Thornton & Grooms Heating, Cooling, & Plumbing

It is always a pleaure to have Thornton and Grooms come to our home. The technicians are obviously well educated, commited to doing an excellent job and very polite. The technician that came today was excellent. Thornton and Grooms sets a high standard that other companies fail to meet.

They came promptly and got things to the point I could do wash again. Then came back and replaced line in basement. Very polite and neat and knowledgable.

They are always punctual and call to confirm before they come out. They do first-rate work. Not only does it work well when they are done, but it looks nice. They are proactive about taking care of your system, and they are really nice people, too.

They always send someone different that is trying to sell you a new product instead of just doing the job they came for. They just don't fix things and are very expensive.

Brian Martindale is wonderful! He is very knowledgeable and professional.

We had to have them come out at least three times with the hot water system, since we kept having problems. I’m not positive about the new boiler for the heating system, since it was installed in the beginning of summer, and I haven’t really had a chance to use it. The two days I have used it, however, have been good.

I had them to replace kitchen faucet and replace an outside faucet. I used them before and I have a service contract with my heating and a/c with them. I am very happy with their service of being on time and being very professionalism. They always go the extra mile.

We’ve worked with them for a number of years, and it’s been great overall. They are a little pricey.

The service has been great overall. Their price is comparable. I’ve been using their services for about 20 years.

I am very pleased. He was professional, polite and kept me informed all along the way.

Completely unimpressed, and wouldn't recommend them to anyone. I had a plumbing problem at a home that I own, called them out, and they refused to do anything until we personally removed the water that was backed up currently. Refused to help in any way. Simply said "We don't do that. You have to do that.".... Real business people, and real companies, will go out of their way always to help with a PROBLEM. We had a HUGE PROBLEM and they failed to help us. In fact, they made it worse by refusing to help. I wouldn't recommend them personally based on their unwillingness to help whatsoever. I understand policies. I understand why they exist. Policies though should never be more important than HELPING A CUSTOMER, and Thornton and Grooms failed completely in taking care of a customer. Poor customer service. Poor company. Poor review. My advice is to stay away and go with another company. If you have even a minor setback, their response is likely to be "We're sorry. We don't do that."

Thorough examination of A/C unit, recommendation to add more refrigerant. This was a routine tune-up as part of our service plan. I don't know that 3.5 oz of refrigerant was worth $160, but I suppose it's worth it to keep our unit running well (13 years old).

He told me the prices up front. I called them to check to see when he was coming and they said he was on his way, he came within the next fifteen minutes after I had spoke tot them. He was very professional. I was very pleased with their service. I would refer them to family and friends. The only complaint I had was that it said I would $25 off for being Angie's List member but the lady said that I had to have that printed out. My computer did not have any ink in it, so I have to see if I can get my $25 back on Monday.

Great work from Brian, who is relatively new to the company. Very professional and knowledgable, and extremely courteous. Assessed two air conditioners, one of which was not working and other which was not optimally running. Took several readings and cleaned filters. Gave several options ranging from adding freon to full replacement with pricing for most options, but recommendation for installing entire new system could not be priced without having a second assessor come to the home. I would have preferred to have pricing estimate at the same time, but understand that was not what the call was for. Timeliness of arrival was outside of the 4hour window promised when set up appointment, and office assessment of arrival when I called to check on timing was inaccurate and reluctant to help -- I like the professionals who come to the home, but not the office staff in terms of working on reports of arrival and setting appointments.

Background My 87 year old mother was quoted $2,900 for her ejector pump replacement by Bill Richards, a salesman from Thornton and Grooms. I walked in after Bill gave her the quote of $2,900. I asked to see the parts and labor breakdown. He told me nobody does that any more. I said it seemed like a whole lot of money and I couldn’t imagine any numbers that would possibly get to that price. He said they just did it by the book for the job. I told my mother we needed other estimates. Interestingly, despite being asked several times by my mother, he would not leave us the written estimate which he had in his hand, saying that it was written up to be signed for work to be done (aren’t all estimates?), not as an estimate. He said we knew the number! He was visibly upset and left in a hurry like a kid that didn’t get his own way. On to Brian Hines, owner and sole employee at Highlander Plumbing. I described the job, which was considerably more difficult than the average ejector pump replacement due to the old system being a 220 volt 60 year old industrial sized pump with 4” steel plumbing which would need to be replaced. Brian said it would likely be in the $800 to $1,000 range. After, seeing the job and checking parts prices, Brian gave me a quote of $785, below the $800 to $1,000 I had told him over the phone that would be comfortable with. That's a real good sign you are dealing with somone who is very honest. He installed a Hydromatic pump with a 3 year warranty (unusually good). The job was hard work due to the very heavy industrial pump being removed, but Brian said afterwards that it took about the time he planned and that he wouldn't have been able to look his kids in the eye if he had charged $1,000. Result To make the comparison complete, we paid $255 to have a 110 volt outlet installed by an electrician, something included in the Thornton and Grooms estimate. So the proper number for comparison is $1,040 for Highlander Plumbing vs. $2,900 for Thornton and Grooms. A savings of $1,860. Thornton and Grooms quoted 2.8 times as much for the same job! Deduct parts and electrical and the labor (profit) differential is probably over five times as much!Was Thornton and Grooms trying to rip off an 87 year old widow? You decide.

Have used Thornton and Grooms for several years for annual contract to check heating and air conditioning. Often they have found problems that they will then fix, with a separate price estimate to do that work. I have found them to be more expensive than other providers and in most cases they explain that by saying bad things about the other providers -- an experience I have not found to be the case. While they do a good job on the annual checkup, and they throw in a free annual plumbing inspection to go with it, I have found they use that also as a selling tool to suggest other items that need to be done for additional cost. Scheduling is also difficult at times, as they call and confirm an appointment that we had not scheduled, and other times don't call ahead of a scheduled appointment as they have promised to do.

My water heater sprung a leak and I had no hot water at all. Thornton & Grooms was rcommended by radio personality Glen Hage (spelling?), so I thought this would be a good company to do the work. I was pretty upset to even think about getting other estimates. I wish I had, I've since found out I could have gotten it done for much less. Now I've received a postcard stating that I have to pay for a yearly maintenance to keep the warranty in effect. The installer was very nice and professional even after he found out how much more work the work would be, as the water heater was in a tight space, not easy to get to. FYI : DO get more than one estimate, The price I paid brought down the grade I gave them

Very reliable, are on time, the call to check up on the services after they’ve been performed. The service people are clean, polite and knowledgeable in their work. We’ve never had to call them back to have them fix their work.

They take the time to explain everything. They are very friendly. They are very open. They were prompt. They called about fifteen minutes before they came to make sure I was home. They are the best company I have dealt with so far. They come out twice a year to check the pipes in my home.

decided to find a company that provided free estimates

Just relaying my experience with getting a furnace quote, they came in at $4900 for a Carrier 2-stage, 96K BTU; got another quote from Flame that was even a little more (hard to believe), but the third quote from Family for the EXACT same model and size was $3295! Unbelievable. Don't know how those two companies (Thornton and Flame) sleep at night, nothing justifies that much of a price difference. I feel like I almost was robbed of $1600. The sales guy was prompt and nice enough, but what a ripoff.

They were prompt, courteous and efficient when they came to our home. They were very nice, and polite. I thought they were a little high, but I didn't have anything to compare them to.

They responded promptly to my email inquiry, but ultimately required a $69 minimum "trip charge" to even come out and take a look. This seems like a bit of an "old school" service tactic that I realize used to be the norm for plumbers and other trades, however I found 3 other companies on Angie's List who were more than willing to come out, at no charge, to evaluate the problem, and give me options to repair or replace, along with their recommendation on the course of action I should take. Therefore I was not willing to pay a $69 "hook" just to have them come out and give me their estimate. That tactic is the basis for the overall D grade even though their professionalism and responsiveness outside of that were good.

My furnace went out just before the holiday and it was an emergency to get it immediatly replaced. They came out right away and were very knowledgeable. They were actually able to make some considerations to install the new furnace that day. They offered to install the unit quickly so that it could it could at least produce heat for my home, but then came back the next day to finish the rest of installation. This was a very stressful process to get done in such a hurry with trying to decide on what unit, pricing, and company to choose for the work. I chose Thornton and Grooms over the other companies because they were patient and had asked all of the right questions, specifically about allergies. They also gave three excellent warranties that were over and above what the maker of the unit provided and a 1 year guarantee that will allow the unit to be returned for a full refund. I have already planned to hire them again in the Spring for a new A/C unit.

My experience with them has been great. They are friendly and very professional.