Customer ReviewsforS & B Plumbing, Inc.

I give the S & B Plumbing a 0 out of 5 for their response to the the problems with my Rheem water heater which was installed by them in October of 2020. My hot water heater failed to provide hot water in Feb, 2022. S & B was called out to look into the problem which was due to a part which was warranteed by Rheem. The part was installed but later did not produce the desired results. It took S & B five days to come out again and it was discovered the problem was due the repairmen not opening the hot water valve,not my old pipes, to let in the hot water after the warranty installation and so we had to wait almost week for them to come out and reassess. We were having new flooring installed in the guest bathroom, hallway and adjacent bedroom during this time. This flooring was to replace water damage from leaky pipes in the attic which ruined carpet and sheet rock in the bathroom. This company also did the repair to the piping during the pandemic. The fact that we had to endure further distress during an already stressful time is in inexcusable. Recently, I gave them one more chance to come out and investigate a further problem with this hot water heater on 4/5/22 and their excuse was we can't come out to your house anymore. The hot water heater is in the garage and not in my house and their complaints of "cat odor" in the garage is unfounded, as our two cats reside in the house, not in the garage. We had problems with water damage inside the house and their so called "cat odor" as a reason to not come out to remedy the problem with their installation and warranty repair is inexcusable and unforgivable. I should have complained to the BBB after the work in February with the repairman not opening the hot water valve after the repair but to endure their insults and shoddy workmanship is inexcusable and I don't care what their justification is for doing so.

I’ll address the immediate concerns listed below in order and then provide our “review” of Ms. Kilmer as a customer in general below. We have 4 plumbers who have told our office that they will refuse to return to her home due to the general condition and safety/sanitary concerns. 1. We installed a Rheem 50 Gallon Tall Natural gas water heater on October 28th 2020. This heater is part of a nationwide problem that Rheem has encountered with the SIT gas control valves that were installed on heaters manufactured during this time. To date, we have had to replace over 200 of these valves on heaters we installed. This is a massive problem that is due to a defect in the manufacturers equipment and not our installation. Rheem knows that they have an issue with these units and has been providing us with replacements but has not issued a recall. To reiterate, the failure of the unit due to the original install was not due to our workmanship, but rather a failure of the equipment that we installed. 2. We returned to the home on Tuesday 2/15/2022 to replace the gas valve mentioned above at no charge to the customer. In order to do so, the water must be turned off to the heater before the valve can be changed. After the repair was completed, the plumber failed to turn the water back on to the heater before leaving the home. Unfortunately, we were not able to return to the home until Friday 2/18/2022 to turn the water back on. While it is still regrettable that it took that long to return, it was in fact 3 days and not 5 as she mentioned in her review, and certainly not “almost a week”. 3. On 8/31/2021, we replaced 2 leaking galvanized water lines servicing the hall bathroom lavatory near the front bedroom. The repair that we made during this appointment fixed the leaks that caused the water damage to her home. The way her review reads, it insinuates that our repair is what caused the water damage but that is not the case. The leaks that caused the damage were identified and repaired by us. After this appointment, we were called and asked to return to the home on 9/3/2021 and did so on 9/7/2021. The chief complaint for this appointment was that the toilet was now running after we made our repairs. This was due to the age and condition of the galvanized water supply pipes in the customer’s home, and not due to the workmanship of our repair. When making these repairs, we must turn the water off to allow us to replace the existing pipes, and when we turn the water back on and repressurize the system there can be debris that gets broken loose inside of the pipes and forced to the nearest fixture. This can result in fixtures being clogged with debris due to the poor condition of the water lines. We returned to the home on 9/7/2021 and determined this to be the case with the fill valve inside the toilet. While the burden was not on us to repair this free of charge (the issue was caused by the condition of her pipes and not our workmanship), we performed the repair and even included a new flapper inside the toilet free of charge in good faith. 4. On 4/5/2021 Ms. Kilmer called again and complained that her hot water is not getting hot enough for her. She stated that the water is warm, but is not hot. At this time, she was informed that she has been placed on our “Do not service” list and she stated immediately that she would call someone else and hung up the phone. What was not stated during this phone call was the fact that since the water heater install was longer than 1 year ago, we are not obligated to perform warranty work on the unit. Since the install date is roughly 1 and ½ years ago at this point, if she is having problems with this heater our recommendation is going to be to call the manufacturer. If she were not on our do not service list, we would be more inclined to provide assistance here, but due to her “Do not service” status we are not obliged to provide any further assistance. Ms. Kilmer has been placed on our “Do not service” list due to the fact that 4 of our licensed plumbers have all individually stated that they will not return to her home to perform services. Plumber #1: 7/9/2020 told the office that the house was gross and dirty and would not return Plumber #2: 8/31/2021 stated that the home is inhabited by hoarders with huge stacks of garbage and the home smelled strongly of cat urine and he would not return Plumber #3: 10/15/2021 stated that it was a hoarders house and he would not return Plumber #4: 2/15/2022 stated the house was dirty and he would not return We will typically take one or possibly even two of these remarks with a grain of salt and give the customer the benefit of the doubt, but after four employees individually make the same complaint we have to make a decision of whether or not we want to continue sending people to this home.

To reply to S & B 's to my complaints and the complaints still stand. We were the victims of several water leaks and one toilet back up during the time period of July 2020 and July 30, 2021. A restoration team was employed to handle the wet carpet. The carpet was dried and padding removed. There was some odor remaining but due to the CoVID crisis, I could not have the carpet replaced. During February, 2022, the flooring was in process of being replaced and all the belongings had to be removed from affected bedroom and bathroom and had to placed in the living room as the flooring personnel needed the rooms free of obstacles. The water heater failed during that time and caused considerable stress to my household. The "stacks of garbage" is a outright lie and as then garbage they were referred ti were stacks of books, not garbage. The real reason S & B refuses to come out is not due to hoarders but to there own mindset of refusing service after the sale. My household was under stress much like that people that were enduring stresses of Hurricane Harvey. I have found new plumbers to deal with since the incident of this February 2022 and no such insults came my way. The company also found that a burner out and the temperature set way to low. I don't care about doing repairing the relationship with S & B since I think they are out of line with their comments of unsanitary conditions. Also, their mistake of not opening the outlet valve to supply hot water to my home during a time of crisis and not returning in a reasonable amount of time is inexcusable and irresponsible.