I looked at Benjamin Franklin under one category and they had an A beside their company name. After they failed to show up for my appointment and they were condescending, I looked at their reviews again and saw that they had numerous reviews of B,C,D, and F. So Angie's List could be considered to be assisting in helping contractors mislead (or possibly deceive) customers. The multiple category rating system only helps to disperse results. If you look at small jobs versus big jobs there are potentially more potential overcharges, bad work, and controversy with larger jobs. I would just rather see all of the reviews in one place without a rating beside a particular service category. So now Angie's List is trying to cater to businesses as much as consumers. I thought the idea of Angie's List was to empower consumers. Just do your full research before choosing a provider from Angie's List and don't choose Benjamin Franklin plumbers. UPDATE TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S RESPONSE: I noted to the company that it would be difficult to schedule for another day as I own a law practice and people depend on me for their salaries. Each day that I do not work not only does my family miss out on funds, so do my employees. So I offered to wait even longer for the plumber to arrive in order to not miss another day of work. The issue was not arriving the first thing in the morning, the issue was the total disrespect of my time and the negative attitude. I came to your business to support you. My employees trust in me to be responsible, I found Benjamin Franklin Plumbers to be untrustworthy. I did decide not to reschedule the appointment after I found out that I could not have any trust or confidence in Benjamin Franklim Plumbing. Benjamin Franklin also needs to be more organized. Thank you for admitting that you have problems with your record keeping, please tell all of your potential customers of the issues in advance. I do not have a gas water heater, I have an all electric house. Also, if you cannot keep track of your records and appointments scheduled out more than a week ? get some administrative help, use spreadsheets, use one of the many computer scheduling programs that send emails, pop up screens, and audible beeps. Your company is just to unreliable, unorganized, and unprofessional to use. .

I was expecting him to put the hose bib up against the house, but he said that the pipe size was a lot larger than the norm, and that it would make more sense to fix the pipe than to replace it. He also checked all the plumbing in the house that he could get to, and fixed some of the handles in the showers and bathroom sinks. He also worked on the toilets to reduce the amount of water in the tank. He told us that the water heater is self cleaning and does not need to be drained. The water heater is only a year old, so shouldn't be having problems. He recommended that we might want to consider replacing the faucet to the kitchen sink, as he said the faucet we have is prone to leaking (we haven't seen that), and the ones with the longer necks were better. Most of the plumbing in the house is relatively new, having been replaced within the last five years. I was thinking afterwards, that I should have asked to have the hose bib done totally, but that was just a personal regret. Everything else was fine. We are happy with Benjamin Franklin Plumbing. This plumber came from the Mt. Airy location and we normally work with the Silver Spring office.

Plumber was timely and professional - Im not sure I needed the unti replaced which cost more than the tuneup deal, as we were not haveing any problems but my wife was home for the service.

There were two technicians here for about 3 hours, which included replacing one outdoor faucet, performing whole-house tests and making recommendations and providing estimates for additional work they indicated were necessary; plus work I requested them to estimate. I was impressed with their knowledge and professionalism. I could have done w/o the "warranty" pitch, no doubt imposed by their parent company. But, they were not pushy about it, so I wasn't all that annoyed by it. I am seriously considering these guys to replace our toilets and hot water heater. I'm updating this review because the company doesn't seem interested in my business. I contacted them twice to get more information on the specific hot water heater & toilet models they said they would install at the price they quoted. They have not returned my calls.

They also did a very thorough investigation around the house, but I was very impressed with the tune-ups themselves. They installed new flappers that seemed to increase the water usage. I won't be using them in the future. They seem way too expensive. I chose them because of the Big Deal. It seemed to be what I was looking for. The serviceman was good. He was very professional and thorough. He's clean and careful around the house. He introduced himself properly.

My main reason for buying this deal was the Water-Heater flushing/draining offer. But, draining/flushing water-heater tank was not done. Provider's hose did not fit. . The provider's representative was polite, though. He spent time explaining the do's & don'ts. Since the "real deal-draining/flushing the water-heater" was not done, can I get a refund? I ended up buying a small tiny hose from Lowe's and did the draining of the water heater tank. Will I use them in the future? Maybe or maybe not. The quote for the recommended work was too high.

It was positive. They did a fine job. It didn't cost more than the big deal I purchased. They're on time. They're kind and courteous. The only problem I had with the guy is that he had a new cellphone he was trying to use to make calls. I had to wait for him to do that. Workwise, everything was fine. They did a good job.

Very helpful and professional.

They did a good job with the work. The plumbing is up to code. However, I really questioned if I needed to get all the work or if they wanted to making a good deal of money off of me. They were professional and the work was done very well but I thought the price was high.

very good about calling to verify appointment and then about delay. service man wore booties in house and cleaned up well after work. everything working well since.

The work was done quickly and well. The new faucets work well.

I received my money back, promptly from Angie's List.

It was fine. We didn't have to replace the faucet, we just tightened it and it works perfectly. He did do the inspection though. He cleaned my water heater as well. I thought he was very thorough. He gave me feedback. I can't think of anything negative about him. I thought their prices were really high.

Services that were provided by Gus was excellent. There were no issues with the installation and the inspection brought some minor and one major issue. He explained everything and didn't mind us asking different questions. We learned alot from Gus. We will definitely use this plumbing company again.

He did everything I wanted done in the appointment. He was very informative. He was professional and the faucet seems to be holding up. I had no problems with scheduling and was able to make an appointment quickly.