Thriftway Plumbing

Matthew is why so many plumbers and skilled tradespeople have a bad reputation. I called to have a camera inserted into the a drain line to determine the source of a blockage. I had the line completely dug up, but he charged me $189 to remove 4 hose clamps. Ok, I can live with that- I should have done that myself. He charged me $200 to trace the drain line- which I agreed with. When he and his tech brought out the camera, they determined that the blockage was too severe to get the camera in. The camera was never actually turned on at any point. When it was time to pay, he included the $436 ($399 plus tax) camera charge. When I asked him why he was charging me for something that he didn't perform, he mentioned that he had to charge me because they brought the camera out. He assured me that they would need the camera on the next aspect of the repair, and I wouldn't have to pay for it again, so I reluctantly agreed. When I continued the repair, I determined that that my basement foundation needed to be jack-hammered, but when they did the original drain trace, they didn't mark the connection point. To their credit, they came back out, retraced the line, and marked the spot and didn't charge me- although this is only because they failed to mark it originally. No camera was used at this time. A few weeks later, I resolved the plumbing issue myself. Repeated calls (at least 5) to their answering service asking about a refund of the camera charge were never returned. I finally called Matthew. He was calm at first, but then became enraged and hung up on me. I was willing to pay $100 for his tech taking the camera off the truck and wheeling it down the 25 yards to my backyard, but in the end, he has thus far refused to refund any of the $436.63 that I paid for the camera.

See above.

Our cost was more than what we should have paid for the work that was done by the contractor. We found this out later by another contractor who we trust and have known for many years. We had to call the contractor out several months after the work was done to unclog part of the pipe that they had replaced. This was an emergency situation so I'm not sure if this made the cost of service increase.

Jesus came out on time,explained the work that needed to be done and provided an accurate bid. He then brought out his crew member, Pat, to actually complete the work. Although Pat worked quickly, he took the time to answer my questions/concerns. I was very satisfied with the quality of the workmanship and would not hesitate to use Jesus and Pat again for my plumbing needs.

The gentleman that came out, Jesus Camacho, was very thorough. He did the job as if it was his own. I wish the company would provide them with booties so they don't have to take their shoes off while working inside.

My experience with this contractor did not go well. In fact, it was the worst experience I've ever had with a plumber. The problem they were called to fix was never repaired. Before the toilet was removed, I asked if they had checked (augered) the plumbing system. Mr Lee stated that in his years of work that was not the best method and he would not offer a price to do the work. He stated the best solution would be to purchase a Japanese made toilet (Toto). Once the toilet was removed he only poured a lot of water down the drain and the level did not rise so he assumed there was no blockage.He said he would have to bring in a lot of heavy equipment so he decided to try another method. This company offered a service guarantee in the advertisement and on the invoice (90 days, new products; repairs, 30 days; drain cleaning, 7 days). I called back well within the warranty periods but Thriftway would not stand behind its guarantee.