Jim Dandy Sewer & Plumbing

This went terribly for us. I don't know if they are incompetent or unethical. You decide. The technician went to clear our line to the main sewer when via his video he determined that their was a "large break at @ 60 ft located 7 ft. down." He recommended limited use until the repair was made and had an estimator come and let us know what the repairs would cost. The estimator gave us a wide open estimate from @ $4,000 - $24,000. I had my husband talk with him about the details of this work. My husband was immediately suspicious of this quote so we decided to have Best Plumbing come and provide us with an estimate and a video of the problem. Within two days of the work done by Jim Dandy, the line was clogged again. Best Plumbing was able to clear the line and the video showed "no offsets, bellies or breaks". They felt that we may want to sleave to the city connection due to the amount of roots but did not feel that it was immediately necessary. After a third contractor came and again felt nothing was needed in the near future, he turned us on to contacting Ronald Wastewater, which services the Shoreline area. Ronald Wastewater was the most helpful with accurate information of all of them. They came to our house for free and did another video inspection.They let us know that they did not recommend any repair work at this time. That even if we did do the work, it would not be necessary to damage the street (the reason Jim Dandy gave for the higher bid). After several communications with Jim Dandy, they did give us back our money for the work they didn't do and paid us at their rate, for the video that Best Plumbing did. In the end we were out many hours of our time chasing down bad information and about $150.

Derek was fast, friendly, and professional. He quoted us a price and stuck to it. We will definitely call Jim Dandy for future plumbing work. We got a kick out of the driver sitting on the toilet of the van. It's a great way to remember your company. Thanks so much, Derek! Suey and Dan Byrnes

REVIEW UPDATE: I received a phone call from the owner to talk about my initial experience (outlined below). Scott's concern as a small business owner seemed sincere. He was pleasant and non-defensive; apologetic instead of an excuse-maker. The fact that he called to talk about things (the day after I posted my review) shows that he does not shy away from the unpleasantness business of unhappy customers. Jim Dandy gets highest marks for professionalism from me, and I would not hesitate to give them another try. --------------------------------------------------------------- Routine sewer scope for a house we purchased. After pulling the toilet and monkeying around with the camera for awhile, the guy realized it wasn't working. He called a co-worker who was right in the area and had a working camera. We waited... and waited... and waited... Turns out the co-worker left West Seattle, where we were, and drove to Ballard. What should have been a quick job ended up wasting hours of my time. Negative marks for not showing up with equipment that was tested and ready to use and for the co-worker not being able to follow simple driving directions. Other than that they were pleasant and fine.

punctual efficient friendly

My experience with them was good! They did a good job, and they were pretty fast. However, they were a little expensive. They charged me a lot.

Jim Dandy Sewer & Plumbing Services are really good and I fully recommend them. They work on time and within the estimate they provided at the beginning.

It went well and they did a god job. They were efficient, professional and they did what they were asked to do. They gave us some good information about how to avoid a problem with that sink again, so they were quite professional. They were honest about their prices.

Jim Dandy has become my "go to" plumbing service for my rental units. They have a fair billing policy and stand by their work. My only problem with them in general is that they have sometimes been late, however this particular call they showed up within the time window they gave me. They have generally been able to deal with emergency situations within 24 hours.

On 04-23-2013 at 0800 Jim Dandy was scheduled to arrive at my home and install a hot water tank. The employee did not show up and the office staff provided no options or solutions after I made several phone calls. The office simply informed me they couldn't get a hold of employee. The employee showed up several hours late and stated he overslept. He installed the tank and the company offered to take $200 dollars off the bill for the inconvenience. Since the install I have had to call Jim Dandy out over 6 times to get the hot water tank to work properly. The pilot light is still going out on its own. The tech. has only showed up on time once and when he does show up it's apparent it's the last stop of the day (6pm) on his was home. I've had the same excuse twice for running late. He has deferred the pilot light issue to PSE twice stating the problem was on "their end". It was not. PSE responded quickly (twice) and double, triple shot any potential problems by replacing all natural gas components and staying at my house to try to recreate the problem. There was no problem with the natural gas. I've asked the tech several times to double check and trouble shoot all possibilities however each time he has a reason why that's not necessary. Ultimately he ended up having to reassess the very trouble shooting issues I referred to in the first place. Now Jim Dandy is scheduled to come out again (07-09-2013) to replace the entire tank and trouble shoot the vent system he installed. I'm never surprised when the tech calls (and I know his number, unfortunately by heart) and cancels or offers an excuse for rescheduling or running late. From April to July, that's all I've experienced. Between the plumbers inability to provide timely and successful service and the dispatcher providing nothing other than a dead end, this was a very frustrating experience. This is addendum to my review on 07-09-13. Shortly after I posted the above review Jim Dandy's manager, Larry, phoned me to apologize for any inconveniences. Apparently Jim Dandy was unaware that their plumber had been trying to fix my hot water tank problem for 3 months. They were unaware since they had no tracking record of phone calls or service trips out to my home. I understand now they have a new policy in place to better track these problems with future customers. I understand they have discussed better communications with their dispatchers as well, this too will help with future customers. Manager Larry has many years of experience, provided great customer service. He suggested, and he mentioned it was a shot in the dark, that my vehicle exhaust was potentially mothering out the pilot light. This appears to be the problem and the pilot light issue is better. It's too bad my initial review was the only motivator to solving this problem. I appreciate Larry and his efforts, I only wish he was made aware of this situation sooner (April). Thank you Larry! Between the plumbers inability to provide timely and successful service and the dispatcher providing nothing other than a dead end, this was a very frustrating experience.

I called Jim Dandy the morning of 7/5. My call was answered very promptly. I explained the problem and the dispatcher booked me between 2-4; he said there would be a call when they were on the way. Around 1:45, Jamal (sp?) called and said he was 15 minutes away. He arrived, assessed the situation and got the problem resolved in about 45 minutes. He explained how to avoid the problem in the future as well. Thanks to Jamal & Jim Dandy!

We have lived in our home for 20 years. It was new when we bought it and after all this time, some of the sinks and toilets were not draining as they once did. We've used home drain cleaning products ourselves on occasion when there were temporary clogs but that is about all. Raising two girls with long hair, and more recently a toddler grandson who we know has dropped a toy or two into the toilets, it just seemed a good thing to have our 2 tubs, 3 toilets and 4 sinks all cleaned out as well as they could be. One of the toilets also needed a new flush mechanism. I know these are relatively easy to do, but we had Jim Dandy do this work as well. The two member crew arrived on time. They were very thorough and extremely tidy. They reported the kitchen sink and the bathtub our daughters had used had been in serious need of attention and augured the kitchen sink to 45 feet. Everything else was augured to 15 feet. The crew also examined our disposal and cleaned and reinstalled it as well. The job took about two hours and the $400 fee works out to roughly $45 per fixture, which I think was a very fair price.

I was out of state and one of the renters called with a plumbing problem; I called Jim Dandy and had him go out. They went out right away and they fixed the problem. I though the price was reasonable. I think I had used them once before, many years ago and I thought they were good and reliable. They came out in a timely manner. They were good and my renters said everything went well.

Very well. I called Jim Dandy and was told someone would come out between 2 and 4pm the same day, and would call me once they were on their way. They did so, arriving on time. I had had several attempts at resolving the issue. The operator immediately diagnosed the problem - a sticking washer in a faucet. He immediately solved the problem, was quick and courteous.

The person performing the inspection (Jon) was on time and did a great job. cleaned up after himself and then spent some time offering some good information on some of our plumbing items. Will use on these items.

They are excellent. They don't waste your time. They come in and get it done. They don't manufacture more of a problem than what it is.

Got a very reasonable estimate in one day (Friday) and was told the job could be done on Monday! This was awesome since I needed this done before the floor goes in and not have to wait a week for the job to be scheduled. Both plumbers I was in contact with were very professional and on time. Did a great job with the installation and came very close to the bid price. Thanks for the fast turnaround for the estimate and work performed, I am very happy with it. Would use their services again.

They did a lot of work and it was a lot of money. They did a good professional job on everything except billing. They had a real problem with billing which they ultimately resolved. All the technical work they did was good. Someone else chose them for me. It was expensive but that whole field is expensive. They were responsive to all the work but the billing was a nightmare. Their work was really good but the billing was a hassle.

I was satisfied with the work done. I thought the technician was very courteous, very professional, I liked him, they did very good work. The only thing that I didn't like was that the tech added up everything and I paid everything by credit card right there and then I got a bill from them for 53 Dollars a couple weeks later and I called them and I asked them what it was for because I had paid in full. The guy said that the tech had miscalculated and so I owed them that money. I thought that was crappy. I paid in good faith the day they were here and I think they should have just let it go but he just said that I owe them that me. If I were the business owner, I would say that I would take the hit on the business and moved on. I think the prices were high but the guy was very professional and I felt comfortable with him in my home. They called me before they came.

I thought he was "A" quality. He worked very quickly. He was professional and friendly.

Showed up on time, worked quickly and got the job done. Very professional; would use again if necessary.

At first I was impressed. When I called about my sewer line, they came out same day and put a camera down my line for no charge. The service man discussed what he saw and some options then let me know he'd look up the layout of my pipes (as well as my neighbors) and get back to me with an estimate (he had offered some ballpark numbers that seemed outrageous compared to work my neighbors have had done). He was professional and seemed knowledgeable, but I did not hear back. I called twice - once I spoke to a man who promptly contacted the original service man and let me know he'd call me. I never heard from them again. What a waste of my time and theirs!

The job went pretty well except for one problem, which I am not sure if it was their fault. In the toilet tank there is a valve that lets the water in and there is a flapper valve which operates when you flush it. The flapper valve had been there since a long time and I did not say anything about changing that. They had changed that and then charged me for the new one. I do not know whether it is the design or anything else, but they had brought a different type and installed it; but I am not sure if it was their fault that was the design problem. So they came back and this time put the correct one in place but did not charge me for this. I like them you know I do not know much because I have not used a plumber in 10 years, probably they have charged me correctly. We had used someone else for years for plumbing, and I decided to try someone new this time.

I was getting ready to go meet my boss and some customers one morning when the toilet & all the drains In my home started backing up. This was the first emergency I'd had happen on my first home. I turned off the water into the toilet & ran down to the basement to turn off the main valve (& every knob I could see.) I ran back upstairs & started bailing water into the bathtub from every sink. I figured all the water was coming from the wash I had started earlier. It took over an hour before the drains were stabilized enough that I felt safe enough to leave the house. During the day I called a few plumbers from a free referral site. The first plumber wouldn't provide their hourly rate over the phone. The second one gave me a really low estimate on the job but said he would have to see the problem first. That made sense but my main line was a problem for him. It's only accessible from the crawl space or the laundry room. He irritated & told me it was impossible to pull his auger up my stairs without 2 other guys. When I got home that night I decided to fix the drain problem myself. I found a dozen techniques online... Everything from dish soap to running a handheld auger down my main line. Nothing worked so I realized it was bigger than a DIY project. I remembered Angie's List & decided to join for a month to see if I could find a plumber that sounded legit. Jim Dandy was the first plumbing company who came up on Angie's List. They had high ratings & there were a lot of reviews listed. After reading all the comments & average costs to clear sewer lines, I decided to call the following morning. The Jim Dandy dispatcher said they had a plumber who's last job that day was in my neighborhood. John arrived promptly at 7pm and got started right away. He was a nice guy, very professional and was conscientious about scratching the paint on my door jams & walls. He pulled his auger w/blades (about 2ft wide) up my front steps & immediately went to work. He removed the old folding door leading into my laundry room so it wouldn't get damaged. After breaking 2 blades in my sewer pipes he sent a camera scope down & identified the problem. There was a clean break in the sewer line right next to the house. Something I was lead to believe the previous owners agreed to take care of 2 years ago. John cleared the heavy roots that had grown into the sewer line enough for my drains to be temporarily functional. He advised me of precautions to consider until the sewer line was repaired. He promised that he would be emailing me a copy of the camera shots. Before he left, he also gave me the name of Jim Dandy's project coordinator. I called Jim Dandy's project coordinator the next day and received a reasonable estimate for the sewer line repair. I will complete another review on Angie's List once the repair has been completed. Stay tuned.

Our overall experience is very good. They are the first one's we call for our plumbing needs. I am frequently surprised by how reasonable their invoices are that they submit. There have been a few snafu's over the years with late arrivals or other minor issues, but they are a service industry in an unpredictable environment, but their work is worth being miffed about he small stuff.

It was done in a very timely fashion.. they could have swept up a little better.. one smoked and the smell came thru the house. The work looked well done.