Hofmeister Plumbing Heating & Air Conditioning

My Hot Water Heater sprang a small leak on July 17. Because Hofmeister Plumbing installed the HWH, and had left their sticker with the date of installation & phone number, I called them for service. Fortunately, the HWH was still under the 6 year Warranty. I felt quite fortunate that the Warranty would cover a new HWH, and of course, I would be responsible for the cost of installation. Before I share my dissatisfaction with Hofmeister Plumbing, I want to mention that the technician (Miguel), who provided the service, was very knowledgeable, courteous & efficient. My complaint is entirely on the COST to INSTALL a HOT WATER HEATER. $1650.oo!!! The entire time of this service call to replace a Hot Water Heater, was just under 2 (TWO) HOURS. The $1650.oo invoice is JUST for the INSTALLATION… my HWH replacement was covered under my Warranty as it was less than 6 years old. The charge of $1650.oo seemed exorbitant for the installation of a HWH, so I questioned if, perhaps the cost of the actual Hot Water Heater unit was added to the invoice. No, the tech assured me the $1650.oo was indeed the cost of labor to install. Questioning further, I was told I was being charged for travel time it took for the technician to arrive to my house, plus his time to pick up the HWH at the distributor. (Westwood NJ is 12 miles from my home) Upon review of my invoice, and, the Hofmeister website, I could find nothing in either that supports the techs claim that the customer is to be charged for his drive time! Granted, I could have called any plumbing service to install a Hot Water Heater, but I called Hofmeister Plumbing because I was so pleased with the work they did on my home 6 years earlier. Hofmeister Plumbing had installed a brand new Furnace, Central Air Conditioner, and, my Hot Water Heater. I certainly don’t know if there has been a change of ownership or management in the past 6 years, but the incredible outrageous fee of $1650.oo just to replace my Hot Water Heater assures I WILL NEVER EVER contact Hofmeister Plumbing for my plumbing needs, and I would NEVER EVER RECOMMEND Hofmeister Plumbing to anyone. …. for the record, I called Hofmeister Plumbing the next day to inquire if perhaps an error had been made… I left a detailed message, but never heard back. That tells me they don’t care about keeping their loyal returning customers. I’m 67, on Social Security, and feel I was taken advantage of…. I had to pay

They billed me twice for the same service. I have been trying for months to get this issue resolved, to no avail. Their billing manager, Kelly, has asked to fax documents proving I was double-charged several times, and each time has failed to take any action to fix the problem. It is unfortunate, as their plumbing services were top-notch. But with the nightmare that is their billing department, avoid this company at all costs.

Because of the placement of the valves and the age of the house, the job was very difficult. The cost was twice the estimate, but given it took them most of the day, I was content to pay. Because of the water company replacing the box at the curb, they had to come back the next day to finish. Both plumbers were clearly long-time professionals, including Hal the proprietor. No apprentice work here. This was the 4th different plumber I've had at this house but I consider him my regular guy now.

in total 5-6 hours job well done

Great job!!!!

Called Hoffmeister before a major snow storm and they came first thing next day during the snow storm. They were very professional and after a 45 minute search found both exterior valve turn off controls. One was hidden behind a sealed ceiling panel. Everything was perfect except for the shock of paying an hourly rate of over $250 after being told that the cost was based on "the job" rather than an hourly rate. Due to the snow storm, I had not asked the price in advance nor was forewarned by the plumber. Therefore, despite doing a good job, because I was taken advantage of by extreme charge, I will unfortunately not use them again.

About 45 minutes after our call, Claudio arrived. He was friendly and professional. We walked the basement looking for a sewer line access point. I told him we had never found it ourselves, but he wanted to look anyway because the job would be cheaper if he could find it. No dice. So he had to pull the basement toilet and access the line from there. Claudio had the correct tools, as well as tarps and plastic. He set up a work area in our small basement bathroom and kept the whole job clean. He fed 9 lengths of snake into the sewer line before he hit the clog (tree roots) then pushed a 10th section of snake in just to be safe. He was comfortable with me watching and asking questions. He explained everything he was doing and never slowed down his work while we talked. When the job was done he cleaned up, packed up, wrote up my bill and was gone. By 12:30am our sewer line was clear, and our sinks, tubs, showers and toilets were usable again. I don't think its possible for a sane person to be "happy" about spending $600 on a plumbing repair. But there was no way in the world I would have been able to do this job myself or do it in any kind of timely manner. And having Hofmeister and Claudio able to respond so quickly, and so late at night, meant that neither my wife not I had to miss work to wait for/stay with a plumber the next day. So while I can't be "happy" about the cost, I think the price was fair for the value of the work we had done, the timely response and the professionalism of the plumber.

I had one of their plumbers out the week before Christmas to do some minor home repairs, one of them to replace kitchen sink faucet, a simple job that I could have done but I now have a difficult time seeing in tight dark places. As the plumber took out the old faucet, he recommended replacing the connecting hoses that seemed particularly worn and I agreed. He finished the job, I replaced all the cleaning supplies we normally store under there and that was it. It was the Friday before Christmas. On Tuesday morning, the day after Christmas, my wife woke me to tell me we had a leak under the sink and into the basement right below the kitchen. Water was seeping out from underneath the sink onto the kitchen floor. She pulled out all the stuff from underneath the sink and piled the area with old towels and a bucket to absorb the leak. I looked under the sink and saw that the leak was coming from the valve where the connector hose was attached, a slow but steady trickle that had accumulated over a period of 4 days. The worst part was going downstairs into our finished basement where we saw water dripping from the drywall ceiling, a huge bubble forming where the paint was trying to hold back the rush. We immediately place towels and a bucket underneath both and burst the paint bubbles to drain the water. In one area, it had already dripped down and soaked the carpet. I immediately called Hofmeister plumbing (about 8:30am) and explained the urgency, explaining that I had “house damage” as a result of the leak, to a woman who in a disinterested and flat voice said she’d contact the plumber involved. The plumber called a few minutes later and I relayed the same information, to which he replied that he’d be able come up in a few hours. I further explained what had happened downstairs and asked if he could get a supervisor or the owner to come up and help this out, it was still leaking. He said he would look into it. Apparently the company did not have the same urgency as I did so I called their office again and explained to the same flat-voiced woman that we had suffered property damage as a result of the leak and could they expedite someone here. The same plumber showed up in about 15 minutes and inspected the sink, went out to the truck to get a tool and came back and stopped the leak by tightening the valve connection that he had worked on before. I showed him the damage downstairs and he said that he would have his boss, the owner, contact me later in the day and personally inspect it. He said that during his work it was possible that the corrosion around the fitting, which normally would have been sealed by the water pressure may have been knocked loose during the work. He also suggested we get the valves replaced which were old and showed some corrosion. Then it got real bad. Some woman named Kelley called from the office a few minutes later She explained that the valves were corroded, it would cost $250 to replace them, but since the plumber had just been out there the other day, they would take $75 off the price! I said, “we have a larger problem here besides those valves” and then attempted to blame the leakage and the damage on me, taking no responsibility. She said, “we’re not responsible for what happens after the plumber leaves the site”. Also, “the plumber inspected the work at the time and found no sign of leakage”; and “there’s no proof that it the leak came from where the plumber was working”. I told her it was exactly where he was working, it was leaking from the valve attached to the connector tubes, and he tightened it up and fixed it 10 minutes before this call. She said, “anything could have happened underneath after the work was done” to which I responded, “we had no reason to be underneath it”. She said, “do you keep cleaning supplies underneath and did you replace them after the work was done?” to which I replied, “the pipe connection is well above the floor of the undersink, nothing was even near them”. Then she insisted I was cutting her off and not letting her speak so I gave her the opportunity to finish. Then she said, “those valves are corroded and they need to be replaced”. I replied, “ok, so now that you can’t blame the problem on me its back to the corroded valves. But the plumber just came and tightened up where the work was done and stopped the leak.” She then said we’d have to get in touch with our homeowner’s insurance company and I asked “is that your legal position” and mentioned that I’m holding them liable for the damage. She asked what type of threat I was speaking and I said it’s not a threat, you damaged my house and I’m holding you liable. She ended by saying we should find another plumber. I said “we’re done here” and ended the call. This is the greatest example of **** poor customer service. The owner never called or showed up. Kelley never apologized, took responsibility or was remotely concerned with the damage to the rest of our house. She opened the call with a sales pitch! This is a terrible outfit and not only would I never use them again, I'll make sure I go out of my way to tell everyone I know about this event. This is another terrible example of lying, bad management and customer disrespect. They're done here.

excellent!! Fast, clean, professional and fair price for a lot of work.

They arrived on time, they were professional & knowledgeable. They replaced the pump and bled the air out of my system. Turned on the heating and it work perfectly.

Hofmeister and their staff was excellent in replacing the boiler and giving us a fair price.

Excellent. They were prompt and the charges were very competitive.

Excellent. They responded on Thanksgiving Day believe it or not and solved the problem. Since it was 30 degrees out I really appreciated the quick response.

The repair was done quickly with the parts he had on his service truck.

Repairman was great. He showed up when he said he would. He looked at everything and then provided a description of what needed to be done and the cost. Work was done as left no mess

The job was a breeze. Quentin was extremely polite and knowledgeable, going so far as to explain specifically how the problem occurred, and how he was going to fix it to avoid any future issues. It was a pleasure, and the price was very reasonable. I will certainly be calling them again if any other issues arise.

.

They were late, though they did call to say they were lost. Diagnosed the problem, which I was relieved wasn't something more dire, but they suggested a big job and said they'd call with a quote including work by one of their contractor partners, and we never heard from them again. They did a little caulking as a temporary fix, but the work was messy and they charged a lot for it.

I had the work done by Quentin Farjardo from Hofmeister Plumbing, Inc. He was fantastic with respect to speed, accuracy, explanation, options and cleanliness. Unfortunately I could not use my coupon because of the nature of the work but was informed that it could be used on the next service call given the nature of what the next job might be.

Would not use again.

Harold came by the day after I called and repaired the toilet, checked the shower and explained the shower needed to be replaced. I have a claw foot tub and the shower was an addition my husband had added over 20 years ago. He came with his father the next day with the replacement and the job was not easy. They got it done and it works beautifully, I highly recommend and would definitely call again for any plumbing work.

It was a little over $8,000.  I would say the price was a little on the high. They were not the most expensive, but they were not the cheapest. That’s why we choose them, but I expected a little more. It’s wasn’t a clean job and I had to get an electrician afterwards to come back and I spent about close to $300 to finish the job. Responsiveness was good. They would always be there for me and I’m fine. The only thing that I was disappointment about was that I expected the job to be done in a way that they get things done in my house. Like I said, I had to call an electrician. It didn’t pass the inspection.

Decent job, not exceptional.

Incompetent installation. Illegal installation, done without permits and later filed permits for the work which they then claimed they never did.

He was incredibly fair. Very professional. Highly recommend using Hofmeister Plumbing. Already recommended to my friends. They will be my first call for any plumbing etc. needs.