Trouble Free Heating Cooling & Plumbing Inc

I have a tankless hot water heater, Rinnai brand. I called Rinnai themselves to ask who I should call for the repair. They gave me the number for trouble free and I called them. It was a 2 week wait which I understood. I paid them $100 just for the diagnostic visit. He came in, told me the heat exchanger was cracked and that it would be cheaper to replace the whole unit instead of fixing it but he would see what they could do and have the office contact me. I waited 5 days and got no call. My boyfriend finally called Rinnai and told them what was going on and they told him that the unit was totally covered under their warranty and they would replace the parts. Rinnai said they would call trouble free themselves and clear things up and get them out to fix it. The next morning the lady in the office called me and told me they didn’t have a plumber that could work on it and then HUNG UP ON ME! I couldn’t believe how rude and nasty she was when all I wanted was my water heater fixed and they were being paid to do it. I would never willingly use them again and if you are paying them for a service out of pocket or want something done in a timely manner or at all it seems like, look elsewhere

Let me start my review by explaining the "issue" they were called to fix. My wife read online that it was good preventive maintenance to once a month or so flush your drains with a mixture of baking soda and vinegar to keep them fresh, so she decided to try this one night after I had gone to bed, and the baking soda clogged the U joint in a downstairs restroom, she couldn't fix it herself, but didn't want to bother me with it, so arranged for Trouble Free to come and unclog it in the morning. Before I left for work, she informed me what she did, I told her I could mess with it when I got home, she said no it was her fault and she had already called. I say fine, I head to work figure it'll be something like $80 no biggy, next time she'll get my opinion and we can decide together. Around 10am she calls me sounding very distressed, the "plumber" they sent couldn't unclog the drain, and informed her because our house was so old the pipes were at too sharp of an angle to be snaked (remember this because he claims something different later), and that the only way to unclog this drain is to go to our utility room, pay them to move and re-plumb our water softener so he has access to the lower part of the pipe. I tell her to send him home because that is INSANE, it’s just a simple clog. She asked him to leave the drain plug out, he charges her for his “services” and leaves. On my way home I stop by Walmart, buy a $4 drain snake, go home and clear the drain in no joke 5 minutes. I am 100% serious, I have 0 plumbing skills and I cleared this pipe very easily. At this point I am kind of annoyed, the guy left a mess, he had loosened the drain stopper nut on the back of the sink and water leaked all over the floor, he didn't re-tighten it or clean up the mess he made after he left, so I called to complain about that. During the call I remain calm, and tell the person on the phone, that I would like to place a complaint about the quality service we received, I explain to her that he didn't snake the drain at all, suggested some ridiculous solution, left a mess, and I with no experience as a professional plumber, fixed it in 5 minutes, so I felt he didn't try too hard. She apologizes and says she will talk with the plumber and call me back. She calls me back and explains that he couldn't snake the drain because the snake he had was too big, I counter, what do you mean too big? When my wife called, she said it was a bathroom sink, you would think he would have multiple sizes of drain snakes on his truck, what with being a professional plumber and all. Then she informs me that his ridiculous solution of moving the water softener was so that NEXT time we had a clog it would be easier to fix, I tell her that we have never had an issue with this before and the ONLY reason we had an issue was because it was clogged with backing powder WHICH my wife told him about. She argues with me a bit about me complaining and I ask to see the bill which she keeps saying well your wife signed off on it (my wife knows 0 about plumbing) so she says she will send me the bill with his notes on it, then also says they will cut the bill in half to only $149. This is the first time I heard the price. They charged my wife almost $300 to do nothing at my house for an hour but leave a mess. I had to call twice to get the bill sent to me and low and behold all kinds of different things are written on it, he claims in his notes the clog is behind the wall. I determined the clog was in the drain U bend by simply measuring where the snake I bought got stuck, it got stuck EXACTLY at the U bend well before the wall. This was why he wanted to move the water softener, COMPLETELY unnecessary as again the clog was very clearly in the U joint BEFORE the wall. THEN I notice the billing part - Drain Cleaning - Quantity 2. TWO he charged my wife for TWO drains no wonder they were willing to refund her half since he OVERCHARGED her in the first place. What gets me about that is instead of telling me the truth they act like they are doing us a favor giving back money they wrongfully charged my wife. I have called and asked at least 5 times now to talk with the supervisor for the plumber that came to my house, I feel I have always been very calm in my calls, I really just want to know what went on because it comes down to two things to me: 1) Their plumber is INCREDIBILY incompetent, could not fix a VERY simple clogged drain and recommended an INSANE fix, again I fixed this clog in 5 MINUTES with a $4 drain snake from Walmart (one of the times I pointed this out the lady on the phone she says they don't use cheap tools from Walmart or Lowes it's all professional grade, to which I replied, well maybe you should since my $4 snake fixed the issue and his professional tool did nothing). OR 2) This is a predatory business, the plumber saw a woman struggling with a simple problem and decided he could sell her some BS about the pipes having too sharp of a curve and that he could save the day by doing a completely unnecessary fix but probably charging her an insane amount for the repair. I like to think the best of people but they still haven't called me back even though I have requested MANY times to talk to someone that can explain that exactly happened All I want to know is why their "highly skilled" plumber could not fix an incredibly simple clog, why he suggested this OUTRAGOUS fix for something simple, why he left a mess and didn't clean up or re-tighten that nut, and why my wife got charged for TWO drain cleanings when they didn't even complete one successfully.

These anodes sell for $20.00 each at Menards. Trouble Free charged a total of $811.00 for 45 minutes of work and $40.00 in parts. This is an extreme OVERCHARGE. After checking with several other plumbers the charge should have been around $300.00 total. In fact most plumbers asked are you sure they did not put in a NEW WATER HEATER. (NO) Also being a SENIOR CITIZEN I believe this company took advantage of me.

Went good but as I stated above, my house was a simple one.

I will continue to use them in the future.

Recharged A/C and used "stop-leak" to try to seal system. Tech made it clear there was no guarantee to seal a leak but that he has had good luck with it. Unfortunately, the A/C failed again within a few weeks and had to be replaced. This is home of my blind son. The tech could have taken advantage of him when he assisted my son in making out the check for the service call. However, he was honest and didn't abuse our trust. This deserves our appreciation. Thanks for your honesty.

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Circuit board went bad, pipes froze and then thawed. Called late Monday night and they came out. Didn't have correct part. Came out next day and installed new circuit board, cleaned AC unit, replaced filter.

They were good. He took his time and he was courteous.

The Trouble Free technician came to my home, diagnosed my problem with my furnace and quoted me the price before fixing my problem. He was extremely professional, friendly and informative.

They were able to come out quickly to fix our malfunctioning A/C in the middle of a heat wave. I balked at the minimum price for the service call, but it was comparable with other local companies. The technician worked quickly so our final cost was only the price of the part plus the service call. It is all cool now.

When their Plumber arrived (A woman too boot the wife loved having a woman to do the work) she attempted to change out the cartridge it still wouldnt stop leaking so she then had to replace the whole shower valve. She was able to do so without having to
tear out my walls or my shower stall. I was so afraid she was going to tell me she had to rip into the walls. She had everything with her that she needed to do the job. Thank you Heather
The wife also had her tighten down the loose kitchen faucet which i had attempted to install my self and the wife did not like my finished product. I am glad to say the faucet no longer wiggles around when you turn it on.

They were very unprofessional. I wouldn't use them again. We told the technician that came out to our house what was wrong and he did nothing to fix it. And, they were late on coming.

It went very smoothly from start to finish.

It went great. The replacement went quickly and they were right. I love this tankless water heater. We have never been without hot water since, no matter how many are using it. They knew what they were talking about.

They are fine. They are good. They are local and pretty close.

It's an average company that normally does what they say. They don't go out of their way or do anything extra. They are little bit expensive.

.We do not have any problems. They are well trained. There is sometimes 2 people that come. They give options for repair. We are totally satisfied with the service. We have had the service for about 5 years now.

They check the unit. They change filters. They clean whatever needs to be cleaned. Depending on the plan, they fix whatever needs to be fixed as well. They come out automatically. They contact you to set up the times they come out. I signed up with their plan, and they have saved me tons of money. I had an A coil that went out on the AC. It cost me $50.00 to replace, because I had the plan in place. My unit is about 10 to 15 years old. If something happens to it, they come out and fix it right away.

I was pleased with their service. There were some issues with their punctuality. I would probably use them again.

They have 24 hour a day service. It's a little bit extra, but he made sure that we knew it. We were unable to use our toilets and they got the job done in a timely manner. Will likely use them in the future.

The tenants in my rental house called Trouble Free on a Saturday morning for service on the air conditioner. They did this without my consent. Trouble Free arrived promptly and were technician was very curteous. He diagnosed the problem as a blown blower motor and blown main control board. The repair was to be $477 for the blower motor and $477 for the control board. The fact that two of the major components had both failed did feel right to me. I spoke with the technician the following day and he told me that it was rare but he had seen it before. I also questioned how the pricing was the same for both items. He explained they do some type of category pricing, and both items were in the A category. This type of pricing is supposed to save the customer money vs. parts and hourly service costs.

Not wanting to spend that much money for a repair (I'd replace it before spending that much money), I decided to call Morris Heating and Cooling, who had great reviews here on Angie's List. They came out and diagnosed the problem as a broken wire, and charged me $59 to fix it.

My tenants called to complain about the money they had been charged for a bad diagnosis, but Trouble Free told them they stood behind their technicians diagnosis, and would not refund them any money (I did not personally hear this conversatio). I understand they made a weekend call, and should be compensated some for their time, but when they blow a diagnosis this badly, they should at least refund half the money. They were going to charge me $954 for a service that Morris fixed for $59.

I have since reimbursed my tenant for the $109 service call, so I feel justified in making this report.

While it is my fault that I forgot to call and cancel my appointment with Trouble Free because the problem had already been fixed, I don't believe that a full service/diagnostic charge should have been presented to me, considering the service representative did not even enter my home. I would have been happy to pay a portion of it for their trouble and then call them again when another need arose. Now, I won't call again ever. I also wrote the company a letter and received no response. I felt this company exhibited very poor customer service.

They do a very good job and I am completely satisfied with them. They come twice a year in the summer and winter without any reminders. I like their services and will use the same in future.