Benjamin Franklin Plumbing

Reviews 4

GE

Gemma Blackburn

Beware - something is a little shady about these folks. I had some backed up water in the basement, so I called around for a plumber to come out and snake the main line quickly. These people could come out the same day, so I made an appointment and told the woman on the phone what I needed done. I asked her roughly how much the job would cost, and she said they have set prices but wouldnt tell me what they were on the phone. That didnt sound right and I should have hung up the phone right away, but I ignored my intuition because I wanted a quick fix. They were supposed to arrive between 2 and 5, and arrived a few minutes after five. I showed them where everything was, and they briefly looked at our pipes. Ive had plumbers in before and they took a good look, tested things, asked in-depth questions. I got none of that from these folks. They went to their truck to work out a price for the job and came back about 5 minutes later. Im still confused about why they needed to figure out a price when they advertise that all of their prices are already set. Where is the evidence of the set prices? Seems like a load of bull. So they came up with a quote of $305 + another &89 for a chemical treatment. I told them that was way too high just to snake a drain. They explained that they dont do "drain clearing" only "drain cleaning" and that was more expensive. They refused to just snake the line without adding on all kinds of other services, like video of my line, and other stuff I didnt need. I told them we didnt want their services then, and they started on the hard pressure, scare-tactics sales pitch. We got to hear about how only snaking a drain is not a good idea because it doesnt last more than a few months - even though we told them our last snaking lasted over 4 years. They asked who our previous plumber was, and when I told them they scoffed at the name and said they were unprofessional - despite the fact that those plumbers acted much more professionally than these guys. They then said that if I didnt get my drain done "properly" I could end up spending up to $80,000 on new pipes (yeah, right! I wasnt born yesterday), and I could lose my garage - even though I already told them twice that I dont have a garage. I paid them the $49 for the call, and they finally left. If the woman on the phone had been honest from the start and told me that their company didnt just snake drains like most plumbers, I wouldnt have been out almost $50 and a few hours of my time. Just be aware that this company specializes in big plumbing jobs, and if you have a small job call around for someone else because they wont tell you that on the phone. These guys came across more like car salesmen than plumbers anyway. I ended up renting a professional snake from Home Depot for $60 in the end and did the job myself.

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PH

Philip Snell

I upgraded this review from Poor-Fair to Good after talking to the operations manager, Ken, today. When dealing with Benjamin Franklin you need to understand very clearly that they are a flat rate pricing service. That means they charge the same regardless if it takes 1 hr or 6 hrs to do the job. That being said, they are very good at what they do and hire top notch, courteous, individuals who generally get the job done very quickly. Because of this, their pricing for the job is very expensive when you break it down to an hourly rate. In my particular case I had three relatively simple tasks that needed to be done and and these tasks were rated by the plumber as Level 2, Level 3, and Level 5 respectively according to BFs fixed rate pricing guide. FYI, a L2 job is a certain price, an L3 job is a bit more expensive, L4 is higher and so on. In the end the plumber finished the entire project in just over 2 hrs and billed me $836, which included the Ben Society 15% discount (Ben Society costs an additional $99/yr to join). After I recovered from the sticker shock I paid the bill and decided to follow up with the manager today. He reviewed the invoice and decided to drop the task ratings/charges to Level 1, Level 2, and Level 4 respectively (1 level each task). This, in turn, reduced my total bill down to $611. I still think I could have hired a different plumber to do the job with parts and labor for $300 or so. While the $611 is still pretty steep for the plumbing work I do know that BF stands by their work with a 2 year guarantee and they do quality, fast work. I have no complaints about the actual work done. Please use this example to better understand the way BF does business. If you dont like their upfront, guaranteed quote take your business elsewhere. Doing so, you take the risk that it could cost you more if the job gets complex. But you could also save a bunch of money on relatively simple jobs.

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JU

Justin Cooke

Update - Jonathan, the general manager called and discussed the situation. I think the whole problem was a misunderstanding between the original call taker and myself. I was told the $49 fee was to diagnose the reverse osmosis system; however the $49 fee was a service call charge. After explanation the manager understood and made it right. I have plumbers that I usually use, but they dont work on reverse osmosis (RO) systems. I bought a house as a foreclosure, so had no history on RO but it wasnt working - no water flowing from tap. I called around a few plumbers in Wichita, and Ben Franklin was the only one that said they work on RO and that they could do a $49 diagnosis fee to tell me what was wrong with it. I figured $49 was worth it to find out what was wrong and if itd be worth repairing. They were very good with scheduling, set a 3 hour window and gave me a call 30 minutes prior to plumber showing up at house. Pretty much as soon as the plumber opened drawers underneath sink to look at RO he started telling me how there was no way to know what is causing problem - could be needle valve supply, could be RO filters, could be any number of other things. Then he proceeded to tell me that this would require a "level 2" diagnosis fee which was $300 to tell me anything at all about the system or if he could repair it!!! I asked why his front desk/dispatcher told me that they could diagnose RO for a $49 fee if it actually cost $300? He called the general manager to ask if they could waive the $49 diagnosis fee. He refused to waive the fee or talk to me. So, I feel as though they mislead me into thinking the RO system would be diagnosed for $49 when they knew from the beginning it would take $300 to diagnose; charged me $49 to tell me nothing and waste my time.

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BE

Benjamin Ben

Garrett and Nathan did a fantastic job. I had a whole house repipe and I found it difficult to find one complaint; they may have been too courteous. They kept walking in with booties on after I told them not to. They were absolutely great. It was a major job redoing the entire piping throughout the house in an uncomfortable crawlspace but they did it in 4 days without complaint. We ran into problems such as vent pipes not connected and other issues bringing the house up to code. They asked me for my preference on how to proceed if they could do so while still doing the job correctly. They were able to accommodate every one of my concerns and surpass my expectation with minimal inconvenience. I was very hesitant with the up front pricing thinking it was priced high to cover the "that will never happen" contingencies. Thank God I did go with them. I had another quote that was cheaper by a considerable amount but was told that " until we get into it we wont exactly know". Again we ran across things what would have been #1, running the cost up, #2 me worrying about how much is this going to cost me now, and #3 can we rig something to bring the cost back down even if it compromises the integrity of the job. I did not have to worry about any of that. The price was to the penny what they said it would be and given their generous warranty, I will not have to worry about it at all until well after my kindergartner graduates high school. I will not call another plumber. Benjamin Franklin is who I will call every time.

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