BENJAMIN FRANKLIN PLUMBING

Professional, courteous, and efficient.

I needed to replace my hot water heater and wanted it done ASAP. As usual, I checked reviews on Angie's List and called several area plumbers. Most could not get to me for a day or two. When I talked to Benjamin Franklin's contact person, Chris, she took my information, gave me an exact and guaranteed price quote and said someone would get there later in the day. Within 30 minutes, she called back and informed me she found a plumber who would be over within the hour. The technician, Mike S., also called to let me know he was on his way. The replacement required some creative problem-solving, and Mike S. answered the challenge in a calm and intelligent manner. He worked quickly without rushing and explained to me much of what he was doing (I tend to ask a lot of questions). All went very well, including a thorough clean-up, and a careful removal of the old heater. I found the experience as stress-free as a plumbing emergency can go. Next plumbing job I need, I'll most assuredly be calling Benjamin Franklin.

Very Happy with the service and serviceman. Anieve was on time, professional and neat. I will call in the future if any plumbing issues arise.

I got water leaking from my A.C. And I called these guys these guys came and did perform 20 mins service and charged me $400. These guys are very expensive.

Great! it was fixed and the clean up was complete within an hour

Fine. He knew what to look for and didn't waste any time. Was very pleasant to me. All plumbers are expensive. It's difficult for seniors to pay large amounts out of pocket. But trade people are necessary. Now I'm looking for someone to do pruning and clean up my shrubbery in the front of my home.

called told them what i needed done they told me they would have to ask if they do this type of work and would get back to me guess they lost my phone number..e-mail address

I’m taking the time to writing this review with the hopes that no other family has to have the experience we had with Farrell Brothers (now under Ben Franklin Plumbing). In the fall of 2016 we were undergoing a major kitchen renovation. It was a complete gut job and very costly (as these things usually are). Because it was going to be an open floor plan there ended up being a baseboard radiator we didn’t really need. If we kept it we’d be limited to cabinet placement so I searched for a company to handle this. I went online to the various review sites and choose Farrell Brothers because they were local to me and had a decent reputation. They were a common name and I ignorantly assumed an established company would be a safe bet. When the employee l, Ron, arrived to do the work he was very chatty. My contractor and I exchanged glances because this guy just went on and on about random stuff. In hindsight I should have realized this lack of attention was a red flag. When he finished his work and left I noticed water pipes hanging down from my laundry ceiling and a plug labeled “DO NOT UNPLUG” was, naturally, unplugged. I called my contact at Farrell and was told the guy planned on coming back bc he just knew I’d want more work done; that’s why he left things unfinished. Since I only wanted done what I contracted them to do Ron came back the next day to clean up his mess. Little did we know it was only the mess we could see. Jump ahead to October/November 2018. Our 50 year old boiler dies and it’s cold. Luckily we had a contractor at the house and he does HVAC work so we had him replace the boiler. As soon as the system gets turned on something isn’t right. Some areas are warm, some are cold, and there are strange puddles of water in the kitchen and, directly below, the laundry room. No one could figure out where this water was coming from! It wasn’t the windows, no pipes were wet, it wasn’t from outside. It was baffling. We opened walls, soffits...nothing. Nothing until all **** broke lose. About a week after the new boiler was installed I was cleaning the kitchen and heard a loud gurgle. Next thing I knew water was flooding out from under the baseboard trim but above the floor. It wasn’t a “leak”; it was as if a levee had broken. My contractor rushed over and started putting holes in the wall and tile floor while I gathered every towel we owned to stop the water from reaching the wood floors in the dining room. As the tile is coming up we start to see what the issue is. The pipe I paid Farrell Brothers to remove had never been capped. The pipe was sticking out from the subfloor, but under the tile floor, essentially giving the water unimpeded access across the entire floor. The damage traveled across the kitchen and under the base cabinets. It flooded basement and ruined the carpet. And, no surprise, there was mold. As the tile was ripped out we found another leak where another portion of the radiator had been removed. Again, these pipes weren’t capped. Part of the estimate included turning the system on and checking to make sure the work was done properly. This was never done. If Ron HAD turned the system on the pipes he didn’t cap would have shot water out like a fountain. Remember we were mid-renovation and had a gutted kitchen. There was no floor. All the pipes were easily accessible and visible. What Ron DID do was turn off that zone so that when I turned my heat on no water went into those pipes. As soon as my new boiler was installed and all systems were all turned on and truly tested, the negligence became clear. Luckily my contractor had the wherewithal to record with his phone’s video camera what was happening under the tile floor. It’s plain as day the root of the problem. Over the next several months my PERFECT, 18 month old, kitchen was gutted in order to mediate the mold the water damage caused. Half the floor was removed, cabinet and counter tops pulled out. Did I mention this was two weeks before Thanksgiving. Did I mention things still weren’t fixed until well into the new year? Needless to say the holidays were ruined. In addition to that upheaval, the kitchen just isn’t the same. The tile was no longer from the same lot so the size was off. If you’ve ever installed tile you know that a small difference at the beginning will turn into a huge issue at the end. I essentially have one kitchen floor with two different tiles. The only way to truly fix it is to do the entire floor over. This will cost thousands of dollars. Thousands of dollars I guess Farrell Brothers thinks I should be responsible for because they have yet to respond to our certified letter, calls, or our insurance company. Not a single communication. A business should be judged not only by the work they do but also by how they handle problems the create. Apparently Farrell Brothers doesn’t adhere to this. They have merged with Ben Franklin Plumbing so maybe they think they can hide behind that. Maybe they think I’ll just be too burned out and let it go. That’s not going to happen. These unscrupulous companies need to held accountable for the consequences of their actions or lack of due diligence. I paid $900 for a pipe to be disconnected and the work to be verified. What I got was an absentminded employee who didn’t do the job he claimed he did (probably because he thought he’d be back to do more work that I specifically said I didn’t need or want). I have a company that refuses to acknowledge the situation. And I’m up to 20k in repairs. I don’t want this to happen to ANY of you.

James was a terrific. He was the very professional and explained everything he was going to do prior to execution. What impressed me most was the fact that he went to Home Depot twice in the same day to resolve the issue. Not only that he also came back to fix an additional problem he noticed when he was fixing the original problem.

went very well. Tech arrived on time, completed work quickly and when I had questions later on the team was very responsive.

Even thought the job was found to be more involved and take longer than anticipated the company stayed within the initial estimate. The technician did an excellent job.

The service was very good. And Randy, the owner, is very nice .We got what we wanted. It is a bit pricey, but we got what we wanted.

These guys had my respect, they've been doing this forever and Angie's list backed them, so that was good enough for me. When I requested a quote, it was actually for another company that never called me, but Farrell Brothers did. So I figured I'd go with them. There was another company that called right away too but I didn't see as many reviews and the Angie's list coupon was better. Which speaking of, when I mentioned the coupon to the office lady, she said no problem, they'd accept it. They actually called yesterday to let me know they'd be later than anticipated because there was an emergency job. Good communication. I asked again about the coupon and she said just show the screenshot, you don't have to print it out. I thought, cool, don't have to go to Kinko's. The service ran later than anticipated, but there was good communication about it and the job was done quickly and professionally. When it came time to settle up he wouldn't take the coupon because the office told him to look for a promo code or bar code, but it didn't have those and never did. So don't expect this company to honor the Angie's list coupons. Other than paying more than expected, these guys are great.

I asked Farrell Brothers to come by for a potential leak in my basement. The man that showed up was pleasant and friendly, and knew this house well from being here several times before with the previous owner. He spent a total of 3 minutes in my basement and knew right away that it wasn't a plumbing issue. Nevertheless, he still insisted on charging me $103 just for showing up. If Farrell Brothers wanted to keep customers loyal, they should have waived the fee since he did absolutely nothing and it took less than 10 minutes of his day. I will never use this company again.

Pros: Showed up same day, on time, to provide an estimate Cons: Ridiculous pricing, non-disclosed estimate fee, generic estimate that did not require a visit I had 3 items requested for service: (1) installing two new faucets I had already purchesed in my master bath vanity, (2)replacing a broken outdoor spigot and (3) adding a condensate pump to my ice machine. I offered to send detailed pictures of the repairs needed and the parts I purchased but the receptionist said they don't take pictures and they could send someone out within a couple of hours to take a look at items needing repair/replacement. After coming to my home on an unbearably hot day, the tech estimated $299 for each faucet and recommended an overly complex draining system to add the condensate pump to my ice machine. The total work for installing 3 replacement faucets would have cost $800-900. I told them not to bother to bid on the condensate pump. I did not know they charged for estimates and when I told the tech I was not interested in replacing 3 faucets for $900, he asked me to pay $99 for the estimate which I refused because it was not disclosed ahead of time. I ultimately decided to replace the condensate pump on my own, and called an independently licensed plumber at $75 an hour to do all three faucet/repairs for $225 total. I got the sense that the tech was really as salesperson who made commission on selling the most expensive repair they could get away with. Excessive charges like these for mundane repairs make maintaining a home unaffordable, particularly for the elderly trying to age in place and keep their homes. Farrell pricing may actually be in line with similar large entities in the area, but are not in line with reasonable costs for a homeowner in this area. If they were the only choice, I would have to be on Youtube to figure out how to do these repairs on my own. Thank goodness for independent plumbers.

I had a sewer backup that flooded a room in my home. I had roto rooter dude out to my house 3 previous times in the course of a year to unclog my lines. I tried to reach out to rooterman but he was too busy. I hopped on Angies List and looked up plumbing. Farrell bros is what i decided to go with but was hesitant due to the F ratings. Their plumber Mike, i think it was mike (Marine Veteran) was at my house in less than an hour. He snaked and cleaned out the line, but he found what rooterman had missed! He saw that the trap plugs were rotted out and replaced them. Then he used a camera to scope out the line and i found out i had a broken Trap and a belly! How did the Rooterman miss this three times?? Mike ordered me a part and replaced the broken stuff and was very kind. Both of us were Marines so we bonded a bit over that i think. Anyway, he offered to get me an estimate for digging up and replacing the sewer line and told me about the financing. I may or may not go with them for that big job, i haven't decided yet and am trying to find a cheaper solution such as getting a excavator in there and exposing the pipe then calling Farrell in to replace. One thing is for sure, i wont call the rooterman anymore! Mike from Farell is a great plumber. Ignore some of these other crazy sounding reviews, i can tell you first hand that these people are legitimate.

Very well, in and out quickly with no mess.

Farrell Brothers was able to schedule a plumber the same afternoon I called. We were getting backup downstairs. Consensus that house main was blocked somewhere. Mike was very thorough in researching the problem and was able to clear the blockage that was between my house and the street. Excellent service. Did feel that the price was a bit high; however, I needed a plumber the day I called and Farrell Brothers was more than accommodating.

The work was done efficiently and turned out very nice; however, it was absurdly expensive. They charge $99 just to show up. Another $299 for the work. For a simple faucet, that is just unbelievably expensive. We will never use them again I'm sorry to say.

They did a really good job and the prices were not bad. As a first time home owner I didn't have alot of money to work with and they were able to help me finance the repairs.

The plumber came in one day and gave me a quote and then came two days later and installed the gas line. It went very well.

Easy to work with. Honored Angie's List coupon. Didn't try to oversell; could have sold a second toilet but agreed to simply repair and replace which saved money.

The tech came out, gave me a very vague idea of what's happening to the tune of $3400. He said that the break was around a fairly specific point underground. They scheduled the repair, came out in a fairly timely manner. They excavated where they said that they would and "repaired" the pipe (this is just what they told me). They put a camera through the line again to be sure that it was repaired and they said that it was broken in another spot. I called the city to see if it was covered and it turns out that they never got the required permits from the city, they just tried to do a rush job and hide the fact that they were doing anything here. Aside from that they said that there was an additional $6000 in repairs that they had to make, but we could use our plumbing in the meantime until we gathered the money for the 2nd repair because it "wasn't going to be any worse than what it was before". Fast forward 3 weeks (everything working great) we walk outside and there's sewage spewing from the section of sidewalk that they dug up to "repair" the section of pipe. I called Randy (the man that I had been communicating with) to ask if there was any possibility that the pipe had come loose and started leaking. He was EXTREMELY RUDE to me and pretty much brushed off my concerns told me that "our work is always quality and doesn't break" and gave me an "I told you so" and rushed me off the phone. I called the office to request that someone come out and dig up the work that had been done to show me that the pipe was in its proper place and fitted the way it should be moreso for piece of mind that our money didn't just get thrown out the window for shoddy workmanship. The halfway decent office guy "Tom" told me that they would be out with a camera (which had been attempted 7 times before but with no success). So the tech came back out and of course, the camera didn't work. I called Randy back and in so many words he refused to come back out and dig this pipe up to show me that his work was not the problem. Can I just add that this hole is about 3ft wide, 3ft. Long, and 3 ft deep, so it's nothing that would be a huge deal to do, in fact I'd do it myself but I'm pregnant. So as of now we have paid $3400 to be worse off than we were to begin with. We've been told that the work was done but no proof, no photos, no consults through the job. This is just the crappy tip of the iceburg when it comes to this job, there were several times during my interactions with Chris, Randy, Tom, and the tech where they were very short, rude, unorganized, and unwilling to provide any sort of quality customer service. My advice to you is to go with an insured, reputable contractor. It may be more expensive but this has not been worth the money that was "saved" because we still need to replace the entire line also to the tune of $7200.

Just give them an A for everything.

Had some trouble finding drain "cleanout" but blockage was found at 60 feet out.