Mr Swirl recommends John Woods hot water tank but we find that the new tank is makes a sound while running as compared to previous 10 years old Rheem tank. We would recommend Mr Swirl to provide receipt displaying split cost of appliance and services.
Hot Water Tank and PRV
We had Mr Swirl come in to our strata for plumbing work in March 2014 and they offered a free inspection on water pressure for all homes. A person working for Mr. Swirl came in for inspection on March 25th, 2014 and found that the water pressure was high. He suggested we should get a new PRV installed. Mr. Swirl were offering discount price for all strata houses. A day later, my neighbour informed me that Mr Swirl will also change the shut off valve. This fact was never mentioned to us by the plumber who came for inspection on March 25th, 2014. The date of March 27th, 2014 was fixed for the new PRV installation at hour home. A different person came in for installation (2 hours late from scheduled time) and realized that due to the location of the PRV, it was not possible to replace it without removing the old hot water tank. We had not decided to get a new Hot Water Tank at that time. Hence the installation had to be cancelled. We were upset at the fact that this issue wasn`t brought to our attention during the inspection on March 25th, 2014. As a result, I had to leave work to arrive at home on time for the scheduled installation of the new PRV on March 27th, 2014 only to find out the job could not be done until we had the hot water tank removed!
Next week, we booked an appointment with Mr. Swirl for 02 April 2014 at 1:00 pm for the installation of new PRV, shut off valve and the new Hot water tank. There was no mention of the choices of brands that were available. John Woods model was imposed upon us. No discussion or suggestions on other brands were provided nor any explanation on selection of a particular model. On the receipt there was an expansion tank listed which was never ever mentioned to us. This time also, a person working for Mr. Swirl showed up 45 minutes late. He realized that the old shut off valve could not be removed as he was unable to find the exact location of the water shut off valve situated outside of our unit. After some pondering he decided to put a new valve without replacing the old one.
Then there was an issue of fitting a new shut off valve and a PRV within the space available. So I suggested the plumber if he can add an extra pipe to do a little square loop in order to gain some distance for ease of installation. He liked the idea and said he would do it. So he began the work. Over an hour into the work, his supervisor came in. After inspecting, he told me that I had to pay an extra $400 for the unexpected changes that were being made in the process of installation. I said that I won`t pay extra as it was not notified to me upfront before doing the work. The plumber should have informed me of the extra cost involved for pipe extension. There was no mention of it all. Upon this supervisor, showed his frustration at me and expressed disrespectful behaviour towards me.
Supervisor then decided that he was not going to install the Expansion tank for our unit. I have already paid for the purchase, and the installation of the Expansion tank. We are concerned with the lack of understanding from the supervisor. We were upset not only to find out that we were not going to get the expansion tank, but also at the fact that the supervisor acted very unprofessionally. Even in this situation, I was glad with the efforts put in by the plumber himself to finish the work by overcoming the challenges.
Two days into our new hot water tank, we find that the new tank is making a sound (as compared to previous 10 years old Rheem tank) and we are totally dissatisfied with it. All we have is the installation instructions manual from John Woods. The receipt from Mr. Swirl does not show split cost for the PRV, shut off valve, hot water tank, expansion tank, and services.
Throughout this process Mr. Swirl plumbers have exhibited absolute lack of professionalism. Lack of respect towards customers, inefficient management, and mediocre execution of work, failure to provide proper quotation including material, failure to provide any information about charges for any additional work, and total negligence towards the responsibility of employee actions are some of the behaviours we experienced while getting the service from Mr. Swirl.
