Brad F.
04/01/2019 12:00:00 SA
I had a very frustrating and catastrophic experience with this company. I called for an emergency water heater replacement. I went back and forth with Art, who I believe is the owner. I then got connected up with someone from their office, and they had scheduled for replacement that same day at 4 p.m. I specifically told Art and the office contact that I was the contact person and to only deal with me on it and to leave my tenants completely out of it. Art had told me that they required a credit card upfront, which although a very strange business practice, I agreed since I needed this work done for my tenants, and my options were limited. Not long after the workers arrived to install the new water heater, my tenant contacted me to say that Art was a complete A-hole to him, argued with him and said they required upfront payment. While I had agreed to making the upfront payment, the entire debacle could have been avoided had Art and his company listened to my instructions, which they said they understood and then agreed to, which was to deal with me and only me. Art decided to pull his guys off of the job, without even calling or notifying me, stranding my tenants without a water heater replacement and leaving me searching late into the night and the next morning looking for another company to do the work, not to mention it was the weekend. Art and his company not only didn't follow instructions, but he pulled his guys off the job showing his vindictiveness--and he didn't even have the courtesy to call me and try and work it out. This was a very disappointing experience. It was unprofessional and unnecessary. This is a company that is clearly more interested in making money as opposed to providing customer service. This is the epitome of how not to run a business. I would strongly consider if this is the type of person you want to do business with. I should have known better given all of the back and forth and chaos that ensued early in with our conversations.
These are additional comments after Gerard's response regarding it being nothing personal and that they have accounts receivable to worry about. The business practices a private company employs is up to them. What Gerard fails to acknowledge is that I spoke to him directly on several occasions, and I specifically asked him (and
Art) to work through me and only me regarding payment and ALL communications. I was ready to provide my credit card in advance of the work being done, even though I disagree with that as a business practice. Did they work through me as agreed? No. Rather, they got into an argument with my tenant, and all my tenant wanted was warm water so he and his family could shower and wash dishes. And then even after arguing with my tenant, they never called me! Rather, they pulled their crew off of the job and stranded me and my tenant. I have never been treated this way by any contractor before. It is just very hard to fathom why they didn't listen to the customer, why they didn't call me for my credit card, why they argued with my tenant, why they pulled their crew off of the job and then still did not call me to discuss or explain. Very disappointing, disrespectful and unprofessional. So, I had to find another plumber who wasn't able to do the work until Monday, so my tenants' were without hot water all weekend long. I suspect that Art and Gerard had hot water in their homes. They knew very good and well that this would be very painful to my tenant who did not have the inside story on the agreed-upon payment, so they stuck it to them as hard as they could. Not personal? Vindictive! Callous! Nasty! In the end, the work was completed on Monday, 4/1/19 by a very professional plumbing company, Hitchcock Plumbing, License # 521451, for $1,175 versus the $1,600 that Art and Gerard were gong to charge me. Seems they were trying to gouge me too, but again, they are free to price their services as they deem necessary and competitive. I'd strongly suggested avoiding this company and using Hitchcock Plumbing. Long Beach Plumbing Company is unethical, unprofessional and uncaring.