Tingey Plumbing & Heating

Description of Work: HVAC repair

Description of Work: Needed repair of a heating system that had been installed 15 months earlier

Description of Work: Fixed what another repair company messed up.

Description of Work: Replaced water heater, installed earthquake straps and organized plumbing.

Description of Work: Came out because I thought my pipes were frozen. The plumbers discovered that a pipe in my basement had frozen and burst. They did a diagnostic and replaced busted pipe.

Description of Work: Removed an almost 40 year old natural gas wall heater and replaced with a brand new one.

Description of Work: The provider serviced our radiant heat system and replaced a broken pump on our water tank.

Description of Work: Routine maintenance

Description of Work: Evaluated and eliminated smoke coming from electric wall heaters. At our request, removed a built in seat. Tested the heater and cleaned work area.

Description of Work: I have used this company for some years because I have a rather quirky - definitely not standard - hot water heat system designed & built in the late 1930s. I used them knowing they were somewhat more pricey than others but I felt their inital understanding of the system & their 'institutional knowledge' of my system were worth it. But here are three things I have been really unhappy about in dealing with failures in the hot water system from December through March or April. Biggest: my boiler, new in 1991, is now reaching the end of its expected life, and a simple replacement would have cost about $4000 - however, no one told me this until we were into at least $1300 in repairs & diagnostic visits and looking at another $700 possible which it is now apparent will be necessary before winter. It is true that I was worried about cost but, even though it would be a bite at $4000, replacement would clearly have been the most cost-effective choice - I could have expected to be trouble-free for a long time. As it is, I now may have to replace it anyway within a year or two. Second: I was unhappy that the first time, and maybe another time, I was sent a tech who a) didn't know me or my system, did not appreciate my level of understanding of how my heating system works (BA in Physics, have lived in the house for 20+ years, have paid attention) (and possibly also because I am a middle-aged woman). I did ask questions and did try to tell him what I knew about the system & its history but I don't think he really listened. Given the subsequent history of the recurrent problems, and I did mention in passing that I was unhappy about the $150 charges for at least this diagnostic visit and this tech when we got into the big repairs - I would like to have seen a credit for that visit. Ken is generally good with listening to me and communicating to me what the problems & options are so I can make decisions, but could have done a lot better on this occasion by alerting me to the boiler-age issue much earlier. I know many, perhaps most homeowners both male & female, either don't want to get into the technical details or don't have the knowledge base I do for understanding their heating/plumbing issues - but, any of them would have appreciated knowing early on that the boiler was near needing replacement. The techs need also to be proactive in a situation like this - to note that the boiler possibly will need replacement within a year or two. The need for good communication & looking-forward approach is especially important for those of us in older homes (mine dates to 1938). Third, on Ken's first visit this go-round, I don't think he'd really looked over the history of the system before starting bigger repairs on it. Dealing with major home system repairs is the same as dealing with car repairs - how can the consumer know even what questions to ask? We need our providers to give us a view of issues like whether it's now time to replace the boiler instead of spending an indefinite but large amount of $$ to keep repairing it when in the near future it may just have to be replaced. I've dealt with a number of repair issues over the last couple years (car, computer, water main...) and the ones I am happy with have communicated this kind of forward-looking proactive information at an early stage of the work. I wouldn't say don't call Tingey, Ken is definitely very knowledgeable, experienced, and hardworking, but be sure to be prepared on a diagnostic visit with questions about the general prognosis.

Description of Work: I had them hook up a garbage disposal and run water to the dishwasher. They had to hook up a sink in the bathroom as well, and they snaked both of my toilets. For one of the toilets, they didn't even have the right snake to do it so we still had the problem and they had to come back out and do it again.

Description of Work: I used the service of Tingey Plumbing & Heating for some plumbing work a couple of months ago.

Description of Work: No service performed at time of this posting, as they were 90 minutes behind schedule. As they were 90 They were scheduled a week in advance to come look at our gas fireplace at 4:30pm. I called at 4:45pm to see if they were coming and they said they were running behind and should be there around 6:00pm. I understand delays occurr, but contractors should be professional enough to let customers know. I think 90 minute delay justifies a courtesy call, rather than expecting customer to stay home and disregard other committments waiting for a contractor to show up late. I would not use them again and would not recommend them. The only way contractors will be more professional and mindful of their customers is through customers making a strong stand that there are others out there who can do the job and go elsewhere, otherwise their negative habbits continue to be negatively reinforced. Once I find a good contractor, they are entered into my blackberry and used numerous times by me and referred to every person I know who is in need of the service.

Description of Work: I received an estimate from Tingey Plumbing & Heating to install my water softener.

Description of Work: Have used them twice in the last few months. Once to install a gas stove and once to fix a leaking pipe.

Description of Work: Serviced my boiler.