Bob The Plumber

Description of Work: My brother and I are renovating a master bathroom. This involved removing the fiberglass tub and replacing it with a tiled shower. Bob the Plumber was hired to cap the water pipes to two vanities and install the rough in plumbing for the new shower unit. This included relocating the drain for the new shower. Below is my brother's experience with Bob the Plumber.

Description of Work: Let me be frank by starting with the admission that I did NOT do my homework here. I just have to say thank you Angies. I almost used this guy and checked “the list” when he left after giving me an estimate. It is my fault for not being more vigilant. I’m out $65 as a result, but that’s much better than one other reviewer. I saw this guy’s business card at a restaurant I go to and asked the owner if he knew him. He said yes and he’d done some work for him and “Bob” was “getting busy” as his business had picked up, etc. I called him and he came out with a $35 visit charge that would be taken off the bill if I had work done. I didn’t ask for credentials (duhhh). He did “tell a good story” as one of my old bosses used to say. In the end, a lot of what he said didn’t add up. He was very pleasant at 1st. I needed a water heater and he looked at mine and said I really only needed a 40 gal. (mind you, I originally had a 40 gal. and the last plumber upgraded to a much needed 50 gal.) – I advised 50 gal. He gave me an estimate and when I started looking at water heaters on line, he said he used “State” & they were the best, etc. When I pushed him to tell me which “State” as they have several models, he couldn’t tell me. He really couldn’t answer any questions about them. He said the difference in the warranties was just that the company warranted them longer & that they all had stainless steel elements (the cheaper one he was planning on using had copper elements). At any rate, as one reviewer stated, he brought his plumbing charge book to show me what he should charge. I felt like he needed to refer to it for himself. When I asked him how long he’d been doing this alone, he said 4 years and 2,000 water heaters. < In his rebuttal to a negative review, in June ’12 – said he’d been in business 8 mos.> When he was trying to talk me into the job, he asked if I had any trash bags. I said why? He said to get the water heater out. Mine is in a closet on the interior of the house unfortunately. I asked why he didn’t use a hand truck? & he said he had so much professional equipment on his vehicle he didn’t have room for that type of thing! He then said he would just roll the water heater out - !!! If you’ve ever had one removed, you know they can leak nasty water at the slightest movement. I ended up asking for a more expensive heater and after saying he would charge the same price, he increased it after talking to the supplier. Of course, this was all a "hand shake" deal. Again, I know I wasn't acting like a smart buyer.

Description of Work: On February 29th, the water in my toilets and bathtubs (both bathrooms) backed up and filled up. It was late at night and I wasn't sure who to call. I happened to look up on my refirgerator and see the flyer left by "Bob the Plumber". It stated he was a Master Plumber, he was insured, and he answered emergency calls 24-hours. I decided to call at approximately 7:30 pm and he showed up around 8:00. He looked around and stated that he thought it was just a clog, but that he needed to find the main drain outside. Discovered a couple days later, the main drain had been covered by the previous owners so Bob said he needed to pull a toilet to snake the drain. He looked in a Plumber job price book and told me it would be $400, which covered labor and parts. I didn't know what to expect and really expected it to be more expensive since it was late, so I didn't think anything about the price. So he shook my boyfriend's hand and started working. He used a hand-held snake, then an electric-driven snake. He tried to get the drain unclogged until around 10:00 pm. He said he couldn't get it done with that snake and that he needed to bring a heavier duty one the next day. He said he only wanted us to give him half the amount since he wasn't finished, so we gave him $200 and he said he'd be back around 09:00 am. So, the next day, Thursday, he comes back around 0900-0930. He tried snaking for a little while, still through the toilet, and had no change in situation. Around lunch he called the city and they city came out to try to find the city drain. Well, this house for some reason never had one put in so the city couldn't help. I had followed the noise of his snake out through the house to the end of my yard, so we knew where the clog was. So, Bob starts to tell me that he doesn't think it's a clog, he thinks its a broken pipe or roots going through the pipe. He said it was going to cost, after the $400 for snaking, an additional $700 to replace the pipe and dig up my yard. The $400 dollars he got for snaking the yard wasn't going towards the replacement, even though it's all part of the same job. He called it a day around 1:00 pm and said he'd be back friday to work in the front yard and that this would be finished friday. Keep in mind, I've been without plumbing for two days now and have missed work for it. Now I will miss work on friday. I also didn't have this much spare money, so I went to get a loan through the Navy to help offset the costs. I explained this to him and he was good. He comes back friday with two guys and they start randomly digging in my front yard. He had no clue where my pipe was and decided to start digging up by the house and trace it out. He left with one of the guys and left the other one digging until 4:00 pm. The pipe was barely exposed, meaning they found a small part of the pipe and were nowhere close to being done. It was also cloudy out and was supposed to rain that afternoon and the next morning- this was going to happen with huge dirt piles and holes in my front yard. It should've come sooner, but the feeling that this guy had no clue what he was doing was creeping over me. (Adding to that was the phone call I hear him take where someone told him they had a leak in their garbage disposal. He asked who installed it, dimed out another company, and then the caller said Bob installed it just a few months prior. No warm and fuzzy feeling there.) He told me they were done for the day and they would be back tomorrow to "finish" the job. He also wanted half now to pay the other guys. So I give him $400. At this point I've given him $700 and I've been out of plumbing for three days. I haven't had a shower, can't go to the bathroom and can't cook or do dishes in my house. The next morning, it starts drizzling. I didn't want to wait around to see if it would stop that weekend and he may or may not be back by, so I look up rotorooter. They come out whenever. They guarantee their work and have a camera to see what the issue is. I call them, the guy is there within a half hour and has the CLOG out within an hour. I paid them $280. He even showed it to me on the camera. There was no root, no broken pipe and I can flush my toilet. After it's fixed I call Bob to let him know I didn't need his services anymore. He is okay with it and we get off the phone. He calls me back a few minutes later to tell me I owe him money and that I broke a contract. I never had a contract with him. He said he couldn't pay his guys for the work they did- after I gave him $400 for them. He knew I had a check written out to him from the Navy and that I would not get reimbursed if he didn't go to the bank with me and threatened me with that trying to get another $150 out of me. I said I'll take my losses and return the check. I was told later that a contractor like that shouldn't be getting paid half now, half now, half afterwards. This guy didn't know what he was doing. He's not up on current technologies that other people have to keep from needlessly digging up someone's yard. He also told me that being without plumbing, for a clog mind you, for almost a week "happens sometimes". I wanted to write a better review than has been written for him so far. He was nice and professional the first day or two, but once I started asking questions about his judgement and why it was taking so long he became very rude. Then he tried to swindle money out of me. I would never recommend this guy to anyone. I was told to go to Navy Legal and see if I can get my money back. He got $700 to snake my drain and dig up my yard- which I had to refill myself and get my landscaper to fix the missing grass. So, total because of this guy- I'm out over $1000.

Description of Work: I called this individual because he left a flyer on my door . No license and no insurance = No business Plain and simple

Description of Work: Clean out of clogged washer stand pipe (about 25 years worth) Modification of main household drain clean-out (I asked for this to be done the main job was the stand pipe