Thomas & Galbraith Heating, Cooling & Plumbing

Overall, everything was wonderful. The man who came out was very great. He was thorough and I've never had anyone check the furnace the way he did. He was awesome.

We pay them $19 a month for a service package. We are happy to have a company for plumbing emergencies and things like that. They are good. We've had bad experiences trying to locate a plumber on a weekend and had to pay triple time. They were responsive and we have a standing invitation for a whole house plumbing inspection. UPDATE: 1/20/2012 As of June 2011 I entered into a contract with Service Pro. In December, I scheduled semi-annual furnace review. The technician came in and claimed our furnace was in need of a new $800 dry motor, even though it was only 5 years and 10 months old. The motor itself was only 10 months out of warranty. Later that evening the furnace would not come back on. The technician came back around 10pm. If he had checked the thermostat, he would have seen the batteries just needed to be replaced. He did not check this until he came back out the second time. Other companies have checked the furnace since then and said no repairs or replacements were necessary. We also got a new refrigerator and Service Pro was the highest of 3 estimates to hook up a water line to the ice maker. We pay $19/month to be guaranteed the lowest service cost, but right now they are the most expensive. I contacted them to let them know I?m not happy with their services, and asked what we could do to terminate the contract. They refuse to end the contract, and insist that I?ll have to pay for the remaining 5 months. I want to warn other people about this provider. If Service Pro would allow us to leave the contract, we would not have any problem, but they refuse to offer us any kind of remedy at all.

Excellent customer service provided when you call to schedule (Brenda) - polite, professional and very personable. Always helpful when I call and willing to work with me on scheduling, coupons and any questions that come up. The initial plumbing inspection, done by Eric, was thorough and guided through what he found. Insured to answer all questions and quote for anything that we'd like to know how much it would cost to fix. Straightforward with answers and didn't make you feel rushed. Gave details for joining their service plan, but did not push to decide or oversell. We decided afterward to go with the service plan and glad that we did. It was $19.99/month covering plumbing, heating and A/C - and gives 15% discount for work plus yearly visits for each at no cost. Each time we decided to have something completed, Eric comes out and does the work. It has been nice to work with the same person each time, and feel you know exactly what to expect. Initially replaced the water shutoff, then came back to rod out the roof vents and replace a section of the vent pipe in the attic that was leaking. And finally, installed a new toilet and kitchen faucet (they supplied the toilet and faucet). Each time, Eric has been very thorough, always insuring that he works cleanly and insure that it's done right the first time. He finds any problems, like a scratched toilet seat and even took the time to insure that the area around the replacement faucets were clean, spending extra time using a cleaner with an abrasive on the white Corian sink, before we even see it. He also makes sure that we take the opportunity to take a look at his work and ask any questions. Eric's only fault has been that he's not always very punctual. Overall though, he does great work and always makes sure we have the upfront pricing and expectations correct before he starts. On to the next task - a minor toilet rebuild at $318 that I'll be using the latest Angie's List coupon for $99 on $200 worth of work.

Everything was great with the exception that the "deal" stated my filter would be replaced. The technician was not aware of this and didn't have the correct size with him. He offered to go buy one, but since I wasn't going to be home the rest of the day, I declined.

We had purchased the Angie's List deal for a whole-house plumbing inspection. Making the appointment was quick and easy. Mike came out and was very thorough in checking all the plumbing and gas lines and answering our questions. We knew we needed a toilet replaced, and it was also discovered that the expansion tank on our water heater had failed, plus we had a slow leak from the water heater which could not be found. We decided to replace since we had also had previous problems with it. He was able to have someone else bring over the new water tank and toilet and replaced both that day. He also tightened some plumbing fixtures in one of the bathrooms. Work was very clean and professional.

I called a few shops after hours on Tuesday the 26th because my A/C wasn't pumping out cold air. Jacob Brothers was by far the most friendly and professional to speak with. The technician I spoke with gave me a few ideas of what the problem might be and the approximate costs associated with each. I did not want them to come out immediately for an emergency call so I called first thing the next morning and booked an appointment. The technician was at my house within an hour or so. My boyfriend was there because I had to work, but he said the technician was very good. They called me after the initial inspection and asked to do a leak check which could range in price dependent on how involved the search was. I believe the range was approximately $80-$190. In the end he found that a valve was loose on my external unit, tightened it and refilled my freon. The freon was $52 per pound, which seemed expensive, but after a little research I think it was a reasonable price. He did mention that it is still possible that there is a leak in the line from the interior unit to the exterior unit and he would not be able to check that without tearing apart my and my neighbors walls (I live on the top floor in a condo complex). So I am hopeful that the loose valve was it and my place will stay comfortable all summer next year!

Woke up on Sat. AM and found AC not working. Placed call to 3 contractors. They were the first to respond, arriving at my home about 2 hours after my initial call. Determined compressor was bad. Explained situation in full and recommended full replacement. Within the next hour someone was at my house for a quote, signed contract and Monday AM they arrived at about 9 AM and by 3 PM I had a new AC system. I had to press them a little for details on maintaining system but once I expressed an interest the info was forthcoming. I did discover the next day that they had moved some things around in the basement and not mentioned it and not returned them to their original location, but otherwise they cleaned up after themselves quite well.

Didn't get any service, so I would say poor is how I would rate them. If it was their answering service that "dropped the ball" they should find a new one! If it was their own fault, shame on them!

They were really good, nice and professional employees. They gave us a good estimate, met their price and did the work in a good amount of time.

We had problems with air conditioning getting up to the second floor bedrooms, stemming back to modifications made a few years ago by another local HVAC supplier. I called for an appointment, and Jacob Bros. came out the next day. When the technician came inside the door, he immediately pulled out shoe covers and put them on. I've lived in my home 26 years and no one has ever done that before! He went to the basement and bedrooms, and found the problem in about half an hour. An elbow joint had been installed that was 6 inches too short, and had slipped out of its ductwork. He gave us an estimate to do the work. We elected to do the work ourselves, but will definitely start using Jacob Bros. for preventive maintenance and any repair work.

They do a good job. They are on time and professional. The guys wear little footies when they come in the house.

After considering joining Angie's List before, I finally did so yesterday in order to find a reputable air conditioning provider. I am so glad I did! I called the first two companies because it was after hours and each took a message. Jacob's was the second to call back among both those companies and the company listed on my air conditioner itself. The first company had said someone could come after 10 p.m. and that I'd be charged for an overtime call. They said I could cancel if I found someone who could come earlier. When Jacob's called, I spoke with the provider in case they could come earlier and then cancelled with the other company. The Jacob's technician said he'd be happy to come out but asked me to do some troubleshooting because if my ac was freezing over there would be nothing he could do until it unfroze. After helping me find ice on the outside portion of my AC, the tech walked me through some basic steps on the phone and eliminated the blower as a possible problem, and said it was likely either the filter or a leak - he said I could tell after leaving the fan on overnight but turning the ac off. He also advised what would happen - that I'd get some initial cooling off as the ice melted and that I should put down towels around the ac to make sure I didn't damage my floors. I would have stayed at home all Saturday night waiting for an expensive, overtime call from the other company until Jacob's called and quickly troubleshooted my issue over the phone - giving me concrete, helpful advice and offering to make an appointment for Sunday or Monday should my problem continue. The rep clearly knew what he was talking about. While Jacob's didn't make any money off this call (hopefully Jacob's doesn't get upset with this very friendly and knowledgeable tech), I will go to Jacob's for all my future heating and cooling needs as long as they remain this professional and helpful. Hopefully my lifetime customer value will make up for last night's inexpensive fix (though hopefully for me all the fixes are that inexpensive) :) ! A++++!

We had a leak from our bathroom was leaking into the basement. I called at 2:30 on a thursday afternoon and they sent someone out the same day. He came out to shut off the water and didn't charge us anything. they came back the next day and replaced some wiring. he also mentioned that we will need a new toilet and gave us an estimate for that...which was pretty high. We did not hire them for the toilet replacement because we do not need it right away. We used them a couple times for different projects and each time they have done great work.

I had returned from a 2 week trip to find my AC was out. I had some warranty work done by this company about a year and a half ago so I called them that Friday afternoon and left a message on the answering service. I received a called back about an hour later. They told me it was after hours and that there was a $190 dispatch fee that covered the first hour. I thought that was steep, but I had to work on Monday and needed my AC repair that weekend. I asked if they could come Saturday and I was told that he did not know Saturdays schedule. So I decided to pay the $190. He showed up about an hour later, diagnosed and fix the problem, a dual run capacitor, and gave me the bill. $190 for the labor/dispatch and $447.01 for the cpacitor. This seemed wrong, so I looked up the capacitor online ~ $20. I called a couple of other HVAC companies, and they told me that things like this happen and it makes them sick to their stomaches when it does. So, I called T&G and asked why I was charged nearly $450 for a $20 part. I was told that that was to cover the labor and having a fully stocked truck. I ask what the $190 was for if the part was covering labor, and I was told that that was just for the dispatch and diagnosis. This was crazy, this company worked for 1 hour, and replaced a $20 part then charge over $600. If 2000% upcharge is how they pay for a stocked truck, then leave the truck. It would be better to pay an extra hour of labor for the tech to go back to the shop and get the part then to pay their outrageous markups. Being responsible I paid my bill, but it saddens me that they claim to be a good Christian company while price gauging during the heat wave. Just goes to show how far greed can lead. I hope that noone else gets taken by this company. On a bright note, they did show up and my AC works, but wouldn't you show up and do a good job if you could make $600+ an hour? Ridiculous... UPDATE 10/04/2011 Here is some simple math: Assumptions 10 Licensed service engineers 10 Fully equipped vans Hourly wage* $50 Hours/Day 10; 8 + 2 hours overtime. Cost of van** $30k Cost of parts in van $70k Business loan payment for all vans*** $12k *taken from Bureau of Labor Statistics, top 10% make more than $30/hour, I way overestimated at $50. http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos192.htm ** New Van, see Nissan Commercial Vehicles http://www.nissancommercialvehicles.com/vehicles/vans *** $1,000,000 amortized over 10 years @ 8% interest, this is a typical business loan, after the first 10 years, only new vans would be amortized, the parts are replaced and paid for by the customer, so the cost of the vans would be greatly reduced. So this again is a gross overestimation on my part. Total Wages/Day 8*$50 + 2*50*1.5 = $550 per technician Cost of vehicle and parts = $12,000 /month / 20 working days per month = $600 per day, and only $60 per day per technician Time it takes to replace a capacitor < 1 hour, allow 1 hour for travel and testing, 2 hours maximum. SO, to summarize: Cost for the technician their van and the parts = $610 Time for that one repair = 2 hours Charge for the repair = ~$650 Cost to the company for the repair ~ $20 Company breaks even after 1 repair, and the other 8 hours the technician works I guess goes to uniforms? But, the uniforms are nice. This company likes to use the analogy of the cost of a spark plug and the cost of a tune up. If anyone got the bill for a spark plug replacement and saw that they paid $190 for diagnoses and more than $400 for the spark plug, I think that there would be words. When you have work done, you pay a small up charge for the part, and you pay a labor charge, usually $70+ per hour for auto repair. This model works well in that industry, and from speaking with other HVAC companies, it too works well in the HVAC industry. Charge me an appropriate up charge for the part, ~$60 for a ~$20 part, 3X is reasonable, then charge me an hourly rate for the labor. And by the way, $447.01 - $60 = $387.01 is very high for an hour of labor. Maybe I am being unreasonable, but I just can't shake the feeling that this is wrong.

The technician who came to do the job for us was very professional. He was very knowledgeable. I would recommend him for sure. He did not try to sell me anything extra. They re-scheduled on me once or twice. I would use their services in the future too.

I bought a new kitchen faucet from Home Depot for installation. Service Pros came out to install it and tear out the old one. I bought a big deal coupon from Angie's list. The plumber priced a flat fee. the total fee was $400. It took them 2 hours to tear out the old one and put in the new one. That worked out to $200 per hour. WOW The new faucet was defective so they were going to put in one of theirs and charge me an additional $180 for their new faucet. I decided to take my losses and just asked them to leave. I learned my lesson I will NEVER buy another big deal from Angie's list and I will NEVER agree to fixed fee pricing. I WANT NO RESPONSE OR FOLLOW UP FROM VENDOR NOR ANGIES LIST. I just want to take my losses and go away. Mark Priest

The service was fantastic. Bill is an extremely thorough man and will take the time to explain what he is doing and why he is doing it. He welcomes questions and will answer them with more info than you may want, but it helps. He did an excellent job, and I would hire them again in the future. One other thing, if Bill doesn't know what might be wrong with a system he will find out. He isn't afraid to call a manufacturer to find the answer, but I have a feeling he know most of the answers anyway. There was some confusion on the scheduling date. Because of that I was promised a coupon for my next appointment. I'm still waiting for that.

The company is very easy to work with in terms of scheduling, punctuality and professionalism of their workers. I feel like I can trust them. I have used them for inspections in years past with no issues. I will report back once I get quotes on the major repair/replacement.

They came on time. They called before they came. They did a good job and were very friendly as well as professional.

It went fine. The guy caulked around our loose toilet and ran a snake down one of our slow drains. He also tried to enroll me in their service contract and gave me pricing for rebuilding a toilet and a new water heater. I just thought that the pricing was very high. I ultimately went with another plumber to fix the toilet; he charged a good couple hundred dollars less.

They responded really quickly, were fast, efficient, professional and informative. I couldn't ask for more.

Just before retiring that evening, I went out with the dogs and noticed that the outdoor unit sounded strangely like a nest of chirping crickets. I banged around the sheet metal with my fist and that seemed to settle the squeaks. Next morning I reviewed the checklist of items supposedly included as part of the inspection and counted only 6 items (plus the filter inspection, which I had waived) of the 22 on the list that had actually been observed as accomplished ? less than 1/3rd of the list! He specifically failed to perform the following items: Check Blower Wheel; Check & Tighten Blower mounts and set screws, as needed; Check blower motor amps for proper operation; Check and lube blower and fan motors; Inspect evaporator drain pan for leaks; Check the condensation drain; Check wiring for signs of overheating; Measure condenser fan motor amps for proper operation; Measure refrigerant levels for proper operation; Measure high and low side pressures; Measure sub cooling and super heat temperatures; Clear condenser unit of debris; Inspect lineset for leaks, crimping and chafing; Check contactors for burning and pitting. (Lots of shortcuts, not a complete job, and nothing that I couldn't have done myself). When I went outdoors that next morning the compressor unit again sounded like a nest of chirping crickets. I did a visual inspection and noted that two of the four screws securing the sheet metal panel over the compressor compartment were missing. Upon removing that panel I more completely observed the amount of debris left inside the unit. I brought out my shop vac and removed over three cups of mulch debris from the compressor chamber and another cup full from inside the coil cooling compartment. I then removed the contactor switch, (which was buzzing again but only about half as loud as the day before), in order to try and find some identifying part number, or specs. While I had it out I thoroughly cleaned the exterior and sprayed the interior with an electronic contact cleaner spray. I found no remaining label markings so I reinstalled the contactor and tested it for operation. The buzzing sound was diminished to the point of being nearly indiscernible. I subsequently did an Internet search by description, photos and A/C name and determined that these contactors (in 2-Pole, 30 amp, 240 volt with 24V actuator coil) sell from $8 low to $47 high, indicating to me that the offered repair was at a "scalper price" especially since the service call cost was already prepaid. The technician's receipt documented that the unit "needs contactor, $219" and that I declined. Except for the buzzing noise, as a college degreed engineer, I can positively state that a professional and competent technician could not make such a diagnosis without taking electrical readings across the contacts and the actuator coil voltages and without doing a more thorough inspection of the part. This is not a reputable professional technician, based upon my personal observations, and I believe I am owed a full refund for this "Special Deal", especially considering I spent more time completing the clean-up of the debris and cleaning and testing of the contactor than the tech did on the entire visit. Note: The technician failed to tell me his name, or to sign the Technician Acknowledgement on the completed work order receipt, so I cannot identify him by name (Job Number was 52052). Overall this was a bad deal for the customer and a bad representation of the business as a promotion for their services!

I have not had a call back and am getting concerned that they are overwhelmed.

Eeveryhting went great, they took great care and got it done quickly.

I was happy with them. They did what I expected them to do.