Hess Plumbing & Well Pump Service

Terrible experience, don't stand behind their work, install unbranded well pumps so no way how to contact the Manufacturer for a warranty claim, rude, won't listen to what has been identified as issues with the pump or their work, they don't have e-mail so challenging to communicate with them, just an abdolutely unacceptable experience for a company we paid over $3500 to, which at the time I felt was outrageously priced, even more when they won't stand behind their work.

Of course it was a Sunday and of course they have the biggest ad... So far everything is working except when I had two other plumbers do other work, they pointed out that short cuts were done with the wiring.  What I thought was a breaker box was just a cover for spliced wires etc. 
Feedback fro m others who have used them are pretty universal..they will do shortcuts to save a buck. NO I would not use them again

We discovered on a Sunday morning that we had no water and called Hess
Plumbing for emergency well service.  They answered the phone right away
and arrived in less than an hour.  Unfortunately we needed a new pump,
piping, wiring and tank, but they completed the job in under 2 hours. 
We didn't have time to shop around, so I don't know if they charge a
competitive rate, but for emergency service they were great.

Just joined Angie's and was curious to see if  the absolute WORST contractor I ever hired was written up in this forum and if so, how other customers fared. Oddly enough, another customer reported a similar experience to the one I had. Here are the details: My well pump failed on a Saturday and I contacted this company which "specialized in 24/7 emergency well repairs". They came out the following day and confirmed that I not only needed a new well pump but that all of the PVC piping and pump wiring in my 550 ft well was shot and needed to be replaced at a total cost of $3600 broken down as follows: 1500 pump, 1000 for the pipe and wiring and 1100 for the labor. Having owned the home for only 2 years and having no idea how old the existing stuff was and (stupidly) assuming that this "local family owned and operated" business wouldn't be ripping people off in their own backyard, I agreed to the repair. Two guys (including Eric Hess) came out and completed the work in 4 hours. Before they left, I asked for the paperwork on the new well pump and was told by Eric Hess that 'they keep this on file in the office for warranty purposes'. When I told him no thanks, I would prefer to keep it myself he told me to call the office and tell them to send it to me. Needless to say, my calls to the office were ignored and I never got the paperwork on the pump that was installed. Fast forward to June 2008 and (surprise surprise) the well pump fails again. I called in a different company and the end of the story is that when they replaced my "worn out" pvc piping they used an different type of piping that was incorrect and insufficient for a well of my depth (soft hose that looked like a vacuum cleaner hose). Over the two years, the vibrations caused by the running pump caused the soft piping to spin in the well shaft which over time rubbed the insulation off the electrical wiring that ran the pump (guess we drank that, thanks alot). Turns out that my 'worn" PVC piping was pulled up and replaced by the other kind because the company doesn't own the equipment needed to install the PVC piping that is required in a well of my depth (so instead of telling me they couldn't do the job properly, they just pulled out my existing equipment and replaced it with the only type of piping that they were capable of handling). The pump itself was another story. When the second company came to repair the damage and pulled up the pump, turns out the unit they dropped was an old discontinued pump made by a company that was no longer in business which explains why they wouldnt give me the paperwork (and good luck with that warranty). Can't even be sure that it was new as opposed to something they pulled up from someone else's well.  Ended up having to pay another $1800 to reinstall the proper PVC piping/wiring bringing my total outlay to $5400 over a two year period, compliments of Hess Plumbing. Based on this experience, it is my opinion that they are obviously predatory contractors, quickly responding and preying upon homeowners in trouble with no time to shop because the water isn;t running. My advice: avoid this company like the plague.

They were  prompt to respond to my call that my well stopped working. They came out quickly and looked over the situation and said I needed a new pump, which I already knew. When I received the quote, I was surprised at the high price but figured it was due to them having to work on a weekend. I signed the agreement only because they were there and ready to work immediately. It took less than two hours to complete the job and after doing some research found out that they got close to $1000.00 per hour. Needless to say I feel completely ripped off.

Continued from above: I had researched the price of the materials they used (figuring in contractor mark up) and added up time spent on the job and concluded that they were charging $500 per hour for labor! When I called the Hess office to ask for an explanation for the price they were defensive and rude and maintained that this was a reasonable price. I felt abused and helpless. I most likely did not even need the new pump.