VAN DER BOSCH INC

We had some clogged water supply pipes after having to replace our building's water heater (turning back the water dislodged sediment, which then was pushed up against various valves and connections in the system. I called last Friday, and talked to Hugh, the owner. He said he couldn't get anyone out until the following Wednesday. He also told me that his people no longer work weekends, as his website claims. One of his people shows up on Wednesday shows up to scope out the work, explains the worst case scenario for each issue, then quotes prices for each item. We swallowed hard, and agreed to have them do the work. Then they say they can't come back until the following Tuesday. My building neighbor persuades him to get someone here the next morning. They show up at 11:45 and start to work on the clogged shower line. I was asked to show one of the guys where the water cutoff was in the basement. By the time I get back upstairs (10 at the absolute maximum), the water is running. Clearly this is not the worst case scenario (where they would have had to open up the wall).. Cost: $435. For 10 minutes work. The other two issues were handled almost as quickly, and they were finished in 60 minutes. Total cost: $1342.54, strictly for labor, no materials. Then the guy says that he needs a check. I explain that the building was paying for this, and my neighbor was told by Hugh that if he wasn't back in time that he could mail the check. The guy says "Why can't you pay, then get reimbursed?" Given that the project was being paid for by the building and my neighbor negotiated the pricing, I wasn't about to do that. We paid the bill, because we agreed to pay the prices they quoted, but we clearly were taken for a ride. Van der Bosch claims their approach of a fixed price for a job is fairer than time & material, but that's not true for for at least some plumbing issues. They clearly emphasized how difficult and costly the job could become, but avoided saying that there was a high probability that the fix would as easy as it turned out to be. They took advantage of their experience in this type of repair and our lack of same. We got ripped off by Van der Bosch. And then we got laughed at.

They did an excellent job start to finish. It took exactly the amount of time they said it would. They were extremely courteous, professional, helpful, reliable.

The first plumber Van Der Bosch sent me for a leakage problem was wonderful and gave me some very helpful advice. I later asked them send him back to rod our main line, and they sent a different person. This plumber rodded the main line (for 3 times what a more recent plumber charged) and since it ended up being only $2 more, I joined their "home care club," which entitled me to free estimates for a year. He made a video of the pipe by running a camera through and said that he would give us a DVD of it so we could see his work and whatever long-term problems we might have, but they never sent us the DVD. The basement flooded again after 6 months, so he came back out to rod again for free, as the work was under warranty. The plumber then told us that our house's foundation had sunk onto the mainline and moved part of it so it no longer lined up correctly, so we would need to dig it out and replace the pipes. This makes no sense, since our foundation has not collapsed at all, certainly not significantly to do damage to the pipes. In fact, two subsequent plumbers put their cameras through (with me watching the monitor as they worked) and established that the only problem is tree roots growing into the sewer pipes, which can be cleaned out periodically. Furthermore, one showed me that the main problem is on city property and nowhere near the foundation of our house. When the Van Der Bosch plumber tried to explain things to me, he made little sense, whereas subsequent plumbers have been able to explain things in a way that makes perfectly clear what is going on. Furthermore, when I called Van Der Bosch and left a message asking them to send someone out to give us an estimate for the repairs their guy recommended, they did not return my call at all, but I am grateful they didn't. I am very glad we did not pay to dig up the pipes in our yard and replace them, and I am very glad I have found a new plumber. I cannot recommend Van Der Bosch.

I called the company to get a free estimate on a repair/replacement of a sub pump which was not working. I decided to get a new pump and ask for the price. His price for a new pump was to high from me and I told him I would not take the job. He then inform me that since I did not take the job, he would have to charge me a trip charge!!!! For this reason alone I would not consider this company for any future work.

It went well, and it ended up being a huge job. The owner Hugh was out for a great majority of the work as well, and all other workmen on site were extremely professional and easy to work with, and kept on smiling regardless of the conditions. The catch basin had to be dug out by hand from under a wood deck, and was very sandy soil. Lots of bizarre concrete and other site conditions made this a huge challenge, bigger than anticipated, but they kept at it (and didn't charge any more!). I was very impressed with the professionalism and attitude thruout the project by all involved. It took a couple days longer than planned but only due to what they ran up against (even working all day on a saturday). In the final camera video line check they also discovered 2 bricks in the main sewer line (and got their camera stuck in the process), and gave us a greatly discounted charge to remove those thru rodding the line as well. They also performed some small plumbing repairs for us for free while on site.

They were extremely friendly, punctual and professional. However, in the end their prices were inflated. We tried to use them and give them the benefit of the doubt, but the diagnostic skills were poor and they just kept taking our money.

It was good. They gave me an estimate in advance and stuck to it. They were prompt, professional, and very capable. There were no issues and no problems with the job.

The outside faucet at the front of our house wasn't working and I traced it back to a bad valve in the basement on the supply line. Matt Heinz, a service rep, answered the phone when I called Van Der Bosch and was very responsive during our conversation. He gave me what turned out to be a very accurate estimate of the cost to replace the valve and scheduled a plumber to come and replace the valve three days later. The new valve worked great and I got the use of my faucet back. I was particularly impressed with how efficiently Matt and his team handled the project. It was obvious they had a lot of work and were perfecting their system.

He was very professional and very good. The person that did the work was extremely nice. It is a little costly, but you gotta pay for what you get. I would use them again myself.

Terrible experience. They told us the job would take 3-4 days and it ended up taking 3-4 weeks. They sent less people than needed, would go days without showing up because of other "emergency" work. We were in constant fights and arguments because they failed to send people to our home after they dug out our entire basement and left it in a disastrous mess. Near the end, we couldn't take it anymore, and when we were far enough along, we told them never to come back. Worst experience of my life.

This was a terrible experience. After fixing the faucet leak, he replaced the tub spout which did not fit and left a gap between the wall and the spout. After cleaning the drain, he left a mess in the tub of grease and dirt and then tracked that through the house back to the door. Within 2 hours, the new spout had a constant drip. Upon another call, the plumber returned to say the faucets needed additional work at $2000 to go through a wall to replace the entire faucet workings since they were so old. He said the gap in the spout was the best he could do, and he did say "sorry" for the stains he left on the carpet. And the plumber also handed us his private card in case we wanted him to do the work on his off hours. This was a disaster and was never rectified. The company never attempted to refund any portion of this expense when asked, and said that they cannot guarantee old plumbing fixtures. But, they said they would be happy to do additional work at the cost of thousands and needed to rip out our kitchen in order to get to the plumbing for the bathroom... no thank you!!

Called once to follow-up for estimate. To date, no estimate received. Estimated cost was $39.

They were seven hours late for the appointment and then gave me a price of $1750.00 for a sewer main line roding with a 30-day guarantee, which is on average a $300.00 to $500.00 job, and in the case of Roto-Rooter comes with a six-month guarantee for $299.00. They do however give you a Free DVD video of your sewer line after it s been cleaned out. Needless to say we did not go with them. They were however kind enough to credit the $40 estimate fee.

Van Der Bosch Inc was very quick to come to my home. One of the best things about this company is their same day service. The serviceman was especially professional and responsive. He went over all of the costs that I would be getting from this job. He even called his boss to see if he could give me a senior discount and the boss agreed.

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From beginning to end everything was very professional. Hugh Hoder, himself came out for the quote. He seemed very straightforward. His quote was the lowest of three I obtained, and was half of the quote I from another company for the same job. Once I accepted the quote, the job was scheduled by Will. They came as planned, kept me in the loop as when they would show up. Two very professional plumbers came and completed the job as expected in one day. They were very careful with our house in what was potentially a very messy job. Everything in the basement was tarped down, and when they left everything was fine except for dust in the air from the concrete saw which is to be expected. They showed me everything they were doing along the way, and indeed removed a root six inches across and three feet long from that branch of the drain. Everything went well and I will definitely call again.

While I had had previous work done by them and paid at an hourly rate, this time they said they did not charge by the hour and instead charged by the job. They initially gave me an estimate of $375, but when I looked more closely the estimate said it did not include the parts for the shower or the labor charge for the time it would take them to find the part (it did include the labor for installation and recaulking the base of the shower). I called and asked for a revised estimate which include these elements and the next quote came in at $875! I called back and asked for a quote for only the toilet repair and was quite surprised when they gave me a quote of $375. This amount had previously included the labor for the shower repair and I started to get the feeling that they were taking me for a ride. I contacted the general maintenance man for our condo and he was able to fix the toilet in under a minute and the shower part cost $95. Total cost: $250!

They were excellent in terms of service on the phone and the estimator coming out to look at the job and discuss options. He even took pics with a digital camera. Received quote via e-mail several days later. Their bid was high ($2500) though I imagine they would do high quality work. Might hire in the future for different project.

Hugh Hodur came out on time and was friendly and knowledgeable. He took the necessary measurements and said he would get back to me in a few days. I was somewhat impressed, because he is the president of the company. After not hearing back within the allotted time, I called to inquire. This was the beginning of a couple week's worth of excuses of being backlogged, the price of copper fluctuating, and general non-response. I thought I would get more attention given that the work was major. What started out as promising ended up very frustrating. I finally got a quote some 3-4 weeks after initial contact, and it was only for one of the projects. I was emailed the quote (convenient) and told that there would be a follow-up phone call. The phone call never came. Overall, there was a lack of professionalism with this vendor.

I HAD A LEAKING WATER HEATER AND THE OTHER COMPANY I CONTACTED TOLD ME OVER THE PHONE THAT IF MY WATER HEATER WAS LEAKING THAT IT DEFINITELY NEEDED TO BE REPLACED AND GAVE ME A QUOTE TO PURCHASE A NEW ONE AND INSTALLATION. I DECIDED TO GET ANOTHER OPINION. I CALLED VAN DER BOSCH AND HUGH ASKED ME SEVERAL QUESTIONS OVER THE PHONE AND DECIDED IT WAS PROBABLY A LOOSE CONNECTION. HE SAID HE WOULD COME OVER AND TAKE A LOOK. HE CAME OVER ONE HOUR LATER WITH HIS WRENCH TIGHTENED A BOLT AND FIXED IT. HE CHARGED ME NOTHING FOR HIS TIME AND EXPERTISE. THIS KIND OF COMPANY IS JUST THE KIND OF PEOPLE I WANT TO WORK WITH AND I HAD TO TELL OTHERS.