Imperial Plumbing Inc

One of my heating units was not working properly. It was alright but i'm not sure they fixed it yet but it is close enough. Running unit a while to see if it works right but I feel comfortable now. I would say they was reasonably prompt.

We have not had any specific issues with the plumbing work done by Imperial.  However, on multiple occasions, they commenced work (including the installation of a tankless water heater) either without permission or when they had been told not to.  In most cases, we were informed (after the work had been commenced and, in some instances, following completion) that it was an "overage" (i.e., outside the contract), and that we were therefore required to pay substantial amounts above and beyond the initial estimate and contracted price.  
While the above was frustrating and would, in and of itself, have caused us to never use Imperial again, even more troubling was the work that Imperial performed on our HVAC system.  
Neither Imperial nor any of the persons performing work on our home were licensed or qualified to perform HVAC work.  In doing the work, Imperial removed a substantial portion of the copper piping that had originally run to the upstairs baseboards, replacing it with CPVC, and removed the bleeder valves that enabled the upstairs system to be drained of air.  After completing their work, they neither refilled the system with water nor bothered to test the system to ensure that they had returned it to it's original (functioning) condition.  
When we determined that the system was not operating properly, we contacted James River HVAC (one of the largest HVAC repair companies in town), who informed us that they would not work on the system, since the prior work had been done by an unlicensed repair person and CPVC was not safe for use in a boiler system like ours (a fact that we confirmed on the manufacturer's website--the heat and pressure from the boiler could have caused the pipes to rupture).  In fact, no licensed HVAC company (we also sought an estimate from Woodfin, another large and well-regarded company in town) was wiling to work on the system, except to remove the CPVC and replace it with copper.
We immediately contacted our contractor and requested that the issue be repaired by a qualified HVAC repair person.  Matt, president of Imperial, initially refused to pay for the repair, insisting the he would compete the repair work although he was not, and is not, licensed or qualified to do so.  He also insisted that he was not responsible for completing the repair, since his work had passed inspection, but that he would undertake the repair as a courtesy to us.
Ultimately, he and our contractor agreed to pay for the repair (which took 3 days and required removal of the island in our kitchen and the master bath vanity), but we were subjected to abusive and unprofessional emails and phone calls throughout the process, including multiple contacts made after we had requested that he no longer call or email, due to his unacceptable behavior.  When they removed the pipes to complete the repair, James River confirmed that they had already been damaged by the hot water from the boiler system--the pipes shattered during removal.
 
Finally, although Matt had insisted on multiple occasions that the work passed inspection, when we contacted the County of Henrico, they confirmed that no permit had been pulled for the HVAC work Matt had performed.  As a result, the work was never inspected. 
Matt is completely unprofessional and clearly has no regard for state licensing rules or customer service.  There are lots of other qualified and reasonably priced plumbers in town--avoid Matt and Imperial Plumbing!

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