Colin's Plumbing

This company cost my Mother almost $4000 to fix a water problem in the basement. They replaced the well pump, the well casing, the sump pump and the pressure tank.  She still had water in the basement the next week. I  fixed the problem for $40.  I just wish I had been there to stop them from ripping her off for things that she didn't need!

Colin responded very quickly to my plumbing concern. In fact, I think he was there within the hour. While his solution was effective, it was also very costly. Probably a less costly solution was also available but it was never offered by him. He seemed more interested in padding his pocket than anything else.   His solution was to dig up the line to my septic tank - a two hour process for which he charged $2,500 ($2,000 just to move his backhoe to my backyard).  

He came back day two to simply put in a new pressure tank and an in-line water filter. He then also decided our water line from our well needed cleaning.

His work was generally of high quality but I still can't get over his bill of $5,000 for about 1 1/2 days of work. I will definitely not give him a call next time.

This person came to my house after hours when my water heater stopped working. He shined a flashlight on the water heater, said it had water in the pan and that his insurance wouldn't let him touch it.  He wouldn't answer my questions directly and kept asking me irrelevant things.  He even had to borrow my flashlight, as he hadn't brought one! He said he would have to replace the water heater, maybe in a couple days. On the way out of the basement, he stopped by and wiggled the pressure tank and said I'd need a new one of those, too. His bill for telling me he couldn't touch the water heater was $195.  I called another plumbing company the next morning. They were able to get the water heater running in 10 minutes. It does need replacing, but at least I have hot water until I can get a new one. The quote from the second plumber was HALF of Colin's Plumbing, and he was so much more professional and helpful.

These people put in a new sandpoint well for me. Charged me over $6000!! It was 3 years ago and I had nothing but problems. First off, I was sucking air and the pressure was all messed up. I had them come back and all the did was tweak the water pressure a bit. Was still sucking air. They don't warranty their work for more than 30 days! It was a friend of mine that found that Colin's had put in a cracked main water valve! Had to fix at my expense. I had new pipes also break just to find out they never used the correct pipes to begin with! Had to fix at my expense-again. We won't even talk about what they did to my yard with their well truck! I am a disabled person and still can't afford to fix my yard. DO NOT call these people for anything! By the way, I could have had a new sandpoint well put in for around $1500!! I didn't want to even give them 1 star but Yelp made me before I could post this!

I don't want to give this company a single star. He accepted my call for a frozen drain pipe. I knew where is was frozen (happened 2 years ago) and how to access it. He disagreed and attempted to use his dirty rusty snake and only got a few feet before he quit. He had to use our screw driver to remove the overflow cover and didn't even put it back on, but left a trail of mud throughout the house and set his machine on 2 rugs leaving wet, rusty marks, then came and said he didn't own the proper equipment. It required a 'Jetter'....but he DEMANDED $250 for maybe 10 minutes of actual work. Had I seen the rugs he wouldn't have been paid a cent. I gave him $50 to leave so I didn't have to call law enforcement to get him out of my house! I have since then located about 20 others he way over charged. Not a plumber in the world worth his $450 an hour!!

Hey Colin... Remember that 150 dollar pressure tank you charged my mom 900 dollars for? Yeah... It's leaking. Your 4400 dollar bill for this 'professional labor' is a joke. You've ripped off far too many of your neighbors. Shame on you!

If I could rate them zero stars, I would. This place takes advantage of people in need, especially the elderly.  Our normal repair person could not go on the roof to clean bathroom vent because of insurance.  So we found a plumber that could come out short notice.  Huge mistake.  What should have been a 2 hour, $400 job, cost my 90 year old mother-in-law $1,300.
Then he comes out a couple days later to try and sell my mother-in-law some other minor work Collin said was needed, and he wanted to charge $1,500 for this. He was refused and sent away.  Beware!!

If I could give out less than 1 star, I would.  He actually did give me an estimate.  When I asked what it would cost to dig out the top 12 feet of well pipe where the cast iron had rusted, he said they did one 2 weeks earlier and it was about $2,500.  But mine should not be anywhere near that.  It wasn't, it was $6,800.  No complications nor anything special found in the dig, but somehow the cost increased dramatically.  He also borrowed a few of our tools including a shovel and some wrenches while he was working and he stole them.  Denied that he ever borrowed them in the first place.  Tracked mud in the house when he came in the house too.  Hope his business rots just like our cast iron pipes did..

Colin responded quickly to my call, however he charges a small fortune. He doesn't take credit cards. He also charged me to bring in a backhoe(which, btw is his son). He handed me a $4000 bill & I was beyond shocked!!! He was here less than 4 hours. I won't use him again. He never gave me an estimate. I wish I would have checked on here prior to calling him. I too, have a new pump, pressure tank & new pipes. His numbers must not have added up to enough money because he wrote over a few of the numbers adding to the bill i.e.; 5 became a 9........never again. I need a new central air conditioner. There is no way in hell, I will call this man!

That idiot (Colin) was at my house yesterday...we had a frozen water pipe..he was here for 3 hours ...ripped my ceiling out in the basement.......insulation all over the floor and a mess in the kitchen where the pipe was frozen...he never finished....he said my husband can finish putting insulation around the pipe because he had 2 other places he needed to get too...While he was writing out the bill he said three times that this was a very hard job and I'm sure he was saying that to justify the monstrous 687.00 bill. I just stopped payment on the check because after reading several comments on him, I will be damned if I am going to let him rip me off. I will pay for what he deserves and it certainly isn't 687.00.

I am happy to share my story with you, which happened today.

But I think the BEST way to get your attention is to ask you to look at all the reviews of this plumbing company of the Better Business Bureau website. 

Here is the link

bbb.org/us/mn/center-cit…

This contractor has been deceitful about costs, and and performing unneeded work to inflate his time spent on the job to make more money. I had him come out to snake a clogged tub drain pipe. He instead cut out the 3ft of pipe to the main sewer instead of use the clean out, replaced the 2 metal drain with 1 ft of PVC pipe on each end of a PVC P pipe, which took him 2 hrs. When he first arrived, I asked for an estimate, to which he said Just time and materials, and went down to start the work. At the end of the job, I asked what I needed to make the check out for. He said 895! Shocked, I told him I only had 400 in the bank, to which he replied I would have to write a 2nd post dated check. I said there is no way I am paying 895 to have a clog removed and picked up the bill. First line item was 295 site fee. I said I ASKED YOU how much and you said Just time and materials!! He tried to justify himself. Looking back at how it got to 895, I saw labor as 220/hr. (I live in small town Midwest... Normal rates are @100 hr. He replied he didnt care what others charge. I refused to pay again, and said I would be happy to call the police and take him to small claims court, to which he said he didnt have time for court or speaking with the police. I told him the MOST I would pay would be 300. He accepted after much contention. After he left I looked for the bill so I could take a pic of and submit to the BBC, the local Chamber of Commerce, and anyone else I could think of that could stop this guy from what he is doing to people. Smart guy, he took his bill with him so there was no evidence! Then I went to BBB to make a complaint, and saw how many others he has scammed. Something needs to be done!

Was the only well company that answered a week-end emergency call so I went with them.  3-years later I had problems again mainly due to the fact that they put in a pump that was too big (more expensive than what should have been replaced), didn't rewire anything (new guy said it looks like it's the original wiring) and used plastic tubing (new guy used steel).  Would not take a credit card insisted on cash.  Now I know why!  Please do not use this company, in the Well repair world, they are known as the scammers.

Wish we would have checked reviews before calling this guy. He overcharges and even charges $150 to stop by on his way home to give you an estimate.

This is by far the WORST plummer I've ever worked with. Not only did he try to rip us off, but he threatened us too! DO NOT USE HIM. He took advantage of a stay at home mom and is a creep and a crook!

Colin's Plumbing LLC was called to investigate a foul smell coming from a floor drain/vent in my parents' utility room. While clearing the area to make it easier for the serviceman to work, my mother found a pound of rancid meat she'd forgotten she'd taken out to thaw. She let the man know this was the source of the smell and that she thought no work was needed. He asked to smell the meat and told her he didn't agree. She told him again that the meat was the cause of the smell--she was sure of it. He told her the meat was NOT the smell and that her house was filling with methane gas, making her think there was a dangerous situation that needed to be addressed. Still not comfortable, she asked for an estimate on the work that he proposed needed to be done, which he ignored and proceeded with his work without giving her any idea of what was to come. When all was said and done he handed her a bill for $1,119 for replacing some loose PVC and the cover on the drain. She paid him immediately.

I contacted him to get information about what was done. He told me he didn't give her an estimate because I was three calls behind and I needed to get to work. Providing a range of costs is something that could have and should have been done. I believe he didn't do this because he knew how much he was going to charge her and didn't want to give her a chance to object. I asked him why he didn't listen to her thought that the meat was the cause of the smell, to which he said he agreed that could have been the case. I believe he lied in this answer, wanting to cover up that he told her the house was filling with dangerous methane gas and making the job seem absolutely necessary. I asked him what he found when he jackhammered into the floor, and he said he found loose PVC and a misfitting cover. This was either a lie to me or to my mother when he told her that the vent was installed improperly. I believe this was a lie as a whole, because the vent isn't even located in that room.

I believe misleading sales tactics were used to justify a job that the customer was objecting to in order to remove as much possibility of cancelling the job as possible. The work that was done didn't seem to have any issues. The sales tactics and ignoring the customer's concerns and findings were the biggest complaints.

We have contacted the business to see if they're willing to review what happened on the day of service.

My husband called Colin's plumbing when we had a backup in our floor drain. He told us we needed a new drain field and charged us $250 to do nothing. Other plumbers have confirmed that we do not need a new drain field.

this man quoted us 700. to 800 and by the time he was done inflating things it ended up costing us 945.00 and the pressure tank he put in sells for 245. but he charged 400+ and when we called and told him we wanted an itemized bill he got annoyed with it, to me it should have been itemized to begin with he is a joke for a plumber! do not use this company!

I just happened to be in Rice Lake when I got the call our water heater was not working, couldn't re light the pilot, and it was leaking, I bought a water heater right there on the spot, hauled it home, but made phone calls to plumbers in the area, and got this crook who was given the fact that I was going from a 30 to a 40 gallon tank, and it was taller, but plenty of ceiling space.  He first said 200 to 500 (should have known right there) but after calling another plumber who was busy till the next day who was fine with 250 to 300 for the job, decided to go with Colin's plumbing who agreed to MATCH the price.  BIG ERROR...should have gone with my gut when he walked in 2 hours late and said I didn't know there was a T so that will be 400 instead.  I should have shown him the door.  The T was cutting one pipe and reinstalling the shut off about a foot higher with solder.  He wanted to use a shut off by the well pump, and when he got to the pump he started banging and shaking it, trying to screw it up I think till I told him to knock it off.  Now after he left, my furnace which was right next to the water heater is not working, and when I called him to ask him what he had done to the furnace, he swears he didn't touch it.   He refused to remove the old tank, said it would cost me another 400, said I saved 500 by buying my own 500 new tank, he would have charged me 1,000 for it.  I never got a receipt for the money, and I will NEVER call him again, as he is basically a crook that takes advantage of elderly people.

Do not use this guy! He put in a new well pump and pressure tank in June of 2016 and charged all most $4000 dollars. Then this month the pump went out again. That is 18 months old he still charged for a new pump when it should have been covered under a warranty. (The good thing was that it was covered under our home owners insurance). When he came back a few weeks ago he was here for maybe 30 minutes on a Saturday and before he left he told me that he is tired and has other calls to do and told me depending on how he felt on Sunday he would come back or come back on Monday. After receiving the bill for this one he again charged me almost $4000. He wanted me to take money out of my 401k or ask my parents for the money. I understand getting paid but you can't ask someone to take out of their 401k or use a credit card that I don't have.  I wish I would have read the reviews before I decided to go with him the first time. Will not call him again!