BENJAMIN FRANKLIN PLUMBING

Having Benjamin Franklin Plumbing serve us was a terrible experience. On 8/4/08 we called for service on our basement sewage pump. Paul Eames was the representative that came to our home. Before he entered our home, I explained that I believed our pump was clogged with a personal cleansing wipe, that I knew that the pump was adequate in terms of its capacity and power, and that, no matter what, I wanted to retain possession of our current pump. Paul removed the pump, declared that because of the weight of the pump that it was grossly inadequate for the 1 bathroom that it served. He announced that, without question, the pump was completely burned-out, and that it would cost much more to try to fix than to replace. He explained that the original installer had lied to us about the capability of the pump, and told me that our pump was a "gray water" pump, entirely unsuitable to pump sewage. He mentioned a $1400 replacement solution, and a less capable (but probably adequate) solution for about $800. When I expressed financial concerns, he quickly began to niggle the cost downward for both options with statements like "Well, I could probably do it for you for around $600." He departed for a pump distributor and (fortunately) could not get an immediate replacement. When he returned, we let him know that we were going to have the original completely burned-out pump examined by the original installer. While Paul was putting the original burned-out pump back into place, he must have decided to check for a clog (or removed the clog he knew was there all along), and our pump is now perfectly operational. Upon investigating our pump, we learned that it is a "sewage" pump (not a gray water, or effluent pump), and that it is designed to handle loads exceeding our needs (i.e. it ejects 2" waste material, instead of the 1 3/8" waste ejection befitting our single-bathroom needs. Paul lied to us about our pump being completely burned-out, and about its capacity. He made unprofessional comments about the installer "lying to us", and he was unprofessional with price discount statements. He ignored our request that he explore our pump being clogged, and he tried to have us spend $1400 unnecessarily. That is not the kind of service that we ever hope to receive. Although in the end our problem was resolved, we endured unneeded stress, were lied to, and were nearly scammed. Please do not let this happen to you. Do not call Benjamin Franklin Plumbing.