McCarthy Services

Great! they were on time, professional, answered all my questions and were very clean.

Needed a toilet internals replacement. But - mentioned the fact that the water pipes wee banging all the time when two or more were on. The Plumber- James Moore - was a fantastic plumber. he did not try to oversell, and made great recommendations. When adjustments to the main pressure valve did not abate the banging, he replaced the valve. No more banging, and I have better pressure than before. OUTSTANDING JOB!

Went very well. The new one works like a charm.

It went great. I asked them to evaluate the interior duct work as well and they did that at no charge. I'd use them again.

He was prompt, friendly, waited for me, and knew how to fix it.

Contractor was able to get me a next day appointment - within a 1 hour window. Contractor called ahead (30 minutes) to let me know they were on their way. Contractor arrived on time. Contractor inspected all plumbing - nothing was out of sorts. Contractor snaked toilet - found hairs in connected shower drain

The person that came seemed to know exactly what to do, and showed me what he was doing throughout the work. He also explained to me how the plumbing in the house worked, so that I would know more about the system. He came on time, worked quickly, and was helpful in the payment - since I had a coupon.

Work was professionally done. Cost even with Angie's List $100 discount was somewhat high for a job that lasted about an hour.

It went well. We have no complaints.

The overall experience was terrific. The technician arrived on time and explained everything clearly. All the services that we wanted were completed. In addition, we requested additional services when we realized that the heating elements on the hot water heater, which was over 10 years old, had rusted to the point that changing them may not have been possible. We decided to install a new hot water heater that day. We will definitely use this company again if we need plumbing services. Thank you for everything!

They are a bigger company and they seemed more competent because they have different sections for different types work. We have allergies and my daughter has asthma, so they suggested about an easy light to put in for the filter and we ended up going with that to try it, but we didn't feel like it was a pressure tactic. They just suggested us about the filter, but didn't pressure us at all to buy it.

Good--he was finished in about 20 minutes. He knew exactly how to replace it without loooking or reading the manual.

My husband & I woke up to no hot water that day (Good Friday of Easter weekend). We had recently used McCarthy for another plumbing issue, so we called them. At first the woman who answered the phone said no one could make it to our home that day. Next thing I know my husband was talking with another person that said they could get someone out to us that day. We told her we needed a new hot water heater & that our current one was 65 gallons. When the plumber arrived at our house there was no new hot water heater. He did give us the choice of 3 possibilities. We went with the one that was closest in size to ours & the 10 year warranty. He gave us the total price - $2500. At that point we did not feel like we had time to shop other places & as we are relatively new to the area, had no idea where to turn. He left our home to pick up the new heater & then waited outside until another McCarthy person showed up to help him get it into the basement. Shawn did wonderful work & by 4pm we had a new, functioning hot water heater. The following day I realized that our paperwork from them never broke out the pricing. We had no idea how much the unit cost, no idea how many hours we were charged for, etc, I contacted them & spoke with Manning. He promised to send out my requested information. His email still not break out the expenses we were looking for. It said the hot water heater was $2028 and provided the cost of the expansion tank & drip pan. Still nothing about hourly rates. My husband spoke with yet another individual there as we requested a partial refund. During this conversation McCarthy explained that they do not do hourly rates, but rather charge by the job. We asked for between $500 to $800 refund. McCarthy finally agreed on a $100 refund. We do not feel this is a fair compromise. Yes, we understand we agreed to the $2500 and that we should taken more time before making this decision. Yes this is a lesson learned. I will begin looking for a new plumber now, so the next time we have a plumbing issue we will know who to call.

I had an Angie's list coupon offering a visit and $100 of work for $50. Greg showed up right on time and was pleasant. I showed him the problems. Without touching the stuck valve or looking at the hose bibb it connected to (which, when is fairly new and in fine shape), he offered to replace both the good and bad hose bibbs and the stuck valve and give me a service contract on my HVAC for $600. He produced a price list showing that their prices are roughly 50% higher for customers who don't have HVAC service contracts with them. IF YOU DON"T WANT TO SIGN AN HVAC SERVICE CONTRACT WITH McCARTHY, THEIR PRICES ON PLUMBING ARE QUITE HIGH. I already have an HVAC company that I Ilke -- so I was taken aback -- I called them for plumbing, not to sell me on HVAC services. . I got him to try the old valve, which he managed to get open with about 2 minutes of work; and then had him replace the corroded hose bibb. He and his helper spent about 15 minutes at my house, replaced a part that costs about $20 and left with nearly $300 after I used an Angie's list "discount." I felt pressured to buy a service contract and a hose bibb that I did not need and like they promised "discount service" until they got through my front door and then wanted top dollar.

I've decided to do the work myself.

roughout.It went perfectly well. It was pouring rain, so he was very careful to make sure no dirt/mud came into the house. He came on time, worked quickly but thoroughly. He understood his work , articulated what and why he was doing everything and was courteous th

They came out yesterday and looked at a leaky valve. The prices he quoted me were outrageous. I called other companies and it was 1/3 of the price at other companies. 80 for 12 dollar part. I do not have issues with technician but the prices and polices set by the company were rediulas.

Very professional. Quick and explained work.

This is what happened according to my tenants (I am the landlord): We had made the appointment for Saturday--they would only do 4-hour windows and said they'd show up between 12 and 4. I explained the problem over the phone. By 4 PM on Saturday they hadn't arrived so I called, and the woman who answered for them said she'd call a dispatcher and see what was going on. At around 5:15 I got a call from a technician, but in heating and air conditioning. He said he had no idea why no one had come and asked if they could come on Monday. I said a 4-hour window again on Monday would be very difficult for us with our jobs and asked if they could still come later in the day. He said he'd call back in 5 minutes. Never got a call back from anyone. I called the company on Monday and explained what happened. They were very apologetic but just said there was a miscommunication. I felt really bad for my tenants as it was the first beautiful Saturday in Washington, DC in a long time and they were stuck waiting for someone who never showed. Angie's List is giving me my money back and I won't be using this firm again.

Technician tried to charge a trip fee of $80 when I declined all of his upsell scare tactics. I threatened to note this in my review and after much discussion he finally left... Without the additional $80.

He told me I needed to replace the pipe valve in my utility room. I refused. So, he then removed the filter from the back of my washing machine and told me the problem was fixed. This was the worst plumbing experience I've ever had. After getting a reputable plumber - not McCarthy aka ARS- the filter was replaced in my washer, the valve did not need to be fixed, and the problem proved to be with my washing machine. So, McCarthy got it totally wrong, and tried to get me to make an expensive repair unnecessarily.

In the process of the toilet tuneup work ( which was replacing the flapper and cleaning the toilet) it was clear that the toilet needed to be repaired. The flush valve needed to be replaced ($10-15 part). Since the tech was already in the house working on the toilet it made sense to fix it then and there. When asked about price I was informed that it would cost $242 (20 minutes of work) and that would translate into more than $600 an hour for labor which is ridiculous. Tech said it was the price in the company's book and he had no control over prices, it was clear to me that the toilet tuneup was a way of getting to do other plumbing business at artificial rates. The "book price" was outrageous but I wanted the toilet fixed and paid the sum. I will never use this company again.

I have no problem with McCarthy Services punctuality and competence. My objection is their breathtaking price for an elementary plumbing repair that required less than one hour -- $514. This charge included: $49 service call plus $465 (minus $100 Angie's List credit). I expected a charge of no more than $150. Local plumbers here on Capitol Hill will quote the latter figure. McCarthy Services won't tell you outright that they bill by the job, not by the hour. They refer to some kind of code book to produce an amount, somewhat similar to auto repair shops. I cannot recommend McCarthy Services owing to their exorbitant charge. n future I will only use Angie's List tradesmen that bill by the hour rather than the job.

They came out the day that I bought the Big Deal. They helped with me 100%. They were very professional and they were nice. I would definitely recommend them.

Even after draining the water from the lines before the winter, some aspect of my outdoor hose bib cracked during the winter. I cut out the drywall on the interior wall in the garage and pulled out the insulation to inspect the pipe, but couldn't see anything. I decided to call a professional since there were a lot of elbows leading to the hose bib, and I wasn't confident in my ability to perform the repair without a lot of hassle. Angie's List had just advertised a Big Deal for plumbing services, so I paid $49 for the service call which included a $100 credit towards services. McCarthy Services was able to get a technician out in a couple of days (it wasn't an emergency since I had a shut-off valve for the outside spigot), and the technician arrived during the specified time window. Once the technician did a quick inspection, he said the standard charge for this repair was $442 (which would be $342 after applying the credit). I was more than shocked at the price, and immediately regretted not inquiring about prices prior to purchasing the Angie's List Big Deal for this company. SInce I just wanted the work done, I agreed and he got to work. He stated it was a bit of a challenge to connect the old to the new given the number of elbows and the space and the excess amount of glue used by the installer, but he managed to get it connected. He finished and left in less than about 2 hours. After he left, I came home from a work a few hours later and saw that the area below the fix was wet. Upon closer inspection, I saw a slow leak coming from one of the connections he had made. I shut off the water supply and called to have someone come out to fix it. They were able to get someone out on a Saturday to redo it - and I do mean redo. The second technician took a different approach to the repair - basically working from a point further back from the spigot and completely removing the original installation of the required 3 elbows to make it work. The second fix has been problem-free so far. As I was using the hose-bib later in the weekend, I noticed that it hadn't been secured to the outside brick wall very well. The replacement fauced had different through-hole spacing compared to the original, and there was insufficient masonry material closer to the pipe to get screws to bite into anything. I'll deal with fixing that by myself, but I felt that the first installer should have made more of an effort to get the faucet secure. In summary, they did the work and were prompt to address the problem with the first repair. I feel like the standard price for the service was inflated since I had purchased the Big Deal with the credit, but I have much better things to do with my time than call around to research prices and can't say for sure that is the case. I saw the Big Deal and the timing was convenient, so I jumped on it thinking it would help me out - I suspect it was somewhat of a wash.