Thomas E Clark Inc

They finished the job ahead of schedule and were by far the lowest estimate we received. The workers (led by Carlos) were wonderful: very courteous. they did an excellent job, cleaned up after themselves, and thoroughly explained how to operate and maintain the equipment; their service was second to none. The only problems I had with the company were in the responsiveness of their office staff. They seemed unable to submit paperwork, permits, etc. in a timely manner (a critical skill when the project is being financed by a bank). I had the strangest experience after the work was completed; we were very satisfied with the work and needed only a copy of the approval permit from the county in order to process the final payment for work done. This simple piece of paper took until October to get. I called several times and in fact complained to the billing department. I've never had to beg someone to be able to pay them $8000! Each time I spoke to a staff member they were very nice, but for some reason obtaining this one piece of information proved a giant task. We had similar problems (but to a lesser extent) when obtaining paperwork on the front end of the project. It seemed very odd. We highly recommend Thomas E. Clark for all HVAC work at your home: though probably better to have the project done during their off-season so that your bill can be processed in a timely manner!

I wrote this above -- I wholeheartedly recomend this compaany. We have had great techs for many years -- Joe was even bettter than we are used to.

Excellent. We were very satisfied. We had called the company that we usually use for our HVAC repairs and could not get a commitment from them about when they could come. We called Thomas Clark. Someone came out within hours. The service was good. The repairman (Carlos Duran) was very professional. He removed the squirrel and fixed the furnace and was on his way. Thomas Clark now has a new customer. We will go to them for all of our HVAC needs.

They found that the external water pressure into the house was low. They also figured out why the water pressure into the master bath shower was low and realized it was because of some flaw when it was installed and they corrected it. It made a huge difference, double the pressure. They are not cheap, but they are good.

I found them to be first rate. They were very courteous and clean. They got rid of my old boiler. I was very happy with them.

This was painless. I called in the morning and they gave me a choice of time windows to have the serviceman come over. I took the soonest one, so effectively they came when I called. My previous water heater unit had been leaking from multiple places and was probably about to blow. They recommended an efficient replacement unit with the same capacity. The unit arrived in due course and was installed, filled and producing hot water by midday.

All of the people were punctual, professional and nice to deal with. I will use them for plumbing and heating problems in the future. The AC estimate is very high - I still have to get other estimates.

I came home on a Thursday night in August in DC to find the a/c on at 68 degrees but the house thermometer well over eighty five. A/C clearly not working. Called the company in the next morning. They told me they would come Monday. Arrived on time on Monday (I was out of town but they called me) to tell me they turned on the air and nothing was wrong. Charged $70. Cat sitter continued to sit in the heat all week, frequently turning on the air to find no cold air coming out. Asked Thomas E. Clarke to return on Aug 27. Said they would be out that aftrenoon. Did not come out til Aug 30th -- without telling me -- i had to call. Then came out and said i needed a new capacitor and replaced it. Charged $200 for the new part but did not charge again for the visit. Eight hours later house was still in the eighties. Called company again and they told me it took 24 hours to cool down and to call again in the morning. I then called another company who came out and told me i needed a new fan motor. Will never use Thomas E. Clarke again.

I called Thomas E. Clark. They were extremely professional and very responsive. They said they would send out a technician the same day. They also said they would call then the technician was on his way which was great. The technician arrived and he was thorough looking at the AC unit from several places. He told me that he didn't really see anything wrong and stayed to make sure it was working. The only thing he saw was that the refrigerant was low so he topped it off. I think their pricing is a bit expensive. For example to come out they charge $69 which is not waived even if you buy a service from them. In addition, it was $199 just for the refrigerant. However, the technician and my overall experience was good, so I would use them again.

Actually had company to clear a line from a blocked heat pump drain line 5 weeks ago. When the unit started leaking again, the same day my mother-in-law arrived 3 days before our wedding, I called on the company again. No overtime tech was available but one showed up the next morning and fixed the problem gratis.

I sent in the Web form and got an initial voicemail back. I returned the call and tried 5 or 6 times after that but never got a call back. Very disappointing.

I did get an estimate of 7774.00. Way over what other people were charging and he didn't even take into consideration of the Tax Rebate or Pepco Rebate. He just gave me one estimate and I said what about the rebates and he said well I'll have to go down and refigure this again. Why wouldn't anyone want the rebates? I will not go with them.

I called Thomas E. Clark and explained what I needed. They promptly scheduled an appointment. The technician showed up right on time. I had been made aware of the $69.00 service call fee and had agreed to it, because I felt it was reasonable. I showed the technician what had to be done. He set about removing the defective thermostat and installing the new one. I was shocked that I had to pay an additional $130.00 because that was the standard charge for installing or changing a thermostat. Since I could not do without the hot water heater, I reluctantly agreed to the charge rather than sending the technician away. The technician was competent and polite, so the only thing I am not happy about is how expensive it turned out to be.

We had a slow leak in our A/C unit. We knew this because every summer when it was time to turn on the A/C, there was no coolant left. We would get it filled-up and it would last until the next summer. We had two other companies service the unit and neither was able to locate the leak. They both surmised that it was most likely somewhere between the unit in our condo and the compressor, which is housed on the roof of the building, three floors up. Looking for a slow leak between walls sounded frighteningly expensive, so we put it off. This year I was determined to get the leak fixed for good. After speaking with a very helpful service manager, I decided to go with Thos E. Clark. He explained a very methodical procedure that the technician would use to split the system up into three, then test each one to try and identify the location of the leak. It was the first time anyone had suggested this approach and it sounded as if they had done this before. There was a set cost for this testing which was about the median among other companies I had contacted for a quote. The technician arrived on time and was very friendly. His first order of business was to give the unit in our condo a good once over just to make sure that there weren't any obvious leaks. I liked his thinking, and it paid off. In about 20 minutes he believed he had found the culprit. He consulted me and also called back to the service manager to discuss the findings and finally they made the recommendation that he would test the system to check that the pressure was holding and if so, they would assume that this was the cause of our problems. I was very glad that he talked through the options with me before making the recommendation. He was clear on the change in the charges, and he walked me through the steps that he was taking in a way that was easy for a layperson to understand. After having to spend an hour and a half on our building's roof in 90+ sweltering temperatures to run his test and load up the coolant (and drag all his gear up & down the access ladder), he very politely returned the keys and cleaned-up the inside area where he was working. This was truly service with a smile. Whether this will turn out to be the ultimate fix to our system, we will find out next summer when we turn on our air conditioning. However, the technician seemed well competent, and was definitely hard-working. I believe he did his best in providing service. In addition, due to the change in service, the company reduced the charges that they had originally quoted, resulting in a cost savings for us. The Angie's List coupon they accepted was just the icing on the cake! I would recommend this company and in particular, James, the technician. I also found it very helpful to discuss the issue with a service manager in advance of scheduling the repair. Out of the 3 companies I had originally contacted for a quote, this was the only one who made the service manager readily available.

Helpful on the phone when originally looking for information/comparison. After looking at a number of companies and deciding to go with them, they were flexible/quick to schedule the installation. Installer seemed knowledgeable and seems to have done a good job. They were not the least expensive, but I think they did a good job.

Everyone, from the man who provided the contract and designed the system to the men who installed the system, were very knowledgeable, considerate, and punctual. It was a very positive experience.

Martin worked very hard to clear the clog; explained about what types of sinks could replace the one dripping; discovered an unsafe problem for venting for the boiler.

Our a/c stopped working. We were able to get an appointment with Thomas E. Clark, Inc. 4 days later. The service person arrived on time and was very polite. The estimate was $65. He discovered the problem was a loose wire, so he reconnected it. He also told us the unit needed cleaning so I gave him the okay to clean it. He assessed the unit's age for us, which we already knew to be very old and he said the cleaning would help it perform better. I said okay to this because the ventilation in the house has been very uneven and the air or heat don't work well normally. He told us that there is a bad transformer that still works but could go at any time. We inquired about getting a new thermostat to help with reducing the cost of running the a/c, so we chose the programmable thermostat of the 2 models he showed us. The thermostat cost $347. The thermostat and the a/c unit seem to be working well now. With the total cost of the new thermostat, cleaning the unit, and the estimate the appointment was fairly costly, but cheaper than replacing the whole thing.

They fixed the leak, but the sewage back up continued. Thanks to Angie's List, they came out again a few days later and fully corrected the situation. Thank you Thomas Clark and thank you Angie's List.

My air conditioning unit failed on the hottest day of the year and after referring to ?Angie's List? I selected a nearby service company. (The B cost rating was duly noted.) When I called I was gratified that a man could come out on short notice. Many years ago I was in the service trade myself, so I didn?t necessarily feel that a $41 over time charge on top of the $65 ?diagnosis fee? was too excessive. I retired long ago and so at 80 I?m a little shaky and reluctant to do all of my own work. The man showed up quickly and I directed him to the unit. Within 5 minutes he had located the problem, a bad start capacitor, and installed a replacement unit that he carried on his truck. He brought me the defective part and the box that the replacement came in and I noted that it was not a particularly close substitute for the original. But I didn?t object because I felt lucky just to get the job done. The repairman said it would be $275. I thought that was very pricey but again I mentally shrugged and thought I?m just being too ?old school, too retro.? So I said, ?That was the cost of the repair including your over-time and diagnosis fee, right?? He said, ?Oh no, that is in addition to the other fees.? I said, ?You mean you are charging $275 for a $30 capacitor and 5 minutes to install it?? He said, ?It?s a standard book price, I?ll show it to you in the book if you like.? I declined, but I should have looked at it just to see what organization, if any, would condone such abusive pricing. Instead, I told him to take his capacitor out. I would pay his diagnosis and overtime fees but I refused to pay such an outrageous repair charge. He removed the part, got his money and left. With me still hot under the collar! It took me about a quarter of an hour to locate and order the proper replacement part on the internet; just 30 bucks, by the way, plus $40 for overnight shipping. I had to sweat an extra day but I could not allow him to take advantage of me in this way. It?s clear that his organization would pay no more than I did for the component or $30. Let?s say that we grant a 300% markup for a $90 retail charge. That leaves $185 for installation (remember that the preliminary charges were for the diagnosis). Earlier I said that it took him no more than 5 minutes to go to his truck, find the part, and put it in. Let?s double that. Perhaps it took 10 minutes. That would then come out to approximately $18.50 a minute or about $1100 per hour; as much as a very top level lawyer charges. That?s pretty good for a ?blue collar guy.? As far as I know this man did nothing illegal or against the law. He was completely open and upfront about the charges. But it is without doubt unethical. Known as ?price gouging? this practice occurs when the average customer has to rely on the ethical conduct of the serviceman to make charges that would be in-line with a competitive serviceman if one were available. Clearly the average customer has no ability to judge when the charges are excessive and has to rely on the service provider to make reasonable charges for work he performs. Not everyone can do what I have done and realize when advantage is being taken of them. Nor would they have alternatives to the services being offered. Each person must judge for himself where to draw the line between high prices and abusive business practice. In my case, I was simply stirred to action when I was offended by the blatant excess of the overcharge. I hope that this evaluation will help to mitigate some of the unfair business practices being made. Not only the reputation of this organization, but the reputation of the industry as a whole is at stake.

We purchased a row house in NE DC this summer, and are having work done to it before moving in early August. We met with Steve on June 24 to walk through the house, discuss the work to be done, and complete an estimate. He called an hour before our scheduled appointment and said that he would arrive in 45 minutes or so. He actually arrived early, as we were finishing with another contractor. Unfortunately, this is where the experience turned bad. Steve was the fifth, and last, contractor we had on site to bid the A/C job (3 HVAC contractors, and 2 general contractors), so I had a fair idea of the relevant discussion points. However, it took him nearly two hours (1:50 to be precise) to gather information for the estimate. During this time, he ensured me that no conventional split or package air conditioning system would work correctly at our house, and instead, we needed a mini-split unit. This directly contradicted all of the other contractors, who, when asked about alternative systems unanimously agreed that there was no reason to install a non-conventional system - it would add unnecessary cost and our house layout would easily accommodate the traditional ductwork, etc. Coincidentally, Steve mentioned that he had installed a few hundred mini-split units in his career. I was willing to consider this alternative, and Steve said that he could prepare an estimate for a forced air system as well as the mini-split system, so we proceeded. After he finished gathering the information required for the A/C estimate, we proceeded to the basement to discuss the boiler and plumbing work needed (replace backflow preventer, install fill valve, clean, and relocate a radiator 7' from across our dining room to directly above the boiler). We also needed some galvanized pipes replaced with copper, but Steve said that he would need to have another estimator come to the property to complete that estimate. All of this happened on the morning of June 24. When we left the house, I reemphasized that we wanted to make a decision on contractors within a week and then have the work done as quickly as possible thereafter, to facilitate a move in early August. A week went by, and we did not receive a follow-up from the plumber that Steve mentioned would come to give an estimate on the galvanized pipe replacement. Nor did we receive an estimate. During the next week, having still not received an estimate, we selected another contractor. Finally, on July 18 (24 days after meeting to do the estimate), we received an email from Steve. He stated that "with the hot weather things have been a little crazy." I can appreciate his point. However, the hot weather started more than 10 days after we met to do the estimate, so that's not a relevant excuse for a delay of such length. The high velocity A/C estimate that I received was more than 30% higher than highest of the other four bids that I evaluated (including rooftop packaged units), and the mini-split estimate was another $1400 higher. Worse still, the estimates from Thomas E Clark excluded the cost of permits, putting the unit on the roof, and running electric from the main panel to the unit. Additionally, the boiler work estimate was twice the cost of having a licensed plumber come and do it as a standalone job, which itself was more expensive than having our A/C contractor do it in conjunction with installing central air. After reading all of the feedback on Angie's List, I thought that Thomas E Clark would be a great option for working on our home. However, this experience was a huge waste of time, and it seems like the company was never actually interested in my business. If that was the case, I would have preferred to have been told so when I set up the appointment. I will not consider this company for any future work to be done.

I called their office and was treated to a very rude, angry tirade in which they told me I didn't understand old plumbing and that my plumbing was so old that it was unreliable. In fact, That drain had been installed only 7 years ago. They replaced the drain parts and gave the "old" ones to me, and they were in perfectly good condition. All that should have been done was to re-tighten the drain pipe that had been loosened and it would have been fine. I felt mis-used.

On Sunday morning, there was no hot water. The pilot light on the water heater was out and would not stay lit when re-lighted. I called three companies that advertised 24/7 emergency service. One call back, from an on-call plumber at Cropp-Metcalfe, told me they charge twice the amount for emergency service and he said replacing a thermocouple could cost between $400 - 2,000. Since that was such an outrageous response (for example, a five-fold range for cost of a routine repair!!), I figured he didn't want to work on a Sunday. The next call back was from Theresa at Thomas E Clark, who said that the extra cost for emergency was about 35% and asked if I couldn't have them come out during regular hours. I explained that my week was busy at work and she told me that they work evenings and Saturdays at regular rates. She said someone could come out the next day between 3 and 5 pm and told me to make sure to use my Angie's List coupon if i used them. (She was outstanding - she listened closely to what i was saying, she was professional and clearly cared about getting my business.) I agreed, and Rafael was at my house at 4 pm on Monday. He was very friendly and extremely professional (and wore boot covers in the house). He explained very clearly the problem, the general workings of the water heater, and things to be aware of when i decide to get a new one (mine is about ten years old - he said that they typically last about 12 years, but some could last much longer). Rafael replaced the thermocouple, checked that the new one was working, and told me that he was confident this would fix the problem. He said although he really expected the problem to be solved, sometimes this problem could be due to a faulty gas valve. He said if the problem arises again in not too distant future, they would look at replacing that valve. He said in that unlikely event, the cost of the thermocouple replacement would be applied toward that repair. The cost was $185 for thermocouple and its installation, $69 for the service call and $20 off for the Angie's List coupon. My water heater is working great, and I will be sure to use Thomas E Clark for plumbing needs (and will ask for Rafael!).

It went absolutely fine. I could schedule him quickly and they were here when they were supposed to be here. Very clear on what they were charging and I was satisified with their work.

The plumber came on time and was very professional. Most of the work had already been done to locate the source of the leak to the shower, including a hole in the ceiling in the unit below us to expose the drain pipes. The plumber was able to determine, with fair confidence, that the leak was in the shower pan and recommended that we replace the complete shower pan to fix it. This was done within one hour. The cost seemed steep for the amount of work done (time and effort, with a high service charge for a multi-unit condo). They promised to get back to us with an estimate for replacing the shower pan within the next 2-3 business days. After 5 business days we called to ask for the estimate and they said that they would get back to us the next day. We got a call from a third party a few days later, but after repeated callbacks we've been unable to connect with this third party. This lack of responsiveness in working with us on the estimate, especially given the cost of the initial visit, is unacceptable.