AL CORONADO PLUMBING

Had a majorly disgusting problem with a sewer intermittently backing up into all my showers, so I called up Al Coronado, and they said they would be out shortly. They actually got there about an hour and a half after I called (impressive) and got right to work. Spent a couple hours out in the sun diagnosing the issue with a camera, and was able narrow the problem to a blockage in my front yard. Unfortunately, the blockage was out of range of the camera, and the sewage receded while he was there, so he went to work with the longer cable to clear the lines. It seemed like he was able to clear everything, but he said that if everything backed up again he would need to install a new cleanout for $2400 so that he could get close enough with the camera to see what was up. Also said he couldn't cable the lines from the roof because they needed two people to go up there for insurance purposes. I paid the man and wished him a good weekend, but (as luck would have it) everything backed up again that night right when we had company. Al Coronado did spend quite a bit of time correctly diagnosing the issue and explaining to me where all my lines were running and what the problem likely was - but I guess his cabling equipment wasn't long enough to get the job done. The plumber was a really nice and friendly guy, so I feel bad leaving a subpar review... but the bottom line is that I paid $277 to have my lines cleared, and then had to pay another $144 to someone else the next day to have it done from the roof.

He gave me a thorough quote. He was on his cell phone trying to help me out he was at the distributor. The guy was trying to help out. He was very helpful. He wanted to sell warranty with the toilet.

The guys did a great job. We actually bought all the items needed, tile, toilets, shower head, hand held, etc.. We paid for the labor. My husband and I were very pleased with their work. This is the 2nd time we have used them. I personally felt they were a little pricey but that's me. Have to admit my mouth dropped to the floor when my husband told me how much. The cost mentioned is an almost cost.

Timely repair. Warranty was also provided.

They were on time and they were very communicative. They had a hard time getting it okayed through the city inspection. They had to come back three times.

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They advertise on TV, that we charge by the job not by the hour. Over charge by the job.

prompt, professional service

We had a back-up in the septic system, and called several plumbers for help. Al Coronado was the only one able to come out that day and solve the problem. They sent two workers to the house on 5/8/14; Shawn & Wesley. Both climbed up on the roof and used a camera to snake down inside the pipe and discover where the clog was. That first day, the clog was removed. They then came back the following morning & treated the line, removing grime and a small root system that had found its way into the line. But I was also impressed when they then stayed and helped us to find the missing "cleanout lines" to the septic system, which will help us a great deal if additional work is ever needed in the future. Shawn was able to find the clean-out hiding a few feet beneath our back lawn; something other plumbers were not able to do in the past. I am grateful to the work that they did at our house, and want to thank them both for the initiative that they took in helping us.

Al Coronado's representative planned all of the work needed, assisted me with notifying insurance, set-up appointments with Royalty, Renovation and Steamy Concepts (to dry out wood where kitchen pipe broke). The work was completed over 5 days. Very complected plumbing, excellent workmanship by Junior and Alec. Everyone from Al Coronado arrived on time, well dressed, introduced themselves, cleaned up after work, everything spotless when they were through. Steamy Concepts and Royality Renovations did excellent job as well. Representatives always in uniform, introduced themselves and got right to work.

He said the flapper was worn out and warped, but he insisted that he needed to replace the entire mechanism inside the tank because "when one part breaks down, the other parts will start breaking down very soon, so the whole thing needs to be replaced." He wanted $360.00. ($280.00 for the part and $80.00 for the labor.) We told him that we paid less than that for the entire toilet including the installation. (We paid $238.00 for the toilet and $100.00 for the install for a total of $338.00.) Instead, my husband called Kohler and ordered the flapper and installed it himself. Total cost: $6.00. That was a year and a half ago and we have not had any further problems with this toilet despite Coronado Plumbing telling us that we needed to replace everything inside the tank. I guess their gimmick is that they charge by the job but they add on a lot of unnecessary work to the job in order to increase the price. We'll never call them again.

During the winter freeze, the water supply pipes on our roof broke. We called Al Coronado and they sent an estimator very quickly. He told us the roof pipes were not to code and we would need to replace ALL of the pipes. Due to the emergency nature of the problem, we approved the work. After the work was completed, we inspected the roof and found that two areas of pipe had not been replaced. We immediately called the office and were told that someone would be out to our home to check the work. A new rep arrived and identified himself as someone who was sent to resolve disputes. After inspecting the roof, he said the work was completed as per the agreement and the remaining pipes were not to be replaced. We called the our initial estimator and he disagreed with the second rep and instructed his technician to replace the remaining pipes. This follow up work was eventually performed when the company had a break in their schedule. However, the pipes continue to freeze in cold weather. We are unable to use the kitchen or guest bath until the sun warms the frozen pipes.

Spent 20 minutes total on site. Multiple calls to company about the high charge were not returned.

Got a call from my tenant around 5:30pm one day telling me that there was water coming out of the ground by the water main. I went over there and sure enough, the main water line to the house had busted. Old galvanized pipe. I called the City of Tucson and they sent someone out to shut off the water at the meter. This, of course, meant my tenants no longer had any water. My regular plumber was unavailable so I called Al Coronado. I'd seen them on TV and remembered that they "charge by the job - not by the hour, so you'll ALWAYS know what you're going to pay". The gentleman on the line said he'd have someone out within the hour. About an hour later I got a call from someone from Al Coronado. He explained to me that the entire line was rotted and I needed to replace the whole line. I asked if they could just fix the broken section and he said absolutely not. The whole pipe needed to go. He said they would install a temporary line from the meter to the house so the tenants would have water. He said the replacement of the line would cost $4,100 + tax!! Around $4,300 total. I asked if they could just bill me for the temporary line so that I could call around the next day and get some bids. He said, "No... we don't do that. You have to accept the ENTIRE job or we have to remove the line now". I said, "So you'll leave my tenants without water unless I go over there and sign the papers now"? He said that was correct. So, I went over to the house and he had the "bid" all written out for me. Over $4,300. He also told me that I needed to have 4ft of copper pipe from the house attached to the main line by code and that currently it was galvanized pipe. I signed the paper, gave him a credit card, and he got all giddy like he had just been invited to a party. He had dug a hole around a foot deep by a foot long (in WET earth, mind you), and pulled the section of broken pipe out of the ground with his hands. Then, another guy attached a ball valve to the water main and connected a GARDEN HOSE from the main to a hose bib at the house. That was it. The next day I called my plumber. He said he could do the whole job for around $1600 plus parts. I called Al Coronado at around 6:30 in the morning and cancelled the entire job. The guy that had come out the night before called me later and said that he'd have to charge me for the "labor" involved with digging the hole and attaching the garden hose to the house. Said it would be $485. I really didn't think they'd have the balls to charge me for that but a few days later I saw my credit card had a charge of $518 on it. I called Al Coronado and spoke to a nice young lady. I explained to her that I was given no choice by their guy but to sign the papers in order that my tenants would be able to have water. I told her that $518 for what they did was excessive. She agreed and apologized for the conduct of their employee. I might also add that my tenants told me that he was cussing and swearing right in front of them and they were very offended by his demeanor. "He just didn't get it", one of them told me. I also relayed this to the young lady at Al Coronado. She offered more apologies and insisted that they just don't do business that way. (SEE SOME OF THE OTHER REVIEWS HERE ON ANGIE'S LIST). She said she would speak to her boss and rectify the situation before the end of the day. A couple of hours later I got a call from the same guy who answered the phone the night the pipe broke. He started calling me "buddy" and promised he would rectify the problem. He called me later that day and told me he had spoken with the man himself, Al Coronado. Al told him to knock off $100 from the bill. He also told me they had "written up" the guy that had come out initially. I was pissed and told him that I was not happy. That was the best he could do, because after all, they did "send two people out there". If this had been my company, I would have fired the employee in question and completely voided that invoice. If this were a reputable company, that's probably what they would have done. These guys are crooks and will see you coming! In fact, I joined Angie's List JUST so that I could put in a review on these guys. Consumer beware... Oh... I should also add that my plumber showed me that INDEED there WAS 4FT of COPPER PIPE FROM THE HOUSE OUT THE THE LINE ALREADY! Did I mention that these guys are LIARS as well?...

We did not hire them. Their estimate for labor only was $1000 more than another local plumber charged us for the equipment AND labor COMBINED. Note that $3600 (listed above) was their bid; we did not pay them anything. PS - the reviewer's guidelines say not to rate on price if no work was done, but the form will not go through without grades in all categories (which includes price). Angie needs to fix this contradiction. And in this case, price was the whole reason we did not hire them.

I ney

See above.

I felt like the quality of his work was good but he was expensive. We did have a problem with the original repair and needed to call him to come back to fix it. He charged us to repair it a second time and I thought it should have been included in the first repaired. I would definitely research prices before hand but I would probably use him again.

My neighbor used Al Coronado for her plumbing problem a few weeks before and spoke highly of them so, I thought I would call when my shower began to drip again. I checked on Angie's list and found they hadn't been reviewed in three years. But I am glad I listened to my neighbor and gave them a call. Kevin was terrific. He called before he came to give me an arrival time. He arrived promptly, was polite and courteous. He reviewed my shower's plumbing situation carefully and gave me a complete analysis of the pipe condition. He reviewed three options for repair or replacement of the piping. He answered all of my questions honestly and did not pressure me into any choice. When I had made my option decision he went right to work to correct the problem. He even cared that my small grandchildren were coming that afternoon and worked to get the job finished before they arrived.Kevin even tool the time to tighten the main pipe valve before he left.

I called to schedule an apt to get a new toilet installed to take advantage of the Tucson Water rebate, this program rebated up to $200 for replacing old toilets with new water efficient models. I asked if they would bring a toilet with them to avoid me from having to shop and them arranging someone else to transport the toilet for me. They came with a toilet that was not a water efficent model. They told me they had several models that met the criteria but didn't bring one. The man had to leave here to go get another toilet before he could do the install. He came back with a more expensive toilet. When all was said and done, the paperwork didn't indicate the model of the toilet. It took 3 phone calls to get the company to send paperwork on the model that was installed, this information was required by the city of Tucson to get the rebate. After several phone calls with the company and the city, the City of Tucson said the toilet they installed has a 1.6 gallon tank when the requirements for the program needed to be a 1.5 gallon tank. So in the end, I am out $180 on the rebate program. Additionally, the toilet wabbles when sat on. The plumbing company has a work order guarantee, what the say it will cost they will stand up to. So when I called to tell them it wabbled, they came back out and said it would require $1000's of dollars to fix it. That was never mentioned at the time the toilet was installed. No one can believe that I paid $600 for a toilet and the installation. Additional Comments added on 11/23/2009: We finally got this all worked out. The plumbing company gave us the amount of the rebate that the city would have given if the correct toilet was installed. In the end we were happy with the result but I doubt we will be calling that company again. The toilet has been working fine since the install and we like the toilet but the whole problem was that we were very specific in that we were installing a new toilet in order to meet the requirements of the city to receive the rebate. The plumbing company said they would be able to get and install the correct one but in the end they did not.

The plumber took the cover off the water valve in the bathtub and then told us he needed to get a new valve and replace the existing one with it. The price for purchasing the valve and doing the work would be $298. The $62 that was the price of the initial call could be applied to it. We could hardly believe our ears. We asked him to repeat it, and he wrote it down. We declined his service and paid him the $62. We then called another plumbing company, who came out to replace the valve. In the meantime, my husband went to the nearest source, approximately 10 minutes away, and bought the $40 valve at retail cost. When the other plumbing company arrived, they replaced the value within 30 minutes; we had hot water, and they charged $68. Even if you take the retail cost of the valve and the time to replace it, a total of $102, the charge of $298 was $196 over the cost and seems exorbitant even if you throw in the time to get the valve ten minutes away, one way. When asked about the cost, the Al Coronado plumber said the boss decides the price. Well, we think "the boss" wanted to charge way too much for what was a straightforward task as done by another plumbing company, Plumb Plumbing.

He did a good job.