M.A. Williams Drain Cleaning, Plumbing, Heating & Cooling

Upon arrival the two plumbers went into the crawlspace with me to see the cracked black plastic ABS pipe. The lead plumber inspected it and said "325". I asked if that was the size of the pipe and he said no, that was the replacement cost. I said lets go talk to the cable guy and he said, Oh, they are paying for it--then it costs 400. I didn't think that was funny--I assume he was joking although neither of them were laughing. The cable guy agreed to the price and the other plumber went to his truck, got a saw, a length of pipe, and some compression fittings, then went back to the crawlspace. I followed and watched the repair--it took between two and three minutes. I asked if replacing black ABS pipe with the same (the plumber used white PVC) was required by code and he said no. I hope he is right. I was amazed at the cost for such a quick repair. These parts are all available at a retail hardware store for just a few dollars. I don't understand why the cost of services was so high for just a few minutes work. The repair seems to have worked and it has not leaked.

unknown

The representative could not even find the entry for the water line nor find the main shut off for the house. They wanted to replace the entire water line and the price was outrageous. I ended up having to pay 20% for the quoted amount since I did not have them do any work.

I have been using this company for about 3-4 years. They provide a great service. The staff does a great job. They are courteous, polite and punctual. The pricing is reasonable for the quality of work they provide. I had never had any problem contacting them or scheduling a service.

We called M A Williams today as our washing machine drain pipe was overflowing and dumping water all over our basement. The call was placed at around 12:15pm and the woman who answered the phone said they would have someone at our house by 4:00. At 4:00, since we had heard nothing in the almost 4 hours, we called again and were told we were next on the list. At 5:15, we called to check once more, as it was now after hours. This time a differnet woman answered, seemed miffed that we were waiting and connected us to a supervisor. We explained the situation to him and he said that if he sent someone now it would be after hours fees. Even after we reiterated that we had been home waiting for them for 5 hours, he said , sorry but you'll have to pay the after hours fees. We told him to forget it; this is no way to do business. I will never call there again and would caution others against deling with a company who treats it's customers in such a way.

Well,   main fellow showed up within hours of my call.     He walked around for 15 minutes then called his home office to consult on pricing quoating I suspect.   Anyway when he came back in he is saying I need all new domestic water system pipes since house is 50 years old.     I was sick with the thought of such a price.   But with pipes already somewhat cut out by my own efforts and no water or heat in the house and a wife ready to go to work the next day all I could do was agree to say OK.   My neighbor had a very similar pipe situation and he told me he paid $2,000 plus his plumber replaced everything with copper and had to crawl around in a low crawl space.   My pipes were mostly already exposed as I had removed a lot of my suspended ceiling in my basement so the fellow could see all pipes as needed.   He spent  about 4 hours removing old copper pipes and next day came with a somewhat untalented assistant and spent another 8 hours.    Using PEX pipe instead of copper got me new hot and cold water system working but looked very sloppy in terms of pipe layout runs.    I would not have expected such pipe layout accuracy or neatness unless someone had to use a garden hose perhaps instead of pipes.   Well it leaked in several places after they left.         I had a leak after the fellow left the second time but was so sick to my stomach of the quality of work and the high price I had to pay I just did not want them to come back to my home.     I think $4800 for maybe 24 man hours plus using  PEX like it was a rubber hose snaking around the inside of my basement ceiling would seem a little excessive.   Had several other quality issues which I will not get into which they should not have left me with but my advice is keep looking guys.

I was very dissatisfied with this company. The man who came to the house was pleasant and professional; however he couldn't get the drain open. In the process of talking about what to do he went out to call his boss who told him to cut a hole in my ceiling and see if he could see how the drain line went.  I have plaster ceilings and told him no, I didn't want that done.  He also commented that they would probably have to take the drain line out and replace it and discussed which walls would have to be opened to get to the drain line. I called another company who was able to snake the line and clear it very easily and am very glad I didn't listen to the person who came to my home. Also, this cost me more than the price I had seen advertised and no senior discount was offered.

The company (M.A. Williams Drain Cleaning) sent someone out the same day to give me an estimate for repairing the problem.  I would have gone with another company on angie's list but the two that I contacted were not able to come out and give me an estimate for at least 3-4 days and I needed to get the problem taken care of as soon as possible.  I wish now that I had waited until the other companies were available.  I say this because three days later I decided to get another tub and shower repaired which I was unable to get cold water from.  I got estimates from the two previous companies I had contacted before going with M.A. Williams Drain Cleaning and just out of curiousity I asked them what they would have charged me for doing the first repair job that M.A. Williams Drain Cleaning did.  Needless to say, that I was stunned to find out that they would have charged me only half of what M.A. Williams did.  Simply put I got ripped off.  M.A. Williams Drain Cleaning used the most expensive parts they could (whose ever heard of a shut off valve costing $140.00 each and according to the technician he was giving me a price break because he said they were originally $180.00 each).  And to top things off, they only gave me $15 dollars off of the job instead of the $25 that is posted on their ad in the yellow pages.  I didn't notice this right away so I contacted them to let them know about it and I still have not heard anything back from the company as of today (7/25/2012).  I guess they just plan on pocketing the extra $10 dollars.  In any case I would HIGHLY recommend staying away from M.A. Williams Drain Cleaning. Don't allow yourself to learn the hard way and get charged an arm and a leg like I did.

They fixed it. It went well. I would recommend them.

see above.

I received a coupon in ValPak for $89.95 drain cleaning plus a $25 discount on services.  It doesn't say on the coupon that this is the fee per drain cleaned, but the receptionist clarified this right away when I called to make an appointment.  I received a reminder phone call one day prior to my appointment.  The service provider, Jack, showed up right on time.  He was very professional, he answered a lot of my questions, and he gave me good advice for the drains I need to have cleaned based on the plumbing line configuration in my house.  He was very fair about identifying the most critical lines to be cleaned, and he didn't oversell me on the number of lines to clean.  Jack also gave me some suggestions about how to keep the lines clear (enzymatic cleaners, not chemical cleaners).  He kept the work area clean and cleaned the bathtub and sink after working on the lines. 

I would probably prefer an hourly rate for standard kinds of services like this (especially since all of my lines have clean-out valves and/or are easily accessible), but most of my recent plumbing experiences suggest that plumbers are going to a task-specific rate.

Overall, I had a very positive experience with the company.

After having MA Williams out to unclog the drain I called the city public utilities. The city workers arrived two days later and installed a clean-out finding no clog on the city side of the property line. I called MA Williams to ask them to come back out and finish the $300 job they started. They said they would come out at no charge if I paid $225 to run a camera down the drain to ensure that the lines are clear. The video is also insurance to them so that I will not call them and expect free service to come out again. In order for this company to stand by its work a customer must pay a $300 warranty and pay $225 for video of the line. The video is a diagnostic helpful for the plumber to do his or her job correctly. The customer should not have to pay an additional $225 for this service. Nor should a customer have to pay $300 for a company to stand by its work. The company could not justify the $225 charge only saying, "that's the going rate."