3 Mountains Plumbing

The most over priced plumbing estimates I've ever encountered. I sold houses in the Seattle area for 26 years. In general services are more expensive in the Seattle area than in Portland. Part of my duties as a REALTOR included managing repairs for home sellers to facilitate the sale. In addition I've remodeled 2 homes and have engaged the services of plumbers several times my 46 years of home ownership. The home where I need the plumbing repair was one where my grandson and his mother live. I was hurrying to prepare for my jury duty reporting and didn't read the reviews on Angieslist. I mistakenly assumed that the site would screen using customer reviews before providers were allowed to offer a coupon on the site. My mistake. I bought this company's Angie's List coupon for $99 for $199 of service. The plumber called me with his estimate of $253 to make the repair or over $600 if he were to replace the very basic, inexpensive kitchen faucet in the house with a faucet of similar value. The price on the Home Depot website for this kind of faucet was about $90. The coupon is the only reason I wasn't charged $253. Since moving to Oregon I've had the kitchen faucet replaced at my personal residence. The plumber directed me to a quality kitchen supply showroom to select my faucet. I selected a significantly more expensive faucet that the one in this current plumbing service call. The plumber who performed the work at my personal residence charged under $400 which included the cost of the more expensive faucet. Another plumbing repair at my home about 2 months ago involved the plumber coming to our home, inspecting our toilet, purchasing needed replacement parts and returning to repair the toilet. The cost was $99. Unfortunately the home where I needed the current service was not in an area where my home plumber makes repairs. After receiving the rip-off pricing I checked out reviews from prior customers on Angieslist. The phrase "he followed the company line" is a perfect description of my conversation with the plumber. It is obvious that the company has drilled their plumber and even the receptionist as to exactly what they are to say and to hold firm to their highly inflated cost estimates. Not a good model for repeat and referral business. I would never use them again.

Provider (Brent) needed to remove a portion of outside siding as well as create an access on an interior wall in order to repair the outside water bib, which had broken. Initially the provider stated he would not be able to attend to the issue on the day of evaluation, however,his schedules changed and he returned and completed the task efficiently, professionally and with good humor. We had been without water service for 24 hours: Brent worked in close coordination with Lauren who is office support for 3 Mountains Plumbing. Brent also provided information to us for a contractor to assist/repair the accesses he had created. we are very grateful for Brent's assistance, support and the team at 3 Mountains: Thank you.

Brent was very nice and helpful. He came on time and did the job in a timely manner and left. However, he turned the handles too tight for me and I called the office the next day to ask them to either have him come back and fix this or call me and tell me how to do it. Neither happened. At first no-one answered the phone. So, I called the other number I had for them and Lauren answered and assured me she would contact Brent and he would get back to me. Well it is a week later and I still haven't heard back. My granddaughter can't turn the faucet on. Also, the price was a huge issue for me. I paid for a BIG DEAL $99.00 for $200.00 worth of work. Well to put the "0" rings is was $254.00. Which is a ridiculous price. I had to give them another $54.00 after the $99.00 I would never use this company again. 10/17/13 This experience shines a spotlight on the power of Angie's List. After my initial bad review they called me and apologized for not getting back to me and sent out their very nice, personable guy. He called and told me he was ordering the parts and would be back when the parts came in. Well he came back today and quickly and efficiently completed the task. The person who answers the phone, Lauren, was also very pleasant to speak to. So...The most honest I can be is to say they come with a truck full of stuff so they don't have to go anywhere to get the parts unless you have old plumbing and then they have to order the parts, which I don't believe would be any different than any other plumbing company. They are pleasant and very expensive!! I believe they will do the job and do it well. I am pleased with the outcome. But....I still believe if I had been able to unscrew the handles I could have replaced the rings for under $10.00 but those days are gone and I am now dependent on others to do the jobs no matter how small and costly.

It was really great. Brian did a wonderful job!

9-27-2013........ This is a follow-up to the service call yesterday from 3 Mountain Plumbing. I was called by Bill at this company to discuss my negative comments below. Bill was very professional and not defensive in any way and just wanted to get a better understanding of my bad experience so that he can make improvements and positive growth in how his company does business. I felt he truly understood my perspective and was not looking to make any excuses. He wanted to take what I had said and make company adjustments on their bidding protocols so that the customer does not have the same feeling or reaction that I had. In talking to Bill, I felt he was genuine in his intent and really wanted to use this episode as a learning tool to improve his company and the customers they serve. I was impressed with Bill's integrity. 9-26-2013........... I feel that 3 Mountains Plumbing has a scam in how they carry out their business. They will not give you an estimate or even a range of cost over the phone. They want to allow one of their plumbers to come out for $60.00, give you what is suppose to be an exact price for the job. They feel this is much better then estimates that go over because of hidden costs once they get into a job (exactly what happened to me with 3 Mountain as explained below). If you chose not to use them after they give you a presumably solid quote, they take your $60 and leave and you are out $60.00. So here is what unfortunately happened to me. I bought a "Big Deal" from Angie's List for $200.00 of plumbing services for $99.00. I called the company a couple of times to see if they could just give me a rough cost to take out an old toilet and install a new water efficient one. They would not go anywhere near answering my question stating the reason above. Unfortunately, I went ahead with letting a technician come out to do the work, a really nice guy but holding the Company line. Before he arrived, I had disconnected the water to the old tank and sponged out all the water from the tank and the bowl. I thought that by doing this, it would save the technician a little time and me a little money. I had already personally bought the new wate efficient toilet, Walker water primer and wax seal for installation. In talking to friends and a toilet dealer, I thought it would be about 1.5 hours of labor to do the job and my purchase of the Big Deal would cover it i.e. $200 worth of plumbing services. I was flabbergasted when the technician gave me a job quote of $404.00 or $204.00 more out of pocket. I asked him before he started how long he thought it would take and taking the Company line he said we only bid on the job and it is not based on hourly rate. This p***** me off since all jobs are based on labor and time. Desperate and feeling trapped since I now had a crucial, non-functioning toilet and would lose $60 if I sent him away, I authorized him to go ahead with his "solid" job quote. A half hour into the job, he says there is a problem in that the bolts used to fasten the toilet to the floor were not holding properly. He tried a few alternatives to the problem and struck out. I discussed jerry-rigging the situation with epoxy and he gave me some advice but clearly didn't want to be held accountable. Granted the toilet foundation was 100 years old, the metal plate that the bolts go into was rotted and virtually gone. I asked him what he would charge to repair the metal plate and make it proper for toilet installation and he quoted me $963.00 on top of the $404 he was already charging. SO MUCH FOR THE 3 MOUNTAIN PLUMBING PHILOSOPHY OF STICKING TO THEIR BID ONCE THEY GIVE IT TO YOU! The day before, I was told on the phone when discussing their protocol for operation that once they give you the cost, it is as good as gold no matter what hidden issues come up. I didn't expect to get the new metal plate for free but $963 on top of the $404 is shocking! $1,367 for labor and a few parts that I didn't have plus the metal plate seems extremely excessive. I was trapped, feeling helpless about spending an incredible amount of money for a toilet installation. I paid the gent the extra $204 on top of the Big Deal I had already purchased as he left after about 1.75 hours and then I headed to the local hardware store. With some epoxy and a new wax seal, I was able to finish the installation for $10.40 (not the $963 he wanted to charge additionally). Though one would consider it jerry-rigged, the floor mounting bolts are doing just fine in the epoxy holding the toilet tight to the floor.

I showed him the kitchen faucet and the bathroom sink (in addition to the leaky faucet I wanted an estimate for installing a pop-up sink stopper. The technician reviewed everything then went out to his truck to write up an estimate. Now of course I know plumbing is expensive but these were pretty minor repairs. The estimate was outrageous! $740 to replace the kitchen faucet. That included $365 for the new faucet and $375 for the labor. I didn't know how long it would take so it was difficult for me to challenge the labor costs (I now know that it takes about 45 min). However, I was able to do a quick price comparison on the Delta faucet. The same exact faucet - same model number and everything - was $180 at Home Depot. Seriously. I expect a markup but double the retail price. That's robbery. I had already purchased the coupon from Angies list so I was in for $99. I authorized the work on the kitchen sink and drove to Home Depot to buy the much less expensive Delta faucet. I have no complaints about the customer service or workmanship but I really felt like I got fleeced on the cost of the repair.

On time, courteous and professional. John, the plumber.

Very well. See "What did the provider do?"

I scheduled the appointment on Saturday for Monday PM. The firm called back a few minutes later to say that they could move it up to 7 AM, and I agreed. Brian, the plumber, called at 6:30 to confirm and check the address, and he arrived right on schedule. A quick reconnoiter revealed that I'd pulled a frost-free hose bibb and needed to replace with same. This involved some work in the crawl space to insure no leaks. The entire job was done and rechecked with water turned back on in about two hours. I used the 5% discount coupon from Angie's List.

the repair was ok but after the repairman left i got a call from the renter and she said the toilet was making strange sound's i called the company back and the repairman/employee refused to come back out even to just make sure he did not make a mistake when fixing the other items' he said i would have to pay another fee which would have been more than $100.00. i told the plumber that i just paid you almost $500.00 for two small items. parts cost probably under twenty dollar's. i said please just swing by and check your work. the plumber said no. this is the most expensive plumber i have ever hired. the company in good faith could have come out and told me what was wrong. they wanted another fee for just checking their own work. i will never do businesswith that company again.

Great!, Klint gave me a few options up front before he started the repairs. He also explained it to me in plain language since I know nothing about plumbing. :) He arrived right on time and was able to fix all of our problems!

Everything from the beginning to the end of the project went as explained to me prior to the projects start. Plumbers confirmed their appointment, were on time, very professional, explained my options, and cleaned up after the completion of their work was completed. I will use them again in the future.

We had tried to "tighten" the faucet ourselves because it was leaking. I did not turn the water off. Needless to say- it was a disaster at midnight. We're talking 15 wet towels.. minimum. We shut the water off and cleaned up. First thing in the morning we called 3 Mountains. They came ASAP. Klint identified the problem and fixed what WE had broken in less than an hour. He also came prepared with the exact parts we needed. Oh-... and this happened 2 hours before a home inspection. Great response!

The person I initially spoke with at 3 Mountain Plumbing told me it would cost $59 to send someone out to locate my sewer pipe, and once there, the plumber would provide an estimate to scope and sense the location and depth of the sewer pipe. I asked approximately how much it would cost and he was reluctant to estimate. So, I described the site: sewer pipe 5ft into the crawl space (with 7ft of headroom, with a 5ft high access door) , pipe next to the foundation wall with a clean-out at chest height. I also told him I only needed to know the pipe location from the foundation wall to 20ft out. Still reluctant. So, I asked, "This isn't going to cost $700 is it?". That got him going and he allowed it should be about $200 and the $59 would apply towards that. The plumber arrived only 15 minutes late. He reluctantly folowed me into the crawl space and announced that the three steps up a steep hill to enter the crawl space door was "dangerous" and that he would have to come back the next day with an assistant. So fine, I asked for an estimate. He provided me with an "Investment" sheet. The price - $423. I declined their services and paid him $60 in cash. I tried again with another plumber (Grumpy's Drains - see my review). Grumpy's happily provided a quote over the phone ($145). No charge just to show up. They arrived the next morning and scoped the drain in a half hour. They found the notion laughable that getting to the crawl space was "dangerous".

3 Mountains did a very good job with a toilet leak repair After an initial miscommunication that was my fault Klint was able to come first thing the next mourning It took him about 5 hours to do the job and I was grateful that he did not have to come back If I need anymore work I will call 3 Mountains

Experienced, explained everything completely, clean, prompt and allowed me to break up the total cost into two payments. Very professional company, a little expensive, but worth it.

On 5/7/13 I agreed to have a service person from 3 Mountains Plumbing come to my house, sometime during the hours of 11 AM and 1 AM today (as indicated by Bill when I called 3 Mountains Plumbing). John Benton, serviceman, called about 10:32 AM, indicating he would arrive in about 45 minutes. Right on time, John arrived in a clean uniform with the company name on, and driving a company cargo truck. He presented a business card and put clean shoe covers on. I showed him the problem and he took a close look. Two options: 1 - replace whole ice-maker box (with new valve) or 2 - repair the current assembly. I wanted the first option. I signed, John went right to work. He turned of the water to my house (also marked the sidewalk, so we could better see where the meter is located, if needed in the future). He had to cut the wall Sheetrock to make a larger area to work within, He did a professional job, cleaned up the area after he completed his work. John even managed to do a reasonable and unexpected job of refitting the piece of Sheetrock he had cutout. He asked twice if there was anything else he could do. He was able to process my payment via credit card (I appreciate that because I have Parkinson's Disease and usually do a poor job of handwriting a check). The new refrigerator will be hooked up tomorrow to a nice new ice-maker box. The service person was very pleasant , professional and knowledgeable.

I had a problem with my sump pump that had stopped working. i called 3 Mountains Plumbiong and they dispatched a plumber. He explained that i had to pay the $150 dispatch fee. It was the weekend and i had an overflowing sump pump sop i agreed. The guy looked at the sump pump checjed the breaker etc - it took him about 15 minutes including writing the billing paperwork for the $150. He told me to cost to repair would be from $498 to $1200. the higher amount if a new pump needed to be installed. I told him that i was not interested as i thought that these was basic robbery. And i was right. Because of the high cost of the estimate, I took it upon myself to look at the pump (which i had not done until this point) and my untrained eye could see that the problem was simply a dislocated cover seal was preventing the float from rising. I fixed it in 30 seconds. 3 Mountains Plumbing wanted $498 for thsi 30 second work. Amazing. i would never call them again. it is a scam.

Came out immediately the day I found a leak in an upstairs toilet that was causing damage to ceiling in main floor. They did excellent work and we have had no problems since.

Excellent service very professional and courteous.

It was excellent. They explained what they were doing. It was very good. I would recommend them and use them again.

I prepared the site for easy inspection.

They were too expensive; so I didn’t use them. They were prompt, sane and came out immediately. They were very professional, but their rates were a little bit higher than other plumbers that gave me estimates. They were very good, but I got an offer that was about $300 less. So, I wouldn’t use them again.

I am very impressed. They are very good and very knowledgeable. They are very professional and making sure things are done right. I like the fact that they made the recommendation that you know here's what you should really do in order to correct this problem. They didn't just come in and replace what was in there and move on; they said what you really need to move this away from exterior wall in order to prevent future problems. I would continue to use them.

I had relied on 3 Mountains Plumbing for other work at our house, so I phoned them about this problem. I was pleased that they sent out the same inspector we knew from the past. (That was important because he knew the whole plumbing system.) He took a good look at where it was dripping from basement ceiling and determined the probably cause of the leak. The work in the bathroom required the toilet to be pulled and reset. He warned me beforehand that pulling old toilets like ours could result in breakage and I told him to go ahead. He was very careful and there was no breakage. He identified the source of the leak, had the material to fix it, and reset the toilet perfectly. We were delighted and will continue to rely on 3 Mountains Plumbing for future work.