Priority Plumbing

[September 7, 2016] I called Priority Plumbing to unclog a bathtub drain and fix a toilet that was refilling slowly. A friendly technician came by early June 2016. He checked out the whole house's plumbing and gave a series of quotes, ranging from a several hundred dollars (to unclog the drain and to replace the toilet fill valve) to about $4,000 (to also upgrade a bunch of other water valves). Whoa -- that's for a day's work by one guy! (Albeit including materials costs.)

I went with the lowest quote to just unclog the drain and fix the toilet. He ordered a new toilet fill valve which he would come back to install in a few weeks. As for the bathtub drain, he ran a snake and came back up with bad news -- tree roots.

He told me he needed to run a camera to see how bad it was, so I bought their annual camera inspection plan. But we had to remove the toilet to run the camera. They charge $400 to remove and replace a toilet (!), so we agreed I'd take the toilet off myself and he'd come back the next day to run the camera. I appreciated his agreeing to come in on a Sunday, but as it turns out he never showed up (and no phone call), so I wasted a lot of time taking off and replacing the toilet (not to mention waiting around).

I never heard back from the technician after that despite several phone calls to their dispatch line. They told me the toilet fill valve was on back-order but it's been a few months now and it hasn't arrived yet.

My invoice didn't itemize costs but it was over $600 for running the snake and prepayment for replacing a fill valve. Add on the annual camera plan (which I never got either) and taxes and we're up to $771.15. I originally gave a 3 on this review because I gave up on getting the toilet fixed.

[UPDATE September 8, 2016] I got a call from the company right after writing the above review. They told me the technician has been on training for the last two months and that the fill valve will be delivered and installed next week, and they have offered to refund the cost of the camera inspection annual plan. I have revised my review from 3 to 5 as a result of their preliminary efforts to make things right.

[UPDATE October 1, 2016] The part finally came in and the toilet was fixed a few days ago. The (new) technician did a thorough job and said he would look into replacing another part that seems to be slowing down the water line. I am revising my review again from 5 to 8 in anticipation of getting a refund on the camera plan I never used.

All in all, I get the impression the company does its utmost to make its customers happy but you'll pay a hefty premium for it. I think the missed appointment in my case was probably an anomaly and the delayed part probably wasn't their fault.

September 7, 2016 -- I called Priority Plumbing to unclog a bathtub drain and fix a toilet that was refilling slowly.

A friendly and personable technician came on in on June 6, 2016. He checked out the whole house's plumbing and gave a series of quotes, ranging from a several hundred dollars (to run a snake to unclog the drain and to replace the toilet fill valve) to about $4,000 (to also upgrade a bunch of water valves in the house). Whoa -- that's $4,000 for a day's work by one guy! (Albeit including materials costs.)

I went with the lowest quote to just unclog the drain and fix the toilet. He ordered a new toilet fill valve which he would come back to install in a few weeks. As for the bathtub drain, he ran a snake and came back up with bad news -- the dreaded tree roots.

He told me he needed to run a camera to see how bad it was, so I bought their annual camera inspection plan. But we had to remove the toilet to run the camera. They charge $400 to remove and replace a toilet (!), so we agreed I'd take the toilet off myself and he'd come back the next day to run the camera. I appreciated his agreeing to come in on a Sunday, but as it turns out he never showed up, so I wasted a lot of time taking off and replacing the toilet (not to mention waiting around). I never even got a phone call saying he couldn't make it.

I never heard back from the friendly technician after that despite several phone calls to their dispatch line. They told me the toilet fill valve was on back-order. Maybe that's true but it's been several months (it's September 7 now) so I'm a little skeptical.

My invoice didn't itemize costs but it was over $600 for running the snake and prepayment for replacing a fill valve (which was never done). Add on the annual camera plan (which I never got either) and taxes and we're up to $771.15.

I now know some plumbers will run a snake for about $75, and I found the fill valve online for about $20 to $40.

I get the impression you'll (usually) get very friendly, prompt and professional service from this company, but you'll pay a huge premium for it. In my case, it wasn't worth it.

UPDATE September 8, 2016 -- I got a call from the company today (the day after writing my review). They told me the technician has been on training for the last two months and that the fill valve will be delivered and installed next week, and they have offered to refund the cost of the camera inspection annual plan. I have revised my review from 3 to 5 as a result of their preliminary efforts to make things right.

I called Priority Plumbing because my basement tenant's bathtub drain was draining slowly, and the Niagara Flapperless toilet was refilling slowly.

A friendly and personable technician came on in early June 2016 to check out the problem. He also looked at the rest of house's plumbing. He gave a series of quotes, ranging from a several hundred dollars (to run a snake to unclog the drain and to replace the toilet fill valve) to about $4,000 (to also upgrade a bunch of water valves in the house). I probably should have realized I was about to be taken for a ride when I got $4,000 quote for a day's work by one guy! (Granted, that would have included some materials costs too.)

I went with the lowest quote to just unclog the drain and fix the toilet. He ordered a new toilet fill valve which he would come back to install in a few weeks. As for the bathtub drain, he ran a snake and came back up with bad news -- the dreaded tree roots. I was in a trusting mood so I didn't bother looking at the snake to confirm.

He told me he needed to run a camera to see how bad it was, so I bought their annual camera inspection plan. But we had to remove the toilet to run the camera, so he was supposed to come the next day. I removed the toilet myself the next day since they charge $400 just to do that. He no-showed, making that a big waste of my time. To be fair, he slotted me into a Sunday afternoon. But I never even got a phone call saying he couldn't make it.

I never heard back from the friendly technician after that despite several phone calls to their dispatch line. They told me the toilet fill valve was on back-order. Maybe that's true but it's been several months (it's early September now) so I'm a little skeptical.

My invoice didn't itemize costs (another red flag I missed), but it was over $600 for running the snake and prepayment for replacing a fill valve (which was never done). Add on the annual camera plan (which I never got either) and taxes and we're up to $771.15.

I now know many plumbers will run a snake for about $75, and I found the fill valve online for about $20 to $40.

I don't doubt all these other positive reviews on Homestars -- I'm sure this company is normally very good at making people feel well taken care of, with all-in pricing and friendly and prompt service. I'm guessing most people are so relieved to find a personable and trustworthy plumber who will make their gross sewage-related problems disappear quickly that they don't even mind or notice that they're getting royally fleeced.