Garrett Pillsbury Plumbing & Heating

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"The G-P Gang Who STILL Can?t Shoot Straight!" it seems.........
Amazingly, Garrett-Pillsbury?s third attempt at installing the toilet which I (regrettably) purchased from them is also the THIRD time they are charging for its installation.  Their first two installations failed.  I paid fully for their first attempt and about 75% of their second attempt.  This third time they sent the bill to our Condominium Association.   When the Condo Management Co. questioned this third bill, G-P stated that they?ve already ?lost money on this account? so they insist they want it paid.  Guess why they?ve lost some money!!  Because G-P had to pay ALL the Court costs in June 2015 associated with their taking me to Small-Claims Court; the Mediator definitely found in MY favor.   G-P has succeeded in finally installing the toilet correctly (apparently) only on the third try yet has billed either me or our Condo Association for each of their three attempts!   Have you ever heard of a company who keeps charging a customer for the company's own obvious failed attempts?  My experience with every other business in Maine has been that the company will keep keep working to make it right and safe for the customer and not keep charging the customer for any mistakes/failures.  Don't think this is really a good business model in the long run for these fairly new Garret-Pillsubry owners.
Please note that I'd actually wondered in my last post if they'd have the audacity try to bill me or the Condo Association yet a third time.  And THEY DID!!!!  
(Please note that this condo was built in 1986, not 1800.)

I?m the same customer (from 6/3/15) who G-P brought to Small Claims Court on 6/2/15, at which time the Mediator stated that  I was ?very credible? and agreed with me that a new toilet installation should  also have had a new flange and a new wax ring (they?d left the old 26-year-old flange and wax ring in place!).  G-P responded to my review stating in part that ?some don?t pay their bills?.  I had ALWAYS paid my bills.  That was the first time I?d ever refused to pay a bill and did pay almost half of it (for parts), protesting that they had done a poor job.  And my Credit Score has consistently been over 800 points for several years.  They also stated that I yelled and screamed rather than discuss it.  Well, first I sent a mostly calm letter to G-P protesting the bill, explaining my reasons.  I then got a call from the Office Manager (a very nice woman whom I eventually did meet in Small  Claims Court) who told me that the Management believed I had to pay in full.  I did get upset and was quite outraged that I was being charged for their fixing the damage caused by their faulty installation in the first place.  I ought to have asked to speak directly to Management instead of getting upset with the Office Manager who was only the messenger.  I do apologize for that.  
Here?s the UPDATE:   while I was away in early October of this year, the people staying in the condo below mine discovered a new leak and new bathroom ceiling staining.  The Condo Association called Garrett-Pillsbury back in to find and fix the problem.  The wax ring they had installed had a depressed section in it, leaving an opening which allowed water to seep down through the flooring.  The President of the Condo Board was present for this SECOND ?fix? to the original installation.   This time G-P evidently installed two wax rings.  So, let?s see, I originally got charged for and taken to Court over a poor installation which they claimed was fine; turned out it obviously wasn?t.  Now their new flange/ring installation failed and had to be fixed.  Wonder if Garrett-Pillsbury will try to bill me yet again or bill the Condo Association....  And wonder if this SECOND ?fix? will actually prevent new leakage?..  And wonder if G-P would ever admit to or apologize for even ONE of their TWO faulty installations?. As I?ve stated before, the previous owners of G-P, who were down-to-earth and professional, would have done so. Lastly, wonder if  the wrong party brought the wrong party to Small Claims Court!?
Lastly, I can't resist this:  they say that "the proof is in the pudding" but in this plumber-problem situation, "the proof is definitely in the puddling!"
(Somehow Angie?s List has the date of  the property as 1800 but this condo complex was built new in 1986.) 

arrived on time, spotted the problem, offered a quick & easy solution, got the problem fixed

Today?s Garrett-Pillsbury is NOT Your Parents? Pillsbury Plumbing & Heating

Please don?t say I didn?t warn you!  Foolishly, I hadn?t realized that new people had purchased the Pillsbury & Garrett names.   Having for many years happily hired Pillsbury, I bought a new Kohler toilet from G-P in July 2012.  It was to replace a 26-yr-old toilet in my condo.  When G-P installed the new toilet, they replaced NEITHER the 26-year-old flange NOR the 26-year-old wax seal.  It eventually all leaked over time through to the condo below mine, causing a lot of mold, water damage, and a needed rebuild of the ceiling of the condo below.  After G-P came to remedy this plumbing problem, they sent me a bill for $217!  I protested, stating it was a result of their faulty installation and that I had actually expected an apology.  (The ORIGINAL Pillsbury folks would have done so.)   When G-P insisted upon payment, I then offered to pay HALF of the bill but not all because it was THEIR faulty installation which had CAUSED the leaking/mold/damage.  The ?bosses? there said no to my offer.  I then decided to send them $93 -- the costs for the new flange and wax seal and labor for those, about 44% of their total bill, but they took me to Small Claims Court on June 2, 2015 suing me for the rest of the bill ($123) plus their court costs.  By the way, I was NOT THE ONLY ONE being sued by CSA on that court date; they were suing one other person right before my case was called. Happily for me, the Mediator found me and my arguments ?very credible? so I did not have to pay the whole bill and did not have to pay their $150 or so court costs.  If you disagree with your bill, it seems very likely they will NOT be willing to work it out, but instead WILL JUST SUE YOU!  If you?d like to check out my Small Claims Case, it was Docket #:  BIDDC-SC-2015-00071 June 2, 1015.  I also regret I?d not gone on Angie?s List before I bought the toilet from and had the installation by Garrett-Pillsbury!  You can see that others report problems with the current owners quite similar to mine .  
DON?T HIRE THESE PEOPLE!  

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Prices have skyrocketed with new ownership and work is not as good/ sloppier and twice as expensive

I thought they had fixed it and one month later I had to call again. The 2nd plumber told me the pipe was completely blocked. When I said I was surprised it could build up in just a month he told me that it took years to build up that way. Obviously the first plumber didn't do the job. It took 2 letters from me to get the charges removed.

I've been a customer of Garrett Pillsbury since 2011, and while the technical or customer service has never been great, this time it was horrible. Horrible enough to want to bring my business anywhere else but Garrett Pillsbury. The initial problem began in January 2014 and now, two months later, I'm still plagued with GP's inability to provide proper customer service. It's ironic because the service request began with a failed callback on the part of the company and after four service calls (for the same issue) and countless calls in between (some returned, mostly not) I'm left in limbo and waiting for a callback after 3 separate requests to speak with someone (anyone) from the company to ask questions about my bill (ironically the bill has a note from GP saying and quot;Call us with any questionsand quot;).
Throughout the last two months Garrett Pillsbury has improperly diagnosed my furnace issues, failed countless times to return calls, failed to maintain proper service logs in my residential records, failed to respond with a sense of urgency (or any sign of empathy) towards a carbon monoxide scare as a result of their botched service attempt, failed to provide a bill in a timely fashion, failed to provide a survey of performance (which ironically has been included with every previous invoice, but not this time), failed to return emails that request a call to action (sent to Mark and Terry) and failed to realize the importance of what it means to value customers' time and energy.
I do want to share a brief comment regarding the service technicians. Although 3 out of the 4 couldn't remedy the issue, all 4 technicians (on the 5 occasions that the techs came to perform and quot;trial and errorand quot;, as Terry put it) were professional, polite, empathetic and put effort towards resolving the situation. The and quot;customer serviceand quot; team who answers the phone (and those that choose not to answer the phone) could learn a great deal from them about how to interact with customers.
On one of the very few occasions that Terry gave me the great honor of bending his ear, he told me that and quot;Garrett Pillsbury is not in business to lose my business.and quot; This has yet to be seen and just about every action taken by the and quot;customer serviceand quot; team at Garrett Pillsbury has shown me the contrary.

The service is excellent, and they are very responsive.

very well - Garrett employee worked h****** the sink issue and was successful

The repairman arrived on time, as promised, and fixed the problem in a professional manner.

The gentleman who serviced the call was quick and efficient.

they are always very prompt and professional, doing whatever is necessary.
On another occasion, they arrived in the early evening to address frozen pipes (more than 10 below and windy) staying until 3 AM and repairing 5 split pipes under the crawl space.

Excellent, no matter whether you talk to them on the phone or at their showroom always open to homeowner do it yourself projects to having a repair completed.
I highly recommend them. A +

They get the job done. They will be there when they say they are going to be there. I don't know if they are necessarily the cheapest, but they are not totally pricey either. If you got to pay a little bit extra to get the job done right the first time, it's worth it.

They are reliable. The plumbers that they have sent from this company have all been friendly, professional, and competent. I have used three plumbers in the area in the last fourteen years and Pillsbury is the best. I had an issue last year where they sent someone out and fixed one problem but there was another problem that was about to happen however their plumber didn't catch it. They had to come out for an additional service call to and it ended up costing me another $300-$400 because I had to have the carpets recleaned. When they sent me a bill I explained the mistake that was made as well as the inconvenience involved and they responded by abating the bill.

We use them all the time. They are very personable and do very good work. I am very happy with them.

I did not have any problems with them. All plumbers charge too much but they are on par compared to everybody else. They are usually here in a few hours after I call them.

It's my opinion that when you pay $12,000.00 to have a generator installed, and you've spent the time outlining what the equipment is to power. It must be completed as contracted.

Was I satisfied with the completed product? yes

Should it have been done correctly the first time? H*** yes!!

They shouldn't be in the generator business if they don't know what they are doing...

They do a lot of work for me and I'm always satisfied with them. I've had them do most of the plumbing for me for years and they are locals in town. Garrett use to service my burner and now they do my plumbing as well. They do excellent quality work; they are honest and do what I ask them to do.

I first contacted Garrett Pillsbury last year about May, I think. The boiler wasn't working - there was something wrong with the flue valve. They sent a guy round who told me there was something wrong with the flue valve and disconnected it. I asked him to replace the flue valve and wedged a small piece of wood into the valve control circuit PCB to which forced the ends of the broken circuit together so that the furnace would then light and function correctly. After waiting over eight weeks I finally phoned and was told that the job had been cancelled. They sent me a bill of course which I disputed and didn't pay. I asked again for someone to come out and fix the valve and this time, in September I think, another guy came out to replace the valve, but, he had a valve for an oil fired system, my system is gas fired. I spent about half an hour on the net and finally found the correct valve the number of which I gave to the guy. He came back the next week and finally finished the job. Garrett Pillsbury sent me a bill for this work which I paid. In January of this year Garrett Pillsbury filed against me in district court for the original unpaid bill. I though, so what and paid the $102. I now have a second bill from them for $60.04 for costs related to their filing an action against me for non payment of a bill for work that they didn't complete. I suppose not all small-town plumbers are shysters and con artists but this episode makes me wonder.

They are not inexpensive, but they stand behind everything that they do. They did a magnificent job on our home. We continue to use them for maintenance on our systems and would definitely recommend them to others.