Daniel Fish Plumbing

Daniel responded quickly to my call, scheduling an initial appointment for the next day.  He arrived on time and went to work without delay. He fixed a leaky toilet to restore it to use, augered another to help it run more efficiently, cleaned out all our drains, and analyzed the leak and pressure problems, which were somewhat involved and required some parts that had to be ordered. On his second visit a few days later, inside the house he installed new fixtures and removed some metal objects that had gotten lodged in our garbage disposal. Outside, he dug around our main pipe in front of the house, reconfigured the piping so it was more accessible (discarding a connection to an extinct water softening system), replaced the main cut off  valve, and installed a new pressure regulator, and a water-softener.  Whew!
Throughout his work, Daniel was cheerful and professional, explaining everything he was doing and advising on ways to prevent problems in the future. In all, his attitude is excellent, his work pace is consistent and focused, and his skill level is exceptional.

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Monday- I had an emergency plumbing problem in my kitchen with lots of leaking in front of my refrigerator, and under an inside wall leaking to the outside wall near my back door. Called on a Monday and he came right out. Very personable guy. He never gave me an estimate. I after reviewing the problem and walking my house for orientation Mr. Fish determined where the leaking was contained in a wall in the garage that backed a bathroom we had removed/remodeled in the late 1990's  ( by a plumbing contractor). He shut off the water and checked the meter at the street, and two water heaters. Mr. Fish turned off my water at the street, leaving us without service for over 30 hours. He left to go work on another job.
He returns the next day after 12 pm.
Tuesday- Gets to work and says his "leak detection guy" needs to get involved ($278) and that guy would contact me. Water turned off for another 24 hours.
Wednesday - Leak detection comes out and traces the water lines. Finds leaking in the same wall as Mr. Fish.
Mr. Fish comes out and caps off leaks and re-routing a pipe externally with blue plastic pipe and does discovery on further leaking by tearing 5 large holes in the drywall and removing the wall insulation.
Caps off five leaks. Requests payment of $1500 and tells me this was the price we agreed upon. He says a few derrogatory things (see below) and leaves.
I was NEVER given a price or written ESTIMATE but in our conversation he says "This "could" cost up to $5000."
I was left with the ENTIRE clean up that filled one entire large trash receptacle- five large pieces and many small pieces of wall board, AND the insulation behind almost an entire wall. He did nothing to clean up,
After he left I had this ENTIRE mess to clean up, sweep, place every piece of drywall and insulation into the trash. It nearly FILLED a large trash can.
**Before leaving and as I was writing the (surprise ) check he made SEVERAL derogatory comments about Jews. He first checked if I was Jewish and then proceeded to tell me the ONLY time he has had problems with customers was when working for Jews.
What he did not know was I was married to a Jewish man at one time. I was terribly offended and hurt by his comments.**
Leaking was capped off to parts of my house- including a bathroom, that were NOT fixed, just capped. I could not use this bathroom. Also capped off was part of the sprinkler system to my backyard. The lawn died before I realized that this was now a NEW problem and had to have a further repair.
Thursday - my garage water heater started leaking. Another $2000 repair/install. Coinsidence? I think not.
Later repairs to RESTORE the water to my house,, yard, garage, drywall, insulation, new water heater, and repair to Mr. Fish's repair totalled $4000.
I was left with a HUGE mess to clean up and feel VERY ripped off.
This was my FIRST time using Angie's List for ANY referral. It was months ago. And it's taken me 3 months to CALM DOWN enough to compose this.

Plumber responded in 20 minutes to repair a leak underneath my sink. He was professional 

 and extremely competent . He cleaned up the water that leaked on the floor and underneath the sink the sink. He knew what he was
doing! I would definitely use him again!

GREAT

Noticed my backyard sprinklers were running and running. This guy answered his phone and agreed to come see my right away. This was about 2 p.m. on a Monday. He arrived with a half hour and was able to immediately resolve the sprinkler issue.
I had previously obtained an estimate from another plumber for an earthquake shutoff valve on the gas line. He had indicated about $1200. That seemed like a lot so I did not hire him. I asked this plumber and he said "$350."  He seemed very confident in his pricing and ability to get the work done. He did need to go get a part so I had to pay a separate fee for his first visit but that was okay. He didn't need to consult a list or hem and haw and pull out a calculater.
Within an hour or so of my original call to him, he had completed the shutoff valve installation and showed me how to reset it in the event it was actually triggered by an earthquake. He also tidied up his workspace and I had nothing to clean up after he left. He also relit my hot water heater and stayed around until he could hear it kick in to know it was running properly. He was personable, friendly, professional and clearly knew his stuff. This is the plumber I will call again for any needs whether it's an emergency issue or a remodeling project.
http://www.danielfishplumbing.com/index.html (the website lists a Camarillo address rather than the Oak Park address that Angie's list pulled up so Angie's info may be out of date).
I highly recommend Daniel Fish Plumbing.