BLACK DUCK PLUMBING & HEATING

VERY BAD, it will cost me more than I paid for repairs

Clifford owner of Black Duck Plumbing installed my shower. He did not tighten the water valve, located inside the wall. Water built up and caved in the downstairs neighbors ceiling and flooded their dinning area. I called my contractor he told me Clifford said he would not guarantee anything purchased online. My contractor, which I would not recommend either, had to fix the leak and redo my wall. He took time out of my job to fix the neighbors ceiling which he said he charged to Black Duck. (neighbors ceiling is still not finished). The shower is not level and leaks from various places, I have to stuff towels around the base at shower time. The on/off handle has always been lose, now it wobbles and does not mix temps. It is not returnable due to improper installation,($850). Clifford also installed the toilet, it leans to the left and against the back wall. I asked if he could please install it correctly? He said that would cost another $400. I googled unlevel toilets/ unlevel floors. Easy and cheap solution; a special ring made for this problem and some rubber spacers all at a cost of about $8.00 work done in about 30 minutes. I would assume a plumber that works in this area with older homes, unlevel floors etc., would know how to deal with these types of problems. Leaving an unlevel toilet, plumbing that caves in a ceiling and an unlevel, leaky shower stall as representation of his workmanship, convinced me that others should be made aware before they paid a high price for irresponsible workmanship. All this mess and he still demanded I pay $951.00 as is, which I paid. I now have a bathroom the feels like your in a plane at 10,000 feet. Having to reinstall the bathroom was not in the budget, and will not be any time soon.

Overall, Clifton from Black Duck Plumbing was a very personable, kind, and seemingly knowledgeable guy. However, when you tell a customer that you are stumped and that you have to phone a friend like you are on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" ... it doesn't give you a feeling that he can do the job right. After he said he was stumped, he replied that he would call the manufacturer and call me back. I asked what he thought the cost would be to repair, and he quoted me around $600 (after saying he was stumped, how did he come up with this figure??? Your guess is as good as mine). Also, we called him a few times during this whole process and he claimed he didn't get our call, and when we chose another plumber, we called and left him a voicemail thanking him for his time but we were choosing someone else. Again, he called and had no idea we had left him a message. After all was said and done, he is charging us $95 for the hour he was here to tell us on the final phone call that he still wasn't sure what was happening and that he wanted to come by again this week to further investigate... That's ok ... he was a real nice guy and I enjoyed visiting with him, but perhaps he should have given us the number of the friend he planned on calling instead of guessing, coming up with nothing, and then charging us for it. I understand time is money, but if you got nothing, then that is what I should pay. Dont you think?

I hired Black Duck plumbing to do the repairs mentioned above. the going rate for plumbers in this area ia approx. $65 per hour. This is an Inn so I needed it done within a week or so. I couldn't reach my regular plumber so I hired these people. He started by telling me that they require $90 per hour, but they did the job right and didn't waste time. They installed the water heater and charged for everything they possibly could like removing the boxes, and the old water heater etc.When it came time for the Jacuzzi he just sat on the tub and look through lists of vendors for the parts for over two hours (and charged for it) he finally said that he couldn't get the part - - - - - -Over $200 os that he could say he couldn't do it. A friend came in the next day and told me that the proble was an "O" ring. He bought one at the hardware store for 50 cents, replaced it and it's been working ever since. Black Duck was a disaster and should be avoided at all costs