Rabe Plumbing

The plumbers who showed up were very polite and on the early side of the timeframe I was given. They looked at the toilet quickly and then called the main office to get a quote for the job before beginning work. When they told me it would be $540, I immediately said the quote was high but the plumber said the cost would only come down $50 or so if they switched the Kohler toilet for a cheaper brand. In hindsight I am sorry that I agreed to the price because I think they charged way too much. The national average I have seen, even on AngiesList, is between $225-425 and the job was very straightforward with no piping changes or anything other than the install and removal of the old one. They were only here for an hour from the time they arrived until they left. The only reason I said I would not hire them again is the cost. I have used a few local plumbers that have been highly rated that offer better rates.

They spent 5 minutes unclogging the toilet by snaking it. They charged $180 so I complained and they took $20 off. I'm not sure the toilet was perfectly fixed either. I wouldn't be surprised if the toilet clogged again. They are a big company with 24 hour service which sounds nice, but whoever comes out isn't the owner so they don't care as much. I feel like their system is set up so that the more the technician charges, the more of a cut they get.

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They did the job well but we had to be really specific about what we wanted done. If you are not specific the job doesn't get done maybe the smartest way but when we did point out that there was a problem, they did fix it without an addition cost. They were good but we had to keep an eye out and we had to communicate clearly with them on what we wanted. As long as the communication was there, it was probably fine. We kind of had to be on them a little bit. The workers were very pleasant.

We have used Rabe for many years to fix our plumbing issues. On 12/3/10, two different plumbers from Rabe came to our home to unclog the drain from our kitchen sink. The clog was in the long pipe run beyond the trap under the sink. The first plumber tried but was unsuccessful. A second, more experienced plumber was then sent to our home. He was also unable to unclog the drain. Both said that the snakes they used were not long enough to reach the clog. We have a finished basement and they insisted that the next step was to either punch holes into the drywalled ceiling to cut into the pipe to get closer access or to pump pressurized water into the pipes which would have a high probability of backing up and spraying a large quantity of water all over our kitchen. The company's attitude was fairly arrogant and they acted like they were doing us a favor. They charged us a large fee even though they did not fix the drain. We called another plumber who had a longer snake and who unclogged the drain in fifteen minutes. We will no longer use Rabe. In the last two years, the company has become more arrogant and service has deteriorated. This particular problem was the final issue for us. Sending out plumbers without proper equipment so that they are unable to fix a simple problem and then charging high fees for the failure is unacceptable.

When I called the Rabe office, I asked if they could send someone to: (a) fix what had been done by one of their people roughly a year ago and (b) give me an estimate of what it would take to fix some pipes that began to bang in the wall after a different contractor remodelled a guest bathroom. When I said "This will be at your expense" the woman said yes and scheduled someone to come the next morning. The technician arrived on time and said that the last person (from his company) had set the drain on top of the pop-up assembly instead of threading it into the drain. He explained that both ways were OK, but that in my case, the pop-up part of the drain must keep falling off, so the way to go that would allow me to open and close the drain from the handle on the faucet (instead of using the screwdriver I'd been using of late) would be to unscrew a bolt and thread the assembly though the hole in the drain. He got his tools from his truck and made the adjustment in less than 60 seconds. He then investigated the banging pipe situation in another bathroom and went outside to call his boss to get a price estimate for if I decide to have them do the work. He came back and said that it might be $150-$175 to cut the wall open and strap down the pipe. He also said the boss had told him to charge me $135 for today's visit. I explained I had been told that this visit was at their cost since it was to correct a problem with the drain that they created roughly a year ago. He called the office and spoke both to the woman who set the appointment and to the boss. I volunteered to speak with them myself and he said no. I was told that the woman yesterday meant that the estimate for the banging pipes was at their cost, not the work on the drain. He also told me the boss said that they didn't charge me a year ago to make the original adjustment to the sink drain (it was a five minute adjustment while they were here to change some valves and fix a leaky faucet) so that they should be compensated now for that work and for the "fix". He offered me a discount and said I should pay what I thought was fair. I got upset, since, if I'd known I would be charged, I would have had a local handyman come at a much lower rate. I have used this company multiple times and been pleased with their work. I wrote a check for the discounted rate of $65 and asked him to leave. I won't use this company if I do decide to deal with the banging pipe issue and probably will not call them for any new work. If they won't stand behind their work by fixing a small drain problem that they created without charge, I don't want to chance having some larger disagreement about something else down the road. And the idea of charging me now for a tiny piece of work that they did a year ago is unacceptable to me.

They sent two guys who completed the above tasks in roughly two hours, including a trip by one of them to a local plumbing supply store. I have used this company several times before. They always come within the time window promised. They are pleasant, helpful, and neat.

The technician was excellent; thorough, friendly, and worked appropriately. He explained everything as he went along, which gave us great confidence in his assessment of the problem. When we called, there was no water flowing to the house. He suspected that debris had clogged our old, galvanized service line. After repeated attempts to clear the pipe, he had an Aqua rep. come out to be sure it wasn't a problem with their lines. Although we made plans to have the line replaced the following day (at what seemed like a fair price), the blockage cleared itself overnight, so we were able to delay the repair to better plan for the expense. Rabe was polite and professional about the cancellation. We'll definitely call them again.

The work started poorly as Tim showed up on time having been told by the dispatcher to come do an estimate when he was to do the repairs, the estimate having already been done. Tim was affable and returned the next day prepared for the job. He did a thorough repair of the heating system but had to wait until the faucets that had been ordered came in, although one of the ordered faucets that did come in was not the correct one. 2 other plumbers came on successive visits, each was competent as well as nice and I am happy with the work done.

I called Rabe at 8:30 AM, to discuss an emergency sump pump situation. Someone was to call me ''a few minutes'' later, to discuss what I needed to provide, if anything, for the plumber. At 12, I still hadn't heard from anyone. I called again and someone finally returned my call by 1pm. He was nice and explained what needed to be done, however he wasn't the one scheduled to show up at my home. I was given an approximate time of 2-4pm. At 1:30, someone called to say that their scheduling people had gotten confused and that they cannot install. Meanwhile, I had waited 3 hours to hear from someone and lost that time, to find someone else to do the job.

WATER WAS COMING DOWN INSIDE THE WALL OF MY BASEMENT ONTO THE FLOOR. PLUMBER FOUND THE SOURCE OF THE LEAK, WHICH WAS A HOLE IN A PIPE IN THE FLOOR OF A SECOND FLOOR BEDROOM. HE HAD TO CUT HOLES IN MY FIRST FLOOR KITCHEN TO TRY TO TRACE THE LEAK AND FINALLY FOUND IT BY CUTTING A HOLE IN CEILING OF THE KITCHEN. A BOARD HAD TO BE REMOVED THEN THE PIPE CUT OUT AND A NEW ONE WELDED ON.