PAT SEMENTA PLUMBING

The work itself went fine. The technician came and replaced a thermocouple on a furnace, which solved the issue. The problem that I had with the service call was that the technician first notified me that he would have to replace both the thermocouple (at a price of $212) as well as the pilot assembly (at $500). Since I knew for a fact that a thermocouple costs around $10-$11 at home depot (as I've replace a few myself over the years), and since that usually resolves the issue most of the time, I told the technician to replace just the thermocouple, which he did, and the furnace was working fine after that. I felt that the price that they were going to charge me for the parts was truly excessive, and other customers need to know this, before calling this contractor. Their business practice needs to change.

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I'd been using Pat Sementa for years, basically by default because they had a sticker on my boiler with the number, none of my neighbors had anything good to say about their heating contractors, and I was, sadly, ignorant of Angie's List.
So every year they'd increase the contract price, way more than the price of inflation, property tax, or even my cable bill!  I had problems with my system and they always seemed to patch things but never fix them completely.  Often, taking multiple visits to do even that.  The only competent tech they ever sent out was Jimmy, who actually seemed to know how hydronic heating systems worked, and never needed multiple visits to get the heat working.
Turns out the issues with the heat system were due to bad design - no balancing valves were installed, as should have been with the system.  No one from Pat Sementa ever pointed that out to me, I had to finally figure it out myself after reading tons of stuff online about Hydronic heating systems.  Instead they were content to keep me in the dark and on the hook with multiple visits every year to try to get the front of the building heated up, while the back remained 5-10 degrees hotter!
Once I finally figured this out, I figured I'd hire them to add the valve.  So I called them up to discuss some options, only to have the front office person totally shut me down.  Refused to let me talk to anyone about this, insisting I pay for a $150 estimate visit. 
I was complaining about this to a friend, who suggested Angie's List.  Well, I was pleasantly surprised to find no shills, real reviews, and found an excellent plumber to do the work.  And who did a free estimate, and pointed out several missing pieces to my heating system, including a zone control manifold.  In other words, he knew his stuff.
Pat Sementa organization is old-school - they survived only because their customers had no way of sharing information, or comparing a wide range of other plumbers.  They're going to have to update their business model if they're going to survive in the modern world.  They can start by getting rid of the attitude in the front office, dropping paid estimates, and adding phone consultation with heating professionals.   Until then, I've moved on.

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It went very well. I called at 4PM and the repair person was at our house at 9AM the next day. In about one hour our water heater was working again.

I asked how much the part would cost and he said $151. They got the part from the truck, but then said it was not the right part. So they went to their warehouse to get the right part. When they came back, the office said our bill would be $351, "including installation." When I reminded them we had a contract that covers labor, they then said the part cost $351! I asked to see the part and took a picture. The part can be bought online for between $19.99 (eBay) up to $48. Obviously, they try to cover the labor in the cost of the parts, which makes the contract meaningless like the inspections.

In the end, the tank removal and the installation of the new boiler were done very well. However, I felt that the sudden discovery of asbestos in a 1920s boiler was at best something he should have told us up front was a possibility and at worst a bait-and-switch. We fought for years over who would pay the asbestos removal company.

We had no hot water, so we called them for emergency service. They were very quick to respond and check out the situation. the technician's name was Louie: he did the first assessment and the installation. Really on-point and professional. Tom Sementa came out to give us a thorough estimate and explained all elements of the problem, and gave us multiple options for replacement. We got other estimates and they came in at or below other estimates. When Louie and partner (dont remember his name) came to do the installation of the replacement boiler and hot water heater, they were extremely courteous and efficient. They were done within one day. Their billing department took a little while to get things straight for our needs, but eventually they were responsive. when I inquired, they deducted the cost of the initial visit in the final price of the overall job. this was much appreciated.

Pat Samenta, who is the owner of Pat PHC, was the only person that I could find who could figure out what was wrong. I had tried a few other companies. Pat was friendly and very knowledgeable. He knew exactly how to fix the problem and his price was very good.