Beacon Plumbing, Heating, & Mechanical Inc

The work turned out fine, just as advertised.

I called and they came out immediately. The technician left in the middle of the job and left all of his large equipment tools in the basement. I kept calling and calling to find out what was going on, but the 2 weeks later I still had no one come back. I finally had someone from this company come back out to fix the problem and they had to dig two holes and one was in the driveway. They left the bulldozer in my driveway and the machinery was making cracks in the driveway. This company charged me $13,000 for this job. I thought that was entirely too much. They finally got the work done and they took way too long. They kept leading me on for several weeks and the neighbors were even wondering what was going on.

The job they did was fine, as well as the equipment. They charged more than twice the amount of other companies for the same type of service. They gouged the price. They were prompt in getting the business, but then never returned phone calls once we wanted to talk about the work.

Very prompt, professional and reasonable. Please wish your plumber (Romeo) the best of luck in his plumbing career, he speaks well for your company's future. - Woody MacLeod-Issaquah.

Overall I was pretty irritated with feeling sandbagged. Given the time of year and the urgency of the matter (there was practically no indication the heater was about to go out), I was going to be stuck with whomever made it out the quickest, which was Beacon. I was furious at being charged $200 for dinky beat up metal stand. When I subsequently called and spoke with the manager he appeared sympathetic, offered a partial refund and the assurance I'd received some "Beacon Bucks". That's the last I heard of him. I called thrice more to follow-up and was given the run around. They wore me down, basically. I would NEVER recommend this company to anyone, period. I will NEVER use them again.

The service at the time was okay, but now I am having problems with the drain again and I think I paid way too much for the service they provided me with at that time.

I had a clogged drain in my tub, and a toilet that didn't flush well (water would go up to the top and drain very slowly). I have heard that if more than 1 drainage point is having a problem, that could be bad news i.e. major problems with the main line. I did what any silly male does and dumped a bunch of Drain-O down the tub, and then ran hot water. When that didn't work, I tried the plunger...drain went from draining slowly, to not at all....I was freakin, I called Beacon. They were out within an hour and I wish I could remember the guys name, because he was great. He was very, very thorough in checking other possible problems. Sink in that bathroom. Sink in upstairs bathroom. Toilet in upstairs bathroom. Tub in upstairs bathroom. He did a variety of things that were giving him info before he jumped to any conclusions....after about 45 minutes, he said, "you have a clogged drain, and that is all." I said "how much," he said "$300," I said 'phew'....(300 is a lot, but not nearly as much as the thousands that I was hearing in my head). He had it unclogged within 10 minutes and everything was great. But here are a few details of why I am compelled to write such a great review and recommend them again: - My wife and I don't like shoes in the house...he went out to his truck a good 14 times for this and that each time he took on and off his shoes after me asking him once. - He removed the bathroom mats and put them folded nicely to the side so they wouldn't get dirty/wet. - There was a big pile of debris (I don't want to know what) left over in the tub after he unclogged it. He completely wiped it all out, and dried it off with his own towels and rags. That blew my mind.... - He didn't dump the nasty clog that he pulled out in our garbage...I even offered a garbage bag for him...and he said "no, I will take it with me." I am sure that 9 out of 10 plumbers could probably do just as good of a job as this guy did, but I very much appreciate the service and recognition that he was in someone's house. I would absolutely use again. (Hopefully I won't have to though.) ;-)

They were very expensive. I feel I paid double of what it should cost.

Sudden decrease in water pressure at kitchen faucet was the problem. Beacon came to the house and quoted $2300 for a line clean-out for the whole house. But, they said, if a pressure-reducing valve had to be replaced the cost of the valve was $919 additional. The $2300 quote was obviously bogus because the low water pressure only existed in the kitchen. I would not let them proceed and sent them away. I've also since found out that you can buy a pressure reducing valve replacement for $120 to $130 - not the absurd $919 quoted. Beacon was recently cited in the Seattle Times for egregious overcharges.

Dreading another bad experience w/ a plumber, I was concerned about calling a company we weren't familiar with when we discovered a leak behind our clothes washer. Beacon sent an extremely capable journeyman with decades of experience within the hour. The plumber, Don, evaluated what needed to be done and provided a reasonable estimate. He worked quickly, tested his work and thoroughly cleaned up the utility room before leaving. He fixed twisted "rookie's work" pipe dog-legs left by the young inexperienced employees of a major (national chain) plumbing company. I told him of our (generally) bad experiences with the previous 15 plumbers. He gave me great advice: to ask to see a Journeyman's License whenever a plumber arrives. I told him there's no need, that we'd be calling HIM.

When he finished Thursday night, he said he wanted the other $6,035.00 because they'd finished the job. All this time he said he'd put a shut off valve, but he never did. I have his check here from the bank, but I'm not going to pay them until they put the water shut off valve in! He gave me a load of bs saying he'd do all this work for me and clean up the mess he makes, but there was no clean up. They had to cut a hole in my linoleum! I will never have this company out again.

The water heater has problems. The tub/faucet drips now and did not drip before. We have to turn the hot water faucet on high to get enough hot water. When I called to get a repair, the phone person said they had to charge another $50 to come out. I had them transfer me to the manager who said the technician would have to make a determination when he checked the invoice. He came out, checked the invoice said the invoice said "attempt" to fix. And quoted me the $50 and $342 for the SAME parts. When I called the manager she said it was their POLICY. We have used them many times but this awful customer service we will NEVER call them again.

He came over and did one thing to repair the leak. He charged us $285. He was out in 30 minutes, but the price was an outrageous amount.

I called Beacon first because they are a local company that advertises heavily. They told me up front that there would be a $50 service charge just to come out, and I agreed to that. The plumber came out within about an hour and a half and called to let me know he was running a little late. When he got there I explained the problem. He did not go under the house, and told me he couldn't clean out the line through the toilet because it was back-to-back with the other one. I explained that it had been done that way before. He said I needed an outside cleanout installed and it would be over $1200. Since it was getting late, I didn't want to make a decision at that time and wanted a second opinion. I got a second opinion and had the work done elsewhere.

Basically as others have already stated, these guys are ridiculously priced. Yes, you get a fixed price quote when they arrive for the work (having already spent $55 to get them out), but their unspecified hourly rates are much much higher than other major Seattle plumbers. I think they basically charge what others charge for emergency rates, but as standard. This means they have plenty of staff and are available immediately, and if you do need an emergency job they may be competitively priced, but for non-emergency plumbing Id suggest looking elsewhere. That said, the quality of the work itself was good and the plumber professional - but why pay more when you can get the same elsewhere?

They were very upfront with how much the job was going to cost from the beginning and very professional throughout. I had known we had roots in our line from an incident the previous year - the plumber we had called then (not Beacon) had wanted $7000.00 and dig up our whole back yard so this was a very nice and welcome surprise when the total came in at @$2000.00. The job took 2 days due to them hitting our water line while digging. He was very calm through all of it and tried to repair the leak himself before the city showed up to turn the water off. We had to leave the next day due to travel plans, but they came back to finish the job and even called to let me know the whole job was complete. Upon my return to inspect, the area was clean and everything is back to normal.

The 10-year journeyman plumber showed up on time, but did not have the correct tools (a roto-hammer) or bits to drill into a tile floor overlaying concrete. A back-up plumber delivered the needed tools. There was a template the plumber had to follow to drill anchor holes to secure the toilet, fortunately the plumber noted how he installed a similar toilet the night before. Following the template and correctly drilling the anchor holes from the template proved to be too much for the journeyman plumber. I noticed the plumber had problems getting the toilet to seat correctly but eventually was successful. The only catch was the plumber had to remove one of the two securing anchors and was more than happy to caulk over the unused anchor hole and call it a job well done.

We complained about the cost and were told that we were paying for a fully loaded truck with all the necessary repair parts. We still havent had the faucet fixed.

My carbon monoxide alarm was going off, so I called Beacon to have them come out and check for leaks. They didn't detect any CO in the air by the time they arrived, so they sent out their furnace technician to check my furnace. Beacon prides themselves on giving an up front price before doing any service. The technician brought out his price book, and said that the price for inspecting my furnace would be $48.00. I agreed (without seeing any written price). He said that my furnace had a leak. He promptly disabled my furnace so I wouldn't be able to use it, and tried to sell me a whole new furnace. I declined, and when he made up the bill, it was $480 plus the $90 service call fee. The invoice also stated that he did an "inspection and tune up"; I asked about the tune up, and he said he couldn't perform one because of the leak. I obtained a second opinion two days later from an AL-recommended place; nothing wrong with the furnace! Customer service at Beacon refused my subsequent calls. Member update: The heat exchanger on my furnace was not cracked, as was verified by a second opinion from Ballard Natural Gas two days later. In fact, I haven't had any problems with the furnace since Ballard Natural Gas re-enabled the furnace two days later, without performing any additional work. It was the carbon monoxide alarm that was apparently broken, and going off without any reason. I know I don't have any proof, but I did not see or sign the quoted price until after the work was done and it was time to pay. My husband wasn't home, and I wasn't sure what to do at the time, so I opted to pay and try and get a refund after the fact. I did call Beacon several times after the work was performed, and each time was told that Customer Service was not available. They took my information, and promised to return my call, but they never did. I only received a written form letter from Customer Service declining me a refund. 5/22/2013 - As an update, I am continuing to use the same furnace 5+ years later. I have another service company come out and do an inspection annually, with no problems noted. Clearly the heat exchanger is NOT cracked. The diagnosis by Beacon was incorrect.

They did a really nice job. Really nice, punctual, courteous and good follow up.

The work itself went fine, but the $50 Beacon Bucks coupon I had was really worthless since the cost for the task performed was inflated to $40-$50 above average range for a 15 minute service call.

I had already installed a new flush valve, but the new one would not accommodate the old water intake line. The plumber installed a new flexible water intake line.

They were dishonest about the work that they did and the price that they charged. They told me that I needed a new sump pump and even took my old one with them!

The furnace was repaired, but the cost was outrageous compared to the work done. I complained to Beacon, but they were completely unresponsive. Several times when I called I couldn't even leave a voice mail as the voice mail box was full. When I did eventually get to talk with someone he said that the charges the tech quoted are their standard fixed rate charges for the work performed. When I pointed out that over $500 labor charge for less than an hour's work was excessive, he said he'd check the rates and get back to me. He never did. This week I decided to buy a spare igniter online. I bought one for $35, and in the process I discovered that the igniter Beacon installed was the incorrect part for my furnace - yes it works, but it was the wrong part. So, >$500 for the wrong $35 part and less than 1 hour of work.

Fair workmanship, but aggressive sales and ridiculously priced. I felt like it was a scam from the moment they presented the estimate. The water pipe was leaking and it was a Saturday. I called Beacon and Richard arrived promptly within a few hours. I had already identified the issue and he was quick to note what needed to be done. His first estimate took him close to 20 minutes to prepare and started off over $1000. After telling him Id sooner live a couple of days without water, he "revised" it down to $800. I told him the work was worth $300 and I was willing to pay a premium given the day of the week and eventually "settled" at $636. It took him a leisure 40-50 minutes and he was complete. Short of a scam, as the quality of work was fine.