Benjamin Franklin Plumbing

Called to confirm details of the discount coupon after reviewing the small print. Needing two Smart Flush toilets installed, which would be replacing two older toilets. Had been getting estimates from several plumbing companies, all were in a close dollar amount of each other. Also, was told that installation would take 1.5 to 2.0 hours. All quotes came in under $200.00, and this deal says $99 dollars for $200 dollars of service. Courtney said she couldn't do the job for $200. I think the coupon will be applied according to what you need down. So not really a Deal! ?

REPLACED 3 FAUCET HANDLES (INCLUDING SHOWER ON/OFF), APPARENTLY REPLACED DEFECTIVE VALVE AND/OR GASKET. THE OLD HANDLES WERE SERVICABLE, BUT WERE DESTROYED DURING REPAIR. THE OLD FAUCET (40 YEARS OLD) WAS NOT REPLACED, AND REMAINS IN USE TODAY. I WAS SHOCKED AT THE PRICE, AS I WAS AWARE OF THE LABOR AND PARTS INVOLVED, AS I HAD MADE MANY SUCH REPAIRS IN YEARS PAST, BUT I AM NOW 84 YEARS OLD, AND TRY TO HAVE SUCH REPAIRS DONE BY PROFESSIONALS.

They did a very good job. They were on time and neat about cleaning up; courteous as well.

He is our plumber. They go above and beyond. If something is not working to your satisfaction, they will come back until you are satisfied. He is excellent. We had a water filter system put in and we used them last week. He redid some shower work as the shower handles were not working right. He took them apart and fixed that. He put in a sink for us. He did not charge us for the shower as he had done that before. His business gives us discounts and they often come out throughout the year for no extra charge. They are great.

I used approximated a year and a half ago. I spent under 500 $. They were very punctual.

They were very thorough, I would use them again, and highly recommend them

They came out originally to fix two leaks in my in-ground sprinkler system. After a while they broke into the concrete sprinkler control box without my permission, and took out two valves without showing me and said they needed replacing. Benjamin Franklin Plumbing took the whole day to do damage to my property, and overall the staff felt very aloof and distant making communication very difficult.

Work was done as stated with satilfactory results.

Noticed water in the collection plate underneath the water heater. Called three plumbers listed on Angie's list for an estimate. The other two provided a estimate over the phone, but Benjamin wanted to come out. They initially told me that the estimate was free, but there was going to be a $59 service call charge. I told them nevermind, and then they quickly waived it. Using coupons offered here, I had an estimate from Freedom Plumbing of $1,531. The other estimate was $1,850. I was surprised that it cost so much to replace a water heater, I was thinking that it would be in the $700 range. I received a call the next morning from Benjamin Plumbing telling me that Jeff was on his way and he arrived right on time. He looked at the water heater and said that it was a goner. He then ask to look at the other water heater in the attic. I showed it to him as well, even though it worked fine. He worked his numbers and told me his price was $1,800 for the bad water heater and "suggested that I also replace the working heater for a 10% discount, since they were the same age. I declined his offer of the replacing the second and told him that I had an estimate for $1,531 for the other. He went to his truck and talked to the boss and came back with a final number of $1,610. I told him that he was still high, but then he told me that nobodies warranty would beat theirs, seven years on material, parts and labor. I called Freedom to see what theirs was and they told me thirty days on labor. I decided that it was worth it and told jeff to proceed. While he was waiting for the new tank to be delivered, i showed him an A/C that was draining into the pan and ask him how much it would cost to fix that. He replied that if it was just blowing out the drain line he would do it for free, which he did. I then showed him a toilet that was slow to flush. He said it needed all new interior parts and snaked for a partial clog. The price of $189 for a new fill valve, flapper and snake was high, but since it has been that way so long and he was here, I agreed. Job was done quickly and professional. Just watch the upcharging and have a competitive bid to compare.

They are prompt. They unclogged the drain. They also found a different problem and told me how long it would be before I should correct it. They gave me many options with a list of the services on paper. I was also provided an estimate for the future work.

Called Benjamin Franklin for a minor plumbing job. Responded quickly but provided an estimate that was outrageous. I was charged a substantial fee for the estimate. I found another plumbing company to do the work a a very reasonable fee that was about one third of the price quoted by B Franklin. I suggest everyone avoid this company due to price and cost of estimate!

I had my sewer line cleaned out and was told that I would need about $24,000 of work done (including tunneling under the house) done to get my house fully working correctly . . .Needless to say I got two more estimates - both other plumbers told me nothing was wrong with my system - with one specifically telling me that the only problem I had was that I was using Benjamin Franklin . . .I was reading other comments and was shocked to discover how similar my situation was to the elderly couple who got taken by Benjamin Franklin . . . I sure won't be calling them again . . .

We have hired a lawyer and are seeking restitution.

Very professional service. Very customer centric.

He was professional, and he knew what he was doing. They charged me an additional amount this time for him to come out and to press the red button. I used Angie’s List for him, and I would never never use him again.

Excellent work. Pleasant workmen. Went smoothly. Would hire again in a heartbeat.

It went great. They were very professional and knowledgable. They were very efficient. I had some questions and they answered them no problem. They discovered I had a gas leak and called another service provider for me. They were very thorough. There was no mess when they left. I would highly recommend them.

They were higher. They were polite and courteous. They did try to upsell me.

Went smoothly from start to finish.

We had several small plumbing projects and wanted a bid on a tankless hot water heater so we called Ben Franklin Plumbing. The first day they were there they diagnosed and replaced my leaking garbage disposal, and attempted to fix my master bathroom faucet leak but determined that the faucet needed replacing and scheduled to do that after I purchased a new faucet We had been having sewage back up problems in our main hall bath. About once a month if you flushed the toilet, it would come up in the tub. So I asked him to snake the toilet. Chase told me that he felt a more aggressive approach was necessary and wanted me to allow him to get on the roof and hydro jet it through the roof access. It would cost $600 but would be guaranteed for 2 full years and take care of the whole line, not just the place between the toilet and tub. Also, they would use a camera to see where the problems were. I agreed to this. Afterward he told me that my main sewage pipe was "deteriorating" and that , though they got the line clear, they could only warranty it for ONE year. Also, that I should probably have that pipe replaced at a cost that could top out at $20,000 depending on how bad it was once they got in there. Two days later the plumbing backed up again. I called them out and they did the same procedure again, stating that this time they would look closer at the camera to see what was going on. A few more days later and it's backed up again! So my husband calls and talks to the general manager, Bo, who claims that it cannot be warranted but he will come back and take up the toilet and snack it. (Remember, that is what I originally wanted!) But he came back and did the power flush again! A week later it is backed up again, this time not only in that one bathroom, but down the hall, closer to the front of the house, where we have NEVER had problems. I call a different plumber. He comes and snakes it, finds the problem and fixes it. He also says he can't understand why they would hydro jet pipes this old. "They need the snaking to really scrape the inside of the pipe, a power flush is useless in this case and expensive". Shortly after, I buy a Big Deal coupon good for one thorough camera inspection. Although BF had already done two, they still could only guess at where the pipe "might" need replacing. DFW Pipe Restoration and Plumbing took a long time looking at my pipe, especially along the place that BF said it was deteriorating. They even showed us. And, even knowing that we were anticipating having to replace at least a portion of that pipe, the tech said that there was still a lot of usable time left in that pipe and that our back up problem with the toilet was probably due to the kitchen sink's contents blocking the way of the toilet. He instructed me to run the disposal longer, and then flush with 2 minutes of hot water, routinely. That was 7 months ago and we have had no problems. My biggest complaint with BF: I know you cannot always know what is wrong until you begin to fix something, but I believe that if they started to power flush and saw that they couldn't stand behind the warranty, they should have stopped and offered my money back. Instead they seemed to make things worse. Really! Before the power flush, I had a small back up about once a month that would, over a day or so, eventually drain out. So, I am out $600. What they did was worthless. On top of that my garbage disposal now leaks, but I will not call them back! I will say that when we finally had a different plumber snake the drain and get it completely usable again, we called BF back and asked for a refund. They were only willing to apply a portion of the cost of the hydro flush toward a new tankless water heater we had talked about having installed. But then we had the DFW line inspection and realized that BF is untrustworthy and we will never use them again. And we still think we should have a refund for that hydro flush.

They performed the job satisfactorily. It was a break in the line and initially we called them out to set a toilet for us and while he was here we told him we had a drain that was not working. We found out that it was under the foundation and so he had to dig and drill and do a lot. It turned out to be a major project but the work was satisfactory and they charged what they said they would do. They let us know when they ran into the problem how much more it was going to be and we were satisfied. We didn’t get competitive pricing because they were already here and discovered the problem. We let them proceed but they were very straight forward about their estimates and then when they had to write their estimate they were upfront about it. They told us what they were going to do and how much more it would cost. There was a certain amount of sticker shock but they were upfront about their pricing. I don’t know if I could have got it for less. We got a competitive price on the initial work and how much it was going to cost for the service call but I called them because they were on Angie’s List and I had a coupon. I went with them on the initial cost but I didn’t do any competitive costing on the rest of it because the job was already in progress. If I was to have another job done I would certainly get a quote from them but I would get more than one quote. They would certainly be on my list.

We had two stopped up bathroom sinks and needed them cleaned. At least one had been snaked previously on another occasion. We had used Benjamin Franklin once before for a different problem. They were pricey, but got the job done okay. They say they are available 24/7 and pay $5 for each minute they're late. They use a window appointment and said they gave me an 8:00-11:00 window to arrive, so I don't know how they could ever be late. I called for service on Monday and they said the earliest they could get to me was Thursday morning. I agreed. By the time they arrived, the slow draining sink was completely stopped up. He didn't even touch the drain and instead, launched into a discourse on the faults of my system. He then came to the living room and prepared a $647 quote for the work. I paid the $69 service fee and said we were done. I then called another service we had used previously as well. I should have called him first. He cleaned both drains for a total out the door price of $70. I will not be using Benjamin Franklin again.

Benjamin Franklin Plumbing is prompt. They showed up on time, every time. They were very tidy and respectful of my home. They even made sure to put booties on over their shoes to prevent tracking dirt through the house. They are a little pricey but worth it. They stuck to the estimate price. There were no additional expenses. They sent the same plumber every time, so he knew the big picture of the project. I really appreciated that.

I chose not to get an estimate from BF or consider them for the job.This report concerns their office staff and their mode of operation. Reviewing all the reports on BF a couple of things stands out. First, many of the reports rated BFs pricing as higher than other companies. Second, nearly a third of the reports were less than 'A'. Only 67% rated them as 'A' whereas several plumbers received over 90% 'A' ratings. How BF prices their services is their business. But from a customer point of view, to get an estimate you have to agree up front to pay a 'service fee'. I don't know how much it is, they wouldn't tell me. Judging from the other reports, their pricing is higher than most other plumbers but the 'service fee' is dropped if you select them to do the job. This tends to force the customer to select them as the alternative is to pay another plumber to do the job, PLUS pay BFs 'service fee'. The bottom line is you end up paying more than you would had you not considered BF. Office staff: I would rate BFs office staff as an 'F' when compared to the office staff of other plumbers. Call Charlies Plumbing and talk to Leon. They received the Super Service Award (SSA) in 2008/9/10 and 95% rated them 'A' . Call O'Grady and talk to Vickie. They received the SSA in 2010 and 95% rated them 'A'. Call Action Plumbing. They received the SSA in 2010 and 100% rated them 'A'. Call Strain Plumbing and talk to Martha or Paula. They received the SSA in 2009/10 and 92% rated them 'A'. I found all these people professional, very knowledgeable, and willing to help. In every case, except BF, they were willing to discuss the job, offer suggestions, and provide a 'ball park' price. I understood up-front the price was an estimate based on my description of the job, that the price could vary if they found problems I had not mentioned. I ended up going with Strain (you can see my report on them), to a large extent because of Martha and Paula. Both are very professional and knowledgeable and were willing to spend time of the phone discussing my job, offering suggestions and grilling me if I had considered......... Why would you call BF where you can't get the time of day unless you are willing to pay for it when you can call any of the above and get professional, excellent help over the phone. I can not recommend Benjamin Franklin for any plumbing work.

Removed old water heater, provided new water heater agreed upon and installed without a hitch.