Hero Plumbing, Heating & Cooling

Do NOT sign up for the Happy Home Club tune-up plan!! It is a complete bait-and-switch model. I signed up years ago when they were Uptown Plumbing for $10/month. The guy told me it was a great deal. The first few years they would call each fall to schedule the furnace tune-up, then each spring for the a/c. The past few years they never call to schedule. You have to call them and when you do, you'll be told it will be months before they could come out. Last year it was about 1 1/2 months. This year they cannot come until January!! You pay monthly for this plan and they don't provide the service they promised. And if you cancel now they come out ahead as you've paid monthly and gotten no service. When they do finally make it out, they will ALWAYS tell you something needs repair. You could have a new furnace and they'd say it needs repair. And their repair and replacement costs are at least 3 times higher than any other company. Years ago they quoted me about $4000 for a water softener - I got one put in for $800 from somebody else and it's worked just fine. I plan to cancel my service plan - they will come out ahead but in the long run I'll save money. You can find specials every single fall from any company on furnace tune-ups - and they will come out in Sept or Oct (not the middle of winter) to do the work. Hero will only make you a priority if you wish to give them even more money for a service call and repair. Don't fall for it.

If I could give a zero rating I would! Terrible company with such predatory business plan. We were on Hero's (formerly Uptown) Happy Home Club service plan. After three years of high pressure sales tactics for very expensive things that didn't actually need fixing/replacing I just cancelled the plan. For example, this year they told me I needed to replace my furnace for $12000! It was only 13 years old, and would typically last 25! After Hero taking several carbon-monoxide readings from two different technicians, I called a different company we have used before for for a second opinion. They read absolute zero carbon monoxide leaking and also zero within the flue - indicating a perfectly functioning furnace. Last year it was the hot water heater I "needed" to replace for $8000 - after a second opinion and 12 months later we have had no problems whatsoever with it. Before that, we "needed" to fix out 4 year old A/C for many hundreds of dollars. Luckily I always got second opinions and didn't do any of this totally unnecessary work. I am so glad to be finally done with Hero - it is a brilliant marketing strategy to call such an immoral and predatory company a "Hero". Don't use Hero - you will end up overpaying for service you don't need.

I recently took apart my bathroom sink drain to snake it, but couldn't get the snake down the pipe. With company coming to my home, I called Hero and they said the visit would cost $69. I asked if there would be an additional charge, but she wasn't sure. When the tech got there, he was going to charge a fee to assess it, which I denied since I had done this. Then he said the actual snaking would be another $299 ON TOP OF the $69 visit fee. That's $368 to SNAKE A SINK DRAIN! After I asked him to leave, suddenly he decided he could charge me a reasonable amount. When I gave him my TOP LIMIT, they charged me $1 less than that. They are trying to sell plumbing insurance. WHAT A SCAM! He then expected me to go online and give him a perfect rating once he lowered the cost to be within my absolute upper limit. AVOID THIS BUSINESS!!!

I originally called Hero Plumbing because I was having water backing up from a floor drain and flooding my laundry room every time I would run the laundry machine or dishwasher. The technician that came out diagnosed a rusted out drain trap in the laundry room floor drain. He said that absolutely had to be replaced asap because it was causing odors and possible carbon monoxide leaking into the household. This was job that required jack hammering the floor to pull out the old drain, installing the new drain, and pouring new concrete. In addition to that job, he also said that our main sewer line was on the verge of full collapse and needed to be replaced or rehabbed asap before it failed completely. They quoted us over $14,000 for this whole job of rehabbing the sewer main and replacing the floor drain in the laundry room. They said that since they just had a cancellation in their schedule, they would be able to work us in within less than a week and if we were willing to take that time slot, they'd give us a great discount and could get our price down to just under $13,000. While this still seemed an exorbitant price for this work, the technician did a good job of fancy talking my dad and I and convincing us that we had a complex case and they would usually charge much more, so this was really a bargain given the complexity of our home. Since we didn't want to lose our time slot and this "great discount" they were giving us for getting the work done right away, we decided to proceed and allowed them to come do this ridiculously overpriced job. They did a great job of using scare tactics to convince us that this job needed to be done immediately, at any cost, to avoid even larger home disasters. Now looking back at it, I realize that this whole story of "an unexpected opening in their schedule" was their way of getting us to commit to them right away and not having time to think about it or to get other companies out there to give us a second opinion or a better bid on the job. Literally 1 week after having our sewer main rehabbed by Hero, my laundry room started flooding again. Same problem we had from the very beginning! I called Hero to come out and take another look to tell me why my laundry room was still flooding after just paying them nearly $13,000 to fix everything. Now Hero tells us that the pipe that runs from the laundry room drain underneath the house and out the the sewer main that leads to the street has a crack in it as well. The only way to fix it would be to jackhammer up the fresh concrete they had JUST poured in the laundry room when they replaced the drain trap, and replace the cracked portion of that pipe. This would cost us another almost $4,000 to do. Why didn't they notice this cracked pipe the first time they were out and did their initial inspection? Well, the technician says it may not have been cracked then (a whole two weeks ago) or that the crack may not have been evident at the time because perhaps some rust broke free since then and exposed the crack. While that may all be true, I wasn't too excited about busting up my laundry room floor and paying another $4000 on top of what we had already JUST paid. Again, they tried to get us on the schedule within a week. This time, however, I decided to take the time to get a second opinion before spending so much more money with Hero again. So today I had another plumbing company come out and take a look at my drains and pipes. While the second company confirmed that there is a crack in the pipe leading out of the laundry room, that crack is NOT the reason my pipes are backing up and causing flooding. The reason for the back up is that when Hero installed the new sewer liner and replaced the floor drain in the laundry room, they did not drill out a proper drain opening in either location. I have pictures from the other plumber showing that there's only about a 1/2 inch opening where the new sewer liner connects to the house, and also only about a 1/2 inch opening where the new laundry room floor drain connects to the pipe. So essentially Hero left me with two clogged pipes! Not only that, but the second plumber told me that Hero charged me nearly double what the industry standard is for rehabbing the main sewer line. He said most companies in the Twin Cities would only have charge around $5,000-$6,000 for the job that Hero did. So basically Hero charged me double what it should have cost, did shoddy work, and messed up the job leaving me with another problem that causes me to still have the original issue I called them out for - which was my laundry room still floods everytime I run the laundry machine or dishwasher! I intend to call Hero and show them the pictures from the other plumber and insist that they fix their mistakes for free, but even if they do that, it won't solve the fact that they charged me twice what I should have paid for this horrible work. Not to mention the fact that the other plumber said the whole job could have (and should have) been done WITHOUT having to jackhammer up the floor in my basement to access the sewer main when they rehabbed it. There is other technology and equipment available these days where that job could have been done without busting up my basement. I'm a single mom on a very tight budget, and my dad had to finance this monstrous job for me, because I did not have the money to do it myself. And now to find out that we were soaked for twice what it should have cost AND they did it wrong and I still have sewer lines backing up into my basement, I just feel really sick about the whole experience. I would NEVER recommend Hero plumbing to anyone and will never use them for anything ever again. Don't let them talk you into accepting quick appointments to get overpriced work done by them! Take your time, get other bids and other opinions, hire better people who will do your job correctly. I feel terrible about the financial position my dad and I are both in now for having paid so much money and to be left with inferior work that was done incorrectly and left my basement a total mess. The only resolution to all of this that would satisfy me would be for Hero to fix the drain openings to how they should have been done the first time, free of charge, and to refund half of what they charged us for this whole project to bring the total price down to what other local plumbers are charging for the same work.

Immediately after the repair, it leaked all over my basement bedroom. I called them back, and a new plumber was sent out and reported it was a faulty valve. I was skeptical because the plumber who installed it had really struggled with it for a long time. They fixed it and sent out a painter to repaint and fix the water damage. Now a few years later, the repair have once again leaked, and when I called, they informed me that I had chose the "band-aid package" and so I only got the 30 day warranty. I expected that a professional plumbing company would stand behind their work no matter what, and I was wrong.

They did a great job, did the job quickly and went on their way.

Dan and his apprentice Billy, replaced my old water heater and fixed a leaky shower head. I had to switch from a gas water heater to an electric one because the exhaust pipe for the gas water heater was no longer up to code and there were no other options for running a new pipe in my town home. Dan was able to get an electrician to come out right away to take care the wiring needed for the new water heater, so the whole project only took a little over 3 hours. Both Dan and Billy were great guys and a pleasure to work with. I would definitely use Hero again.

Plumber showed us on time and was a very nice guy. He identified where the burst pipe was leaking and talked me through where we would cut into the wall to fix it, he had two options and suggested it was best to go through the drywall and opposed to the cabinet. That made sense, and I appreciated the options he gave. Before any work started he gave me the quote, which was $800! I was surprised, and had it not been in the dead of the polar vortex and needed water back on in our house I would have called around. He was only here maybe an hour and it was 800! The work was good, but that price is crazy. While he was here I asked the price of installing shutoff valves to the bathroom on the exposed copper pipes in the basement, that was also going to be $800.....no thanks, skip that one.

ate in the afternoon on a Monday, I noticed the house was getting cold. When I checked the boiler, I saw there was no flame despite the unit being switched on for heat. I followed the usual procedure to restart the pilot light but to no avail. Jason Y. from Hero Plumbing, Heating and Cooling was at my house in about 30 minutes. After testing a few things, he said it probably was one of two things, the thermocouple was bad or the gas valve was bad. He said he thought the thermocouple was the likely culprit. I agreed to have it replaced and not much later our boiler was back in business producing heat. Jason Y. was professional, friendly, and helpful. I appreciate his promptly diagnosing the likely cause and providing remediation options.

Scare tactics and lack of response after the work was completed has left me feeling scammed. My full experience with Hero is below, do not make my mistake, go with another heating/cooling/plumbing company. My families experience is almost exactly the same as the one described in this Yelp review: [*** Link removed ***] We scheduled a maintenance check-up for our boiler. The checked out our boiler which was overdue for a cleaning, admittedly. They then informed us that the boiler was putting out dangerous amounts of CO and we were terrified. They called in a "second opinion" which was another Hero tech (red flag), who agreed with the assessment of the first. They then said they are required to red tag the boiler and turn it off. This is on the day before temps were supposed to get down to the 20's for the first time. We also have a baby in the house so wanted to get this taken care of ASAP. The sales rep, Tony showed up promptly and talked us through the options. He was courteous and seemed very honest. He let us take the evening to think it over and we did, calling him and letting him know which boiler we wanted. He was prompt in responding and we had a new boiler installed and running within 3 days. Then red flags started popping up. The city inspector, while checking out the installation work, said that they weren't aware of the "red tag" requirement the techs talked about. We also then found out that our brand new boiler is under an active recall. The manufacturer put out a recommended fix which our new boiler did have, but we just spent over $13,000 on a boiler under active recall?!?! Really!? When we were checking to see if the recall fix was in place we realized that a pipe was blocking the boiler cover from being fully removed, which seems like it will be problematic for future maintenance. When we emailed Tony about our concerns he never responded. So we called and emailed Hero directly. We even used the live chat on the website where we were promised a follow up phone call the next day which never came. After I found the above linked Yelp review that perfectly mirrors our own experience (except that the yelper was smart enough to check before hand ), I feel completely scammed and I can't believe a company that would promote these tactics is so well regarded. I will also be filing a complaint with the BBB. Do not make my mistake.

Had a very nasty clog in our kitchen sink. It took our tech six attempts of snaking before the clog was completely cleared up. Definitely appreciated the persistence. Their prices were a little on the higher side but at the same time they responded very quickly (were there early next morning) and were very prompt and professional. Having a kitchen sink clogged is no fun and would definitely consider them again even with their higher prices because they were so fast to respond and persistent in finding a solution. Tip: Was able to find an internet coupon that knocked $57 off the price.

$1K for 1 hour's worth of work. I knew that their estimate was high based on my previous experience, but my husband pushed me to get the work done asap. I have had 2 kitchens renovated in the past and 1 bathroom. I thought it would take 3 hours tops to do the work, and I asked the guy if he was serious and thought that his work was really worth $300/hour. He hemmed and hawed and refused to provide even a ballpark figure. We had just gotten our kitchen done, and we needed the plumbing reconnected (Ikea faucet on Ikea sink, dishwasher hookup, garbage disposal). We didn't move any of our stuff; he didn't have to move or install new plumbing or anything. All in all easy work, certainly not worth $1000, not even $500. The plumber went on and on about how he needed to drill a hole for the faucet - he meant drilling a hole on an Ikea butcher block counter, which takes all of maybe 2 minutes. As I said, I was really super annoyed at the idea of paying $300/hour, but thought I would suck it up. .... It took the guy 1 hour of work. Not 1.5 hours. Not 2 hours. Not even 1 h 15 minutes. Literally 1 hour. $1000. Had I known it would only take 1 hour to perform the work, I would not have agreed to $1000, which I suspect is his reason for not answering my question. I'm also a bit worried about the quality of this work. Yes, I know we are complete idiots, but you don't have to be! We also asked him how much hook up the water line to our fridge icemaker. Best Buy had actually charged us $150 to get it done, but I wasn't expecting them for another few weeks and thought to ask this guy since he was already at the house. The valve was already installed, and we had the line in hand. He needed to drill maybe one hole on a cabinet. The guy gave an estimate of over $650!! I doubt it would have taken him more than 15 minutes. Hero has nearly 5 stars average on google reviews; I suspect Google lets any review in there (even fake ones). Check out the yelp reviews. There are tons of negative ones; there are tons of people who felt that they have been scammed. This company is a scam. Run, don't walk. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.

This company essentially SCAMMED ME. They came to repair our water heater and said the burn pilot and gas control valve needed to be replaced. They told me the cost of a new, equivalent water heater, would be $2500 and repair would be $1100, so I payed them for the repair. However, after they completed the repair, they said that the water heater was leaking and actually needed to be completely replaced (which they said couldn't have been foreseen). They still charged me $1100 for parts and labor that was WORTHLESS because I needed to replace the water heater in the end. What is even more ridiculous is that when I called Home Depot about replacing the water heater, the total for replacement was $1100, so the $2500 for replacement that I was quoted by Hero's was a lie aimed at coercing me to pay for repairs. I asked Hero's to make this right by installing the new water heater for free (the least they could do) and they refused. They made no effort to remedy this situation.

Charged $270 to clear 3 slow drains. Was here just over an hour. Watch out for high service charges like this!!!

Beware!!! Total bill was ASTRONOMICAL and UNREASONABLE. Failed to charge fair and reasonable rates. Keep customer better updated/informed on job price increase and running total. Provide customer with paper invoice after finished and provide a break down of labor and parts costs when asked. Plumber was on time and very pleasant. Quality of work appears to be fine. First I thought they had perhaps inadvertently double billed me but when I asked for a breakdown of labor and parts they could not provide the information. Over SEVENTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS to put in a new cold water valve and replace\install a new $89 tub and shower fixture I had purchased at Menards. Still in shock. The last liscensed plumber I hired 10 years ago charged me a total of $800 to install a kichen sink and laundry sink fixture and even plumed in a shutoff valve for the laundry tub plumbing. Would never trust this company again.

As far as I can tell, they did the work okay. My problem is with the amount of money they charged me. I happen to know the valves they installed are a max of $15 piece. They were here for 45 minutes. If I weren't handicapped, I could have done the job myself.

Let's start out with the positive, the call center reps are awesome, the e-mail notification (with bio and picture of plumber in route) is top notch. They show up in clearly marked van, professional dress, and the bio showed they have very experienced staff with 20+ years and many master plumbers. That is where the positive portion ends. I had a leaking water heater, the cost I knew for a new water heater would be around $800 or so and calculated another $500 or so install. The plumber showed up to do this slam dunk deal and started off his sales pitch as soon as walked in the room with water heater. He said thinks I need a new water softener and lucky for me he was having a special sale this week where I could get that included with my water heater. He said this without looking at my water softener, without testing my water, and without me saying there was a single problem with water softener. So I told him no thanks just the water heater. He then quoted me over 4 thousand dollars to install a residential water heater but (lucky for me) that was a package that included the water softener he had decided he wanted to sell me. He went on to say that if I couldn't afford the over 4 thousand dollars to install the residential water heater they do offer financing and almost ridiculed me when I said I didn't think over 4k was a fair price. I politely told him I'm not interested and told him I'd go with another company. Overall they are knowledgeable, experienced, and probably know their stuff. On the negative side they are expensive (think double everyone else) and sell you stuff you don't need. The sad irony is that when he left he agreed to waive my trip charge but to do that had me sign some paperwork saying I was 100% satisfied with their service. Which seems like employees gaming their own company to hide the customers they drive away. I will mention in their defense they are undergoing name change from Uptown to Hero and the water heater install price he said of over 4 grand he said would of included some change in plumbing so honestly it may of been fair but he was so interested in selling me stuff I didn't ask for I was just turned off to the company completely. Uptown or Hero or whatever the name is they are using, I'll politely pass and go with someone else. There are PLENTY of other reputable companies on Angie's list to pursue that are not trying to get their name/reviews removed like this one is (which is also very odd).

I needed a new sump pump with battery back up. The plumber, Chad; was a great guy and did a stellar job. I'll use these guys the next time I need a plumber and give them my highest rcommendation.

Overview - Negative experiences at every level of company (scheduling, service, estimates, and billing). I cannot recommend this company for any service and would strongly suggest that anyone who does use their services get a second opinion and/or multiple bids. Service tech training/knowledge was lacking (as it was contradicted by tech with 15-20 years more experience), repeated attempts to sell me (unwanted) monthly service plan, billed for 3 times the advertised price (refunded more than a month and several phone calls later), replacement estimates 40% higher than competition. Reason - Wanted a early-season boiler check-up/tune-up. Called Uptown largely due to their neighborhood gathering space investment and fancy red trucks running all over the area. Scheduling - Booking the appointment was more difficult than it need be - staff needed to check with multiple people to see if a service plan (that wasn't requested or wanted) was available. Service - Tech was on-time, friendly and professional. He was happy to talk through what he was doing, what to look for and why. 20-30 minutes into the work and some waffling he red-tagged (condemned) the boiler, shutting it down for what would be 2 weeks Sept-Oct. Replacement - I promptly scheduled with Uptown and 2 competitors to get replacement bids. Uptown's bid was 40% higher than equivalent unit from Ben Franklin/Blue Ox. Burn-o-matic wasn't convinced a 15 year-old no-frills quality boiler should be replaced and insisted on sending out their tech. The Burn-o-matic tech (15-20 years more experience than Uptown tech) made his inspection and immediately pulled the tag, explained why and that the unit could easily see another 10 years of service. He further reassured me when he said he would trust the boiler in his mother's home. Billing - At the end of my initial appointment (and after 3 separate attempts to get me to sign a $10/month service plan) I paid $210. A day or so later I saw an Uptown billboard advertising $69 boiler tune-up. I called about the discrepancy and was told "I needed to mention the ad when booking." After finding out that the boiler was operational and safe, I called Uptown again noting that their billboard had no "fine-print" nor was the tune-up completed since their tech condemned it and said there was no point to finishing if it was going to be replaced; a couple transfers later an office personnel agreed they would refund difference. A month later and 2 more calls I finally received a full refund.

I found Uptown Plumbing Heating & Cooling through Angie's List and contacted them because of the good reviews. I had had a tenant in the home who had failed to add salt to the softener and I was concerned it wasn't working properly. Philip B. arrived and advised me that both the motor and the electronic console were bad. He said replacing parts was $1,900 but he could have a new one installed the same day for $1,500. Recognizing that the water softener itself had cost around $400, I couldn't understand why the repair would be so expensive. I decided to get a second opinion. Imagine my surprise when the ONLY GE certified water softener technician in the metropolitan area advised me that there was NOTHING wrong with my water softener. I have contacted Uptown and advised them of the situation and they have promised to talk to the technician. Buyer beware!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My outdoor pipes have burst every single winter, even though I drain them. I've had three other companies come out and try to fix it, but the pipes kept bursting. The technician from Uptown was able to figure out WHY it was happen AND was able to fix it. For the first time since owning my home I won't have to get my pipes replaced outside. The technician was polite, efficient and effective. I HIGHLY recommend using Uptown Plumbing for your house.

Installed within 15 minutes for $280. JOB TOOK 15 MINUTES!! Total rip-off!! Capitalizing on the cold weather snap. This WAS NOT an emergency call...we had heat...it was a service call to correct an intermittent problem. I will never let these people in my home again.

I was very happy working with Rob (Sales Manager/Project Engineer) in designing the proper system for our residence. The technicians, Justin, Ricco and Tye did an excellent job installing the system. The piece of mind of having the Uptown 10-year bumper to bumper parts & labor warranty is well worth the cost of the system.

I had a boiler and hot water heater tuneup. The first appointment they cancelled on me the night before. The second appointment they showed up at 9:30 when they window was 7 - 9. Their operator said the tech was in scheduled training. Why they booked me an appointment during training is beyond me. The service tech told me I had a potentially dangerous gas leak and advised I get it taken care of right away. He offered one of their plumbers to come out who gave me a bid to replace the affected pipes. It smelled a little fishy so I called CenterPoint to come out. The Center Point gas person couldn't find any evidence of a gas leak and said the bid I received for the work seemed to be very high. I ended up losing over half a day of work and had to have my family leave the house while the phantom leak was investigated. Reading reviews it sounds like this aggressive upsale tactic has been used before. I would highly discourage anyone from doing business with them. No thanks.

we do need a new water heater. they were unable to send a quote. when we called them to ask about it, they sent a bid a full 50% higher than the next highest bid, with no guarantee of work. If we wanted a guarantee, it would cost 100% more than the lowest bid, for a worse water heater. I asked to speak to someone about the absurd pricing, and was told a manager would call me. He never did. I called to find out why, and was told another manager would call me. He didn't either. These folks don't want your business unless they can overcharge you for it.