Martel Plumbing & Heating

We would use them in the future.

It went very well

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very well

see above

did a very good job

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There is not much to say. I called, and explained the problems. He came & gave an estimate, which I agreed to. He did the work well, and quickly (as usual). I paid him, and he went to his next customer.

It was a comedy of errors. Jim and his assistant had to return multiple times to fix work that failed. It would have been funny if the last thing I had him do had not resulted in two dangerous gas leaks that might have easily been prevented. Jim is a genuinely nice guy and well-meaning. They worked hard to get the job done right and to correct mistakes made in the process. They consequently worked for many unpaid hours. I really wanted to give him a good report but I just can't -- as I think you will understand when you are through reading this. On the first visit, Jim was supposed to arrive in the afternoon. His assistant finally arrived in the evening around 7:00, if I remember correctly -- a nice kid. I did not really blame them for this lateness because it was in the middle of a minor snowstorm. He was very pleasant. He brought with him new gas valves for 2 of my 4 boilers -- the ones that had been having problems with their pilot lights going out. We were due for another cold night so it was imperative that this problem get fixed, as the boilers served two of my tenants. He gave me a quote of $800 to clean the boilers and replace the valves. I said fine, I would put it on my credit card. Well, despite their yellow pages add and their Angie's List listing, they don't take credit cards -- no amount of pleading would budge him on this. It was too late in the day to change plumbers so, after some very awkward negotiating, I borrowed $800. The assistant got to work and, by around 10:00 PM he was finished. I wrote him a check and he left. Several hours later, one of the pilot lights went out again. I called him back and he returned and worked for several more hours, finally saying that he would be back in the morning with some tubes. At this point, I asked him to plan on cleaning the other two boilers in the basement -- just in case. He said his boss would rather "wait and see" with the other two, despite the fact that they were extremely dirty from some basement work that had recently been done. I also suggested that the pilot lights were still pretty small. "Do you think I have a gas pressure problem?" I asked. He said that he had seen lots of smaller pilot lights and the fact that the pilot was a little low should not be a problem. I figured he knew what he was doing. The next day he returned and replaced the tubes that went from the gas valves to the pilot assemblies in each of the "fixed" boilers. He did not charge me for this follow-up service. For that I was very appreciative. A week later, one of the original pilot lights went out and the other two boilers both lost their pilot lights. So I called Jim again and asked that he come, himself, rather than sending his assistant. He came. The first thing he noticed was that the pilot lights were "a little low." "You have a gas pressure problem", he told me, and he demonstrated for me that the 2-phase gas valves were not even getting to their second phases. "These things should be making a lot more noise." he told me. "You will need to call the gas company." Well, I was a little put off by this, having already spent $800 on something that may have had nothing to do with the original problem but I ponied up $200 more for a cleaning of the two other boilers. Jim also replaced the tubes between the pilot assemblies and the gas valves on these other two. The price was very fair for this service. I know that other companies charge a lot more for a cleaning alone. After he left, I called the gas company to have them check the pressure -- they said they would be with me in a couple of hours. About 30 minutes later I started smelling gas. So I called the gas company again -- this time with a gas emergency. They told me to evacuate the house in the freezing cold -- which I did NOT do, having already shut off all the gas to the house. They showed up very quickly and ran a pressure test as well as a gas leak test. They found that I did, in fact, have a low pressure problem but they could not find a gas leak in any of the pipes -- in retrospect I now realize that the gas guy tested the pipes with the boilers turned off. That was a mistake, as you will soon see. We scheduled them to return the following day to tear up my front lawn and replace the gas line that goes between my house and the street. After I lit the burners again, the gas smell returned but then dissipated. I figured that it was just residual gas from the lighting process and went back upstairs. Two hours later I returned to make sure that none of the pilots had gone out. I was getting really paranoid by this point and was checking the boilers every two hours. The pilot lights had NOT gone out but, to my horror, in the first boiler I checked there were there was an extra flame coming from the seal of the pipe that had just been replaced! I immediately turned off the gas to the boiler. Next, I checked the other boiler. Sure enough, the same thing was true -- an extra flame where it should never be. I turned the gas off entirely and called Jim. I was very surprised at his response: "Yeah, when I installed them, something just didn't feel right." WHAT??!!! This is gas you are talking about! There are easy ways of testing for leaks. I could do it myself! You always have to test the seals on any new gas pipes. Did he not even care if we all blew up?!! Jim's assistant returned a few tense hours later (it was now the middle of the night again) and spend several more hours re-doing the work his boss had screwed up. Again, he was very pleasant and did not charge me for the additional hours. I said goodbye and, the next day, faced a whole crew of gas company people swarming all over my lawn. They replaced the gas line. This seemed to solve the problem. The pilot lights stayed lit. The 2-phase valves all clicked into their second phases. That is, until four nights ago when one of the pilots went out. Needless to say, I called a different plumber this time.

The experience was good. His craftsmanship was excellent and he was easy enough to deal with.

Extremely Happy !!! I wouldn't use anyone else at this point for any future plumbing needs.

They came to give their estimate, gave the number were were expecting given the replumbing and heavy lifting involved, and then showed up when they said they would and got the work done quickly. Shortly after they did our sink we had some pipes freeze (separate area) and couldn't get them warmed up with traditional methods. They came out to have a look at it and got them flowing again without much time or effort (turns out we were almost there) - because it was so quick, even though they came out on emergency, they didn't charge us. They have always been quick, courteous and reasonably priced and we've had several plumbing jobs performed by this company with great satisfaction.

We had originally contracted Martel to fix the missing plumbing in a foreclosure we were purchasing. We had used this company before and were happy with them. Upon inspection of the home, we decided to replace the boiler too. They had the best price, and because we've dealt with them in the past, I was happy to have them do all the work. They showed up on time and did the work as contracted. The communicated with us along the way, from the proposal, to the timing of the work to the completion and billing.

I had originally called another plumber that I've used before who was out for several weeks with an injury. He referred me to this company. Once I contacted him the communication process was a little slow (phone tag over 2-3 days) but once we connected we got the job scheduled (about a week after the initial phone call). He showed up on time, worked efficiently and did exactly what was needed. I'm very satisfied with the work.

Very responsive, punctual and professional. I originally called another plumber, who was on angies list, but he was not working for a few weeks and referred me to Martel. I called and we scheduled the work for the next day (a Saturday). He arrive on time. He used good quality materials and did the work fast. He even helped me level out my fridge because the door was slamming to hard.

I THINK THE PLUMBERS WERE PRETTY GOOD. THEY DID THEIR WORK IN A VERY RESPONSIBLE WAY. THEY DID A VERY PROFESSIONAL JOB FOR A GOOD, REASONABLE PRICE. THEY ALSO WERE VERY UNDERSTANDING ABOUT THE SITUATION.

THEY DID AN EXCELLENT JOB WITH THE PROJECT. THEY WORKED REALLY HARD TO COMPLETE THE JOB IN A TIMELY MANNER. I'M VERY PLEASED WITH THIS COMPANY. I WILL REHIRE THEM IN THE FUTURE.