Favinger Plumbing

Before I start my complaint I'd like to say that the 2nd (survey) team from Favinger were extremely polite and professional. My complaint is specifically about Nick's behavior and management's failure to address the issue honestly. On 12/8/20 Favinger sent a crew to clear our main sewer line. The main plumber was Nick, who was rude from the moment he entered the property, behaving as if he was extremely put out to have to clear the drain and complaining about having to take the auger down some stairs ("I should be charging you extra for this.") Um, ok. You literally just quoted the job. When they were done, Nick told me that he had only managed to clear a small hole through the roots and that the sewer line needed replacing. I took him at his word and started planning to have that job done. (Subsequently, via manager Catherine, I was told that Nick claimed that there was extensive root growth inside the pipe that was not possible to clear. This was either a baldfaced lie or utter incompetence as I will show below.) When I next went into the basement, I noticed that they had not cleaned up after the job - roots that they had pulled up were lying all around the clean-out. They also had not bothered to clear the drain that is about 12" from the clearout and that is used to drain any overflow that occurs when the sewer backs up. The result is that there was still 1/2" of water undrained. When I complained, they claimed not to have seen the drain but did come back to clear up the roots. 3 weeks later the sewer backed up again. So I rented a sewer snake and snaked it myself. I got a few hands full of roots up and the sewer drained just fine. A couple of weeks after I cleared the drain, a survey team from Favinger came to quote a sewer replacement. The team put a camera down the line and said that the sewer was perfectly clear (no roots) but they could see the seams where roots may intrude in future. This is directly at odds with what Nick had claimed - i.e. that it was not possible to clear the roots. Note also that Nick claimed that root treatment chemicals were not an option because the root intrusion was too great. Another obvious lie or incompetence since there is currently no existing root growth in the pipe after an amateur (i.e. me) snaked the drain. Catherine at Favinger has not bothered returning my calls, but instead has canceled our sewer replacement quote saying that we are "not a good match for them". Well maybe I agree. Scheming, lying, and obfuscating is not a good set of practices for businesses that I want to work with. Avoid at all costs.

We have been working with Favinger over the last 2-3 years during our self contracted remodel. They are always professional, punctual and efficient. Thanks for all your hard work and help with our ongoing projects!

The replacement went fairly smoothly. Carpenters had to come in to widen the water closet doorway before removal of the old tank could be done, then replacement of the new.

It went great.

30 minute job

Work perform as requested

Project went very well, crew was professional and job done on time, very nice crew. Repair job was scheduled for a week and took four days. Crew decided most of the digging work had to be done by hand, which was very nice of them because they had to dig a ditch for one system completely by hand and another ditch from my house almost to the street. Job was completed on schedule. I have used Favinger before, was very satisfied, and will use the company for any future needs.

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You know how relieved and happy you feel when you stumble across an excellent company with great employees when you have a weekend emergency and have to call whomever you can find that will respond? I do! I had an emergency and by chance called Favinger Plumbing to help me with a completely blocked sink drain on a weekend (I found their ad for 24 hour emergency plumbing service in an old phone book).

The guy showed up when he said he would, fixed my problem (snaked the line, removed the clog), didn't try to gouge me, didn't leave a mess, was nice, polite, professional. Wow. Wake me up, I think I'm dreaming. I've lived here for ten years and haven't had that experience even once with a plumber on a regularly scheduled call, not to mention an emergency. And I have an old, money pit of a house.  So, trust me, I've used several other companies, including the "commercial" guys who advertise all the time....you know who I'm talking about.   

Fast forward a couple of months. My dishwasher explodes all over the kitchen and floods everything at 3:00 am on a Sunday morning. I called Favinger again.  Same thing. Showed up when he said he would, fixed the problem, didn't overcharge me, was nice, clean, professional.

OK, I'm on to something here.  So, I schedule him for a follow up regular call to fix all of the stuff I never get fixed because I can never find a plumber I like. And, voila! He comes back on time, fixes the stuff that he can, makes suggestions for the things that he can't fix that day, charges me a reasonable price, promises to email me back with ideas for resolving the other issues, is clean, professional, nice. And....he actually DID follow up with email for the stuff that needs to be followed up on!   Now I just have to reschedule him.  

Is it possible to love a plumbing company?  I think I do.  And, I have to mention Travis by name as being such a pleasure to work with.  I hope he's told very often how valuable an ambassador of the company he is. He's a gem.

Bottom line, in all seriousness, this is a very good, reliable, and honest company.  You should not hesitate to hire them. Highest recommendation.

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Excellent! I know that the straight A's on the ratings probably sounds phony, but I can not find a single thing concerning this project to be unhappy about!... Other than the failure happened in the first place, of course. I have never used these folks before, and, no, I'm not a relative of anybody at Favinger.

We did 2 quotes and Favinger's came in a little lower than the full project would have been with the other guys. I also liked the method of installation that Favinger's lead man on our project , Ross, described, so we went with them.

The project went without a hitch, despite the terrain. It was the most vertical 2 foot deep, hand dug ditch I've ever seen. The waterline was sleeved and bedded in pea gravel, just as described. All was done with a minimum of impact on our yard and in just a few days. They cleaned everything up to the point that you would hardly know they were there!

They needed to run the last part of the line under the house to connect up to our system. All was done in copper, at my request, with no up-charge. It was securely fastened and looked like it belonged there. Top quality work.

Even the hose bib was of a better quality than I expected, and rather than feeding it from the closest access point, Ross took the extra time necessary to feed it from a point another 20 feet up the line so that we would have better flow at the faucet.

The final bill actually reflected a discount because they didn't have to pay for a core drill to get through our foundation.

I have never been treated so fairly, nor witnessed as high a degree of professionalism from a contractor before. Ross and his crew did an outstanding job. We will definitely be calling on Favinger Plumbing the next time we have a need.

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I am very happy with them. I have used them a couple of times. The hot water tank I would say was an "A" based on other estimates I received. Very easy to work with. Good punctuality.