McLain Plumbing LLC

I called and spoke to Raymond before 9 AM and he said he would be available to come after lunch. Once I gave him my address, he said it was on his way home, cold he make the appointment for later in the day so he could head home when done - I agreed. I work close by and ask him to give me a call about 10 minutes before he was ready to come out. He called just before 4PM and I met him at my house. He walked in the front door and as I showed him to the closet, he commented "oh yes, you have a sewer gas problem" but once we got to the closet, he opened a small access leading to the back of the bathroom plumbing and said "that's not sewer gas - that's something dead". He closed the access door and said "where is the water heater?". I opened the attic door, he climbed to the top of the stairs, removed the cover, lit the pilot light and told me that is was a cheap, no good brand of water heater from Lowe's (Whirlpool brand) and it was probably the thermostat, but that I just needed to replace the water heater - that they only install a specific brand (I do not recall what that brand was) he closed the cover and came down the ladder. All of this took place within less than 10 minutes. He goes to his truck, comes back with an invoice and says "That will be $125.00". I know I should have ask what the trip charge or estimate would cost up front and I anticipated it might be as high as maybe $75 - but being a local business, my house was between their business and his home and he did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING - I was shocked. I paid the $125 and told him I would never use his services again. ALWAYS remember to ask up front what the cost is for someone to come out.

The city required that I have a backflow preventer installed on my property. The city gave me a list of plumbers that I could call. McLain Plumbing was among the cheapest, so I went with them. The job was done fairly quickly and satisfactorily. I gave them my credit card number over the phone to pay for the job. I requested a copy of my invoice for my records. The plumber was very rude. First he said that he lived close by so he could just drop it off. I waited for several days, but he never did. I called him again, and he promised again to drop it off. Again I waited a few days. After the 4th or 5th call and several weeks later, he finally drove to my house. He knocked very loudly on the door, handed me the invoice, and left. He did not even look at me or apologize for being late with the invoice. He neither said hello nor goodbye. Customer service is very important to me, so I will not be using him again.