The skinny: Responsive, friendly, efficient - TOTALLY exceeded expectations, and more than reasonable pricing. You want John on your list of who to call for your plumbing issues. As good as a customer service experience gets. Seriously.
The story: We woke up this morning to water gushing out of a pipe next to the house and pooled water down the slope on our street corner (ostensibly from our house). It was 6:30am and we do not have a regular plumber. So we called our neighbors who gave us Happy Plumbing & also Bill Howe for 24/7 coverage. Given the time, we called Bill Howe first, where they were more excited about how we got their name than the problem we were having. By then it was 6:45am, and Bill Howe asked if we wanted it dispatched for after hours where it will cost time and a half, or if we wanted to wait until the office opened at 7am. Since we'd immediately turned off water to the house (pre-shower, pre-teeth brushing, pre- make sure the dogs have enough water for the day), I was anxious to get things going - I asked if they'd call at 7, or if I'd be put in the call queue. The Bill Howe answering service said I'd probably get a call around 8am, so I opted for the pricier after hours dispatch. When I hadn't heard anything after 20 minutes, I called Happy Plumbing and Drains.
John picked up right away; I explained our problem. He said he was right down the street and could swing by to take a look, but that he had another big job that he'd need to get to (huge points for responsiveness *and* setting expectations). With this plan, he could come by & take a look, and - since we were on a slope with water leaking at the curb - if we needed to call CPL to find the leak source, we could get that going (score more points for strategic planning). I called Bill Howe to let them know I had things covered. (It was 7:15am and they hadn't gotten to my message yet.)
John & his assistant, Neil, arrived around 7:30am, took a thorough look, and diagnosed the problem - it wouldn't need CPL, which was awesome, and it was a straightforward fix. At this point I'd expected them to run off to their other job, and I could at least be happy knowing that we knew what the problem was and they'd be back later to fix it. Nope - John stayed and fixed it. AND they were out by 8:15am (more points for efficiency) and off to their next job.
So that's the scoop. They cleaned everything up, were SUPER reasonably priced, and were knowledgeable and professional. Put Happy Plumbing & Drains on your list of people to call when the house breaks. You'll be stoked you did!!