PBCI-Allen Mechanical & Electrical

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We actually talked to 4 or 5 people to get this bid. It was a free estimate. It's kind of a strange thing, everybody buys everybody else. So like the heat pump they were selling, even though it had a different brand name, it was the same one as another company. When you really investigate this and everything. This is how I know, their bids came in the same and it was more scheduling thing There was a slight difference in their configuration, and the other company could do it a little bit sooner. I mean really, PBCI, I would have felt 100% going with them also. The bid was about the same, it was a bid for a job that was $15,000.00.

unknown

This was my second successful job with this company in a week and again the work was done efficiently and the electrician was pleasant and professional.

They had to hunt for one to fit in a small closet for the smaller water heaters made in the past. They were quick, efficient and very pleasant.

These are one of the few punctual and responsive contractors in the State College area. They were able to come out the next day and fix the leaking fixtures (I did not request a same-day appointment as it was not very urgent). The plumber was professional and efficient, the work was done exactly how I requested it. I thought the price was reasonable. A few weeks later, we had an electrical issue with our hot water heater and the circuit breaker. They were able to come the same day and fix the issue, again quickly and the tech was an electrical service person. Another local service company I had called, complaining of no hot water, would not make a same day appointment for us. PBCI Allen will answer and seems like they have a prompt response when we needed someone. I will use them again for plumbing or electrical repairs.

unknown

We requested this contractor to replace 4 sink fixtures, one shower fixture and one shower cartridge. We had supplied all of the fixtures. We would have down the work ourselves because we had replaced sink faucets but we did not know how to change the cartridge. We thought by calling a plumber it would save time and money. First problem was they did not send a plumber but a service tech who works on furnaces. He was a nice young man but did not know what he was doing. This job which probably should have taken one to two hours took him all day. He was one the phone constantly with their office and one of their plumbers. We kept asking him if we were going to have to pay for all these hours and he said no they would just charge a minimum amount. We received the bill several days later and it was over $560. I called up and asked to discuss with the service manager. He wasn't in and after waiting two days, I called again. He defended the tech, said he knew what he was doing and there billing rate was $100 per faucet plus any parts. I told him this was crazy and after some time, he agreed to lower the bill by $100. We were very unhappy with this result and will never use again nor will we recommend them to friends.

They are available 24 hours a day. They have a fixed price for coming out. They have always, if there is, and there has not been a problem, but they would come back if the problem recurred within a short period of time. I have had good luck with them.

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I called PBCI Allen because I was under the impression they performed quite a bit of large scale and commercial work and that this repair would be straight forward. I did not want to just call any "joe plumber" because I was willing to pay to have it done right. The technician who came out was polite and courteous. After the repair however, one of my family members went to use the shower and the hot and cold water were reversed! The leak was fixed, however it could have burned someone. I was under the impression that after a $265.00 bill, they would at least have checked the faucet to see if it functioned correctly.

I am VERY pleased with the result. The PBCI-Allen agent that I worked with was very professional and thorough. He thought carefully about every detail of the operation and helped me understand the issues that might arise. One of these issues was that the well-drillers hit water, which meant they had to use a special casing, which cost extra. Since I knew this was probably going to happen, I was prepared for the extra cost. Another issue, I did not get warned about. That is that the work was done in winter (January), when we had a hard freeze. The drillers had to stop work because the ground was frozen, so the project was in limbo for a while. PBCI-Allen had the new furnace hooked up, so that I had heat from the emergency back-up. That turned out not to be as expensive as I had feared. But I might recommend not doing this job in winter if you can avoid it. The drillers were also very professional. Another issue they encountered was that in digging the trench, they hit solid rock, which required special equipment, which cost extra. The cost over the quote was about $3000. But, they had warned me that this extra cost was likely, and I had decided beforehand that it was worth it to me. I had three companies come out to give me quotes for the job. One company said that putting in geothermal couldn't be done because of the ground conditions at my home and tried to talk me into switching to natural gas. They estimated a cost anyway, which was outrageously high. A second company seemed incompetent when compared to the PBCI-Allen agent - their quote was also higher than PBCI-Allen's quote - I would not have chosen that company regardless. PBCI-Allen gave me a quote and warned me of the probable ground issues, which would increase the cost. Throughout, PBCI-Allen was attentive and professional. I would definitely use them again, and I feel quite confident going forward in terms of working with them on maintenance and so on.

Overall, went well.

Blower fan for furnace would not run. Called one dealer who could not get to me for 2 weeks. They recommended PCBi-Allen as a qualified Carrier dealer. Called them and they came out the same day. Technician was very courteous, diagnosed the problem very quickly, and had the part in stock. Part itself was $260.00. Diagnosis and repair labor was only $70.00. Very quick response and quick repair.

We paid somewhat of a premium to get fast service since we discovered on a Friday afternoon that repairs to our non-functioning furnace would take time and cost too much for an old furnace. We called several firms. David Bloom from PBCI-Allen came out that afternoon to look the situation over and start an estimate. He handles both Carrier and York, but told us he would probably only be able to get a Carrier unit due to backorder situation on his cheaper York unit vs our desire for quick replacement. He said he would generally recommend the Carrier as being worth the extra money, but in our case that would likely be the only option available through him. He confirmed that he could get the Carrier, but not the York and provided the estimate Saturday, and we finalized the deal Sunday. He expected they would be able to do the installation Tuesday, but warned us orally and in his email that date was conditional on his supplier being able to ship the furnace from Philly which was questionable due to Hurricane/Storm Sandy. We were not really affected by Sandy, but Philly was, so we were not surprised that they couldn't get the furnace here to install Tuesday. They did come out Tuesday when promised to remove the old equipment and get everything ready for installation. The furnace arrived Wednesday. They came out and installed it when scheduled Wednesday and installed the furnace. A service tech came out Friday to check the installation. He found one wire needed to be moved, but that's the reason they do the check. All of this is generally quite positive. Dave did a lot of work over the weekend to expedite the replacements and was present to be sure things were OK on all three occasions his people were here. The good: Met all timelines that were under their control. I don't think they could have avoided the one-day delay caused by Sandy, and we had been warned about that scenario. The bad: The unavoidable delay meant that I could not be present for the entire installation. Unfortunately that appears to be important. When I was not present, the installation people's clearly audible language and stories should have been better. They also left mud on our carpet and chipped a few edges of the basement steps when removing the (very heavy) old furnace. Dave told one guy to clean up the mud and asked the guy whether he had done it. The guy said yes which was either a lie or just sloppy cleaning. He had cleaned some of the carpet with a vacuum they brought. We did remove the mud with no difficulty. Dave has inspected the chipped steps and is willing to do repairs, but the stairs are fully functional and we're not sure that the full fix is necessary or would make things that much better. We would feel better if they been more forthcoming and told us of the problem instead of leaving it to us to discover. PBCI-Allen is willing to service the combined mixed-brand system (including the Lennox air conditioner). Price: we probably could have done better if we had been willing to wait, but I think the price is within a reasonable range for what we received. Do: it's probably best to have a man present the entire time work is being done. We have generally found that to be true with a lot of workers, not just these people. Overall: we would definitely use the same firm again, but just make sure I was here during the entire installation instead of just the first 90 minutes.

They were excellent, professional, and kept appointments in timely manor. They sent someone to check up after work was done. Nothing but good work with good follow up.

Every facet of the work - from estimate thru job completion went extraordinarily well. All work was performed on-schedule, completed on-time (actually a 1/2 day early), and within budget. The "Comfort Specialist" who provided the estimate and spec-ed out the job was extremely knowledgeable, professional, courteous, and responsive. After the initial estimate I asked a LOT of questions and requested different configurations of units for comparison. He answered all my questions quickly and provided 3 or 4 completely different configuration alternatives to meet our needs and budget - and he did so VERY quickly (in fact he got two of these to me over a weekend when I knew he should have been off). The installation team (a two-man crew) performed the work in a professional, quality, and timely manner. Their level of proficiency and technical knowledge was evident from day one on. Throughout the job they were courteous and professional. They kept the work site clean and uncluttered, and took the time to inform us of progress as they went along. We were very impressed with the level of attention to even tiny details (such as taping the ends of branch runs). Just a tremendous crew to work with and have in your home. Upon completion of the work, our "comfort specialist" again touched base with us to make sure we were happy and that the system was working properly. We are expecting yet another follow-up to have a member do a "final" inspection and discuss their scheduled maintenance program in detail (already explained by the comfort specialist). I would highly recommend this organization to anyone looking to have similar work done. We simply couldn't be happier.

Last year in the process of buying our house an inspector found that the air handler in the attic was leaking down a wall to the floor below. The previous owners, on the recommendation of the inspector, had PBCI Allen install a pan under the unit, which, according to code, should have been done at the time the unit was installed eight years prior. They also repaired the leak. But two days after we moved in (about four weeks later), water was visibly leaking down through the ceiling of the first floor and into the thermostat. I called PBCI Allen and was told by the technician first that the leak was a result of the filters not having been properly cleaned by the previous owners -- even though that same technician had changed the filters a month before. Then he said the unit had been improperly installed on an angle. I was told to call for an estimate to have the air handler properly installed. But it was PBCI Allen that installed the unit. Installation instructions clearly state that the unit must be installed on a level surface. I called the service manager, who refused to take responsibility for the failure on their part. I called the manufacturer and was told that because of the improper installation the warranty had been voided from day one. I called the distributor, who inspected the unit and agreed that not only was it improperly installed, but that that particular unit never should have been used. Needless to say, I have no recourse but was told by the distributor the PBCI Allen should "do the right thing." They didn't. They refused to even refund the $109 fee for the service call that was necessary after they failed to repair the leak. A new, properly installed unit is going to cost about $5,000 -- and that doesn't include the water damage to interior walls and ceilings.

There were a lot of problems with the water heater and they had to come several times. They did not charge me for the repeat visits. They were competent. They knew what they were doing. They were able to figure out an air conditioning problem and fixed it. They are a little pricey, but they are good. I had a local handyman look at the same thing who charged me a lot of money and didn't fix anything.

They are reliable and dependable. They know both old and new systems. I would use them again in the future.

Wonderful. Fixed immediately. We have used this firm for many years for plumbing and electrical, and they are consistently excellent and beyond expectations.

It all went smoothly and in accordance with my expectations. I'll probably never need another heat pump, but I would not hesitate to use this firm if I did.

I had a clogged kitchen sink that I tried to snake myself, but it was apparent the clog was further down the pipe (45' long snake), so I cleaned the snake and put it aside. The guy from PBCI Allen showed up and tried a simple plumber's helper, which didn't work. He then tried using my snake, and of course that didn't work either. So, he set my snake aside and left to go back to the shop to get a longer snake (they don't bring them with them in their work vans for some reason) and returned an hour later with their snake, and 5 minutes later the clog was cleared. After handing me the bill (over $300.00) he left...leaving a dirty, wet trail behind him through my house - as well as my snake, uncleaned and in the middle of the kitchen. I went downstairs to the basement to find that where he opened the access to snake from down there was just covered with pipe contents splashed all over - the walls, lamp, door, floor, etc. I wrote a letter to the owner and never heard back from him. RoterRooter is less than $100, and neat. I paid over $300.00 for 10 minutes worth of work. That's $1,800.00 per hour!