Michael & Son

Description of Work: Wow! First my toilet had to have new innards; then a few days later my water heater decided it didn't want to hold water any more. In both cases, the service man called before he arrived, he was extremely careful about keeping my house clean (or sort-of -- most of the carpet and vinyl had gotten soaked), the work was done in a timely manner, the plumbers were wonderful -- friendly and professional. I have no hesitation recommending Michael and Son plumbing to anyone.

Description of Work: I had a $59 coupon for AC maintenance from Michael and Sons. The young man who came out was very polite. He spent a long time in my crawl space (about 2 hours) then came in with my "estimate" and photos of "my" AC unit. He proceed to show me photos of all the work that needed to be done. The estimate was for 3,400! I said my unit wasn't even 5 years old and I wasn't going to have any additional work done, paid him the $59 and called another AC technician to come out and look at my unit at a cost of $90 for a service call. He checked out the estimate and looked at the pictures, then went into the crawl space to check my unit thoroughly. Not only did he NOT find any of the problems listed on the Michael and Sons estimate, he said the pictures weren't even of my unit! I would strongly advise not using this company as they have unethical business practices.

Description of Work: I used Michael & Son

Description of Work: I've used Michael & Sons for the past 2 years, for my heating/AC and plumbing as well as electric needs. They also come when scheduled to, they let me know in advance who is coming and send a pic, and the technician is always polite, courteous, knowledgeable and professional. Today I had an electrician, David L, come. He figured out very quickly what was wrong, gave me an accurate estimate, and fixed the problem immediately. He did a few extra things (no charge) as well. The only drawback to using them is it is a bit more pricey than other companies.

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Description of Work: Prices were exceedingly high. The discount provided by Angies list was good. However it was put towards the cost of a house call. I had four bath toilets that needed repairing. If I had done what the plumber wanted me to do, I would have to pay over $2,0000 for services.Next time I will buy my own parts and hire a less expensive plumber.

Description of Work: They clean up the leafs around my house and put them out for the city leaf collector. They did a great job.

Description of Work: Good service but thought charges were high.

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Description of Work: Evaluation for a warranty

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Description of Work: This didn't go very well. I purchased an Angie's List deal with Michael and Son that cost $119 for $200 worth of plumbing services. The plumber who responded to the call was AWESOME. But he determined there was nothing he could do until someone came in to assess the septic/sewer system, which he believed was causing toilet and sink backups. | |He called Michael and Son about the situation -- I'd paid $119 but couldn't get the stopped sink and leaking toilet fixed for less than $1000 or even more if the septic system had to get tree roots scraped out. Quite the dilemma. | |So nothing could be done. However, there was a service fee for sending the plumber in to assess and diagnose. So I paid $119 as a service fee. | |The plumber was concerned about this and asked if he could at least SOMETHING to give me value for the deal I purchased. His manager allowed him to replace the P-joint drain in my bathroom sink (even though there was nothing really wrong with it; it was just old). This was $125. | |I had to undergo chemotherapy starting the next week, so this fell off my priority list. Eventually, though, I contracted with another plumbing company to assess the situation. Four of their plumbers came and fixed the problems with the toilet and bathroom sink, plus improved the drainage of my kitchen sink. | |Then I wondered, What about having purchased $200 of service for $119 and getting only $125 in service that I didn't actually need and that didn't resolve the problem? | |I called Michael and Son a couple of times and was told that the "Big Deal" offering $200 of service for $119 actually is for services of $200 or more, and that if I did have some repairs that were over $200, that credit would be applied. But because the P-Joint replacement was valued at $125, the rest of my $200 was invalid. | |The customer service rep I spoke with, Brittany, didn't seem to understand that my view is that buying $119 for $200 of service is like buying a gift card, and that I should receive credit or a partial refund for the remaining $70 on this deal. She said she spoke with the plumbing manager and her explanation was the right one: even though I paid for $200 of service, that extra $75 doesn't exist. | |She was adamant about this and talked over me many times. I wasn't even really calling with a complaint -- just a question about whether I could get partial credit for services that I paid for but didn't get. | |She told me that I should have contacted Michael and Son rather than another plumbing service so that they could negotiate a better price to resolve the situation in the bathroom. And that $75 isn't such a big deal, so why am I worried about it? "Everyone knows" that the $200 isn't like a gift card, but it's easy to understand how a "simple person" would see it that way. | |I asked for a call back from a supervisor. Just moments later, I received a call from Lou. Michael of Michael and Son is actually his uncle, and the son is actually Lou's cousin. So customer service and the family values of their company mean a lot. He said that the customer service representatives I'd talked with were just wrong; that I paid for $200 worth of service and should get the remaining $75 on credit. And that he hoped his company had not lost me as a customer. | |I'd already hired another company to do the work that Michael and Son charged me $119 for but was unable to resolve. I told Lou that, unfortunately, after the way the customer service reps treated me, I felt stupid and wrong about asking for a $75 credit. And that was the reason that I didn't make any calls between the day when the Michael and Son plumber came and June 22, when I received an Angie's List reminder to provide a review of this service. | |Lou understood completely that this was a teachable moment for his customer service staff. I explained that good customer service would go like this: "Ma'am, I'm so sorry you had this experience and we were unable to address your plumbing problem for $200. I know it's difficult when there are financial troubles. Our policy is xxxxx [whatever the policy is], but if you'd like, I can give you the number for Angie's List and you could talk with them about what it means to pay $110 for $200 service. Then they can get back to us so that we're all on the same page. We don't want to lose you as a customer! So let me give you that Angie's List number, and we'll talk again after they provide more information about their policy on situations like this. Again, I'm sorry we didn't resolve your plumbing issue, but we'd be happy to work with you again." Or something like that. | |Lou said he definitely needed to ensure that all customer service reps were getting consistent information about Angie's List dealings, and that treating every customer well is important to their business. | |Michael and Son doesn't make a habit of sending a check in lieu of a credit for service. But in this case, I would be hesitant to work with Michael and Son in the future. I'm just too poor to afford their services and I came away from two customer service encounters that made me feel dumb and that my $75 is a meaningless casualty of a disagreement about what an Angie's List Big Deal is. | |Lou agreed to think about it and send me a check in some amount in the next week or so. He was very pleasant and we had a good conversation. I'm not a persnickety person ... I'm just incredibly poor and am very careful about how I spend money. I need service providers who treat me well and understand that even poor people deserve to have their plumbing needs addressed. | |I want to say, too, that Ivan, the plumber who came to my house, was very pleasant and informative. He considered all types of solutions and understood my financial situation. He could have just left, doing nothing for the $119 I'd paid (which would then have been used as a service fee); instead he replaced an old sink pipe and gave me some value for the money I'd paid. Ivan did a thorough job of assessing the situation, and that information was incredibly helpful when I hired another company to take a second look.

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Description of Work: Excellent customer service. Considerate of my schedule. Knowledgeable and courteous