My father in law's hot water tank broke on Friday May 18th, right before the Victoria Day long weekend. He called me to help him find a plumber since his English is not good. I made some calls and no one could come out that weekend except Needaplumbercanada. Things got off to a bad start. Our appointment was supposed to be 9-11AM, but they called me to say they had an emergency call and would be later. The plumber, Dylan, didn't show up until around 3:30PM. I suppose they can charge more for an emergency call, so it is ok to make us wait since we were not an emergency. None the less, it wasted a large part of my Saturday. Anyway, Dylan showed up and assessed our 12 year old Bradford White power vented tank and attempted a repair. He could not repair it, and we had to have it replaced along with new 636 exhaust piping. We were quoted $2195 for the heater and $500 for the piping. Totaling $2695. I thought this was expensive but couldn't get a hold of anyone else to compare prices. It was also Victoria Day long weekend, so I expected they would charge a bit more, even though the lady who booked the appointment assured me there were no overtime charges. If I don't get the work done with them, I would have to pay $200 for Dylan coming out and attempting to repair the old tank anyway. So if I end up paying $2495 with another company, the cost would be the same. And we'd be waiting 2 or 3 more days for hot water. Also, Dylan assured me that their price was within 5-10% of the city average. I let my father in law make the final decision, and he decided to do it. The job was done well and the new tank is working fine and they had hot water over the long weekend. I should be happy...but I'm not. I got a call back from a highly rated plumbing company later and out of curiosity, I got the exact same job priced out. Same 50 gallon John wood water heater and 636 pipe replacement, and they quoted me $1995. That is $700 less and 25% cheaper than the price I paid! To be fair, it was Victoria long weekend and they did deserve to be paid a bit more. But $700 more seems exorbitant to me. Overall, my experience with Needaplumber was mediocre at best. Having to wait until 3:30PM when my appointment was for 9-11AM, and being charged 25% higher price. I will not be using this company again, and will not be recommending them to anyone.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $2,695.00
- Company Response
We are sorry to hear that your experience with our company on that holiday weekend was not to your satisfaction. We apologize if your appointment was delayed. Our company can be busy on holidays due to other companies being closed. We are glad to hear that we were able to quickly get your system back up and running. We always greatly value customer feedback and will certainly discuss your comments at the next manager meeting. Thank you for letting us know how everything went, and feel free to contact our office if you have any questions.