The Waterworks

WaterWorks is amazing!! It was friday night and our kitchen drain clogs.. So we contacted WaterWorks by email around 11pm friday night. First thing, saturday morning, they called us and let us know that someone would be here between 8-12. They were here right when they said they would and were able to quickly unclog our drain. Definitely would use WaterWorks in the future!

I usually use them. They sent some people to look at a faucet that we were having trouble with. They put it back together backwards. They were very prompt, they just didn't seem to have their act together. This is a shame because the last time we had them everything was great.

This repair was done in August of 2012. The following is the letter I sent to the VIce President of Residential Operations John O'Connor and the President David Specht. This letter details the problems I had with the service I recieved. Neither have returned my email. ***Update*** Received a call today 6-13-2013 from Mr. O'Connor. He appologized for not calling me sooner. Dear Mr. O?Connor, I would like to take this opportunity to let you know about the service that I received today from your company. My wife called to have a leaky hot water faucet fixed. She met the technicians, R*** and V***, at our house and explained the problem. After repairing the leak, they informed my wife that, based on the standard practice, they had replaced the cartridges in the handles for the both hot and cold faucet and asked if she wanted to check the repair. She said that as long as it was not leaking it should be fine and did not check it before they left. A few minutes after the technicians left, my wife used the sink and noticed that the cold water handle, which previously opened when turned counterclockwise, now opened when turned in the opposite direction. We thought this was strange and did some research to determine which was common or correct. We found that for cross handled faucets, the standard is for both handles to open counterclockwise. She called the office, and V** called back and spoke to me. I explained the problem, and he said that this was the way the repair should have been done, based on his many years of experience. V*** attitude and tone of voice were very condescending. He did say he would return, but because my wife had not checked the work before they left, they would charge another $35 trip fee. I explained that this issue was not even related to the problem that we had asked to have repaired. This is something they changed without our direction or consent. V** then reluctantly agreed to return and correct the problem without charging the additional trip fee. While here making the correction, he continued to tell me that I was wrong and he was right. Based on the fact that we had just paid $300 for the repair, I did not appreciate V**s attitude and the implication that this was an unreasonable request. We have used the Waterworks previously and have been pleased with the work. As Angie?s List members, we choose to work with companies that have good ratings and feedback. The purpose of this letter is to make you aware of my disappointment with the service I received, which, based on previous experience, is not indicative of the level of service that I believe most of your employees provide. It certainly did not meet the level of service that I had come to expect from your company. I?m sure that the Angie?s List reviews are important to your company, so I don?t want to post a negative report without first giving you the opportunity to respond. My wife did mention that R*** was extremely nice and professional. I look forward to your response. Best Regards,

Upon noticing the leak I did a little research and settled on Waterworks due to their positive reviews on Angies List and their convenient hours and availability. They did respond quickly and their technician Adam was prompt. Unfortunately when he examined my bathtub and observed that it was a one piece tub-shower unit, he drew the conclusion that the fiberglass must be cracked due to his previous experience with these units. In order to attempt to confirm this, he cut a hole in my ceiling downstairs, and used this flip style cellphone as a light to attempt to observe the source of the leak. He didn't even have a flashlight, let alone a more sophisticated piece of equipment to better diagnose the problem. After watching the direction of the water he concluded It was indeed most likely a leak in the fiberglass, and that I would be facing a complete bathtub replacement; or at least a refinishing of the fiberglass. In sum he was unable to fix the problem, and I was left with a bill of 130 dollars and a hole in my drywall. Upon calling a few bathtub refinishing companies, they informed me that if I didn't see any cracks in the fiberglass, they were skeptical that was truly the problem. Later that night I was able to determine that the cause of the leak was simply a poorly mounted faucet. I re-cauked the faucet myself, repaired the drywall and the leak ceased. Although I left this experience left me more informed about potential plumbing issues, I feel the company did not approach the problem with proper diligence, and it was definitely not a positive customer experience.

Friday night we noticed the water level in our basement floor drain was perilously close to the top. We've had our drain back-up twice in the last year or so... and are very sensitive to this. On Saturday morning the level had not changed. I called Waterworks at 7:45 a.m., and it was explained to me that for $94, a technician would come out to diagnose the problem and any additional work would be added to that fee. If we waited until Monday there would be no charge for the service call. After having cleaned up our basement twice before--not a pleasant task--I was more than willing to pay the additional fee for having someone come out that day. We were told a technician would come between 8 - noon, and we'd get a call in advance. At 11:30, the call came that a technician could be there in 30 minutes. I would have rather the technician come sooner, since we were apparently paying a premium for the opportunity... but I just tried to imagine there were others ahead of me in the queue with more significant issues. The technician was very professional and patient. He cleared the blockage and spent plenty of time showing us the video of our line. He then used a different tool to try clearing out "soft roots" that we saw in the video. He was did a good job cleaning up the area after he was finished. I learned quite a bit about our drain that day, and very much appreciate the attentiveness of our technician.

This is the second (and final) time I've engaged the services of the WaterWorks, with the first experience closely aligning to the second... When I contacted WaterWorks regarding this repair, they were helpful and responsive. That lasted up until the technician was assigned. The technician made several attempts to talk us out of his visit (which includes his I'm on my way call) as well as either misquoted or misunderstood the companies billing practices. He was at our house for almost an hour, and the repair took him approximately 30-35 minutes to perform. The remaining time, he spent fuzzing over the billing rate, which I'm still confused by, as well as arguing about the cost. I was most uncomfortable because, as I was aware, services were paid by the hour and it seemed he spent almost half of the time either trying to get out of the work or justify why it was more expensive (three-fold more in fact) than I was quoted over the phone. At one point, when I quoted what I was told on the phone regarding the cost of the services, he informed me that "they were always doing this" and that they "never got the billing right". Either way, I do not recommend this company nor will I ever consider using them for any of my future endeavors.

We have been dealing with a root problem in the main sewer line for the past few years. A competitor cleaned the line last spring but a year later, the roots had returned. They had advised us to dig up the front yard to install a main clean-out access point (despite there already being one in the basement). This year, we tried Waterworks. They didn't try to hardsell us and did the job right the first time. We will eventually need to replace the main line but they offer the new "liner" type line replacement which will not require digging up the yard. Very pleased with the service and will likely use them in the future.

Went very well. Biff was very knowledgeable and described all of my options (replacing entire inside, replacing entire toilet, or just fixing the existing toilet). He was also very honest about the cost being higher on a Sunday. I ended up going with the minimal cost to just fix existing tank. It was done quickly and efficiently. Cost was about $100 more for Sunday service call, but it was worth the convenience for not having to take time off work to get done.

Arrived on time ...... explained everything in detail ....... cleaned-up nicely ...... I have absolutely NO COMPLAINTS

He arrived promptly as promised. He called ahead on his cell phone, so that I would be there to meet him when he arrived. He was courteous, and he wore foot protectors to protect my newly installed carpet. He had to leave and go get parts from his warehouse, and he called to let me know it would take longer than he had expected. After draining the water from my old hot water heater, he told me that he thought that my main drain might be plugged up. He told me that he did not do that sort of work, but that he could call someone from his company to do it for me. He informed me that the cost should be less than $400. dollars to use an electric snake on the floor drain. Over all he was helpful and courteous, but I would probably seek a different company to do my work for the future due in large part to the cost.

I called The Waterworks after finding them on Angie's List as an after hours plumber. I had water backing up in my basement at 10:30 pm. I was put on hold, and after about 15 minutes tried calling another after hours plumber from Angies' List who answered right away. Therefore, I did not use this company.

Went well, knowledgeable, very helpful

Overall the work was done quickly and correctly. Can't ask more than that.

Excellent, Valve needed a bit of work, which was done free. Technician explained that valve will probably need replacing next year (it's 20 years old), and explained what it will entail if necessary.

We had a terrible sewer smell coming from the basement. We have moved a lot and never experienced something like this, so regardless of having a lot of DIY experience, we were at a loss as to what the problem was. Waterworks came out promptly and said they needed to do some testing to find the leak. Made sense. They charged $235 to tell us there was a leak and because of the age of the pipes had to replace all of the pipes. Obviously, that was going to cost thousands to fix. Someone could come out to do an estimate. They called 3 times a day for days to set up this appointment. In the meantime, we talked to someone else that knew a plumber. His first question, "Did they check the wax seals on the toilets?" No. They did not. Random plumber came in and fixed the problem for $120. A "workman's toilet" in clear view in the basement, same room that the smell was coming, had a worn wax seal. To the plumber it seemed like an obvious fix. So what does that make the team at Waterworks that was here? Oddly, when I mentioned this on Facebook, many of my friends all had poor reviews of The Waterworks. Appointment was cancelled for the estimate. We told them why and there was no response. So I will post this and wait for the stock response.

Called "The Waterworks" had three small jobs that I wanted done. Job #1 Remove and replace the kitchen faucet, with a new one we had purchased at Lowe's As part of #1 I wanted the long run of caulking that runs behind the kitchen faucet redone as well. To do it right you need to remove the old faucet, then caulk, then replace with the new faucet. So job#1 had two parts, replace faucet, and re-caulk. Job #2, the upstairs second bath, the tub needed to be re-caulked as well. my son-in law had done it, enough said. Job#3, the upstairs master shower, the handle had broken, simply wanted to replace the handle. None of this work was performed. Did not have any caulking with him, and did not offer to go get any to do the jobs requested. The service tech, did provided some good advice for the upstairs shower, where to go to buy the parts and what to ask for. which my son-in law was able to do that day. I appreciate the good advice. So I paid the service call fee for some good advice on where to buy parts and install ourselves. So I spent next Saturday doing all the work. the reason the price was reduced from the normal service fee, was I had an angie's list coupon.

I had actually attempted to fix it on my own, however couldn't finish it, and so I called this company. They sent Brandon to come and take a look at it. I was impressed at how quickly he could fix the problem and communicate it all to me. Because I had tried to fix it, I had all the parts already, and a Angie's list coupon, and so the charge only came to $113. While he was here, it was clear that he was very knowledgeable on what he was doing, because my condo unit was built in 1985 and had a weird setup, which took me quite a while to understand, but it was immediate for him. He was also very respectful at all times, and even offered to wear shoe covers, which I told him were not needed. He was finished pretty quickly, and I'm glad I called him, because he had the experience, every tool you could think of in the van, and he was very good at communicating the situation, what he was going to do, etc. I'll be calling them in the future, because they definitely gained my trust. I'd highly recommend this company. For others like me: Don't try to save $10 or $20 by searching high and low for other plumbers, it's not worth the risk of a bad one. Waterworks charges competitively and does things right, which I think will work out quite well for the owners and employees of their business over a lifetime.

Our bathroom sink was plugged up and dripping. We called Water Works and the guy came exactly on time and quickly diagnosed the problem. He put in a new pipe and suggested getting a new faucet. I didn’t like the one he had with him so he went and got the kind I wanted. He also noticed the toilet wasn’t working and had that fixed in 5 min. I also had a question about pipe in the basement. He went down and let us know we would not need to replace it for a few years yet. One end of the banister was falling down and we didn’t have it fixed yet while he was there working. When he went upstairs the banister feel down. We told it wasn’t his fault, but he went out to his truck and got the tools and came back to fix the banister as well. That was really something we did not expect to have happen. What great experience! Whenever we have a plumbing problem we call waterworks.

My call to Waterworks was answered right away. The receptionist was very friendly and right away I told her my problem. She asked my name, then asked me to confirm my address and phone number, as I have used them previously for other projects and my information was in their system. She told me that they could get someone out to my home within four hours. Shortly afterwards, I received a call telling me that a serviceman would be at my home within forty-five minutes. The serviceman arrived within that time. He accessed the situation and gave me a price for the sink only, then gave me an additional price for the bath tub. I indicated that I wanted him to clear the drains for the sink and bath tub. I also asked if Waterworks gave a discount for Angie's list members. He said there was a $20.00 off coupon that could be printed from the computer. He worked on the drains and I went on my computer to find and print the coupon. I found the coupon but all the wording on the Angie's list coupon did not print, nor could a number on the coupon be seen. The serviceman called his office to report the coupon problem. We found no way of getting the coupon to print all the wording, so I printed the coupon and he wrote the wording on the coupon that wouldn't print. I appreciated his patience and help. He wrote up the service invoice which I paid. He was also very helpful in answering questions I had about other plumbing issues I had, and suggested I contact Waterworks for a consultation. I was very happy with my experience with Waterworks.

Great experience. Called at 8am to make an appointment for service and had someone at my house by 9:30am. The line was snaked with out problem and my sink and sewer drain are now working like a charm. The sewer drain has a year guarantee and the sink 90 days. Very professional, explained everything beforehand and gave recommendations for the future. Might be a little expensive, but work it due to punctuality and professionalism.

I called about 3:00pm and told them i had a pipe leaking from my kitchen sink into the basement. I was told a plumber would be out within an hour. Sean got here in about 30 mins. He went into the basement and assessed the problem. He told me he could cut the pipe where the hole was and put a piece of plastic pipe back in place. I told him to go ahead. He got the pipe cut and saw standing water in the pipe and then said that the pipe was clogged and that we could snake it and see if that would solve the slow draining problem. He called and got me a price on that. Since it was after 5 it would be at a higher price. After Sean got me the price he said that he had another idea. That he could run the pipe over to a larger drain and eliminate the clogged drain altogether. I chose to have him come back first thing in the morning and consolidate the 2 drain lines and cap the clogged drain. Sean was very informative and professional. I would not hesitate to call waterworks again.

I called at 7:45am because we discovered stains on the powder room ceiling. Sherri scheduled me for between 8a and 12p the same day -- and it wasn't an emergency call! Dispatch called to say the tech would be here between 9:40 and 9:50 -- and Shawn arrived at 9:45. I showed him the stains and explained that we were suspicious that it might be the roof because we'd looked in the access panel and it was dry under the tub. He looked in the access panel and confirmed that it was dry, so the only other thing he could do to figure out where the leak was coming from was cut out the ceiling in the powder room. We decided that was o.k. because we were going to use the powder room as the experiment to get rid of the popcorn ceiling and having a hole there would be incentive! As soon as he cut the hole and looked, it was definitely the tub. The coupling was loose on the drain pipe (and the water traveled ...), so he put in some new putty and tightened it. We are left with a hole in the powder room ceiling, which they can repair and will send someone to give us an estimate.

Called the company at 9am and explained that I would like service as soon as possible. I am currently getting my exterior siding replaced and wanted to remove an exterior hose connection that was unsightly, and no longer needed. The dispatcher said that they should be able to get someone out by this afternoon. I received a phone call around 1 or 1:30 pm that a technician would be out soon. The technician arrived and completed the work within a half hour. The bill was around $135 ($35 trip charge+ $98 hourly rate+ $2 parts). I thought this was a bit high, other companies I've hired would break up the hourly rates into 15 or 30 min increments if they did not work the full hour. Overall I was pleased that water works was able to get a technician out within the same day.

Waterworks was so responsive! I called around 9am and the technician arrived and finished the job by 11am! He was friendly and professional, and even wore shoe covers to protect my carpeting. A little pricey for what was done but I would use this company again.

From my first contact with Caressa to schedule an estimate, the overall experience was very good. The plumber (Barry) arrived on schedule and called in advance to let me know he was on his way. Considering the amount of work required to complete the job, I thought the estimate was very reasonable. It took three days , a building permit and two inspections to get it all done, and the Waterworks staff were good about staying in contact with me and working around my schedule. I am very happy with the work that was done and the care taken to prevent dust (from tearing up the basement floor) and in cleaning up.