Boston Standard Company

Address:	77 Park St, Dorchester, MA 02122, USA
Phone:	+1 617-288-2911
Site:	bostonstandardplumbing.com
Rating:	4
Working:	Open 24 hours Open 24 hours Open 24 hours Open 24 hours Open 24 hours Open 24 hours Open 24 hours

Location

Photos 78

Reviews 4

jbusiness83 jbusiness83

A year ago I hired Boston standard to replace an electric heat pump and was very happy with the services provided. This time around they left me pulling my hair out. THE JOB: I was out of the country when the hot water in one of our rental units failed. I called their emergency line, paid there emergency fee and requested that a technician come out and have a look. The first question he asked me was "does this really have to happen today?" After I said yes, he came by but gave excuses around why he couldnt access our building and said hed have to come back tomorrow. When he finally took a look he found 1 inch of water on the basement floor, told me he couldnt help until the floor was dried and suggested that I call disaster recovery....I called several other plumbers for reference and they laughed saying "Its an inch of water....and hes a plumber." This made sense to me so I called him back and convinced him that he could mop up the water and replace the hot water heater. They overpriced the job knowing I had no other option ($2000) and replaced the water heater. THE ISSUE: Soon after my tenants reported that there was hot water in the showers, but not in the sink/dishwasher. They came back out to take a look and after 3 hours on a Saturday had no answer. This morning (the morning after the inspection mentioned above took place) I woke up to find out that there are now 2 other units in the building that dont have hot water either. (one of which was a unit that was replaced last month). As a common consumer with no plumbing knowledge its hard not to think that this is likely the result of something the technician did while performing his assessment (which included opening and shutting various valves in the building). When I called Joe the owner he insisted that because I (knowing nothing about plumbing) had no PROOF that the issue was their fault, we had to ASSUME it wasnt and I would be responsible for all subsequent visit payments until or unless THEY determined that the issue was their fault (at their discretion). I offered a middle ground...I would pay for HALF of the services until we got to the root cause, then ALL of the backpay if we determined the issue was not their fault. I was ready to compromise and work this out but after an insulting conversation that ruined my sunday, Joe hung up on me without a resolution. CONCLUSION: Im back to where I started (less $2000 and 2 pissed off neighbors)...searching for a reliable plumber on Angies list to help me with my hot water heater problems. I will certainly not be doing business this with company in the future.

David Cantrell

Overall a negative experience with this company. I called them in 2014 after moving in to a new house. I had a leaking water line feeding a spigot in the backyard. Water was leaking in to the basement. Appointment was scheduled and they fixed it by installing a new shut off valve, spigot, and pipe connecting the two. Took a couple of hours and was $120. Not bad. The guys were very nice and professional, though I thought it was odd they asked to borrow my electric drill. Wouldnt you have that on your truck? Skip ahead a year. I had shut off that new spigot for the winter and when I turned it back on in the spring, the valve burst and water went everywhere in the basement. Called them back up and they came out to fix it under warranty. They did this and it worked for the rest of the season. Skip ahead a year. Again, I shut it off for the winter and go to turn it on in the spring. The valve didnt burst but its leaking. Put a bucket under it and call them back up. This is where things sort of fell apart. Whoever answered the phone and talked to me hung up on me in the middle of me responding to a question. I thought my phone dropped the call, so I called back only to be directed to the answering service. At this point Im thinking I should call a different place. So I did and scheduled an appointment with another plumber. Boston Standard called me back in the evening, which I thought was odd, wanting to confirm scheduling the appointment. I said I was confused by this and also did they hang up on me while I was answering a question. The answer was yes and the explanation was that they were determining if it could be fixed under warranty since I was technically a few days over the 1 year mark. I said I called a different plumber and they happily said "ok, great, bye!" (more or less). The people seem nice, but they dont seem to do quality work for these small repairs. The plumber I had come out commented on a number of things. First, the shutoff valve was installed in an unsual way which required the handle to be bent upwards. They also used O-rings which were not installed correctly. And the part itself was of very low quality. Furthermore, the spigot was installed incorrectly too. Everything is fixed now, but I dont think I will call Boston Standard again.

Vincent Rocchio

These guys are the worst. I called them because I live in Dorchester, so they were local and they had experience with the new, high-efficiency, wall-mounted gas combi-boilers. My unit was making a whining noise whenever it first fired up on cold mornings (which is most winter mornings). First guy came out and diagnosed the problem, which cost me $90 bucks. Said I would need a new fan and they would order it and follow up. They didnt. I had to chase them down WEEKS later. Then they charged over $300 to install new fan. Two weeks later, the noise was back. WHOOPS! Guess that $300 job was WRONG! Did they offer to reimburse? No! They just sent out a new guy who figured there was ice in the intake line. WRONG! But by then it was Spring, and with the unit warm we couldnt replicate the problem. So, this winter rolls around and I call them back. New guy comes out--its never the same guy--and charged me $99 to tell me its a different problem from the other two diagnoses. He wants to start with flushing the system, and that requires a kit. Hell price the kit and call me back. Guess what? No follow through, AGAIN. I called the manufacturer and found that, no surprise, he was wrong. An earlier model needed a "kit" with new "O" rings, not my model. Bottom line, Ive paid this company over $500 to NOT fix the problem. This is customer service? My impression is that this is a company that likes the big jobs: renovations or new installs on bigger projects. But the average homeowner with a problem? Forget it! They really dont care about you. I would definitely tell the average homeowner to find someone else. They dont care, they dont follow through, and they do not diagnose properly. Does this sound like someone you want to hire? If there were a negative star, Id pick it.

Mary McManus, MSW

Last year I put out the word on Facebook about anyone know a good plumber. My friend referred me to Boston Standard Plumbing. Last year we had a toilet and garbage disposal installed complete with a 2 year warranty. We also purchased a service plan. I forgot to renew the service plan in June but when we called when our hot water heater went out, they let us reinstate the service plan and use it for the discount that day. Despite their having a full schedule, they arrived at 7 pm and stayed past 9 pm to install the hot water heater. Last week, we had no heat. They came out the next day and cleaned and serviced our furnace. We had a running toilet upstairs and I asked if they could take a look at it. They did and rebuilt the guts of the toilet during the service call for no heat. All of their work is guaranteed with warranties. He asked me if this was the toilet they installed last year because if it was, it was still covered under the warranty. They are always looking for ways to help us save money. A few days after the service call, we heard a buzzing sound coming from the furnace. The owner of the company contacted me and apologized for the delay in not getting back to me within the hour. He would never want me to not call if there was a potential safety concern. He was able to diagnose the problem over the phone and actually the buzzing had stopped before he called me back. He contacted the technician who made the service call just to make sure he didnt see anything untoward in the system that would lead to a safety concern. Theyll be back on Friday to put in a new thermostat. I feel secure knowing that we have a reliable, fair, highly professional group of plumbers through Boston Standard Plumbing for all of our plumbing needs.