Dave Foote Plumbing

I had a pretty bad experience with them. The circumstances were that Dave Foote himself died a year or two ago and it was taken over by another person. The other person was responsible for the problems that I had. He seemed very inexperienced and he was in a hurry. He didn't diagnose the kind of hot water heater needed. So he independently installed the wrong kind. He put in the wrong one. He was unwilling to pay for the damages that he caused. The quality was poor. He never ever came up with a solution. I'm probably going to take him to court. He was pretty punctual, he just did lousy work. He mostly was concerned with explaining why it wasn't installed, even though he did it. It was terrible.

James and his apprentice Jose were a pleasure to work with. They did an excellent job for a reasonable price and were extremely efficient with their time. They finished all the work in the few hours, left to go to another job, and then returned to the house later in the afternoon to check to make sure the new valves were operating properly. We couldn't have been happier with their work, fairness and professionalism. Highly recommended! 

That was two attempts ago. Today is the third missed appointment. We call, sometimes get voicemail, sometimes we receive a message that James' voicemail is at capacity. James will often call back without listening to the voicemail, apologize for not showing up and proceed to schedule another appointment. But then he misses the next appointment time. It's incredibly unprofessional. If it weren't for another reviewer's similar complaint of unresponsiveness and missed appointments for an initial meeting, I'd assume that James is ignoring us because there's no additional money to be made by fixing the problem he created for us. So maybe he's just really bad at customer service and keeping appointments. Either way, I'd never recommend this company.

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During the last really cold snap we had a hot water pipe that burst in our laundry room. It was later in the day and we weren't sure we'd manage to get a plumber out that same day as some of the other companies we called were completely booked. As we had to shut our water off at the mains we really wanted a plumber that day. I called Dave Foote plumbing as it was a local, small business and had good reviews on Angie's List. James answered and although he was already out on another emergency job, he said he really wanted our business and would be out as soon as he finished. He didn't disappoint, and less than two hours after my initial call he had replaced the burst pipe and we had water again. I was very pleased with his responsiveness and professionalism and I thought the price was quite reasonable.

Initially, I had a wonderful impression of James, the owner of Dave Foote Plumbing. I called on a holiday weekend morning because the provider indicate the potential for after hours service. I happened to get James as he was about to begin a summer vacation, an ample excuse to let my call go to voicemail. He took my call and kindly walked me through a diagnostic process to narrow the possible sources of the problem -- and thereby limit work that we'd have to pay a plumber to do. It was clear, then, that this is a very small operation where the owner answers the phone himself and business stops when the owner is unavailable. Nonetheless, I was so pleased with James's kindness in taking the time to do this that I wanted to give him our business, even if it meant waiting til his return from vacation (we had been able to stop the leak by turning off the water valve at the toilet).
Things went downhill from there. My message to follow up and schedule an appointment went unreturned, even a week later when the vacation was over. I called the following week, and got James. We scheduled a service call a few days hence at 10:00 AM, and I thought we were back in business. Because of potential schedule constraint, I called to clarify the time window for our service call. I got voicemail and the call was never returned. James did not come at the appointed time, nor did he come within two hours of that time, when someone was home. We never heard from James again.
This was not a huge job, but we were potential new customers who had been impressed with a willingness to offer us free advice over the phone. To then fail to follow through on our efforts to become paying customers seemed unfortunate indeed. We looked elsewhere for a plumber, and found one (Bowman's) who responded with actual service in a timely manner. We will now remain Bowman's customers.

Great. James is an easy guy to work and communicate with, and was prompt, professional and very competitive in his rates. Also, the work itself was first rate. Solid service, quality and price. Would definitely use their services again..

Went very well. Did the work in two visits. Originally responded to my request for an appointment for one leaking shower. During discussions of other plumbing concerns, investigated problems and parts that would be needed, discussed options and charges associated with each, and scheduled the second appointment. My home was built in 1981 and these were all original parts that needed to be replaced/updated. James was on time both days, worked quickly, and cleaned up after himself.

Overall an excellent experience.

From the very first phone call we received top-knotch service for a clogged kitchen sink. James answered the phone before 8:00 am and was happy to make time in his schedule to come out that day. He gave a 2 hour window (2-4 pm) that he expected to arrive and said he would call. He wound up calling earlier because he had finished a job and my sink was unclogged before 2! Snaking isn't very technical, but our kitchen sink drain has a number of twists and turns. James went at least 50 feet in to get to the main drain to make sure the clog was clear. He was efficient, courteous and knowledgeable throughout the visit and also concerned with making sure he did a good job so we wouldn't have to call back. (We had a similar clog a test before, by had used another plumber for that one).

My daughter was not happy with the Kohler 2-piece low-flow toilet in her new house and decided to replace it with a Toto 2-piece low-flow toilet because of the proven superior performance of all Toto brand toilets.
I called several plumbers from Angie's List who took a long time to return my call. Dave Foote Plumbing was very responsive and accommodating. He arrived ahead of time and completed the toilet replacement within an hour and got rid of the old Kohler unit.
I purchased the toilet on-line and so we only had to pay for time and installation materials. We would be happy to use him again.

Good response time and the problem is solved.

The previous evening when I was cleaning under our bathroom sink a leak developed. When I proceeded further, to my horror, the pipe collapsed in my hand. As we were preparing to show our house in the next 2 days, this became a crisis. We called Dave Foote's plumbing service, as we had used them before and knew that they would be responsive. In spite of the hour -- 7 pm or so, in the evening, Jim Clatterbuck answered the phone himself -- no voice mail nonsense. He promised to be at our house at 8am in the morning -- and he did. When he looked at the problem, the rust/corrosion was so bad that he had to replace the entire sink and its fittings. By 10am he had purchased (a drive to hardware store) and installed a new sink and all that was needed to bring the sink up to current plumbing codes. He is our plumber of choice forever.
PS. I don't understand why Angie's List had given this plumbing service a bad grade? We have never had any reason to do so over the many years we have lived here and can't imagine what happened. It must have been a mistake.

The leaks turned out to be clogged pipes connected to our garbage disposal, and they cleared that for us. They were very good. They were reliable, prompt, punctual, easy to work with and easy to schedule. They cleaned up after themselves well and left everything in the same condition they found it. The price was pretty reasonable. Their work has held up. We would rate them highly and would use them again in the future if necessary.

This is a small company with reasonable rates. James has been doing plumbing for 11 years and was able to answer all our questions. We would definitely use this company again.

It was a very expensive rip off. Dave passed away and his wife is running it. She is trying to make a fortune before she gives up. They didn’t replace the valve but they replaced a washer or something like that. They charged me around $500 for less than an hours work. I called them and they said it was an emergency but I told them I never had informed them that it was an emergency. It was just an excuse. It has continued to back up since they repaired it. They came out the second time but it still isn’t right but I am through with them.

I called, got voicemail and left a message. I never received a callback and went with another plumber.

They were very good about keeping in touch with us. They had to delay the appointment due to an emergency. He was very good about calling me and letting me know this. He did a good job and my ice maker works fine.

They return calls really fast, get you on the schedule quickly, and really go out of their way to fit you in. More than once, they've gone beyond the call of duty to go out and get parts, replacements, etc. They give good advice, and are really honest and fair-they tell you the most cost effective solutions. I think their prices are very fair.

They've always been prompt, polite, and they do great work. They go the extra mile to get the work done as soon as they can, and the are neat. I will definitely hire them again, as we always need work!

They sent some one out within a couple of hours. The plumber figured out the problem and fixed it within an hour and a half. He was very respectful of our home and cleaned up after he was finished. They have great customer service and are very responsive to their customers.

Never called back.