J L.

2/20/2018

Well, if they can EVER call you back with information, maybe they are fine. I've tried for a WEEK!! I guess they don't care that much. I've chatted 5 times with them! All I got were promises! They called me right away the first time but then stated no one was available for quote so they'd call me back. I waited all day. Chatted back with them to make sure I was still on their list. I was. Well, a week later, chatted again. Someone called at 7:01 AM when I told them I'd be available at 10:00 Am. Garbled voicemail so couldn't get phone # chatted again. Was told someone would get back to me in a few minutes. An hour later, chatted again. So, if you want to wait for weeks, fine. Otherwise, go find someone more reliable!!

Update: they still have not contacted me! It's now 9 days! I called another place on Tuesday, Top Dog Cleaning Crew. They are coming out to clean my air vents, dryer vents, and carpet tomorrow! Yup, within 3 days. No waiting 9 days for them to contact me! It doesn't matter that Uptown Plumbing and Heating have been in business for 100 years. Obviously, it's not the same owners and, I predict with the way they deal with customers, they won't be in business long! If you read through the reviews, they like to rip people off. Find someone else!

Phillip N.

05/04/2018 12:00:00 SA

Giving a one-star review should be done only rarely. In the case of Hero (Uptown) PHC, it's because I've found that they are significantly higher priced than others for the same level of quality -- at least when it comes to plumbing work. I know this because we have an annual Happy Homeowners plan with Hero/Uptown that provides for free service calls. Whenever we have a plumbing problem, we call them out to review the problem and give us an estimate for repair. (Our plan includes free service calls but everything else is pay-for.) After I pick myself up off the floor from seeing their estimate, I thank them for their time and then proceed to check other reputable companies in the Twin Cities. Invariably I find one that will do the exact same work for significantly less money. The most recent example was where Hero/Uptown quoted $1,450 for a plumbing job. Ten minutes of calling around, and I was able to find another reputable provider, in business for decades also, that specializes in the piping work we needed. The all-cost, including the service call, was $937. Do the math: 35% less money for quality work, performed three days after I called for an estimate. This isn't a one-off experience, either. It's happened three times. There isn't one instance where anyone else's estimate was higher than Hero/Uptown's, and in most cases the dollars were 20% to 35% lower. They say the third time's the charm, and this time I decided to let others know the track record of this company, which is pretty mediocre.

Erin B.

6/22/2021

The AC maintenance cost is very reasonable. Scheduling is convenient and they communicate well. I thought my technician was friendly and knowledgeable. I did get the vibe they are there to diagnose bigger issues and recommend more of their services (at escalated pricing). It felt very sales-y and I'm not sure how much maintenance was actually done. I don't blame the tech, he's just doing his job but I didn't entirely trust everything I was being sold on. As one example, he quoted me $1000 to have my air ducts cleaned. I live in an 1100 square foot house so this price was insane to me. I had two other reputable companies since give me a quote and both were around $300 for the whole house plus my dryer vent. I don't like being taken advantage of.

Todd D.

8/25/2015

As another person has stated here, shopping around after Uptown gives you a quote is very important. I'm sure Uptown does plenty of great work, but they are trying to sell you something all the time, even if you don't need it. They are sales people, not technicians. They use their service plan to get into your house and try to sell you on repairs, often VERY costly repairs. They present different tiers of service and make you feel like you have to select one immediately, otherwise your equipment will imminently fail.

Get them to email you their findings and suggested repairs, then do your own research. Is this an issue that actually needs fixing, and what is the average cost? Call around to some other local companies and see what they would charge for the same service.

Uptown recently claimed my furnace was failing at multiple points and would need over $2,000 worth of work to fix. They stated there was a gas leak and they had to shut off the gas to the furnace, leaving a scary looking tag. My guess is this tag scares most people into signing up for service right away. I understand that in many cases there may be a very serious problem that needs to be dealt with right away, so don't ignore these kind of things, but take the time to do your own research. I was suspicious, since my furnace has been working fine, and some of their readings on the print out indicated their sensor was not working properly. (0 PPM on CO reading).

I brought in another company to check Uptown's work (I was willing to pay for another service call). They walked me through everything they were doing and re-tested everything. Everything on the furnace is completely fine and needs no repairs. They told me what to look for as signs of an issue that WOULD need repair. They even walked me through a few things I could do on my own to keep the furnace running smoothly and avoid costly repairs in the future, like cleaning the flame detector and cleaning out the drain lines. Easy stuff if you are somewhat handy, but leave it to professionals if you are unsure.

Earlier in the summer, Uptown also claimed I needed a ton of work done on my outdoor AC unit. I did my research, and talked to a friend at another HVAC company about it. The reasons Uptown gave for needing the repairs were completely bogus. If I truly needed the repairs they claimed I needed, they were wildly overpriced compared to what a few other companies said it would cost. The technician/salesperson was very persistent about me making a decision on the spot about scheduling the service, but I pushed back and took my time to do my own research.

Uptown has good costumer service, and they are very friendly, and I'm sure they will respond to this review like they do all the other reviews, but you can't trust them. I wouldn't trust them with anything in my house and I don't think you should either. I've never written a review for a company before, but after my experience with Uptown, I wanted to make sure others were aware of how they operate.

Jane E.

12/19/2018

A Hero technician Caleb came out to fix my sink and toilet. He was very nice and professional. He gave me a quote to fix the toilet which needed two parts in the tank and it was $560.00!! Then he told me I should have him replace it! I told him that was a way overpriced quote. Then he gave me a quote to replace the p trap on my sink. $182 and that was after the $57 discount. This company is way overpriced and just hoping people are gullible enough to accept being ripped off. Will never use them again!

Jennifer T.

11/26/2019

Called hero plumbing because they had a $93 special and drain problems. When technician arrived I was told this young man was not a plumber. Took him to my basement drain and he informed me that that drain was not part of the special. Said the special was for main drain. We weren't able to find the main drain. Tried to call his boss couldn't reach him. Gave me an estimate of $321 just to clean the drain in the basement. I told him to leave I couldn't pay $321. In my opinion this is false advertising. I will never call hero plumbing again. And I don't recommend anyone call them for service.

Jagnarine S.

4/17/2019

I schedule a plumber to come out to check my heating system and he said I have a gas leak and I call another company and they said there is no gas leak the person who was here for hero plumbing was the man that $700 to fix the problem

Ed C.

11/11/2013 12:00:00 SA

My heat was out this past Saturday, and Bryan from Uptown saved the day. He fixed the problem and completely cleaned my furnace. He was thorough, professional and respectful. I would definitely call Uptown again.

Linda M.

1/24/2016

Buyer Beware!!! I had Uptown come out to install a new water heater and was charged $7,640 for a water heater installed, removal of the old water heater and moving the water softener to gain access to the water heater. That was the low bid with no itemization of the bill, services, etc. I was told these were not overtime rates. The highest bid was over $10,000. I was foolish to not get other bids but had been without hot water for 5 days and needed to get it done. I had no experience doing this and Uptown was written up in the paper positively and a friend suggested them. The bottom line after multiple calls to them with a lot of runaround, a manager and another plumber came out to review the situation. They brought the bill down to $5,189, however, no one was able to explain why this was so expensive to begin with (when other bids after the fact were around $3,000). I was told that they do not provide Kmart service and quality. Uptown agreed I should have been offered a less expensive package and refused to itemize their services. It took the plumber a total of 6 hours for the work. Then to top it off, when I filed for the Center Point Energy rebate my brand new water heater is not energy efficient enough to qualify for the rebate. I am surprised they are still in business.

Nick S.

8/13/2018

We had someone from Hero come out and fix our air conditioner in June - it turned out it just required a new capacitor. My wife's Dad owns his own HVAC business (across the country), and he said this is a quick repair that he charges around $100 for. Needless to say we were disappointed when their quote was nearly $400. However, since it was the weekend and we had already paid the $169 service call (if I remember correctly), we sucked it up and had them do the work. My wife asked the tech on 2 occasions if it was the capacitor that was the problem because her dad had guessed as much over the phone, and both times he said no, it's the motor starter. I'm not sure why, but it wasn't until we asked for the old part that he finally said, yeah, it was the capacitor that he replaced. Today our air conditioner began having the same problem as in June - we called Hero to ask if the repair from 6 weeks ago was under any warranty, and they asked if we paid for any extra warranty with our repair. I'd hate to see how much warranted work costs when the standard repair to replace a $20 part is over $500. Beware - we will certainly look elsewhere next time.

Alison M.

10/12/2017 12:00:00 SA

Wonderful service, always and forever. They send a reminder email and text before your appointment with the names, photos and bios of everyone who will be on the job. They are never late. They are fairly priced. They guarantee all their work and they are instantly responsive if you need help. I have called on Uptown Plumbing for mini-split AC/heat units, a new boiler, a new water heater, and a carbide filter. Everything works perfectly, was installed in a single day (even the four mini-splits!) and the crews are unfailingly kind, informative, polite, and experts in their field.

Megan S.

10/27/2017

I hate to leave such negative reviews, but consider this a PSA. Short version: Get a second opinion or risk being taken advantage of. That was our experience.

We had a technician come out for a furnace/water heater inspection. The tech came and he was very prompt and polite. We even got a picture and some background info on the man coming out to our house- which was great! The tech told us that our secondary heat exchanger was cracked and essentially emitting C02 at unsafe amounts into our home.
-YIKES! Carbon monoxide in our home? With a newborn baby? No way... We asked him, Do you know how much C02 is leaking? Because our monitors never went off. The tech said it was hard to say and that was that. We aren't educated on furnaces so we took his word for face value. I mean, he is the professional in the situation.

So, the tech had a second guy from the company come out as a second opinion and he agreed. So the tech red flagged our furnace, turned it off, and deemed it unsafe to run. Stressing about having a newborn in the house and winter literally coming this weekend, a sales associate came out to our house very promptly to discuss new furnace packages. I will say that the sales associate was very nice and thorough.

We did some research online and we came across a review in which a very similar situation occurred to another costumer this company. Thanks, Andrea D! Were we falling victim to the same scam?

So we called for a second opinion at a different company. The new tech came out and we told him our issues. The new tech was dumbfounded that the tech from Uptown Heating told us it was hard to tell how much C02 was leaking. He had a gage right in his hand to measure it. He took two different measures- both were just fine. This different tech was extremely thorough and double checked to ensure that no, there was no problem at all. He even said that Uptown Heating would be on their radar after this negative incidence.

Is it possible that the tech form Uptown Heating made a mistake? Sure. But for two techs from Uptown Heating to make the same mistake? Smells fishy to me. Also given that this exact same scenario happened to another person strikes me as very odd. I would really like to think that this is an honest company, but I can not. Do you and your family a favor and take your business elsewhere.

UPDATE: my husband spoke with the manager in which he apologized for such an experience. He noted that the service we received was against protocol and refunded our money. The mistake was rectified but only after we did digging and paid another company to do the job appropriately. If we hadn't, who knows how much $$ we would be out.

Kathy T.

8/17/2015

Our experience with Uptown Plumbing, Heating & Cooling initially was positive, but when the second repair person came to check out the additional problem the first guy found he charged me for the entire amount for the second repair we needed, rather than the 50% of the job he was estimating. Then we didn't hear from them again. I called and got conflicting messages about why no one had gotten back to us. I wasn't feeling confident about things, so we cancelled the job and asked for a refund. Weeks and several calls later, still no refund. After working with another provider we feel we were upsold. Each time I call to find out why I haven't received the refund I'm told they want to make things right. Still no refund. My advice? Get a second opinion. How to make it right? Send me my refund.

Michael N.

6/16/2016

The guy who came out today from Uptown plumbing was very courteous and did the job well and quickly! Had a bad experience with one of their competitors, that is why I contacted them. Will definitely go back!

Heather Y.

8/14/2018

Wanted $1300 to remove a radiator from its position on the wall and put it back a day or two later. Claimed that two small components need to be replaced every time a radiator is moved. Didn't give any sort of ballpark figure for what this would cost when scheduled, just that the estimate would be subtracted from the total. This company seems to be in the business of scamming for the consult fee.

Cindy T.

7/13/2020

Don't use this Company. They charge 3 times as a regular plumber. Our shower drained into our kitchen sink and flooded the kitchen. Water in all the cabinets/drawers and all over the floor. I called Hero because of seeing the commercials on TV. The drain specialist arrived and right away gave me 3 options. First option was a band aid fix -- who wants that? So I chose the next option to the tune of $888 not realizing he was going to be done in under 2 hours. I was in panic mode, I had water all over the kitchen -- yes, I signed for the work. Stupid me. When all was done I paid $1000. We called and spoke with Katie from Hero. She explained that the technician already gave us $150 in coupons out of the goodness of his heart so the best she could do is give us $150 back. Still $850 for 2 hours of work! RIP OFF!!

Hans A.

04/02/2020 12:00:00 SA

Called to get opinion on a limit switch (four red lights flashing). Charged $110 for a fuse replacement that costs .98 plus $189 because it was a Saturday. Use fear based tactics to scare you, overcharge for everything. Highly deceptive. Do not use these folks. Formerly known as uptown heating and cooling.

Customer service won't provide an email to resolve issues - only a phone number that is often unanswered. Avoid at all costs.

Ansell T.

5/28/2020

Called day of appointment and cancelled on us. We had already rearranged schedules to make the day work. Will not use again and would recommend others find a more reliable plumber.

Janelle B.

01/08/2018 12:00:00 SA

I am a supporter of small business... I bought a membership to belong to their HAPPY home club - to get all the many benefits they advertise. Sad to learn that THERE is no benefit. They OVER CHARGE almost double other companies... and you have to fight with them to warranty their work. Today was the last straw - their estimate to replace a water heater was ALMOST double what HOME DEPOT would charge. PLUS they wanted to charge me a $65 trip charge JUST to give me an estimate. I feel SO gouged and disappointed by this company. I have given them so many chances - and they STICK it to you!

Leon G.

10/08/2019 12:00:00 SA

Called and made an appointment with them. On the day of the appointment i called them to get a better timeframe for thier arrival and was told i was not in thier service area. I specifically asked when i first called if i was in the service area and was assured i was in the area.

Caitlin J.

10/17/2018

They were able to send a tech out right away the next morning to look at my furnace. The tech was on time and very pleasant and helpful. I chose not to continue with their service as they wanted to charge me $430 to replace a $15 switch. I paid the $60 diagnostic/call charge and bought a new switch and replaced it myself in less than an hour. Had their pricing been more appropriate I would have liked to hire them.

Dana S.

09/07/2021 12:00:00 SA

I will never use them again. They came in to do one project and they said they needed to change my gas line or they wouldn't be held accountable if there was a leak. The gas line did not need to be changed. Their Tech guy came to my house to look at a drain that had apoxy in it. He said that they would need to jack hammer the floor and replace it. They showed up later and what they should have done is just unscrew the ball and replace that. The floor did not need to be removed. I had another plumber from another company look at the original drain that was removed and left behind and he said any plumber Would have seen that the ball unscrews Again they did work that was not needed. Terrible company I would stay clear of them.

Aaron M.

06/07/2019 12:00:00 SA

Hero installed an AC unit for the previous owners of our home 3 years ago. The unit did not cool the house when we recently turned it on for the season. The 5 year warrantee had not expired and I asked over the phone, when scheduling, whether the warrantee would transfer to us. I was encouraged to schedule and show the paperwork to the technician. Of course, once the person was on site, we were then told that the warrantee would not transfer. We had previous negative experiences with Uptown/Hero and were not interested in hiring them for any additional work. We would have appreciated being told on the phone that the warrantee would not apply.

Allen Q.

11/27/2017

I had my toilet replacement successfully performed. I was sent a picture of the technician prior to his arrival, and it went pretty smoothly. I hadn't mentioned that I had already purchased a Toto toilet unit for the replacement, and they were completely fine with removing the the toilet and replacing it with the one I purchased. The technician also recommended that I not use a wax-free seal ring given high failure rates with them and instead used a wax seal ring he had free of charge. He cleaned up and brought everything with him. Really nice guy all around.

Roger B.

3/30/2018

Zak A. performed my semi-annual tuneup. Zak gave advanced notice and arrived on time. He performed the tuneup quickly and readily responded to my request to adjust the hot water temperature in our combination boiler. He was courteous and personable throughout.

Al C.

09/05/2017 12:00:00 SA

I go to Uptown for all my gas/air/plumbing needs. Close by and many price options to choose from. Today they hooked up my gas grill and fixed some old parts-runs like a charm! Thanks!

Matt O.

07/07/2022 12:00:00 SA

Never ever use their service. We had sand coming up the drain and reported that we had tree roots in the main line. Technician arrived ran a little water down the drain and said there wasn't an issue and left. $69 service charge for no service. Never occurred to them to actually look into the problem. Again you would be better served flushing your money down the drain that were supposed to fix.

Nick K.

5/26/2016

I recently listed my house for sale and wanted to replace an old, non-working AC unit. I called Uptown Plumbing, Heating and Cooling on 5/25 to schedule an appointment for a quote. On the phone with the scheduling person, I mentioned that I was looking for a cost effective solution as I won't be here to enjoy the new AC. She immediately stopped and said, Then we aren't for you. We only deal with premium products, and have premium pricing. So without knowing my price point, the size of my home, or any facts of my situation, I was greeted with a condescending tone and basically told we are too expensive for you. It seems this company gives outrageous pricing on standard equipment and services, likely in the hope that a customer won't shop around. While they missed an opportunity to earn a customer, one that would have spent several thousand dollars, it looks like I missed the opportunity to be grossly overcharged.

Richard K.

8/29/2020

If you have the money to burn, give them a call! Took a day off work and called city to shut of water for minor repair. Took 2 hrs at $275.00 per hr.
Last time for me!!

A J.

06/01/2022 12:00:00 SA

Zero star review. Insane prices. Run away from this one, go literally anywhere else. Wanted $2k for snaking a floor drain! $2,000! I could buy the machine myself for that much money. This company charges exhorbitant prices that are not realistic. Do not use them.

Kathleen R.

10/01/2021 12:00:00 SA

At the moment I have a problem with a backed up drain that was supposed to be fixed. 1st I want to say the tech who came out had a smile and was pleasent. I won't complain any further til I see if they will resolve the problem

Jerome S.

12/27/2019

I called them relative to their tv ad about a $99 drain cleaning to clean my bathtub drain. I thought I would pay that amount but they charged $410 to snake the drain.
I had my bath sink drain snaked by another firm and it cost over $300 which I thought was very high. I thought Hero would give a better rate but it wasn't. I will not be calling them again

Jose P.

12/22/2016

No complaints on installation but...

Uptown Plumbing charged me $1871 for an efficiency 40 gal water heater.

LATER, I found out...

CenterPoint Energy's price: $1162 (for an equivalent water heater)
Average cost in Twin Cities: $683 - $1102 with a HIGH of $1500 (homeadvisor.com)

CenterPoint Energy is poorly rated so better service may cost more, but higher that the high listed by HomeAdvisor.com

How can I make your day great is how you're greeted on the phone. Good service, fair price, would be great.

Teresa L.

11/10/2022 12:00:00 SA

On Tuesday, November 1st, three of our breakers blew, affecting our fridge, heat, and pet lizard's tank. My husband and I tried a few numbers that claimed they were 24 hours and had an emergency number. Hero Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical was the only business at 2 AM to take our call. We were told that they would send an electrician that day. They were considerate to ask if we would like our tech to wear a mask and asked if anyone in the household was ill.

What is nice about Hero is they kept me up to date on sending an electrician our way. It was 2 PM when the electrician named Jose arrived. He was very professional and courteous. He brought a shoe cover without having to be asked. I let Jose do his thing. I noticed he followed wires and tried to problem-solve the situation. He diagnosed the problem and built three different packages. Jose educates the pros and cons of each package. I was not pressured to go with the high-costing package or join their Happy Home Club for $13/month. I saw the value of the Happy Home Club as it is their maintenance program. We are homeowners in our 30's to a house built in 1940's. Fixing house problems isn't our forte! It would also discount us quite a bit for our issue. (You can Google the Happy Home Club.) Jose was also very patient as I called my in-laws for help since we were first-time homeowners. Per my request, Jose emailed the chosen package to change the entire panel/breaker. Jose was able to get my next appointment which was Thursday, November 3rd. Before Jose left, he could give us power back to the fridge, heater, and the lizard's tank. I like that Jose did not just plug things in and leave. He made sure things were working in order despite having other calls that he needed to get to. I was not charged on Tuesday as everything will be done on Thursday.

On Thursday, Hero updated us on Jose's estimated arrival time. This time Jose brought another electrician to help. The electricians were very professional and courteous. They stayed to ensure everything was in working order before they left - they replaced an outlet in my kitchen with a GFI. They cleaned the work area, and I was impressed it was cleaner than when they arrived. In the end, when I paid, Jose said I would be in contact with their Install Coordinator, where I would get a copy of the permit for the electrical work and have the city inspector come out.

The next day, I received an email from the Install Coordinator with an attached permit PDF. He asked for my availability so he could set up the inspection. Overall, I did not have to do anything on my end. I thought they were good at their communication. Their electrician - Jose, did a very good job educating the packages and showed me the new panel with surge protector - how to reset it and stuff. I gave them 4/5 stars because of the time I waited. I was hoping to see them Tuesday morning. Although I do not know their schedule for the day, the number of techs available, or if there were other houses that took higher priority. I probably could have run errands, but I stayed home waiting for Hero to come despite being updated via text messages and a phone call other houses took. Like my situation was urgent, but it wasn't survival-urgent. I lost partial power to my house, which affected the fridge, heater, and the lizard's tank. I managed the issue by placing my fridge items in the freezer to keep things cold, I bundled up in a hoodie and sweatpants, and my lizard was fine with the Hot Hands warmer. Also, the Install Coordinator took a while to get back to me, but he apologized for the delay since he was ill. (The inspection went well. Nothing was found out of sort.)

I look forward to working with Hero again when I have other house problems, which with this old house and the previous owner cutting corner when they renovated, I probably will need a Hero.

Jackie L.

5/27/2016

This company's pricing is RIDICULOUS! I needed a new spigot on the outside of my house & I called Uptown Plumbing. They absolutely wouldn't even give me a ballpark/range of the pricing until the tech came out. I made the appointment for Thurs afternoon & arranged my work day. When they called they said that they'd over booked & couldn't come until Monday! She said that I'd be the 1st call, the tech came about 8:30. Once he came he told me the price would be $644.00!!! By now I was so frustrated that I said go ahead. The tech did the job, but the next day I went down to the basement & found a ton of water. There was water spraying from the pipe that led to the replaced pipe. This pipe had never, ever leaked before. When I called they said that if I wanted someone to come out off hours it would cost an additional $200. I had them come the next morning. I had to go 14 hours with no water. Once the tech came he had an attitude saying that he hadn't bumped or hit that pipe, but he fixed it & didn't charge me anything further. All is okay now, but not a good experience. If a company is going to charge that much for service, I believe that we would all expect EXTRAORDINARY customer service. I will never use this company again. This experience left me feeling like a chump for paying so much.

John P.

04/03/2023 12:00:00 SA

My daughter's house has water coming in the basement possibly due to inoperable sump pump and she is out of town. Hero won't make an appointment because the homeowner (Daughter) has to be present. How is that being a Hero?

Annie L.

11/20/2015

Received a coupon in the mail for a furnace tune up and decided to give these guys a try. The tech that came out was very professional and polite. After he had completed the tune up I was told that we needed to immediate replace 2 parts for around $1100 or our furnace was going to stop working. Of course they also required full payment up front.
I had another company come in later that night and the tech found nothing wrong with these parts. The second tech also told me that the price Uptown was going to charge was skyrocket high.
As previous people have posted SHOP AROUND before agreeing to have any work done. Always get a second opinion.The second company that came out said they see this all the time when companies offer specials for furnace tune ups under $100. I'm giving 2 stars because everyone I spoke with at Uptown was very nice, but I can really do without the hard upsale

David E.

11/18/2019

Interesting enough, I called in response to the request here from Chelsi B. to call and clear my issue up with Hero and was informed by the receptionist that there is no Chelsi B. that works there. She referred me to the person I had already talked to several times at Hero who was unable to resolve my issue. Don't believe all of these responses you see here from a Chelsi B. who apparently doesn't exist.

Mercedes B.

10/20/2020

Hero tried to sell me 2 furnaces for $11,000 that I did not need.

They came out to my duplex in October 2019 when one of the two furnaces stopped working. I had them inspect both furnaces because it had been a while. During the inspection I mentioned I probably hadn't changed the filters as often as I should have. They latched onto this and proceeded to tell me because I did not change the filters frequently enough I had fried BOTH of my 7 year old furnaces. Supposedly the non-working furnace was damaged beyond repair and the working furnace was in the process of failing. The whole spectacle was very convincing--they were shoving cameras into different places and showing me 'cracks', taking all sorts of reading & measurements, etc.

This same night Hero rushed a salesman out to my house with brochures. The salesman told me the 2 new furnaces would cost $11,000. It was a VERY bad day. I am thankful it wasn't too cold and I was able to wait and to get a 2nd opinion. The other company was able to repair and tune up both furnaces for only $1000 total, and they told me the furnaces have many working years left. I have had no issues since, and it has been 1 year. I shudder to think about what I might have decided if it were much colder and I was more desperate. I don't understand how these scammers sleep at night.

Matt G.

10/19/2018

I wish I could give negative stars at this point....

I had a plumber scheduled for 9/28 to repair a leaky faucet. They quoted me $718 for work in which they estimated at 2 hours. They were finished in 20 minutes and still tried to charge me the entire $718. I spoke with thee service manager before the technician left and he said that he would give me $100 credit for the service (in which they would send to me via check). I later posted a negative Yelp review and received a call from their customer service department which would offer me a $359 (50%) refund if I were to take down my negative Yelp review and that i would receive a check within 7 to 10 business days. On 10/18, 14 business days, I had a charge on my credit card for $359 instead of a refund for $359. I called again and as of right now this charge isn't on my credit card, but I still haven't received my refund.

Mike K.

6/20/2018

Let me save you some time. If you own a rental property, don't call this outfit for service as they discriminate against rentals and their owners. I own a rental unit and the outside AC unit was beat to death with hail. Insurance was going to repair or replace it so I called for an estimate. They told me they don't service rental units. Whatever.... Someone else will take my money.

Doug B.

4/20/2018

This is in regards to a quote I requested for a new hot water boiler. Their estimator was polite and through - but he gave me an astronomical quote $12,500 for a 140k BTU gas boiler. I had a different heating company remove the old boiler, and replace it for $6,500.

Shelly C.

3/14/2019

Rip off!! Hero Plumbing charged me $745 to replace 1 bathroom sink faucet!! And, I suppler the faucet! 30 minutes of work!!

Susan W.

03/08/2017 12:00:00 SA

I called Uptown to fix a basic copper pipe leak. It was 69 dollars for the house call. When the plumber came upstairs he informed me that it would be 370 dollars to fix. I asked him how long it would take to fix, and he said about an hour. Eek. Why become a lawyer or a doctor? I found a very nice guy on craigs list who works for 65 dollars an hour. He fixed my pipe and all is well. Warning, rip off company.

Kath G.

12/07/2016 12:00:00 SA

I am registered for the service that provides two check ups each year - one for heating and one for air conditioning. It's my understanding, as part of the service, the company will contact me in advance of the need for AC or heat to set the appointment. Today, more than two months into the heating season, I called to ask for my service. I was offered a date two weeks away. After asking for an earlier date, I was given a date 10 days away. When I asked why there had not been a call, the (very nice) phone representative said the company had been busy with cold-weather calls that took priority. No explanation why no call in September or October. Is the company overextended? Have they signed up more people than they can service? Do they prioritize new or higher paying customers over those of us who have an automatic modest monthly payment? The answer to one or all three of these questions must be yes.

Neil C.

3/26/2015

From the date of the call to the first available appointment it was under a week. I was asked to describe the issue over the phone but no indication of pricing could be provided since they wanted to see first hand. The gentleman who arrived, I don't think he quite understood the problem and was recommending a service that would cost over $5,000 for a task that I had felt was far easier and cheaper to complete. He even was recommending putting holes in the wall to identify the source of the problem, which I know was completely unnecessary and dangerous due to lead paint. He also suggested there were other problems which he had no proof based on what could be seen. Rather than trying a simple solution first they wanted to upsell the most expensive solution instead.

The pricing/service levels he provided were confusing and it wasn't clear what exactly he was even trying to sell me since he kept pushing for the most expensive service. If I can't understand what I am paying for I am not forking over my money. He left without providing any written information for me to consider since I told him I need to think about it and talk it over with my wife.

On the plus side the call center staff were great and they did arrive on time which is always appreciated.

Dagny T.

11/21/2018

$1K for 1 hour's worth of work. I knew that their estimate was high based on my previous experience, but my husband pushed me to get the work done asap. I have had 2 kitchens renovated in the past and 1 bathroom.

I thought it would take 3 hours tops to do the work, and I asked the guy if he was serious and thought that his work was really worth $300/hour. He hemmed and hawed and refused to provide even a ballpark figure. We had just gotten our kitchen done, and we needed the plumbing reconnected (Ikea faucet on Ikea sink, dishwasher hookup, garbage disposal). We didn't move any of our stuff; he didn't have to move or install new plumbing or anything. All in all easy work, certainly not worth $1000, not even $500. The plumber went on and on about how he needed to drill a hole for the faucet - he meant drilling a hole on an Ikea butcher block counter, which takes all of maybe 2 minutes.

As I said, I was really super annoyed at the idea of paying $300/hour, but thought I would suck it up. .... It took the guy 1 hour of work. Not 1.5 hours. Not 2 hours. Not even 1 h 15 minutes. Literally 1 hour. $1000. I saw previous owner replies about GPS records; I also have GPS records of when the plumber was around, based on when my husband was at home. I also have text records of when he arrived and left.

Had I known it would only take 1 hour to perform the work, I would not have agreed to $1000, which I suspect is his reason for not answering my question.

We also asked him how much hook up the water line to our fridge icemaker. Best Buy had actually charged us $150 to get it done, but I wasn't expecting them for another few weeks and thought to ask this guy since he was already at the house. The valve was already installed, and we had the line in hand. He needed to drill maybe one hole on a cabinet. The guy gave an estimate of over $650!! I doubt it would have taken him more than 15 minutes.

*** Update *** Hero reached out and worked with us to reduce our bill. They ended up refunding us $475, which brought the bill down to ~$500, which is of course much much more fair than the last price in light of the quick turn-around though still overpriced. (I've since contacted 2 other plumbers that are highly rated in the area for other work. Norblom's hourly rate is ~$200/hour. Erik Nelson, ~$170/hour.)

Gail M.

04/02/2022 12:00:00 SA

I requested to have a new a new kitchen faucet installed. It's a 20 year old house with good plumbing. This is a job that should take less than an hour. I was quoted $835. I declined. I still had to pay $69 to be insulted with this quote. If you do a Google search you can see that the average is $150-$250. I called another plumber who quoted me $200 max. They are just gouging customers and that is a disgrace.

Dean E.

04/10/2018 12:00:00 SA

Last month I was headed to a vacation out of state and my furnace was acting up but still functional. I had Uptown Plumbing come out and a service tech named Robert arrived promptly with his shoe covers on. I explained the problems I was having and that I thought the furnace was original to the home built in 86. In about 15 minutes time he presented me with 3 options: (I will first say that I am a former aircraft mechanic and have had HVAC classes and I am also experienced with industrial equipment)

Option 1: due to the blower motor being so excessively dirty enough air will not flow over the heat exchanger and it would trip with a high temp. He would need remove and replace blower motor, motor starter and flame sensor all for $1549.00. (a shot gun approach)
Option 2: pull and clean blower wheel $527.00 both option 90 days warranty which is ok. (at their $69 rate that's nearly 8 hours of labor)
Option 3 was a new furnace as they only last 10-15 years and mine is 32 years old. He then proceeded a hard sell approach to get me to buy the furnace and oh they had a bogo for a new A/C unit all with no interest financing. He then called a person at the office and they could get somebody there in 45 minutes for a quote.

I didn't like the approach but he convinced me to buy their handy $10 a month maintenance plan so the service call would be free. Which I did, reluctantly. But I opted not to purchase any of the 3 options that day as my furnace was running.

After he left I pulled the panel and looked at the blower motor because his statement of, the blower motor being so excessively dirty enough air will not flow over the heat exchanger I was born at night but not last night, the motor was in fact not excessively dirty and was clearly serviceable.

This fact caused me to believe that the only thing Robert wanted to do was move me into a new furnace not fix my old one. The nearly $2,000.00 was a hard sell approach to force my decision. Maybe he gets a commission for selling a furnace?

I canceled my maintenance plan with them the following day and the appointment for an engineer to come a quote a new system. How can I trust them after that?!?

I then found another heating and cooling company to come out; here are the facts from that visit. My furnace was actually not original but installed in 97. The blower motor was not excessively dirty, The motor starter was bad and flame sensor was only dirty and was fixed for about $450.00 plus a service call. Yes this guy suggested that I start thinking of a new furnace but he resolved my problem of the High temp cutting the furnace off and I was able to take my vacation with peace of mind.

Beware in working with this company, I am only out $69.00 but you may be out for thousands!!

J L.

05/10/2022 12:00:00 SA

I wish I could give them a 0/5 stars. Be cautious. This is a company that takes your money. Please run away from this company.

Every time they came out they just used scared tactics and told me pretty much I had to get new appliances. They are scam artists. Please be aware so you don't get scammed. They only care about making money. No wonder they have some many ads on tv as they need the advertisement to help them sell and take advantage of people.

I am moving my business to Metro Heating and Cooling!!

Goodbye to the Hero people that like to scam people and take their MONEY.

J W.

6/19/2020

Overpriced and you are supposed to get priority when calling for service if you are a member of the happy home club which I am. Called Wednesday for service Wednesday evening...didn't show up. Called Thursday asking what happened? They were busy but someone will be out today. Nobody came out, instead I got a call 10 minutes before they closed, they left a message saying I need to call them back within 10 minutes or else they won't send anyone out. I didn't listen to the voicemail until 30 minutes later...I was done with the games and called Ron the Sewer Rat who came out right away and fixed my issue.

Oh, and they came out to do their spring tuneup on my AC (in June) . It is older but worked fine. It stopped working a few days after the 'tuneup'.
Steer clear of Hero/Uprown or whatever new name they change their company to so they can try and shed all of the affiliated bad reviews.

Sarah C.

7/22/2014

Jason came out to to fix the hot water in our tub. A valve broke:( He gave us a bunch of options on what we could do and gave us recommendations. He fixed it quickly and was fun to talk with! My hubby and him were cracking jokes. Thanks for the great service!

A B.

12/15/2014

I called Uptown Plumbing for a quote on draining our radiator system for a condo building in Uptown and replacing some parts on individual radiator units inside several condo units. Their quote was unbelievably high. It was $3,000 to drain the system and $200 per valve. We ended up having the job done for $800 to drain the system and $50 per valve by a wonderful company that we will continue to do business with.

Not only that, when the plumber was in the boiler room, he noticed that our system did not have an RPZ valve on it. Our building was built in the 1920's. They did not have those valves back then. So, we had been grandfathered in, and that had NOTHING at all to do with what he was there to do.

So, imagine my surprise when I received a letter from the city just a short time after Uptown had been there, putting me on notice about our RPZ valve situation? Beware, not only is Uptown Plumbing out of sight expensive, they are Big Brother and will report any issues that they see - but are none of their business - to the city. Be careful when you invite them on to your property; and prepare yourself for their quote! $250 per hour!

Thomas G.

04/10/2017 12:00:00 SA

I first called uptown last week, they were supposed to come out to see a clients house on Thursday. Not being able to make it, they canceled and said they could do Monday. I agreed. It was really simple stuff but because a boiler was involved, I agreed to the $936 dollars. It took the guy Only 2 hours and he was gone. Now, that's over like $450 an hour since I supplied the faucet. No way, never again. These people are master con artists. I'm not happy at all with them. Find someone else.

Anne P.

03/01/2019 12:00:00 SA

This is the second edit to my original review. Changed after reading through others having sales tactic issues with this company, and getting a sick feeling we were put under pressure as well, now that I look back. We had a basic tuneup and the technician came and told me he thought he saw a crack in our exchanger, possible carbon monoxide signs, and that he may need to red tag our furnace (never showed me proof of any of that). He then told me our furnace wouldn't last the winter. Now, I took this with a grain of salt as our furnace was very very old, but the scare tactics were not necessary. He also told me the cost of a new furnace at minimum would be $7000 and it could range up to $17,000...for a 2100 square foot house?! Their engineer came out two days later and quoted us a middle of the line high efficiency furnace for $5000. Again, those scare tactics from the original technician were not warranted.

Also, since my first post we failed our inspection from the City of Minneapolis when they looked at our new furnace that they installed. Hero had to come back out and completely redo their work. This was a huge waste of my time and concerning what a bad job they did the first time. It looked like a child built it.

I will give them one star for being efficient with the SECOND install and were friendly, but that is all I can say that's good. They did offer us a $500 refund, but that is not enough for me to ever recommend them to friends or family as I flat out do not trust these technicians. We also found multiple stains on our carpet from the installers carrying in dirt on their shoes and had to use a carpet cleaner to get the stains out.

Nikki 5.

03/10/2022 12:00:00 SA

If I could give 0 stars I would. This summer we had a representative come out and give us quotes for electrical work as well as plumbing. We were offered their packages for both, including main drain clean out, clog issues, etc. We were happy with these packages, until we needed to use one. We were told that they will not work on our plumbing because we are a townhome. Ummm what?! Then why sell us your packages when you were here on-site? This may be a townhome with a shared wall but thats the only thing shared... a wall. I am responsible and pay for all plumbing and electric in my, none of that is shared... not even the main drain. Needless to say we will be talking to management, canceling our service, and asking for a refund for all months paid. You are unbelievable. Why sell packages to a townhome owner that literally do nothing for them? I will not be recommending your services to anyone. Shady company.

Rachel H.

8/23/2018

Our salesman was very kind & informative, and actually did a pretty good job communicating with us through the process. However, the business itself has very poor customer service. Every time I've called in I've been passed around to multiple people with ZERO continuity between calls. Every time you speak to a new person (there have been dozens throughout this process) no one seems to know what is going on and you have to re-explain your situation or question or tell them what stage of the plan you're at. If we hadn't already been 4,000+ invested I would have pulled out of the deal.

Patti T.

4/15/2017

Uptown does a great job with heating and cooling systems (we haven't used them for plumbing so can't comment on that). They are professional, courteous, on-time (or you get a call explaining why and given a reason for the delay), and do a great job. The only reason I don't give them five starts is they are a little pricey. Not ridiculously so -- they are worth it, I think, but if you are on a tight budget, the stretch may be hard. But, they are our go-to folks for heating and cooling!

Gail M.

11/28/2020

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Hero replaced my boiler furnace with forced air and central air. The materials they used initially seemed very cheap. They had to redo a lot of items per the inspectors.

They damaged the ceramic tiles when putting in a new air vent and didn't disclose it to me.

I was told a couple of the ceiling tiles would be removed. The reality was, half of my basement ceiling was demolished.

The whole experience with them was a nightmare.

It took 5 (yes, 5) times for the inspectors to sign off on the work. Thank God the inspectors did their job.

John E.

3/14/2016

Uptown Plumbing let me down again. I had scheduled service at my home that needed to be done before a large construction project got underway. The morning of my scheduled service they called to confirm a window of 2-5. Great. But then they called back 2 hours later to tell me they weren't able to come anymore due to some other service calls and wanted to come later in the week. I explained to them for a second time that the timing was important as I had a crew coming to my house the next day and the plumbing work needs to be completed before they can start. They basically said too bad and that was it. Very unprofessional AND unreliable.

I was also a member of the Happy Home Club, but discontinued after on the first routine maintenance I caught the plumber being dishonest and trying to get me to do unneeded repairs on my boiler. He claimed the back flow valve was froze up and wouldn't turn open and needed to be replaced. As he was trying to quote me a price for that repair I simply went over and opened the valve and it was working fine. He looked at me and said, How did you do that?!?!. Please. Very awkward situation to be in your home with someone running a scam on you.

Happy Home Club = a chance to get into your house and trick you into doing unneeded repairs.

Needless to say I'm not using these guys again.

A V.

7/27/2023

This company over charges for there services !
Our AC unit was down.
The pricing for a small electric part that took 10 minutes was
ridiculous $ 600.00. When we set up the appointment we were told the service fee for the tech is $ 69.00 we were charged $385.00 . There response was that's what is cost.
DO NOT USE THEM !!!!!!!!

Janet A.

07/12/2016 12:00:00 SA

Andy L, Mikan R, Dave E and Charles D did a great job. Professional and fast, they solved my unique air conditioning problem easily. This is the second time we've used Uptown. The first time was for new boilers. I especially appreciated how they checked with me to make sure I was ok with each part of the installation. I felt like I was involved since they explained what each choice would mean.

Jeanne L.

5/23/2020

The Hero technician arrived to perform the annual inspection of my air conditioning system and announced that he was going to inspect my gas lines for leaks. I thought that this was odd/unusual but,... why not? He informed me that he had found two leaks and that he would have a plumber come to evaluate and repair the leaks later that afternoon. He assured me that there would be no charge. A Hero plumber arrived the next day and proceeded to tell me that it would be necessary to repair the leaks immediately, and that since my home was old, it was advisable to replace much of the original gas lines. He presented me with two estimates. One for a 'Ultimate Repair option' at $3000, and one for a 'Gold Repair option' at $1280. I thanked him and told him that I would need time to solicit a second opinion. He replied that this was an 'emergency' and that he was required by law to shut off the gas to my home. I refused to allow him access to the gas line and respectfully requested that he leave my property. He protested, but I stood my ground while he called his manager, after which he agreed to leave, while sternly warning me that this was an urgently needed repair and that I should not wait to get it repaired. I then consulted three other Plumbing & Heating organizations in the Twin Cities. Two of them were very helpful and listened to my story. One of them sent a plumber out that very afternoon. That plumber did a very thorough job of checking both of the locations which had been 'flagged' by the Hero technician. Neither of us could smell anything. He demonstrated that there was no evidence of any leak in the system. He also assured me that if there WAS a leak, he estimated that it would cost around $150 to repair. I cancelled my maintenance contract with Hero. In the future, I will do business with Kelly or Norblom.

Scott V.

09/11/2017 12:00:00 SA

If I could give them no stars I wouls. I contacted them because of a full page ad that they placed in a local flyer. The ad stated 2-1 furnace and water heater check $79. I called the operator and gave all of my info and was called back shortly after by Uptown. I told him about the ad/coupon and he said that the price also requires a $69 service charge. He then stated that they would appraise my furnace/water heater and give me a price they would charge. I asked about the $79 coupon and he stated that each case is different. He stated that if I didn't like the appraisal I would still be on the hook for the $69 service charge. Bait and switch? Very questionably business practices. I would not call them even in an emergency. I would have no trust in their lack of honesty. Again, this was a full page ad with no mention of service charges or that the charge for a tune up is not $79

Dennis K.

1/15/2020

I needed to get repairs on my home boiler system. The tech first told me that I should first get a brand new boiler for $16,000 and after I told him that wasn't going to happen he told me that I needed a new recirculation pump, drain valve, backflow preventor plus labor for a total of $2,511. I paid him his $89.00 diagnostic fee and he left

I then called Quality Heating and Air conditioning located in Shakopee. The tech (Andy) did a diagnostic for $79.00 and told me that the recirculation pump was fine and that I needed a spiral vent, backflow preventor , relief value plus labor. Total $771.

WARNING:
DO NOT TRUST HERO PLUMBING, HEATING or COOLING

Wells T.

01/07/2020 12:00:00 SA

I recently bought a hot water heater from Hero and used the financing they offered. My wife filled out the credit at our house and as we waited for it to be approved the technician stated it did not go through and said that I (husband) would need to apply.
One week later we received duplicate bills from Hero and the finance company saying we owed $7500
In trying to resolve it Hero said it was out of their hands as the duplicate bills were already process by the finance company, one in my name and one in my wife's.
We are still working with the second party finance company to resolve this. I should have charged it on my card.
DO NOT, DO NOT, trust your technician with the finance plans.

Erin G.

6/20/2018

Lots of scare tactics to try to pressure you into pricier fixes/replacements. That aside, their prices in general are astronomical. It turned out all I needed was a new capacitor for my AC unit, a part that costs in the ballpark of $30, and I was charged just under $400 for what took the tech 15 minutes to replace. He had the whole thing put back together and running before he wrote up a quote, despite the fact that they claim to be upfront with pricing before any work is done. The tech himself even said the prices are ridiculous, and he wouldn't pay that much for the work that was done. Definitely not pleased and would not recommend.

*************************************************
EDIT (in response to Uptown/Hero's reply):
When I scheduled my appointment, the receptionist informed me that there was a $69 service call/diagnostic fee, which would be applied toward any repairs I had done. This was again confirmed when I received a reminder phone call the day before. When the tech arrived, he claimed that was not how they do things and acted as though taking off the $69 that should have automatically gone toward the repair was a nicety. The $57 off coupon that I had was not mentioned in my original review because not everyone who reads this review will necessarily have a coupon. In my opinion, $461 (apparently the actual, full price of services I had done), is pretty outrageous for the replacement of a $30 capacitor.

The tech fixed the problem with my air conditioner within the first 15 minutes of his visit. I did not sign anything, nor was I given a quote for the cost of this repair before it was done. The rest of his 2.5 hour visit was the diagnostic portion, which largely entailed trying to scare me into pricier repairs and replacements. At one point I was told that if I didn't replace my furnace (which wasn't even the reason for my call) to the tune of $25,000, I would never be able to sell my house.

The first time I was asked to sign anything was at the end of the visit when I paid with a credit card. I asked for a receipt, and the tech didn't have anything to give me - he said it would be emailed (I still haven't received anything). When I pressed him to leave me with some sort of physical proof that I had paid, he had me sign the form with the quotes for my different repair options (again, that weren't presented to me until the repair had already been done) and said that was all he had to give me.

The whole experience left me feeling quite concerned that I was being taken advantage of, and that this company isn't exactly on the up and up, especially after reading the blatant lie about me signing authorization before work was done.

Stephan C.

6/28/2018

The plumbers they send out are polite, courteous and capable, but Uptown Plumbing (now Hero Plubming) is incredibly overpriced. If you need anything more than a tune-up, their estimates will come in exponentially higher than an independent plumber. I've been quoted a price of over $1,000 for a job another plumber did for less than $200. As for the Happy Home-owner's Club, be prepared to wait a long time to get a tune-up. Appointments are often rescheduled.

Rachel A.

08/02/2023 12:00:00 SA

I was quoted OVER $500 to fix a dimmer switch!!! That's insane! I'm a new homeowner and messing with the electrical isn't something I feel safe with (yet!), so I called Hero and thought at most it would be $150 because $150 is outrageous. But $506- is pure highway robbery. Oh and their customer service is ATROCIOUS!!! I won't be calling them again.

Andrew C.

5/27/2015

I had some frustrating scheduling issues in which I was canceled on twice but the company made an effort to apologize and make things right.

Rick E.

7/31/2018

Customer service is fabulous, but the price paid was extremely high. 93 yr old mom had just a slow drip coming from her shower faucet and wanted it repaired. Chose Hero as they were only a couple miles away from her house. Appointment easy, follow up great, showed up on time, tech was very nice, over $400 later and about 35 minutes of actual work and a couple small parts it was repaired. Ouch.
If price is no object, use them. Rick

Rose C.

12/14/2018

The only reason I am giving them a 3 instead of a 1 is because the service people are very friendly when they arrive. That said, dealing with the company and scheduling is a nightmare. And they always manage to find several problems that need to be fixed at outrageous prices. Canceled my monthly plan months ago and just got a call asking to update credit card info. Sooo, they tried to charge me the fee for a service I canceled. Nice.

Carol M.

8/22/2022

Had a new water heater installed and after reviewing other companies they are overpriced. And what really was bad we had a gas leak after they left and had to have CenterPoint energy come out and fix. Could have blown up the house. Strongly recomment not to use them!

Nikki M.

03/05/2020 12:00:00 SA

Adding on to an earlier review: just like so many other reviews here, they tried to tell us that we had a pipe leaking gas. Luckily the technician didn't turn the gas off, said he'd have somebody else come out who was an expert look at it. I told him no, I will have Centerpoint come out. Well Centerpoint checked everything and said NO leak anywhere. I am confident Hero was going to try to tell me I needed new pipes to the tune of thousands of dollars - just like all the other reviews state. This seems to be their latest scam - please do not fall for it!

Kevin R.

12/07/2021 12:00:00 SA

My Main Drain has a clog. I called on Wed, Dec 01, 2021 and they scheduled me for Fri between 8 am and 4 pm. They messaged me at 3:45 to tell me that they could not make it on Fri, and asked if Mon Dec 6th would be okay. The same 8am to 4pm window. I said yes, and guess what. I call at 3:45 and they apologize, and tell me that they are on their way. Then they call me back 15 minutes later to apologize that they are not going to be there today, and asked if Tue 1st thing in the morning would be okay. I was told that I would be the first customer. Guess what, after three times calling them today, and as late as 3:30 they told me they would be here, and at 3:45 they called to apologize again, and ask if 1st thing Thu would work. NO!! IT DOES NOT WORK !! SHAME ON YOU FOR LEAVING A CUSTOMER HANGING FOR THREE DAYS !! I will be sharing my story with anyone looking for plumbing service!!

Layne O.

12/20/2021

This company is a sham!!!!! What a bunch of bull your ads on t v are nothing but a smoke bomb. Called in 2020 about a frozen pipe and never ever got a return call. I would call your company Zero,plumbing and Zero SERVICE!!!!!!

Cynthia M.

11/09/2016 12:00:00 SA

Mike F was fabulous! Came in, looked at the problem, knew exactly what the issue was, picked up the parts and had it done pronto!

Brent R.

5/31/2015

on time, quick workers, left job site as clean as when they started - good guys!

Erica P.

09/08/2021 12:00:00 SA

Hero and I have a long history....a $30k, $30,000, THIRTY THOUSAND dollar history. They have replace my boiler, my mini-split and all of the water lines to my radiators. I have been a devoted Hero customer. I had read the reviews about how commercial Hero was but I had always had a reasonable experience so I set them aside. People quipped that Hero was quick to replace systems that didn't need to be replaced (maybe true with mine but I didn't mind because I knew it was inevitable). People insisted the company had lost its way in search of the all mighty dollar but I believed they still had the their roots. I WAS WRONG! I have a service plan - which really turns out to be a way for Hero to make their way into your home to find things that are 'wrong' to charge you money. Hero reached out to schedule a service appointment. They reached out to me. Aske me if they could stop by because their techs had availability. I happened to be working from home so I said...okay, come on by. They reached out again and said sorry...overbooked. We will need to reschedule. So I said okay, next week. We made an appointment. The next day they texted - how about today, we can make it today. I said - okay I ended up working from home. No one came. My scheduled appointment, the next week, came and went no one came. I called and they said oh, so sorry, we will send someone first thing tomorrow. They did. The tech that came by found a small gas leak in a boiler they had installed 18 months ago. A plumber needed to be called. An appointment was made for the next day. However, they would not keep that commitment. I called to reschedule the reschedule of the reschedule and we agreed a new time. The dispatcher told me that my new appointment had been flagged and would not be rescheduled again. Which I guess is a good thing but is absolutely ridiculous that only after they break multiple promises do they actually commit to your appointment. Hero put my family in real danger by prioritizing the dollar over quality work. I will of course utilize the guarantee on my $30k spend but once we are out of the guarantee period Hero can strike me from their books...there are much better companies in the cities that will not put your family and home in serious danger...Honestly, my last boiler lasted 98 years - my Hero experience....18 months.

We L.

7/20/2023

24 hour NOPE - no response back. We left a message as we had a pipe burst. Nope no response. What a joke their commercials are a lie and go with Air mechanical or some business that actual stands up to their work ethic remarks.

Lindsey W.

07/02/2018 12:00:00 SA

(Uptown) While the technician was fast and friendly, the price was astronomical. I will not use them again.

Pat R.

8/23/2023

Brandon Alexander was wonderful. He was thorough, cared very much about the result, transparent, informative, and patient. He identified the problem correctly and did an excellent, 5 star, job. The others that fixed the problem Brandon A. identified were fine and did their work well, as we should be able to expect. My pipes work now. Unfortunately they kept trying to get me to do services I wasn't asking for and spend an additional $10 -20 thousand. $5-10k for a liner I don't need and $10-15k to replace pipes unnecessarily. The job they did do for me was way over priced. I had to pay $5,000 to take out a 2'x4' area of cement to remove a faulty valve, replace the short pipe, and lay new cement (not color matched although he looked me in the eye and said it would match). Last year I had a cement front stoop demolished, a new one framed in and the cement poured all for less than $2,000. So, five stars for Brandon and the end result, 2 stars for the hard sell approach and over-priced final cost. The final blow - I just checked my review that they posted and it has 5 stars!!! Not the 3 stars I graciously gave them instead of 2.

Robert V.

8/28/2016

We spent $16-$17K on a new C/A unit and water heater with Uptown. Thought they were the best heating and plumbing company in the cities. Even bought into their monthly home plan. They came out to clean our CA and our boiler. Did a CO2 test on the boiler, slapped a red tag on it and then broke off the gas valve. When we asked them to replace it, they did but it really wasn't a valve....just looked like one. Their sales person came out the next day and hard sold us. I mentioned that I wanted to get a second opinion and he left. The other shop owner that came out was furious when he heard what they did - that's also when we realized the new gas valve wasn't even a valve because the guy couldn't turn on the gas to test the boiler without shutting off the gas to the house and then replacing the fake gas valve. When he tested the boiler for CO2, there was some going up the chimney but none leaking into the house. Needless to say, the sales person from Uptown never did call back. Very bad experience with a shop we initially respected - the owner even put in our CA unit.

Caitlin H.

01/08/2022 12:00:00 SA

Beware of these guys! I'm a new homeowner, so I'm used to people using technical language and terrifying scenarios to get me to fix or replace things. Phil at Hero took this to the next level.

I had hero come out for a leaky toilet. When Phil went into my basement he diagnosed the leak as a a faulty wax seal, and also found about a dozen gas leaks and told me my whole stack wasn't up to code. He showed me the leaks using a hand held meter that beeped a ton when he held it near the pipe. He told me he should red tag it and have the gas company come shut my gas off, but he'd do me this solid since I'm a new homeowner. The price to put in new gas lines was about $700, reset my toilet was $588 and get my stack up to code was $2500. Turns out my home warranty covered much of this work so they sent someone out. When the next plumber came out he was shocked by what Phil had said. Everything was up to code (in line with my home inspection only 4 months ago). He couldn't find a gas leak, even with the meter set to the most sensitive setting. He showed me this move some people use where they turn the dial on the side of the meter to make it beep like crazy and fake a gas leak, and that's how Phil was holding the meter. The second plumber told me the leak was caused by a bolt on the back of my tank and tightened it, for the cost of my warranty service fee.

I get telling customers the worst case scenario, it can sometimes be helpful to know how serious problems can be. But Phil showed a complete lack of integrity, lying to me saying things aren't up to code, and going so far as to manipulate the meter to show an inaccurate reading. When I called to let Hero know about this they said that was strange since Phil was a senior guy. If the senior people at a company are doing this, that doesn't bode well for the integrity of the company as a whole. Go with someone else, or if you have to go with hero, don't get any of the additional fixes they try and sell you and take pictures of everything.

Mike T.

2/23/2011

NEVER AGAIN. I purchased a coupon through Star Tribune for a tune/check up. The day before the appointment, I had a pipe burst in my radiant floor heat system that was gushing water into the crawl space. After 4.5 hours of chasing pipes around and cutting a large hole in my wall which yielded nothing, he gave me the choice of leaving the whole system off (no heat during zero degree temps) and he would come back to fix it or he could just bypass the whole bathroom loop. Since I needed heat, I had him just bypass the problem area. I received a bill for 4.5 hours and parts. I called and very politely asked if it seemed fair to bill for something he could have done in 20 minutes. The receptionist lady was very short tempered and rude. A week later I received a call from her saying the owner was not willing to discount anything. So to stop a leak, I got an unproductive hole in my wall, a bathroom without heat and a bill for almost $700. I wonder what they would have charged to actually fix it.... Great first impression guys! Obviously their business plan is not predicated on repeat customers.

Rebecca M.

1/25/2016

Had a couple of common plumbing issues (faucet with low pressure, slow draining sink). Two guys come at vastly different times (we had been told both would be here between 7-11 am one guy came around 10, the other after 1 pm). The first guy seemed to be mostly a carbon-filter salesman who wanted a king's ransom to change a faucet ($900 for the bronze package, $1,200 for the silver otherwise he wouldn't stand behind his own work -- I wish I had a job where I could do that). He was patronizing and condescending to my wife, and when I talked to him over the phone he was very pushy. He seemed to want us to spend $3k, and sounded unhappy when I said I wanted to get a second opinion. I doubt he'd spend that much at the mechanic for a non-catastrophic problem without getting a second opinion. The drain guy was alright. Even without the faucet being replaced it was a very pricey day. Would not recommend.

Emily C.

10/21/2013

We have used Uptown Heating 2 times in the past 3 years for a 30 year old furnace in our rental property and have been very happy with their work each time. The first time they serviced the furnace was after another company had told us that the furnace was shot, and we would need to replace it. Uptown was able to fix it and came right away since it was January and 20 below. We had them look at the furnace for the second time just last week, and we decided to replace the furnace. They were running 2 weeks out for installations, but since our tenants had no heat, they were able squeeze us in the next afternoon. Within 4 hours they had removed the old furnace and main ductwork and installed a new furnace with proper ductwork. Every one we have dealt with at Uptown has been extremely professional, and we could not be more thrilled with the work they have done. I would not hesitate to recommend them.

Kellie K.

2/16/2021

TERRIBLE. Hero sent a plumber out to diagnose what was wrong with my water heater. Basically he pressed a button, I got some hot water and he gave me options for a full replacement. I now have very limited hot water and no idea what is wrong with it. I called back. Now they want to charge me MORE than they did just a few weeks ago to send another tech out. Ridiculous. TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Julie M.

6/21/2017

Josh H. was great! He came out the same day that we had an issue (on a hot day that they were very busy!). He was courteous and explained all of our options. We ended up replacing our furnace/AC. When Josh found out that we had guests coming to town, he was able to squeeze us in the schedule so we would have air conditioning for our guests. He was very knowledgeable and walked me through the new system/thermostat. Very happy with the overall service!

Leeza O.

02/09/2023 12:00:00 SA

We had our furnace go out also a drain clogged. they were all very respectful and did an amazing job!

Dawn F.

03/12/2021 12:00:00 SA

Don't use this company that they charge too much money and didn't fix my toilet and then when I called the company the guy on the line said it would cost me more money to have someone come out to fix it like it should have been fixed this morning, said no warranty bought, no one mentioned a warranty, assume a company like this would guarantee their work. Bad review all around. Will never go back ever!!!

Rebecca D.

10/31/2016

recent experience with Uptown:
1) employees were great, Chad and Ian were the reps that came out and both were very friendly, professional, explained things well, overall good reps for the company.
2) unfortunately my appt was bumped twice which was an inconvenience but they were apologetic and we figured it out.
3) also unfortunate is pricing is high. I know 2 people who own hvac companies and both said Uptown as well as Minneapolis Plumbing and Heating, are the highest price in town. I've received quotes from 2 other companies on heating replacement and both were over $2000 less which is around what the 2 people noted above said the service should cost.

So while my experience was fine, I rate them average for price and am glad I shopped around

Bob M.

11/17/2014

I will not use this company again. You pay them $69 to come out and give you an estimate. You pay the fee for the privilege of getting a quote. They are 30-50% higher than other companies. The work was timely and seems to be OK, but it is impossible to justify the premium.

Joe W.

2/24/2019

This kind of business is very tricky in nature. When I called them and asked them if they were knowledgeable about my heater, they said yes. The technician actually did not know more than I did; he was searching the website while checking my heater; he then told me the 3 reasons that had caused the problem (quoted from the website) and did not have any solution to the problem. He took the check and left with a word: you will need a new heater, about $8,000!

Never again.

Ron N.

4/15/2023

Had a backup main drain called hero to have them come out to clear. They came out ran out about 100 feet of cable did not hit much only charged 93 dollars I thought it was a pretty fair deal.

Then I had a bathtub that would not drain properly. Called hero they came out and ran a inch and quarter blade down my overhead pipe from the bath trap to the main stack a total of 12 feet and charged me 530.00 dollars. He did run a camera down the pipe which I never asked him to do and showed some corrosion it's a drain pipe there going to be some corrosion. Bottom line without all the bs it took him less than a hour to complete job. I know plumbers are not cheap but 530.00 is a RIP off will not use hero again

Scott H.

10/06/2022 12:00:00 SA

I needed a simple exterior water spigot fixed or replaced due to a malfunction back flow protector. Hero's technician was very pleasant, but the price tag quoted by their office was ridiculous. $750 to fix it and $1400 to replace it. I paid the $60 service fee and said goodbye. Then I went to Angi's list and had a plumber here the next day. The new guy replaced the whole assembly and I was charged $350. Clearly Hero was way overpriced. $1400 for a water spigot! Really??

Kristin J.

3/18/2021

Update: After working with Resa, Hero took care of their mishaps. Resa was great to work with and I am grateful for the work she put into a resolution to our concerns.

I wish we had gone with a different company. We had hero out at the beginning of the heating season and were told we needed several parts replaced on our 9 year old furnace. The total for the parts was about half of the cost to replace so we just decided to replace. The sales guy was rude; he didn't have the patience to answer questions. Fast forward, we go to replace the filter and can't get it out. We have now had three issues with the new furnace in the first 6 months. When i call to speak with someone about these issues i am told nobody is available and they will call back in 24-48 hours.

My take away is: the techs that inspect seem to make up issues. The sales team sucks and the management side is too scared to talk with customers when they get called out.

Larry C.

03/05/2023 12:00:00 SA

We has these guys out last week to diagnose a blower motor on our furnace, not only did they try to over sell on the complete HVAC system they totally miss the GAS leak at one of the pipes going to the furnace, and misdiagnosed what we needed. This company brags that the owner is a vet, shame on you Hero, I would never recommend your company but I will make damn sure I tell everyone never use this company, glad my house and family did not blow up..you should refund the trip charge. KKellie Nielson.

Andy F.

11/25/2014

We contacted Uptown because our furnace boiler was making noise and was only providing moderate heat to the house. They were able to come out right away for a diagnosis, so that was good, but...

They quoted a ridiculous price -- Starting at over $2000 just to replace two parts that should cost about $500 together, all the way up to $7000 for the replacement plus some extra maintenance that they tried to sell us on. I suspect it's because they were talking to my wife who gave the appearance of not being knowledgeable about plumbing, and because we live in a nice neighborhood.

Then they left our furnace turned off without telling us, which we only noticed after the house started getting pretty cold. With radiator heat, it took quite a while to warm the house back up. And to add injury to insult, they charged us $70 for the visit since we turned down their outrageous bid. (To be fair, this fee was disclosed up front.) [Update: they refunded the visit charge after this review was posted.]

I had another plumber, also professional and reputable, do the job for $700 including parts.

(Two stars instead of one because I have no reason to doubt the quality of the work, only the pricing.)

Aaron I.

9/14/2016

I called to get a free quote for a single family rental property in S. Mpls, but was told that they only do owner-occupied, non-commercial. No where on their website was this information made available. I understand not wanting to do a multi-unit, but a this is still a single family home.

LuAnn Y.

12/05/2019 12:00:00 SA

My experience is that I found them deceptive and high pressure, utilizing fear tactics.
At a routine furnace inspection, tech stated that he should really red tag my boiler because he measured 1 ppm carbon monoxide. (Fact is that 1 ppm is NOT a safety concern). He said that the boiler should be replaced urgently.
I had CenterPoint Energy do a furnace inspection soon after and everything checked out fine and safe.
Hero came for service call on our A/C due to not cooling properly. They quoted that it needed a $400 part to fix it. I had CenterPoint look at it and they added Freon and it has worked fine for the whole summer.
Will not call Hero ever again.

Ed S.

7/17/2020

My central air conditioner would not cool the house and I knew I needed a recharge (R-22). I called Hero Plumbing, Heating & Cooling and the person said a tech will provide the service and scheduled the next day to work on my unit. He arrived at 8:00 am. He located the date on the air conditioner and said it is very old. 2003 Model and I should replace it. I told him I'm not interested in buying a new unit. Then he went into his toolbox and pulled out two tools to dissemble the unit. He tested the Capacitor and said it is on of the problems and he installed a new Capacitor. Then he said are you sure you don't want to purchase a new air conditioner and I told him I want my air conditioner recharged and he said Freon is prohibited and it is very expensive and I would be better off buying a new unit. I said no. Then he said my air conditioner most likely has several faulty parts and it would be more cost effective if I purchase a new air conditioner. Based on this conversation I realize I was being SCAMMED and ask for the bill in the amount of $278.00. I felt that if he could not get me to buy a new air conditioner he was going to get me to pay up too $900 or more in repairs.

I called Hero Plumbing to find out what was included in the $278 bill and Sally did not know and I asked to speak to her manager Katie and she could not explain. I told Katie I would like to speak to her boss Nicole and she said she will tell me the same thing and I told her I would like to speak to her and she said she was busy and she will return my call. Two days went by and no called me back.

Lesson learned -- never hire someone without a written agreement. The agreement must include estimates for parts and labor

Scott L.

03/12/2021 12:00:00 SA

I am not one to write reviews, positive or negative. However, I feel that I need to make people aware of the company Hero Plumbing. I had countertops replaced and the local preferred company could not make it to our home in the time of install to disconnect our kitchen sink. I booked Hero and they came out on 03/10/2021 to disconnect which was a cost of 325.00 in which we knew the price was high and they also said that we need a garbage disposal and they charge 660.00 if we buy it from them, and if we buy it from another store they would charge a 375.00 hook up fee. We did not decide at that time. The next day our countertops were installed in the morning and another person from Hero arrived in the early afternoon to connect the new sink that we purchased from another store. The guy had less of a personality than the first and took a look and said that he will be back with the estimate. He returned about 15 min later and the high side was quoted at 2700.00 with their garbage disposal and 1600.00 without the garbage disposal. I told him no we are not going to do that, and he said that no one is as good as Hero, I still said no and sent him on his way. I called the local company which we initially wanted to use and they were able to squeeze us in today 03/12/2021 and they charged us 235.00. I did call to let Hero know about my experience and I was told that the reason for the high costs is for gas, phone, uniforms, and their ipads....so nothing for the customer. The woman I spoke to did not make a case for their high prices. I am writing this as a heads up for anyone considering using this company. Don't...stay local.

Shawna D.

8/30/2019

Hero is friendly on the phone. However, in May 2019 my mothers house needed a liner in the sewer pipe. Hero installed it. They never finished the job. It is now August and there is a 2 foot hole in the kitchen floor that Hero never filled in. They also left a big mess in the kitchen that I had to clean up. They get an F for unfinished work.

Rob W.

03/09/2018 12:00:00 SA

Should be zero stars! Very disappointed! Had a confirmed appointment and they called shortly before and said they were too busy to honor the appointment! Beware!

Bob S.

6/25/2020

I would avoid Hero Plumbing at all costs. I called them to do a simple faucet replacement. I had purchased the new faucet from Home Depot but wanted a pro to install it properly. My townhouse is about 16 months old so it doesn't involve antique pipes, funky crawl spaces or anything like that.

They wanted to charge me $89 just to show up to give a quote and would not give even a basic estimate over the phone. I understand the cost depends upon the exact circumstances and that pricing will be determined at the time they assess the situation. But to not give a reasonable estimate is ludicrous. How else would a homeowner compare them to others? Additionally, the $89 paid for them just showing up does NOT go towards the repair cost but would be in addition to the repair. The way I look at it, Hero Plumbing can go around and give very high quotes, not do a single repair, and make around $185,000 a year if they do one quote an hour...not a bad gig for no work!

Hero Plumbing appears to prey on the possibility that, once they're in your house, they can charge whatever they'd like since you need that repair done and they're right there with their pricing. Buyer beware! Take a look at the mass of one-star ratings they've received. I've gone elsewhere.

Peggy M.

4/19/2021

I would give them NO STARS if I could. I had a clogged kitchen drain. The first tech they sent out was very nice. Snaked only part way down, thinking it was a disposal issue, and the drain seemed to work. In the meantime, he pointed out everything wrong with my plumbing and basically suggested a new garbage disposal, new kitchen sink plumbing, and having my washing machine re-plumbed. When the sink re-clogged right away, they sent out a second tech, also very nice, but he snaked down further than the first guy, and reported he couldn't get past 15 ft and suggested a collapsed pipe. At this point, I called my home warranty company who sent out a REAL plumber, who went into the basement, opened the clean out down there, snaked from that point and cleared the clog. In the meantime, Hero ripped me off for a whopping $353 and never unclogged the problem.

Stephanie H.

12/01/2015 12:00:00 SA

Had a leaky faucet and leaking drain spout from washing machine to laundry tub, which I knew wasn't a big deal. Tried to hire an independent plumber, but all were busy so tried Uptown. Huge waste of time. Their cheap fix was $1700 and a more expensive option was over $3000. Are you kidding me? Sent them packing and finally got an independent guy to come out. He fixed it for $240.

Cynthia B.

7/31/2015

ADVICE TO ALL: Shop around after you get your repair estimate from Uptown. AND make sure you have them explain all of the plans they offer to fix your problem. Chances are that the cheapest is just fine. And then after that, if you are not desperate, get someone else in to get another estimate.

BOTTOM LINE: The customer service on the phone was good and efficient. The fellow that showed up fixed our AC compressor a month earlier and seemed good (although he tried to sell us a tiered plan that put us in the range of over $2000 to dismantle our AC clean it and service it) We ended up simply replacing the compressor upon prodding about what we REALLY needed and that worked just fine for $300ish bucks. But I digress.

VISIT 2: So our same guy shut our two boilers down and we awaited estimates. To say we were shocked at his numbers is an understatement. We were looking at almost $20,000 for 2 new boilers which we were not prepared to do even with their payment plan. A second opinion got us something a little bit better. But that brings us to our 3rd estimate and fantastic service call. We went with a mom and pop operation called Aztec. John was amazing. He showed up, looked at what we had, sent a team to do the same and gave us an estimate of $9600 to replace BOTH boilers complete with installation. Boilers replaced in a day, hauled off, no extra charges. He replaced 2 them with a hi efficiency units that carry a lifetime warranty and I read great reviews about them.

Bottom line, Uptown Plumbing is fine, friendly, efficient, timely. But ultimately they want to upsell you and overcharge you for the job. They are way too expensive.

Raquel B.

8/18/2023

Insane prices! Had them come out for an estimate to replace kitchen faucet and bathroom faucet. Estimate was $3,500! Don't even bother calling them! It seems criminal to charge that much!

Joel C.

10/27/2017

Beware!!! - my experience is exactly like what Megan S. posted on 10/27/2017.

Uptown came out on 10/9/17 for fall tune up on my furnaces and furnace/boiler. The tech said that he found carbon monoxide reading on my boiler, shut it down, took it apart and red flagged it. There was delay in their follow up - so I had center point energy come out to double check their findings. The Center Point technician did not find any carbon monoxide readings. He even had a second technician come out to be sure - and nothing was found. The furnace / boiler was put back into service and they said that they have often seen mis-readings from Uptown.

I call back Uptown to let them known that their technician didn't make a proper assessment and thought I would be due a partial refund since I was on their subscription program and didn't appreciate the seemingly 'make work' project. I was told that a supervisor manager would get back to me ASAP. No one has called back. I called them back twice and again not one has responded.

I would recommend steering clear of this company - or if you must - have a second company come out and double check any recommendations for new equipment.

Lauren S.

6/13/2016

Ben from Uptown came to fix our home's leaky air conditioner problem. He was very professional, kind and informative! He explained the issues at hand thoroughly and in a way that made sense and was never pushy in trying to sell extra services or parts. The price was reasonable and I will definitely be calling Uptown again for future repairs and cleanings of our furnace, ducts, etc.

Margaret P.

2/26/2020

Our furnace went out when we were in California on vacation. Our 23 year old daughter called and had an emergency tech come to the house. Despite being club members we were charged $189 fee. The tech diagnosed the problem and said he had to order the part. He put the part and service fees on my 24 year old daughters credit card saying he couldn't use the card we normally pay our monthly fee with. We cancelled the repair when we got home in lieu of getting a new furnace and not fixing the 22 year old furnace. I have called 3 times over the last 6 weeks trying to get the refund for the part that was never installed. Lots of excuses and no refund. I am going to be reporting them to the Better Business Bureau as well.

Mallory C.

02/11/2020 12:00:00 SA

What we thought would be a simple toilet repair on a Saturday evening turned into 5 hours of troubleshooting and then deciding we should just buy a new toilet altogether. Being that our house is 100+ years old, we thought it would be best to hire a plumber to install it. We chose Hero Plumbing initially because they sent us a $100 coupon in the mail and they could also schedule us on Monday morning. I will continue to choose Hero because they were professional, friendly, knowledgeable and prompt! Our plumber, Sean was so positive and nice! He gave me a thorough explanation of his work without mansplaining it to me. He also offered suggestions on how to keep our old piping in good condition. We are planning on installing a ductless cooling system in our house before this summer and will definitely be calling Hero to quote us :))

Dedra F.

6/30/2022

Beware! Would like to give this company negative stars! Hired Hero to replace the cartridge in a shower faucet. Was extremely overcharged for this service. Full retail cost of the cartridge per manufacturer's website is $129. We were charged over $1200 for this repair. Time to install the cartridge was about 30 minutes. So we basically were charged over $1000 to do a very simple repair. Had a different plumber in our home recently for a different repair. Without naming Hero, we shared our experience. That plumber just shook his head and said unfortunately some plumbers will take advantage of people. That is the type of company that Hero is. DO NOT HIRE HERO! They cannot be trusted. I would consider them unethical.

Elvira E.

07/09/2020 12:00:00 SA

Our kitchen sink backed up and we called Hero because the special on their website said $93 to clean a drain. After the technician got here, he said the cost would be almost $400. When I asked about it, he said the $89 was just for the visit and to clear the drain was an additional cost. I called to check on this and the person on the phone said that $93 is only for a main drain. I asked what that was and he said that would be a drain internal to the house. I asked how they knew the clog was internal vs. external and he said only the technical would know that. I feel scammed! Once the person showed, I was stuck with an $89 charge just for showing up or going forward. We chose to pay to get it cleared rather than waiting for another plumber, but I was very disappointed. While everyone was very friendly and the technical was very professional (he does not set the policies) I think their practices are deceptive. If you do choose to use them, ask a lot of questions! For example, ask what is the most I might be charged to get the work done? To be clear, if they had said up front that the cost for most kitchen sink drains is ~$400, I might have still called them, because they are very good about wearing masks, social distancing, etc., but I would have known what to expect!

Seth G.

6/27/2023

Was once a huge advocate, new systems at multiple homes...chose them for plumbing projects, sump pump projects....always spoke against negative comments advocating for the benefits of convenience / service (with the understanding that I would at times be paying a premium for this). Long time customer now seeking a new HVAC/plumbing provider as the service is no longer here with HERO. I tried to get a tuneup on the system they installed, as I could tell there were issues with the system (hot days I couldn't get he house below 80). Initial delay from May appointment that I was fine with, they said end of June for a reschedule....didn't hear back, so called at the end of June. Was told by their paid external customer service group that It now needed to be rescheduled again for August...or near the end of the hot summer when AC is no longer useful for as long. hero, you've lost my business and support and I suggest to all others to consider a different company moving forward.

Kris C.

11/30/2021

Run! Run run away! Pretending to be Hero's but are actually taking advantage of people in desperate situations. Cost was twice what it should have been, service was prompt....so that you don't get a second estimate. Easy financing so you don't have time to compare prices. Yup....I was chumped. Thank you Hero I want my $5000 over payment.

B W.

01/04/2021 12:00:00 SA

One star is too high for this company since they didn't even bother to show up for a scheduled appointment to clear the main drain for my house.

I made the appointment on Thursday, December 31, 2020. I went on line to book an appointment. The first available non-emergency appointment was Monday, January 4, 2021. I made an appointment for that date and received a confirmation from Hero stating that [y]our appointment with Hero Plumbing, Heating & Cooling has been scheduled for Monday January 4, 2021 at [my home address]. Our dispatch team will contact you on the day of your appointment to update you in regards to arrival time. I was given a number to call or text if I wanted to make any changes. I did not make any changes. Relying on that appointment, I believed that by minimizing my water usage I could avoid any major backups from my main drain.

On Sunday, January 3, 2021, Hero again texted me, this time stating: This is a reminder from Hero Plumbing, Heating & Cooling: You have a scheduled appointment tomorrow at [my home address]. We encourage you to go about your day as normal and we will make it our job to keep up with you! If you have any questions, or need to reschedule please call or text [the telephone number provided]. I did not reschedule.

Expecting that Hero would come to my home as promised, I stayed home from work the day of my scheduled appointment. At 9:58 a.m. I received a text from Hero reaching out to you with an update about your Drains appointment with us. Some of our technicians are stuck on some active backup/emergency calls that are taking a little longer than anticipated this morning. We do still have you on the schedule and will still get you adequately notified when we have one of our experts available for your appointment. I received the same message again at 11:50 a.m. At 1:53 p.m. I received my last text from Hero with a similar text, but this time stating : At this time there is a possibility of some rescheduled appointments as jobs are wrapping up we will definitely keep you informed. We do still have you on the schedule and will be sure to get you adequately notified.

After no one had shown up from Hero and I had heard nothing further from them, I called Hero at 4:49 p.m. I was told by the dispatcher that they would not be able to make my appointment that day. Understanding that sometimes things do go wrong even with the best businesses, I asked when they could be there the next day. The dispatcher told me that they did it have any appointments the next day and it would be the following day. While all businesses have issues, the thing that separates good reputable businesses is how they handle the problems. In this case, it was awful. I would expect they would have done everything possible to make it right. What they did was far from it.

I asked why I had never been informed when I booked the appointment that it might be cancelled. Indeed three text messages from Hero communicated exactly the opposite. I had an appointment booked and they would be there. The dispatcher responded that they had called and left a message. It is true that my phone shows a call from Hero seven minutes before I called them (4:42 p.m.). There was no message, however, from them. It was clear that Hero was not going to make any effort to resolve this problem and give me an appointment for the next morning. I ended the call and promptly called a more reputable and reliable plumber.

At best, this is an example of extremely poor customer service. But, given the language of the texts indicating the plumbers were working on emergencies and then telling me the earliest they could get out would be two days later, it had all the earmarks of a shakedown to get me to tell them that I too had an emergency so that they could charge emergency service rates. Given all other reviews here about their unethical service, I am assuming the latter. I wish I had checked the reviews here before I contacted them. In retrospect, I probably dodged a bullet. Do not waste your time with this company.

Dave N.

11/30/2021

I bought a new (replacement) double vanity sink for our bathroom. I needed it to be hooked up. Drains and p-trap. I was thinking it would take a few hours. Prob $500. A very nice rep came out and spent a long time pulling together an estimate for a water heater? Water softener? and the sink install. Gave me three estimates ... the 1st one presented was for $7,500 ... not a typo. I need a sink installed! The last estimate was for (only) the sink install and it was for $1,700. Wow. No thanks. But I had to pay the trip fee of $90. What a joke. Stop wasting everyone's time. I called another plumber and they asked for a photo and quoted me $350. Never calling Hero (Zero) again. A waste of time.

Zach F.

03/05/2016 12:00:00 SA

Original Post - We recently had Uptown Heating and Cooling install our brand new oven/range. I didn't feel comfortable doing the work myself since I was dealing with natural gas and we have a brand new 8 month old baby in our home. This is the second time we used the company, and unfortunately the second time being disappointed. I was charged, no joke, $900 for simply installing a $600 oven. This evening we called the company because we smelled a faint gas leak coming from the newly installed oven/range and were told they cannot come out until normal hours or we will be charged extra. Im nervous about our safety and cannot believe they would not just send someone to make the situation correct. We spent 900 dollars to get the hookup done in the first place(less than a month ago), so I would expect it be done correctly or we would have someone immediately fix the issue. This is a NIGHTMARE and I wouldn't wish this to happen to anyone else.

Edit as of 3/7/16 - Uptown Heating and Cooling was able to come out today (Monday) and check my issue that I notified them of on Saturday evening. They were very prompt and attentive to my issue once they were back in the office. They sent a fellow out who double and triple checked to make sure there were no gas leaks, and did not charge for this service. We are still not sure where the smell is coming from but they believe possibly the appliance itself...not the gas line installation or hookup.

Diane S.

06/06/2023 12:00:00 SA

I scheduled an A/C Tune-up that was advertised for $69. I thought it was such a good deal. It wasn't until the technician arrived that I found out that it was only an inspection and not a tune- up. So buyer beware! I checked their website again and they interchange tune-up and inspection. The old bait and switch.

Ron E.

08/03/2023 12:00:00 SA

Don't use Hero Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical. After a frantic call from my brother that a technician from Hero Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical wanted to replace the furnace and duct work. This was needed because the furnace motor would not start when the air conditioner started. The technician from Hero Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical never opened a cover and spent only 2 or 3 minutes and never did any type of diagnostic work.
With 5 minutes of trouble shooting the problem was found to be a motor starting capacitor at a cost of $ 14.27 + tax and around 5 or6 minutes to install. IF YOU HAVE MONEY TO WASTE!!! CALL Hero Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical.

Kay S.

1/18/2013

Though I've used Uptown in the past for routine maintenance, I was not 100% impressed with their ideas for how to more efficiently heat our house with our steam radiator system. But now I am completely disgusted with them.

Our steam boiler suddenly stopped working on a Friday night, with a weekend of below zero temps approaching. I called Uptown and was told dispatch would call me soon to let me know when someone could come by. 40 minutes later I still hadn't gotten a call, so I called again, and I was told that my first call wasn't even in the system!

The answering service person was not polite when I insisted I had called before. Finally I gave up and just had her start from scratch and re-enter my info, and she told me dispatch would call me in an hour.

It has now been 1 1/2 hours and still no call!

I'm not calling them a 3rd time. While many people seem to be happy with their work, they definitely have some administrative problems that are incredibly frustrating when you're sitting around in a house that is getting colder by the minute.

Erik O.

7/18/2023

June 2023 - Carl H, Electrician did an excellent job on recessed lighting install.

July 2023 - Aaron & Randy from the HVAC install team did a top of the line installation on my new Carrier furnace and A/C unit. Sang D did a superb job on the electrical side. Ben S, was great to work with on the selection. Very knowlegable group of guys. Luke A, HVAC tech did an awesome job on the ecobee premium thermostat installation. Top of the line.

If you have any plumbing needs look no further than Hero and request Dustin H or Brandon S. They do fantastic work, very personable, caring & knowledgable!

Molly K.

2/23/2015

I've had uptown plumbing out twice for two different issues. Both times were quick and helpful. Jason and Eric were very knowledgeable and really worked with me to find the best and most affordable option

John J.

8/19/2022

we called hero for two different problems and each time they gave me a window on when they would show up,and each tuime they would text and say they're are still working on the first job they would call later to reschedule not for the next day but two days later.twice they did this to me i had to reschedule work twice for this,when i ggot into touch with customer service they were rude to me that i wanted to cancel my service i would never use them again

Sarah R.

02/08/2018 12:00:00 SA

I'm still waiting to see how this plays out but here's what I have to say about Uptown as of today. My brother-in-law recommended that my mom contact Uptown to do a service check on her heating system. He advised that she consider a service plan so she doesn't have a big expense if something fails. She lives in the St. Paul Midway area on a very low income. Uptown came out and told her that it looked like she needed new water heaters (it's a triplex so there are two). They were both working at the time so there wasn't a sense of urgency. A plumber came out the next day and told her that she needed two water heaters and some other things and the cost would be $6,800. My mom told him that she has many health issues and memory issues. He told her they could do the work that day. So, without giving her an opportunity to talk with my brother-in-law who asked for the service check (uptown knew this) and knowing she had limited ability to understand what really needed to be done, they had her sign off on the quote (which had literally no breakdown of the costs) proceeded to do the work that day. They then asked her that day before they left to sign off on a form saying she was 100% satisfied with their service. In addition to the $4,700 they charged her for the 2 water heaters (I checked home depot and the same quality is literally half the price installed), they also charged her $1,900 for a co removal system. Based on other reviews here I'm thinking this is absolutely a consistent scam of theirs. I tried to reach a manager three days in a row and no one called me back. I finally talked with someone yesterday, I think it was Jessica who has been responding here. She was rude and defensive. She reviewed the phone calls and confirmed that my mom told her that she had only asked for a system check because my brother in law told her too and that she told the plumber she had memory and health issues. Uptown's response - they spent extra time to explain their service. NOT OK! You don't go and do same day work on an old lady's house in the St. Paul Midway Area and charge her $6,700 for two water heaters and some $2,000 co removal system that I still have no idea about. There's no note of any kind about a co issue. You would think this company would change their business practices - leave a quote and advise her to talk with her son-in-law who told her to call. I was assured a higher level manager would call or email me yesterday after the terrible stressful conversation I had with the manager and I heard nothing. You know the worst part? My mom doesn't have the money to pay this bill and she's mad at herself because she thinks this is her fault - she should have been wiser and not let them do the work without talking to us. She said, I just did what he told me I needed to do. He was very convincing.

I will update everyone here with how Uptown handles this.

Carolyn B.

10/02/2019 12:00:00 SA

Unbelievably horrible service. Hero installed a new air conditioner last year. I scheduled routine maintenance a month ago. The unit has since been sparking. The technicians cannot explain why. They said they would have the manufacturer do warranty repair. Four phone calls later - no response, no phone calls to update me, no air conditioner. Fortunately, it's fall. I would NEVER work with these people again.

Curt V.

03/07/2018 12:00:00 SA

Great service provider in terms of responsiveness and ease of getting a hold of someone on the phone. For service visits it was helpful to receive a text message to track the location of the technician. The quality of work is also great. The downside is the cost of parts. For 2 different part replacements we checked with one of their competitors. The cost of the part is X, the competitor charges 3X, Uptown Plumbing and Heating charged 9X. If X is a triple digit number it adds up really quickly. During the most recent visit I asked to take a photo with my phone of the readings taken, they said to not worry about it all of the information would be emailed. The emails went out as part of the follow-up, but no such readings were included.
!!!!(UPDATE - In fairness per the comment by customer service I waited, and 3 months later here on March 7th, 2018, they said they would follow up but nothing happened, X was +$100 which means we paid about $900 for a $100 part which was 3x the charge by Centerpoint Service Plus. Great service provider for speed, but extremely expensive. For documentation take photos with your own phone on the Diagnosis. Using some common sense of course, I would recommend getting a quote & then getting a competitive quote before moving forward no matter what the technician says and no matter how guilty they make you feel on the spot.)!!!!

Kyle D.

9/29/2014

I had Uptown Plumbing, Heating & Cooling out to my house to fix a plumbing issue. and they did a fantastic job!
I had a pipe that kept bursting under my deck and had two other plumbing companies try to fix the shutoff valve. However like clockwork it burst each winter.
Uptown's plumber figured out what the root problem was, redid the pipes going out of my house and solved the problem.
Since then, they've installed a humidifier on my furnace and replaced my water heater. Every single time, they've been professional and punctual.
I would HIGHLY recommend Uptown Plumbing, Heating & Cooling to anyone.

Mary S.

8/22/2015

We needed to replace our 59 year old boiler, and got estimates from several companies. All were totally acceptable, with some differences in price, brand and what was included. We went with Uptown for several reasons, including good reviews from friends, and that the price included everything we wanted, without having to deal with extra charges. Also, we really gave a lot of thought to which of the companies we'd want to have a long term relationship with, and Uptown was definitely the one. So we far are completely satisfied. Uptown did need to reschedule our original estimate appointment, but that's why we started this process in July and not in the fall. Rob was experienced and well informed and able to answer all our questions. In the end we didn't think our home would get much benefit from a high efficiency system, and they did not try to sell us up to one. The guys who came to do the work were efficient, courteous and clean, and finished earlier than expected. The office staff over the phone was great.

Taunya S.

12/05/2012 12:00:00 SA

I needed to get my furnace tuned up and Groupon had a good deal for them. I read a few reviews that had me a little worried about the service, but they were from a few years back, so I decided to give them a try. They were great! It was easy to set up an appointment. They were suppose to be here between 11 and 3 today. They had someone available early, Matt, who came out, was very nice, went and did his thing and then explained everything to me.

I am very happy with the service and would definitely use them again.

John S.

6/17/2021

The rep himself was great. Very professional in doing a thorough job quickly and in a pleasant manner. Fair value for the work. The thing that prevents me from providing a 5 star rating is more to do with a company practice. I am a preferred customer paying $10/month which includes yearly PM on the AC and Heating as well as plumbing checks and a discount on work. That's a reasonable deal. However, scheduling f work is the issue. They gave me a day with time between 9 am - 5 pm. An entire day to sit and wait. He came at 2 pm and did do a nice job. However, most services will give you the courtesy of at least a 4 hour window, not 9 hours. They certainly could have looked at the schedule and said the earliest would be noon or something to that effect. Perhaps they could spend less on TV advertising to spend more on a better system. Although I like what they do when the work is done, I don't have a full day to sit around and wonder when they show. They do provide an occasional e-mail saying running late but will be there. In my opinion, that just doesn't cut it compared to other service agencies of all types with which I have worked.

Carla P.

3/20/2021

Terrible they have' fixed' the same issue 3 years in a row and not actually fixing it. They charge you more which is ok if you actually do the job that you are hired to do which they don't.

Terri R.

5/20/2021

We called Hero Plumbing on Thursday 5/13 to arrange for plumbing repairs on our house. The company rep told us that they could not give us a definite time for the spot on Tuesday 5/18 but they would call us 30-40 minutes before their arrival. On Tuesday 5/18, mid morning, they text-messaged us to reaffirm our appointment and they would call before they arrived. In late afternoon, they called us and said they were unable to come to us that day and suggested that they could reschedule us on Monday 5/24. My husband asked why they could not come the next morning and we were told that they were totally booked until Monday. So we had to wait 5 days for our appt and need for plumbing repairs and now they wanted to make us wait another 5 days! Needless to say, this company does not need your business! They are very busy and have forgotten customer service.
We called Deans Plumbing and Nick M. came this morning (5/20) and took really professional & excellent attention to our needs!!

Ray H.

09/08/2022 12:00:00 SA

Needed kitchen drain cleared. The service was fine and professional. However, I felt $813 for one hour at my home was excessive. I was told this was what the market allowed but I have to believe there are more reasonable options.

Dale G.

2/18/2017

Philip Baker was the Plumber that came out to my house. He was thorough and quick. He explained everything to me clearly and answered any questions I had. He also found a coupon online and applied it to my bill without me even asking which saved me almost $75.

I am very pleased with the service I received and would recommend Uptown and Philip to anyone I know.

Brad C.

10/25/2017

I called Uptown for 2 things:

1. Tune-up on my furnace
2. Assessment and recommendations for smart thermostats based on my existing HVAC setup.

What I received instead:

1. $500 to repair a control valve on the furnace (which is whatever, as it apparently needed to be fixed and fell under the parameters of why I called them).
2. My water heater (which I didn't call on) was disconnected entirely without prior consult, and then pressured to replace. Uptown's cheapest replacement was quoted at $1900 with a one year warranty. Went to Home Depot and picked up a 40gal with a 12 year warranty for $500. Had installed by a different licensed plumber for $200.
3. Received zero assessment, recommendations, or information regarding smart thermostats, which was 50% of the reason I called them. Was told I would receive an email with information after the appointment, and received nothing.
4. A technician showed up the next day at 8am to inquire about the water heater. No appointment, no call beforehand, just showed up. Not thrilled about that, as I have a newborn who he promptly woke up by ringing the doorbell.

All in all, not a great experience, and pretty expensive for what you get. I give 2 stars because the valve was replaced on the item I actually called about, otherwise it would be 1.

Tom C.

5/19/2022

Person on the phone was very kind but either doesn't have a clue what I'll be charged or is purposely not telling me what I'll be charged. They say exterior main line cleared for $93 but person was unable to tell me what that means! Would like to try but not risking a surprise huge bill.

Terra C.

8/15/2018

Two men came out to do my furnace tuneup .one drilled a hole in my furnace!
Then looked and said that the furnace heat exchanger had a crack and I would have to replace the furnace.
I told him I had a lifetime warranty on that part ,
so his partner then said he would take a look , and then said , no ,it was fine !!!!
Based on that , I don't trust them.

Jaimee G.

11/14/2021

Needed to replace a leaking hot water valve connected to our washing machine. Secured the appointment for Monday, but they were overbooked and finally came Wednesday. The technician was competent, but disrespectful of my time. I work from home and he demanded so much of my attention to upsell services and replace appliances in which I had zero interest (water heater, testing water pressure, and water softener).

He also replaced both of the water lines (despite them being brand new) and the cold water valve. As other reviews noted, very expensive likely to pay for their commercials. Would not use again.

Susan T.

7/29/2022

I'd used Hero Plumbing and Heating in the past for my furnace tune-up and thought they were reliable and reasonably priced. Earlier this week an outdoor faucet broke and I thought I'd try their plumbing service. They sent a technician the next day. He was very friendly, professional and knowledgeable. But when I saw his estimate I almost choked - - $1500+!!! Apparently, for emergency services, they add $1000 to the cost. I have since received other quotes for exactly the same work at $400 - $500. I'll never use this company for anything ever again.
Hero's customer service called me. Apparently the extra $1000 they tack on to everyone's bill goes toward their 24/7 service, well-dressed technicians (includes training & background check) and well-stocked Hero trucks. Except for the 24/7 phone contact, doesn't that describe most trade businesses?! Most businesses can also schedule services online. It's certainly not worth the extra money.

Gerry S.

5/21/2018

Hero (formerly Uptown) has been my go-to vendor for heating, cooling and plumbing needs for several years. They're friendly, reliable and prompt. Today was no exception. They sent Ryan out to look at my AC. It was recently replaced and I found I had LOTS of airflow downstairs, but none upstairs.

They gave me a 3 hour window for when Ryan would arrive and he was right on time at the beginning of that window. Looked things over, and in less than 5 minutes found the problem (a damper had accidentally been closed). One tweak and I was back in business. Love these guys.

Valerie M.

11/17/2013

We finally scheduled a tune-up for our 1996 furnace after being in our home for over 4 years. The technician from Uptown Plumbing, Heating & Cooling found that our furnace was not safe because it had a crack in the heat exchanger and was leaking carbon monoxide. The levels were low, so our home carbon monoxide detector did not pick it up. Since the furnace was so old and would have cost thousands of dollars to repair, we decided to replace it. I called and spoke with Josh, and asked him about replacing our air conditioner at the same time as the furnace because it was also very old. He made helping us a priority, and called me back with a revised estimate in just a few minutes. The price was very reasonable, and he said he could have the new furnace and air conditioner installed first thing Saturday morning (I called him Thursday afternoon).

The heating technicians arrived bright and early on Saturday, and were very friendly and courteous even though it was so early (before 7:30AM). They wore shoe covers inside the house and were very respectful of our home. They put down plastic to protect the carpet, and were very clean while working on the furnace. The technicians were very thorough, and double checked that everything was functioning properly before leaving. The work was completed in less time than anticipated.

Our new furnace is much smaller than our old one, and is a quiet high-efficiency model with a touch screen programmable thermostat. The new air conditioner is less than half the size of the old one, and I'm certain it will run much quieter as well. It makes me feel much safer to know that we have a new furnace and air conditioner with a warranty, and that we can count on Uptown Plumbing, Heating & Cooling to be there if we need any help with our furnace or air conditioner.

The financing process was very simple, and the price we paid was the exact price we had been told. I will definitely call Uptown Plumbing, Heating & Cooling for my future HVAC needs, and would recommend them to my friends and family.

Chuck K.

01/03/2022 12:00:00 SA

I contacted hero as we had a back up in our plumbing. I was told they had time to come the same day and was very pleased and booked them. I took the day off of work to ensure I was available to let the rep in. A couple hours later I got a message asking if I would volunteer for another day. I responded that didn't work for me and they said they would keep me on the list for today. Then I got messages saying their early jobs were taking longer than expected and they may have to reschedule. I responded again that I needed it to be today as they promised. I then called another company who was able to get me in with a window of time for the same day. I contacted hero again to see if I was on the schedule and could be done today. I was told they cannot guarantee today!? I told them to cancel and I would go with the other company. I completely understand jobs can take longer and timing can be messed up, but this just seems like a company that over commits and doesn't deliver. They did apologize, but I would have called other companies that morning if they told me right away they may not be able to get it done same day! I cannot comment on their actual work, but wanted to share my experience and why I would not use this company.

Mark H.

2/21/2015

One star is way too many. Beware of these people and make sure you have a bid from someone else. Our guy spent more time working up a bid in the thousands that another plumber did to fix the job, for $250. Fortunately, we were more knowledgeable than their representative thought.

Michael S.

4/23/2019

This a red flag comment. I have not used their service nor would I ever. Here's why. This outfit dominates local TV channels with their commercials. Almost every commercial break in the morning. Red flag there. What's worse, they run multiple duplicate commercials in a two and half minute commercial break. Another red flag. TV commercials are expensive. Especially when they run them in multiples in every commercial break. Common sense dictates that they have pay for them somehow, as in the cost to customers. Summary: one of the most annoying commercials on TV. If you annoy me, I will not hire you because I cannot trust you. Do not insult my intelligence by running almost back to back commercials. If you can't hook me on one, why would you be able to annoy me and then hook me 30 seconds later? That offends me. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that you have to ramp your rates to pay for all of that air time.

John S.

02/02/2016 12:00:00 SA

Uptown Plumbing and Heating is shockingly inept. They shut my heat off then flooded a portion of my basement after I called to get my water heater checked out. The call was not even initially about my boiler, yet they took it upon themselves to shut the boiler down because it was a leaking co. I have a co detector in the boiler room along with most other rooms of the house. The boiler was looked at by a city inspector a month previously for another home project. Now my pregnant wife is in a home without heat and my basement is wet and they want $3,000 to fix everything. Extortion.

Bellraia D.

9/19/2021

Our toilet flooded in the middle of the night. I was looking for someone to fix it quickly. I called Hero Plumbing to I fix the problem, which they fixes the clog.
They will replaced an old part in need of replacement. I'm grateful for fix however the part is defective and the toilet has been phantom running since. They insisted that I need a new toilet, mine was out of date. I didn't realize there was a timeline on the toilet. Okay. Also insisted that their part is fine, then 30 day warranty expired. Too bad so sad.

Matt R.

1/25/2019

With the freezing temps our pipes froze and after trying everything we could think of we called Hero and they sent out Jake. Jake was amazing in every sense of the word. He got our water working and gave us tips so we wouldn't have to deal with this in the future. We did not experience any pushy sales tactics and Jake was all around a great guy who knew exactly what to do. His customer service was unmatched and honestly he made what was a hugely stressful situation a lot easier to deal with. 5 stars to Hero from me!

T C.

11/19/2018

I had a new waste line installed because someone used 2inch to a 3 inch. These guys were on time I thought pricey they did not give us a break down on what they did just 3 quote's I would like these guys better if they had flat rate per hour and a brake down on the billing. Just like a car repair I am sure I could have found some one cheaper but not as fast having a new toilet in your living room puts in a spot. I hope I don't have to hire again. Not because there bad.

Mike J.

6/30/2021

my sister bought a garbage disposal and needed it installed. with no parts required, Hero was going to charge her 500. she declined and had to pay a 89 trip fee.
no way is there 500 in labor to install a garbage disposer.

Camerone B.

04/12/2015 12:00:00 SA

I contacted Uptown Heating and Cooling on March 30 to come to my home to do a simple faucet replacement for my kitchen, check on a toilet plumbing concern, and repair some handles on my laundry basin. The technician shows up at my home the next day totally unprepared to do anything other than ask for money up front and to tell me that he would need to schedule another time to come out to my home to do the work. Needless to say I had know idea that I was scheduling an estimate when I was told by the dispatcher the technician would arrive with a fully stocked truck ready to work and get the job done that day. When the technician arrived he was prepared to do none of the work that I assigned. He didn't even repair the nobs on the laundry basin when that didn't require anything other than to tighten the screw. He was in such a rush to get out of my home I was wondering why he even decided to show up in the first place. I took half a day off from work for him to come do this job traveling between Minneapolis and apple valley. What a waste of my time! I ended up having to leave a key in the mailbox so that the technician would have to come back the next day to do what I was told by the dispatcher he should have done the day before. Once the job was completed which they had the nerve to charge me $1,080 for approximately 2 hours of work. I have know idea what was included in this charge because they don't provide you with an itemized breakdown of your bill. No time and material breakdown nothing just a flat fee with descriptions like fix it which you have know idea what that means! The only reason why I went through with the service at all was because I needed to have the job done right away because I couldn't use my kitchen sink at all without all the leaking taking place from the faucet. Now I will know just to be patient and wait for a more honest company to do the job. The absolute worst plumbing company that I have ever done business with and I will not recommend nor use this company every again. Very disappointed!

Phil D.

08/03/2017 12:00:00 SA

I really love Uptown. They can be costly at times, but they back up everything they do and they are very big in giving back to the community. Around the city they actually have 2-3 buildings they own that are free public spaces.

Tom D.

12/11/2018 12:00:00 SA

Quick and courteous. However, scare tactics from the start and focused on selling a new furnace and expensive and unnecessary repairs. Live and learn. Shop elsewhere

Hilary L.

10/16/2019

Our experience was very similar to Kristina P.'s experience dated 3/12/2019 where we were pressured to buy a new boiler to replace one that can be easily repaired with new boiler concrete seals.

My husband and I recently bought our first home. Our 20+ year old boiler for the upper floors was acing fishy, so we chose Hero because they could come out the soonest. The technician was very kind and friendly, but immediately pointed to the seals and said they couldn't be properly re-sealed for under the cost of replacing the boiler and told us we were lucky that the CO (carbon monoxide) reading was only a 9ppm. The technician shut off the boiler and tagged it. My husband said that three additional technicians came out to confirm the first technicians finding about the boiler and to present him with options of new boilers to buy.

The number of technicians seemed fishy, like a pressure tactic to me. So we called around for a second opinion and checked in with some friends who have owned homes for longer than we have-- apparently Hero has recently changed their name form Uptown something or another (presumably to shed their old bad brand and perhaps due to legal issues) and is known for this upselling behavior. Then I found Kristina's post, thanks KP!

I was nervous for the safety of our first floor tenants, and called Centerpoint emergency services to come out and inspect the boiler. Centerpoint came out very quickly, and told us that the boiler was truly unsafe to run even though the CO reading from Hero was bogus and not imminently dangerous, but could easily be repaired for less than $300 at a fair price from a reputable boiler technician.

We have been warning all of our friends about Hero-- many thanks to KP for the helpful review in March which gave us peace of mind, saved us a lot of time and $400+ monthly payments for the next few years!

David M.

03/06/2020 12:00:00 SA

I needed to have a simple toilet replaced. Before I even checked out these Yelp reviews, I called Hero because I hear their ads on TV every morning while getting ready for work. When I asked about pricing and approximate time to remove/install a toilet, the gentleman told me that the only pricing they quote is an $89 diagnostic charge After that, they leave pricing up to the technician because every job is so different. I said ok, considering it's a toilet, the $89 diagnostic charge is really a trip charge (which would be competitive and reasonable) but then asked if he didn't understand that homeowners such as myself would be uncomfortable not receiving any pricing estimate until the job was finished, at which point the tech could try and charge me whatever he wanted. The gentleman said he understood that but offered no counter proposal. I thanked him, hung up the phone and called one of the other plumbers I had early spoke with to schedule the job.

Ba H.

6/26/2018

Service team was detailed with diagnostic results and options. We were not pressed to buy.

Barbara K.

08/04/2017 12:00:00 SA

You can't find a better company than Uptown. Their Technicians are fiirst class, honest, trustworthy, helpful, always on-time, communicate and do not leave until they have explained what is wrong, what they will do to fix it, and then reviewed everything that was done to make sure you understand and are happy! The owner of the company demands excellence and their technicians represent them in the best possible way. I have used them for plumbing, a new air conditioner and a new water heater. I also asked if they could just check my kitchen faucet and bathroom toilet and they told me they were fine. They go above and beyond. I give them A++++ every time!

Lee B.

10/16/2020

I called because I saw their TV ad for a $97 drain unclog Special, and told them as long as they were sending someone out, I'd like to get a quote on some other work too, but just for this visit what I wanted done was my toilet fixed. It wasn't flushing fully. It would fill with water from the tank, but not completely drain out and remove the waste. Sometimes even 5 flushes later the waste was still there. I told him an old roommate had used flushable kitty litter and may have clogged the drain a ways down the line, and maybe snaking it would help. He took the lid off the tank and fiddled with things there and said it looked fine, but then suggested that maybe the inner workings of the ceramics part might have a crack and the whole unit should be replaced. I said, wouldn't it be leaking in the basement then? And he said yeah probably, So I told him, but it's not. He said it's probably going into your walls and creating mold growth then (!). I asked him to just snake it as long as he was here and he told me it would cost 198 plus tax. I said what about the 97 Special? He said that's just for floor drains, not toilets. I told him I could go buy a snake at the dollar store and do it myself, no way was I paying him $200 bucks to snake it. He said he could give me a coupon rate of $129, and I said fine. I knew I'd be paying that $97 trip charge either way, so another $32 to get it done and him gone was okay I guess. But it didn't help the problem.

A couple weeks later I found a YouTube video which showed me my problem was likely that the water level in my tank was too low. It was only an inch below recommendations, but I called the Mfr's 800# to find out how to raise the water level and the toilet has been flushing perfectly ever since.

NO THANKS TO HERO PLUMBING

chase p.

3/29/2018

Over the weekend my furnace unexpectedly started smelling weird, I called center-point first (as I had their home service plus repair plan) , they determined the furnace as un-repairable and red tagged it. Uptown was highly recommended to me by family and friends. I still had 5 different companies come out to provide me estimates and I felt Uptown (Josh) was the most experienced to address my needs and questions, and the price was very reasonable, hence why I chose them to replace my furnace. He was very knowledgeable, no pushy sales tactics and I trusted what he told me 100%. On the day of the install the crew showed up on time and went right to work, in under 5 hours I had a brand new furnace up and running, and the work they did was top notch. No complaints whatsoever. Next will be my A/C unit, In the next couple years when I decide to replace it I will call them directly and not deal with the hassle of having multiple estimates because they have earned my trust. A+

Wade H.

08/04/2023 12:00:00 SA

Over priced, sped thru job to fix one leak and left three behind. They did come out the next day to repair, but really!! One pipe fitting hadn't even been treaded fully. Beware their flat fee pricing, it's a ripoff if you have an easily accessible job. Will never use Hero again and I will try to spread the word.

Chris L.

2/19/2014

String of bad reviews notwithstanding, we called them to handle a relatively simple situation -- indoor utility sink drain pipe had frozen and split in two (or so we thought as it was leaking badly when we ran the washer). Guy came out once, saw it was frozen and said, call me tomorrow when you've thawed the pipe and I'll fix it. Came the next day and said, it isn't cracked -- the freeze opened up a seal and made it leak -- no freeze, no leak. Charged us $50 total to come out twice. Can't complain about that. Again, one-time experience and wasn't much to do (although he didn't make something to do either).

Ryan T.

02/01/2017 12:00:00 SA

I had the same experience as Jose P. who left another review. They charged me $1871 for a 62 efficiency water heater. Centerpoint charges $1162 for an equivalent model. I knew this was high but I also felt strong armed into it. They came out for a routine water heater inspection and tuning. After shutting off water to the house and taking all the valves off the water heater they said I needed a new one and they couldn't just put the old valves back because they weren't safe. I am not disputing that the valves weren't safe, they showed them to me and they were pretty bad. The issue though is now I don't have any running water in the house and there is no chance of me getting a water heater from anywhere else in the same day. I either had to pay about $300 for them to replace the valves on an 18 year old water heater or buy a new water heater for $1871 or apparently just have no running water until I can get a new heater from somewhere else. Their prices are outrageous compared to anything else I saw online when I went to check later to verify I got ripped off. I only signed up with them because they offer free tuneups if you join their $10/month club. Should have known I would get screwed somehow.

I left 2 stars because the maintenance people are always very nice and professional. There is no justifying the cost though if you need anything beyond basic tune ups. Typically I would not give a bad review just because something is expensive but they basically took away my option to go anywhere else and then ripped me off.

Edit: I also forgot to mention that they only carry 62 efficiency water heaters. They told me I would qualify for a rebate from Centerpoint. Well Centerpoint now requires 67 efficiency water heaters so I also don't qualify for any kind of rebate. They massively overcharged me and I didn't even get a decent water heater out of it or any rebates.

Michael F.

11/11/2017 12:00:00 SA

I used to love these folks, and still recommend them for HVAC work, but their plumbing is a complete rip off.

Asked for a bid for a new water heater. They never sent me one. I emailed to ask for the bid. They sent a bid that was 50% higher than the higheer of 2 other bids to accomplish the same work, with less of a guarantee, and even higher yet if they were going to offer a lesser guarantee than even Home Depot. I asked them to call me to discuss why they were so absurdly high. The HVAC manager emailed to say he'd call. He didn't. I called to find out why they weren't calling me back, and that as a returning customer I was frustrated. They failed to contact me again. I called to tell them they had a last chance to explain the absurdly high pricing, and they said the Plumbing dept manager would call me back. He didn't.

They have good technicians who will tell you if something is outside of their scope and ask for help from a senior tech at no charge, but they will grossly overcharge you for service.

Alec O.

12/04/2019 12:00:00 SA

The worst. Overcharge for everything and always find something wrong that they build up as extremely important to fix immediately. Really dishonest company, no wonder they keep changing their name!

Mary W.

2/15/2021

Terrible service today. We are snow birds with caretakers who check our South Minnapolis home frequently. With the recent cold snap, the pipe coming into the house is frozen. Tried to set up an appointment for a service call - we have the Happy Home service plan with Hero (or did). Not only can they not come out for two days, they could not even give us a service window (any time that day with 30 minutes notice) but when they found out that we were remote (would have my adult daughter there in person and me on the phone), they refused service saying the homeowner must be present. I offered to be there via Zoom but that was not good enough. I asked to speak to a manager and after being on hold for a very long time, was informed that no one was available. They showed zero flexibility and zero customer service.

Bruce R.

11/01/2017 12:00:00 SA

Uptown came to downtown New Prague to resolve my furnace problem. The techs arrived right on time and went straight to work on the project. I even received a text message prior to their arrival with a picture of the tech which gave a sense of safety and professionalism. The crew was extremely pleasant and showed a genuine concern for customer service. They replaced a furnace in a 16 year old home and in the end the fit and finish of the new furnace was better than when the house was built new!

From the first contact to the final handshake, Uptown was top notch! This is the first time I have written a review for a company that did what was expected of them. On second thought, they didn't do what was expected of them, they did more than what was expected. It is never good news to get that your furnace is shot and needs replacement (also verified by another company) but the service that a good company like Uptown provides makes it an overall good experience. I am happy to know that for all my HVAC and plumbing needs I will only have to place one call to Uptown.

Jeff L.

12/16/2018

This company is nothing more than a group of swindlers disguised as a reputable plumbing company. After seeing an advertisement on the Television touting a $99.00 main drain clean out, I needed these services a week later.
I called them and inquired about their offer and she said they have that offer, but then slid in a comment about a $69.00 assessment fee, to which I had to back her up and inquire if that was in addition to the $99.00 fee. She replied it was, I was about to thank her for her time when she said let me see if I can get that waived which she did.
The person who showed up to do the job was a nice man, and very polite. And then the games began, he told me he can use a smaller machine to make a small hole in the obstruction or he could bring the large machine to really do the job. Of course the price escalated to $400.00 with a ten year happy house program, what ever that is.
I asked him why they don't do the total job to begin with and he had no answer, so i asked for the $99.00 clean out they advertised. RED FLAGS started going off after this exchange. I said to just do what we agreed on, and he came back with a full sized drain cleaning machine. I have experienced multiple drain cleaning sessions so I know the procedure.
He worked his machine for approximately a 45 minutes, after which I observed him talking to someone on the phone. He than informed me he was having trouble getting the drain totally unplugged, but for another $100.00 he could keep trying, to which I told him to just finish up and we would see how it went. I can't help but wonder if they deliberately did not clear it out to extract more money.
He left and within an hour the drain was backing up again. I then called Viking plumbing and made an appointment for Saturday morning. VIKING PLUMBING showed up Saturday morning and had the drain cleaned out in about a half an hour.
I will never use HERO PLUMBING again, and I will also share my experiences with anyone and everyone. They are unethical and border line crooks!

Tim D.

6/18/2021

Horrible company! Avoid them at all cost. They are predatory and try to lie about what's needed. Do not use them!

Shari S.

8/14/2020

Do not use this company! I called because the drain in my basement floor was running slow. I had been told it was the main drain. Saw the commercials to clean the main drain for $93. Oh that's not the main drain. He has no idea where the main drain is. So now it will be $390 to clean that drain. He went and got his tools. Worked for less than 10 minutes and I paid $390! I'm in the wrong profession. He was at my house for less than 30 minutes. I wish I made $800 an hour! I told Matt I had read the Yelp reviews but I thought there was no way they could rip me off too. They did the bait and switch. No wonder I could get an appointment so easily! Had to pay for all their commercials!

Victor M.

9/26/2013

I normally dont review things like this but i am reviewing this because i am unhappy with the service i never received. Yesterday i received a call canceling an appointment because they said something came up and it was some sort of emergency. To me thats code for Your job is very small and we just got an opportunity to make lots more money from this job so we are bumping you So well i rescheduled for the next day. I set the appointment from 10am to 1pm so i waited all morning then 1:10pm came up and i decided to call them. I call them an they were like ohh there is a mistake. The notes had my time but some one made the mistake and set it at 2pm to 5pm.
So well i am waiting at our project house that has no facilities and well i got the same lame apologize saying sorry i see and blah blah. I even got offered to have my $50 waved if i reschedule. Wow a whole $50 bucks to maybe get screwed over a 3rd time. So i Declined and well will be going with another plumbing company. This company seems to be very disorganized. I gave this place 1 star because i did give them a chance and then i got jerked around so 1 star.

Kale F.

10/13/2015

I hired Uptown Plumbing in July 2015 to fix a major leak that was coming from the second floor toilet. I won't get into the technicalities of it, but it's now October 2015 and the toilet/tub backed up again and there was some more leaking from the pipe that I paid Uptown Plumbing around $3500 (!) to fix. Note that the hole Uptown Plumbing cut out of my ceiling to access a leaking pipe is still present in my home because I'm still paying off the ~3K and thus, I can't afford the drywall ceiling repair, which means I was able to see the water dripping out of the same area today. Anyways,I hired a different plumber *Ken Betz* who's motto is We clean your drain NOT your pockets and he fixed the problem for $250. When I told Ken about the negative experience I had with Uptown Plumbing and how expensive it all was and how I felt extremely gouged, he said he could have done the July job for HALF the cost. Based on all of this, I'm writing to warn other people. Save your time and your money and call a different plumber. Finally, please note that I posted a negative review of Uptown Plumbing in July, but they reduced my service fees by $500 if I agreed to take down my negative review. Since it's clear Uptown didn't really solve the plumbing problem in July and I had to re-address it this month (October), I think it's only fair to post another negative review of Uptown Plumbing.

Kim H.

1/13/2023

Chad Durant was the hero of the week... After some serious issues came up in the house, I called Hero for help. Chad came over and was extremely helpful. Not only did he have the expertise I needed, but he was very friendly and seemed to really care - plus he was great with follow-up.

I will definitely recommend him to others, and have his contact info saved for future reference for when I want a trusted and reliable service professional. Thanks, Chad.... You are AWESOME!

Laura W.

06/09/2017 12:00:00 SA

I had my annual tune up on my mini-split AC unit. Joseph was the technician that came out. He was prompt, professional, and friendly. He did a fantastic job and then explained to me what type of maintenance I should be doing on my units (i.e., cleaning the filters regularly which he demonstrated how to do). I would highly recommend Uptown Plumbing, Heating, & Cooling and Joseph.

David S.

2/27/2014

STAY AWAY!!!!!
The worst experience we have ever had with a business. They showed up to look at a heating problem with our radiator, give us an estimate, and said it was $50 to look at it but would be taken off the bill if they fixed the problem for us. We went to our basement to finish work we had been doing and when we came back up later to see if he figured out the problem he handed us a bill for $570. He never gave us an estimate or asked if we wanted the work done, he proceeded to do the work without permission. We paid it right there, we now regret that decision before talking to his manager. They didn't take $50 off the bill they said they would and it was a $17 part he put in and the rest was all labor cost. After we called Uptown and going through 2 different people there who were not customer service friendly they took $100 off the bill, $50 of that was the original $50 that should never have been on the bill. They never apologized or were nice in any way. Then to make matters worse when we were checking our credit card statement online we find out they charged our card $570 TWICE. We had to go to Uptown heating in person to get this charge reversed, they were even less friendly in person. Stay away from Uptown Heating, there are many other reputable places to go with friendly service and a fair price.

Alexis C.

08/02/2021 12:00:00 SA

Terrible experience. Find someone else!

We needed to find a plumber for the required repairs to our plumbing. I got some other local plumber via a referral who quoted me for the project. I wanted to compare quotes so I had Hero come in for a second quote and they pointed out a dozen other things that needed to be repaired and gave me an outrageous quote 20x higher than the other plumber. OH YEAH and they charged me $125 for the pleasure of getting the ridiculous quote. I will never call Hero again.

Y B.

4/24/2018

Was persistent on changing a fuse out for me on a furnace, like I don't know what a fuse look like because I'm a woman. Told me it was a safety mechanism that needs to be replaced. It usually runs $500, but today's special is $75! F*** you, threaten to red flag me for not falling into their scam... my blood was boiling at this point... a thief and a scammer they are. Did you pay these people to give you 4-5 stars? Is constantly changing your business name a good business tactic? BEWARE, if they don't like you they'll break your appliance instead.

Manny M.

11/28/2016

Hi Josh,

I was told that you are the owner of Uptown Plumbing, so I figured you should know about my awful experience with your company.

Last Wednesday morning my girlfriend called to set up an appointment for my rental property. Both tubs had standing water. A time was set for 11-2. At about 11:15 my girl receives a call from one of your employees stating that we should contact another company Alto for clogged drains because they were really busy, and Alto would charge less for drain cleaning. (I swear I can't even make this stuff up!). So she did. The other company came out and told me that I needed a plumber because my pipes were rusted shut. Then at about 6:30 that evening one of your techs stopped by out of the blue and said the same thing. Told me he'd schedule a plumber for Friday. Nobody came on Friday. I spoke with Sarah several times. She again promised somebody would come by that same Friday. Nothin. I called again very upset with my gf on speakerphone and we herd the operator and another female employee mocking my girlfriend in the background. We called them out on it and they apologized and PROMISED that a plumber would be out Monday, (today) between 9-12. NOBODY SHOWED UP AGAIN!

Seriously what kind of business are you running? I chose your company because I've lived in uptown/south MPLS for years, and I strongly believe in using local business'. Now after being treated like a piece of dirt, laughed at, and brushed aside, I can say that I will now go out of my way to tell people my experiences with Uptown Plumbing. As a Finance Director for a fortune 100 company, I can tell you that I, or any of my employees would be walking out the door with pink slips if they EVER treated one of our clients in this manner. This is why Uptown Plumbing will never be working on any of my rental properties, as well as everybody that I know in the real estate industry.

Manny

Katie L.

12/01/2020 12:00:00 SA

We had a new gas manifold system installed yesterday. The reason was dangerously high levels of gas leaking in our basement pipes that we started to smell. We were told, by Hero, that one of the leaks was a result of an install error (also by Hero) when they installed a $12,000 boiler less than a year ago.

This afternoon when I smelled gas in my basement again, I called Hero to see if they could come check it out. They asked if it was a strong or not strong gas smell. I was really frustrated with this ridiculous question as we just spent $8000 to be safe in our home. I spent 40 minutes asking the operator to please send someone to, at minimum, run a safety check for gas levels - but they said they weren't available to do so until tomorrow. Finally he agreed to send someone tonight, but as of now (10pm) no one has called or arrived.

Luckily we ran a bubble test which apparently hadn't been done on the dryer line that was reconnected. There was a substantial leak left from yesterday with a strong odor of gas leaking into my house. We shut down the gas line clearly. I'm so disappointed that my family was put at risk tonight due to the initial mistakes and then the subsequent unresponsiveness and uncaring response of your staff

Carson F.

2/14/2016

My goal in sharing this review is to provide just the facts and zero opinions.

On Super Bowl Sunday, our basement was flooding from the mainline. I called Uptown Plumbing, and they sent a technician a few hours before the game. I thought I needed the mainline sewer pipe cabled (snaked) as I usually do once a year from all the tree roots. The technician said it was a tough job. He charged me $413. I thought it was fixed...

Four days later, we had the water backing up again from our mainline in the basement. I was shocked and scared something really bad could have been wrong with our mainline system. I called Uptown Plumbing again, explained the situation, and asked them to cable it again for free. The first technician arrived on Friday (2/12), and said he couldn't get through the roots with a certain sized blade. Then his boss came with a camera to see what was wrong with the pipe. The boss was also unsuccessful in snaking the pipe. When he tried to put down the camera, the vision on the computer screen was very blurry and you couldn't see much because the pipe hadn't been cabled correctly. The boss said, If my best technician can't get this cabled, and I can't there is a problem and an area in the front yard where the pipe is that needs to be fixed.

The boss said, we need to get rid of your retaining wall in the front yard. Then after more conversation, he said we probably just need to dig a 4 foot by 4 foot space in your front yard. The cost was going to be $5,000, and not written down on paper.

This situation seemed to be very disheartening as $5,000 is a lot of money. I called another company in Minneapolis, explained the situation from start to finish, and they came out the same day (Friday, 2/12). Again, they came out 3-4 hours after Uptown Plumbing was there and tried to cable/snake my mainline sewer. The competitor SUCCESSFULLY unclogged and snaked my entire mainline sewer pipe. The competitive company then put a camera down the pipe and recorded a DVD video for me that went from our basement to the city's sewer line. The camera vision was perfect. The competitive company said there is absolutely no reason to dig up your front yard. I paid the competitive company $185 for a job well done.

In conclusion, I would strongly recommend always getting a second opinion. Especially if they are saying they need to dig up your front yard.

Andrea M.

8/28/2020

USE LOCAL/BUYER BEWARE - Would give Zero stars if an option & plan on telling everyone I can DO NOT use this company...they are highly unethical. They will come and tell you that they can't repair things, even though they can, or try and charge you the highest possible price. I had heard bad things about this company from others and never planned on working with them.

Had a co-worked have them out who told them their AC unit was shot and no way it could be repaired...would be $2-4k to replace. They said no thanks, Hero charged them the $89 service call fee and they decided to find someone else. Good thing they did they did as it was a $150 part/service call. The new HONEST repair man said be very aware of any work they do, he has personally seem them put a lock on your AC coolant that ONLY they have a key for to force you to use them again.

Today, we had called a service location who unfortunately did disclose the they contract with Hero until after it was too late. They evaluated our repair which was to uncap and existing gas line, that had previously had a dryer hooked up to it, for our new dryer. They wanted $1100 using the EXISTING line, and $1800 to run a new one. We almost fell off our chair, a few years back we had a local company run a NEW line for a gas stove from two corners of our house and it was less than half that. My husband asked to see the details, over half of the charges were for their warranty and 2 times a year service calls to check your lines...which we don't want but was told we have to buy with the repair. We wrote them a check for $89 and told them to please leave our house...so irritated.

Called our local place we have used for HVAC, we did not know they did gas lines (live and learn) and they quoted $240 and less than an hour to do the job. Another local place about the same price.

Do you not think Hero is trying to rip people off???? They are also making $89 on tons of people saying no to their high prices. The guy that was here said he had the previous call tell him to get out of their house too once they saw the price.

Geri M.

4/23/2022

I wanted to share our experience so that this doesn't happen again and none of you experience the costly mistake we experienced with service pricing.

1) As you may or may not know the city of Eden Prairie is conducting a large-scale water meter replacement program. All went well for us with that replacement with the city and with Hydrocorp, however a few weeks later we noticed a slow leak coming from our main water rotary shut-off valve. We understood we were on our own to address the servicing of the leak.

2) Previously, our long term plumber had said he would charge about $175 to replace that main water shut off valve. Our long term plumber has retired, so we started to call around. We called Hero. They could not give an estimate over the phone; rather they needed to make a trip to provide an estimate and then a separate trip to do the actual work of the main water valve replacement. To their credit they were able to provide a next day assessment.

3) In providing the estimate, the Hero representative scrolled through a four page estimate on a tablet device and asked for a signature. He did not provide a print out nor read the total quote amount out loud, we thought it said $179.00 -- in fact it said $1776.91

4) The Hero rep came back the following week, had coordinated with the city for the shut of the water from the water main from the street and completed the work.

5) We then received an email invoice showing the total amount charged to our credit card: $1776.91

6) We called Hero and disputed the charge, that day and on three additional occasions talking with subsequent (up the chain of command) customer service representatives. We acknowledged signing it, but felt it was a price gouging of that work, having called four other area plumbers serving Richfield, Bloomington and Edina all able to give quote ranges over the phone for replacing a main water shut off valve and the quotes were all between $350 - $600.

7) Four phone calls with this knowledge shared with subsequent Hero representatives have resulted in Hero's willingness to come down to a charge of $1200 (still an amount two to four times higher than other local plumbers). We write this to share an actual experience that even though Hero promotes themselves as a residential plumber their fees are far in excess. Please be cautious and read thoroughly any four page digital estimate provided to you for onsite work. Thanks for your time in reading this lengthy post.

Phil B.

9/28/2019

Our a/c compressor was not working so I called Hero to take a look. I assumed the worst and thought it would turn out to be a complete replacement, to my good surprise it turned out to just be a bad capacitor. That where the good news ends. Our service technician, John, charged us $445 for the task. I did some checking after the fact and a residential capacitor should cost between $30-60 for the part. If you allow for $200 for the less than one hour it took to replace the part, and add the $69 for the service call, you still only come out to $320 at the very high end. After that, John got comfortable in our kitchen and proceeded to tell us all the other things that needed to be done to get us back to normal, all totaling over $2,000. He also had a total replacement option and offered to get an estimator on the phone right away. High pressure all the way, including telling us about steel tariff price jumps that undoubtedly will have to be passed along to the consumer sooner or later. First and last call to Hero.

Jane S.

7/28/2019

I had had main drain cleaning from two other plumbers in the past 2 years and was still having significant issues in the basement. I called them and much to my surprise they were able to come out that day. Both plumbing and electrics in our home are old and odd, they had the expected issues with getting the drains clean. They did then have someone come out with a visual system for looking at the drain interior. That was not an extra charge and the initial charge was $93, apparently they were running a special on drain cleaning. So far so good.

Next they noted that there was a lot of corrosion and scale on the pipes, and showed me the visual, and that this predisposed pipes to future clogs. They recommended scaling the drain. It seemed reasonable based on our recent experience and they were transparent in their pricing, based on other plumbers we have used, subtracting that day's work and some other amounts from their customary charge. I applied for deferred billing (no interest 12 month finance) and that went through. I specifically asked when it would be billed. They said when the work was done an we scheduled about 6 weeks out. So far so good.

Two weeks later I got a Carrier card through Wells Fargo, which was obviously for the drain work. The problem came when within a week I got a call from Welles Fargo asking about a high charge on the account, for the amount quoted for the work, which had not yet been done. I called Hero immediately about this, asking what they thought they were doing. The amount was refunded within 2 days, but it has raised questions for me, and I will definitely keep a close eye on their billing practices and future recommendations. And my answer to them if they offer a free boiler inspection will be no thanks, that's why I have Home Service Plus.

Charles S.

12/14/2014

I responded to Uptown's mailing offering a furnace tune-up and safety check for $69. The technician came out on time and cleaned and checked the furnace. The last part of his job was the safety check where he discovered a crack in the heat exchanger. This apparently required red-tagging my furnace which means turning it off and designating it unsafe for continued use since a cracked heat exchanger could result in the furnace blowing carbon monoxide in the house. This was in December, so I had to do something quickly. It's at this point that I have a real problem with this company's business practices. The technician said he'd call his manager to come to my home to 1) bring in space heaters so I could have heat and 2) provide a quote on a replacement furnace. ( My furnace was 22 years old, so fixing the heat exchanger wouldn't make sense.) They clearly were creating a situation where I felt a great deal of pressure to do something immediately. The sales manager gave me a quote for a similar capacity furnace for $4,500 for a 1,750 square foot townhouse. I suspected this was highly overpriced and told him I was not going to do anything without getting competing bids. I got about six other bids, all from well-established HVAC companies in the twin cities, which ranged from $2,100 to $2,900. I turned the furnace back on myself, bought a $35 carbon monoxide detector and had a new furnace installed about twelve days later by one of the HVAC companies that provided a bid.

I called the Uptown sales manager two times to inquire about his bid. He did not return either call. There seems to be a pattern of Uptown quoting outrageous prices in many of these posts. My experience certainly confirms that. I feel that this is a very sleazy way to do business and felt concern for older or vulnerable people who would succumb to the pressure to act immediately in a situation similar to mine.

Rick J.

7/22/2023

they charged me $1200 for 1/2 work and $150 worth of materials . no one should get $2000 / hr for labor!!!! rip off. I will never need a Hero again.

Robert W.

06/04/2018 12:00:00 SA

The response was quick but the price was outrageous. The bathroom faucet was leaking and I couldn't find the part so I bought a new fixture and called these folks to install it. The fellow was prompt and did a good job - but with their flat-rate system, I paid $407 for less than an hour's work: and I supplied the new faucet!

Watch out, folks. These guys are a rip off.

Jordan R.

2/17/2016

terrible experience: overcharged, rude, and just overall not a good experience. I would not recommend to anyone and I suggest you try a smaller independent company.

Jon N.

6/23/2018

Wow. They didn't even make it out to my house to check on my plugged sewer drain before I had a bad experience! Astonishing, really. I'd contacted them via chat on their website -- friendly associates with whom I then made an appointment on Friday afternoon.
Perhaps I raised a red flag with someone as I voiced concerns over the price for a full jetting which I knew was a necessity (to remove roots etc.) I received a call from the Technician a couple hours before he was scheduled to diagnose and potentially hydro-jet my drain, who then LIED DIRECTLY TO ME and said they don't hydro-jet residential properties because the water can shoot back into the property or some such nonsense. They would still keep the appointment to diagnose the issue with my drain.
Soon afterwards I called the direct number and, before identifying myself, asked if they jetted residential properties and was told that YES WE DO. They would call that department to find out what's going on. I never got a direct answer so I called back to cancel. They weren't even surprised!!
Here I am a day later and still wondering if there is a reputable company out there willing to help work with me with my modest budget, or do I have to keep going to the corner coffee shop for every restroom break??

Cassie S.

9/16/2019

Where do I begin? First of all we contacted Hero because our water heater sensor shut down and locked us out. Okay really probably just needed to be re-set, my father was a plumber for 20 years and concluded that to be the case. My husband called Hero and was quoted $60-$70 dollars per hour plus any parts. Our grand total was over $400 dollars, the hours are not listed on the invoice, and the service tech didn't replace a damn thing! Not only that LADIES he made me (the wife) feel like a stupid woman who didn't know shit from her own butthole. Continuously trying to sell me on things we absolutely did not need and mansplaining! I will not ever again call this company for any service!

Suzanne K.

02/04/2017 12:00:00 SA

I am not sure you need to look anywhere else. Uptown not only has a Happy Homeowners Club where for $10a month you get numerous benefits. And as a new home owner these were the most daunting of issues. I am had them out for several different issues. Water heater replacement, water filtration system and for a sewer inspection. Every one of the service people were cordial, kind and personable. Even with my somewhat terrifying dog, each of them handled everything professionally and at a price I am willing to pay for. They won't always be the cheapest. But I think that the extra cost for upfront service and on time service is worth it.

Thank you Uptown!

Random C.

04/08/2020 12:00:00 SA

Professional uniformed installers in brand new vans. However, I don't want the facade of customer service; I want a company that actually cares about it.

My story: Had Hero come out to clear the sewer of roots that grow into it & potentially cause backups. After snaking it, they sent a camera through the sewer drain, to inspect it. Upon review of the footage, the tech tells me that the drain's poor condition is a ticking time bomb and it is in need of immediate repair. He tells me that they are lucky they caught it in time, because if it collapses, it would cost me 35 grand.

He tells me the cost of repairs will be $20,585.

After I picked my jaw off the floor, I sought a second opinion: a small, local plumbing company. He came out to take a look at my system and reviewed the camera footage Hero had taken.

His 40 years of experience told him that repairs were NOT immediately needed, and when they were needed he would charge me $3800.

Naturally, I cut all ties with Hero. Including canceling my Happy Homeowner membership, or whatever nonsense they call it.

TL;DR

Hero Plumbing relies on our ignorance about plumbing/heating systems and attempts to put us in debt, by suggesting unneeded repairs, and charging astronomical prices.

Remember: when you see those technicians in their spic-n-span uniforms form head to toe, and their brand new logo-branded vans, it is us the customer who is paying for that faff.

Connor M.

12/13/2022

Update: it's surprising your sales tactics are legal.

Summery:
* Do not call Hero.
* Do not let anyone from Hero in your house or on your property.
* If you do call Hero, They will leverage your unfortune situation to take as much money from you as possible.
* Very bad ethics, no integrity, morally reprehensible.

Note: I see lots of great reviews, so I'm confused as to why my experience was terrible.

Update: Lots of those positive reviews may be fake.

Poor Craftsmanship and Even Worse Business Practice:

The Quote

I called Hero to have a water heater replaced and was impressed by their level of customer service. The morning of the appointment I received a text with some information and picture describing the tech I should be expecting. Upon arrival and getting set up, the plumber, Brandon S., began to check for leaks throughout my gas systems, along with a water test. Mind you, the mechanical systems are in the basement, he insisted he check the entire house for gas leaks. The water chemistry he performed was basic and he was not able to detect anything.

Brandon did discover several extremely small gas leaks that could be described as diminutive. They were only detectable when a special solution was applied after first tracking with an extremely sensitive digital meter. There was no gas smell at any point. After several minutes bubbles were visible at the joints. He used this as sufficient evidence to call these leaks and closely documented each one with photos on his iPad. He would later use these photos as legerage.

At the conclusion of the inspections, I was presented with a few repair options, with the first option being $15,000.00 for a water heater and new gas piping and then ending with $3,400.00 to only fix the gas leaks.

I told Brandon that was out of my budget and thanked him for his time. He then informed me he would have to shut my gas off [in November] and report it to the gas company who would take an undermined amount of time to turn it back on, after a repair was made. This led to a charade of him calling his manager, on speaker phone, explaining I was declining the work and someone one the phone just kept saying Yep I have everything I need [presumably: to have the gas shut off]. He used the information he had gained by performing an Inspection to get me to agree to pay $3,400 to have 4 hours worth of work done to fix these so-called leaks.

Faced with him turning off my heat, and calling the gas company on me, I reluctantly agreed to have the work done.

The Work

Brandon worked for about one hour before another plumber showed up to finish what Brandon had started. Brandon then left.

They removed steel pipe and replaced with much easier to install, and much cheaper, copper tubing. The job was over in 3 hours. The work performed looks terrible, is of lesser quality, and ended up costing about $2,400.

My Advice is: Do not let Hero perform an Inspection of your home. Do not let Hero in your home. They are trying to find work for themselves and use scare tactics to convince you to have work completed by them at an extremely high cost to you. They will use high pressure sales tactics to separate you from your money.

* FYI: Their stated cost to replace a water heater is around $3,700.00

* Each gas leak repair was about $500.

* They took the fastest and cheapest approach to repair the leaks they found.

* Their Pricing is not straight forward and is intended to rip you off.

* Everything I signed was under duress, either to keep my heat on, or agree that the work was satisfactory and complete, or that I was satisfied. I just wanted these people out of my home.

How did I get them to take $1,000 off my bill? I asked. I explained money was tight and asked if they could take $1,000 off.
.

Being told If you don't sign and agree to let us fix this, and pay $3,400, then we're going to turn your heat off Hardly seems like time to review my options. In that moment, I was not paying to have necessary repairs done, I was paying to keep my heat on.

Edit: after an hour on the phone i got 77 back. Also, Im sure they'll stand behind wha they did and how they acted.

Anthony K.

11/04/2019 12:00:00 SA

Rescheduled on us twice (day before our appointment both times). It's been 2 months of waiting. We have no heat on our 2nd/3rd floor where all our bedrooms are located. Called the people who installed our furnaces and they are coming tomorrow. Not sure why we didn't just start there. We also cancelled our annual maintenance plan with Hero. Lowry Hill area here.

Mike M.

8/22/2022

$3500.00 to replace a 40 gallon water heater...old one needed a new control valve, was quoted $1500 to replace that! 1 hour after they left putting in the new one, called them reporting a strong gas odor, said would be several hours to get someone out, ended up calling the gas company, someone was out in 15 minutes, they found a significant leak at a fitting....over paid dearly for a very poorly done job....DO NOT USE HERO!!!!!

Evangeline F.

03/10/2017 12:00:00 SA

I love Uptown Plumbing, Heating & Cooling. They always send amazing technicians who are on time, friendly, courteous and competent. Today Joseph V. installed a Pristine Air Filter for me. He was terrific and completed the job in no time. I highly recommend everyone at Uptown!

Ron G.

11/09/2018 12:00:00 SA

Buderus boiler no power lights and no heat situation. My boiler would not boot up. So the Hero technician replaces the boiler fan for me which I had ordered from SupplyHouse online. The unit would still not power up. I asked about the fuse on the ABC unit. He had not checked it but the fuse was blown so the replacement fuse was installed still no power to the unit. So replace the unit $10-15000 for a high efficiency boiler? I went to double check the fuse with my multimeter. The fuse was good but the fuse was not pushed in correctly. I replaced the fuse correctly and replaced the ABC unit. I turn on the main power switch and then the boiler switch. The unit is working perfectly. I was charged 769 dollars and had no working heat when the technician left my place. I was told the PC board was blown (the board with the fuse) and it would cost $1100 to replace. NO call back from this company as I was promised.

Jared L.

12/08/2021 12:00:00 SA

These guys are rip off artists. If you don't believe me, check out other reviews. $6800 quote for 75 gallon water heater. I told installer the price was high and he told me their cost was $4000 because it's a high end commercial unit. They brought unit in and I looked up the model online; it costs $1700. bottom line is they charged me $5000 for installation. My fault for not researching first. I had a leaking water heater and with 3 children in the house I felt the need to hurry.

Nancy S.

9/24/2018

I called Friday, September 21 for washing machine shut off valve replacement. We have to have the main shut off for 4 days because they are leaking. They couldn't come the same day even though their website says same-day service. They scheduled me for Monday, September 24 between 9 and 11. I received a reminder on Sunday. They called at 9:30 on Monday to say that they can't come because they received a number of water heater replacement calls over the weekend. Even though my call was prior to those, the water heaters are apparently more important than my service. Water heaters must be more lucrative. Nothing I could say would get them to come out today. Crummy service. Will never call them again. Richfield Plumbing will come ASAP.

Peter H.

9/29/2010

Due to the MAC class action lawsuit settlement, I was in the market for a Mini Split air conditioner.The time between first contact with Uptown, to the time I had the unit installed and purring away was remarkably swift and painless. On the day of installation, I took a peek upstairs to view the progress, as there was obviously some sawing, cutting & finessing going on to fit the unit into a limited space above a window in my dining room. I observed more dust than I was expecting, due, no doubt to the tight squeeze that was taking place, so I expressed some alarm at the dust, fearing that I'd have a big unexpected cleanup job.
Well, I soon felt like I'd overreacted, because after they cleaned up, there was no trace of the previous dust - I'd say the house was cleaner than when they arrived! Bottom line: Uptown Heating was quick, professional, expert & well priced: Highly recommended!

Tom S.

09/08/2021 12:00:00 SA

I went to the website in regards to Hero's advertisement of $93 to clear Main Drain . I wanted to have them also clear an interior drain and requested a Total Quote. Thea popped up on the online chat. She asked for my name and phone number and I provided requested info. She then asked for my address to Book the appointment. I responded that I wanted a quote first and she replied again that she wanted my address to Book the appointment. I exited from their website. I searched Hero Plumbing Reviews and I am glad I did. The reviews are mostly negative. Feel like a dodged a bullet!!!

D.R. M.

10/26/2019

I've used Hero just a couple of times, but I'm most grateful for their most recent visit. We had a very slow kitchen drain and had our regular plumbing company have two whacks at it, both unsuccessful. When they failed to return my call about this problem--I needed to talk to a technician, not a scheduler--I called Hero. They sent a new drain guy who promptly found the easily removed clog the first drain guy totally missed. So, we're happy with Hero.

Brian M.

5/26/2018

No Good! This company is all about marketing, search engine optimization and a robust customer service group.
Had a tech. out to the house to instigate an issue with the AC/Furnace system ($189/visit if over the weekend). Performed a somewhat brief visual inspection, removed a few fittings, and allegedly 'solved the problem'. I asked specifically, 'will this for sure solve the problem'? 'Could it be anything else'? and was told the problem is solved. 2 days later, learned the problem wasn't solved. Called back their customer service group, and was told they will charge me again for a 'tech.' to come back out ... THIS COMPANY DOES NOT WARRANTY FAILED SERVICE WORK.

All of their HVAC personnel are independent contractors and appears to be fed leads by their customer service group.

NOT RECOMMENDED. This company certainly is NOT a tried and true group that has very knowledgeable personnel with a long history of building quality relationships and business through great craftsmanship and work.

Kristin E.

02/09/2016 12:00:00 SA

Beware of this company. I called on Friday for a new hot water heater. They wouldn't give me a quote over the phone, wanted $70 to give me an estimate. After waiving that fee (nice) they set a 7:00am appointment for Monday. Arrived at 8:00 and Dan gave me a quote of $6,000 for a new HWH and a scare pitch about our water being like Flint MI. Said I also needed an entire house filtration system. Talked about galvanized pipes which do not exist in my new house. I told him no, so he then showed me other bids with less options, the lowest one being $3,000. When I said no he asked why I even called Uptown. I am asking myself the same question. Do not bother with this company. I used Jake the Plumber and had a great experience with the professional HWH installation costing me $1,685, not the lowest bid but worth it.

Martin N.

6/19/2023

A complete miss from a customer service standpoint. The Hero technician came out and did significant work on a plumbing project in my home. After finishing the service that amounted to over $2000 worth of repairs I was feeling confident that I could move forward without issue. Unfortunately I was quickly informed by the city that the work Hero completed did not meet city code and in fact we'd need additional expensive repairs me to correct the problem. After multiple calls into Hero, I was told that there was nothing at all they could do to help me other than return and charge me a full price repair for the correction! I calmly pleaded with management for additional customer service support, but after several attempts I was essentially met with a door slammed in my face. Hero is not a company I would recommend you spend your money with. Complete customer service fail.

Attila S.

9/22/2015

AVOID! Use only in the most dire emergencies when you have exhausted all other options. Go to the Better Business Bureau of Minnesota and see what others have said about the less-than-ethical practices of Uptown Plumbing, Heating & Cooling (UPH&C) before you use them. It takes some navigating, but get to the Consumer Complaints tab/section. There are several complaints about UPH&C: if you believe you've been suckered by them, file a complaint so others can be on guard. UPH&C also fail to leave any paperwork detailing warranties and do not mention tax rebates or credits at all so you will likely buy an expensive item (as in my case) unaware that you will not qualify for any EnergyStar rebate or tax credit. A very shady organization (read on) despite their polished marketing program.

The technicians of UPH&C meet all relevant technical expectations. It's their hard-sell approach that compels me to give one stars. I had a tech come out and convince me to get a new water heater: he conveniently had one in the truck with him, and I didn't want to have to take another day off work to be there, so why not? Cost of about 4 hours work and new (but cheapest bronze package) water heater: $2,200 dollars. True, I was able to finance it with the deceptively diabolical Synchrony Bank (interest- free for 12 months, ratchets up to 20+% interest after that so beware if you go that route) for a fee of about $30 dollars. I am still kicking myself for not living with the old rattling water heater longer (it did need replacement, but could have lasted for at least enough time to get more quotes) instead of getting pushed into this ridiculously overpriced new one...and it's not even the best, I am told. Learn from my needlessly urgent decision citizens! Allowing $1,000 for the water heater, I paid another $1,200 for about 3 hours labor. I'm pro union generally, but even I find this amount exorbitant. NOTE: Your receipt or invoice will also not show you how much you paid for parts and labor, another way that UPH&C hides how much they are actually making off of you. They will also not (at least in this case) offer any rebates for energy efficiency or the like - they will not even bring up those issues. CenterPoint Energy would have been a much better choice in hindsight.

Later on in the year another technician came out to prep our furnace for winter. Before testing whether it worked or not, or whether it had any combustion issues (e.g. excess carbon monoxide due to a blocked vent) the tech said he couldn't do anything but instead shut the gas off to the furnace because he spotted a crack in the heat exchanger, and was bound (by duty if not law, I'm not sure) to go no further and said our only option was to replace the entire thing. I don't want to believe that he was intentionally deceiving me, but there was no evidence that the furnace emitted CO at all - let alone that the crack (which looked more like a scratch) was causing any issue. Go online and search CO Myths and related articles about how many companies use the cracked heat exchanger ploy to get panic-stricken homeowners to agree to an immediate replacement.

In the end, the technician showed me the crack on his camera device, but didn't provide me any evidence that CO was an issue at all or that the alleged crack was having a negative impact on the furnace in any way: it's an old furnace, stress cracks are not rare. In fact, there is no way that CO can get into the indoor air stream from a crack in the heat exchanger: only a clogged vent or inefficient combustion can do that. Don't be intimidated if they put their red tags on your furnace: you CAN use your furnace! Just turn the gas lever back on. I have run my furnace without issue since, free of CO alarms, and will plan to replace it when I have the money and only after I get multiple quotes. In the meantime, my CO alarms will provide ample notice of any danger. Here's the link regarding the heat exchanger & CO issue: carbonmonoxidemyths.com/…

UPH&C staff are quick to present the bronze - gold - platinum pricing options (all outrageously high in hindsight and by comparison) to drive a sense of urgency and to compel you to make an immediate decision, but you'd do well, when feasible, to shop around before signing an agreement. If you choose UPH&C you'll likely overpay substantially for the job, as many others have detailed in their reviews.

Tom A.

2/16/2016

Very nice people but their responsiveness and knowledge is totally lacking. They market as local company focused on service but they make appointments, we take off of work and they cancel and then are out over a week for the next appointment. It seems they value their time more than the customers.

Too bad as I would like to support local business.

Ilona I.

3/18/2018

This company came recommended by a neighbor. When I called they responded right away they arrived at time set up. They seem polite enough when I showed them all of the work that I needed done. However they have some sort of system that gives a generic price for jobs that need to be done. For example $500 to hook up the icemaker. All said and done it was thousands of dollars to do some plumbing patches around my house. There was a 69$ fee for the guy to walk in the door. So I had him reassemble a drain I had already started for $170. The cheapest thing on the list. The stopper for the sink did not work. When they sent me an email asking for a review and hat was I happy I informed them to stop or didn't work and they asked if I wanted a call back and I said yes. I never heard from them. An ok company if you have lots of money and need somebody fast. Unclear as to quality of work. I got somebody else to do the plumbing for 1/3 the quote that these guys gave me. Maybe even less than a third.

Jen O.

9/24/2018

seems like they send out sales people rather than plumbers - he was so busy trying to sell me their service plan. Then their prices were so astronomical I asked him to leave. I ended up paying $69 for the service call just to get a sales pitch and then get rid of him. Please avoid this business!!!!!

Todd H.

05/01/2021 12:00:00 SA

Had service done for a plugged kitchen sink. Communication, friendliness and service was excellent. Service representative texted me 30 minutes before he was to arrive and when he did he arrive he was super friendly and efficient. Couldn't of asked for any more

Will A.

1/13/2022

Beware.

I called Hero to have someone come take a look at our leaky kitchen drain. I got on the schedule for a next day appointment - great!

The tech arrived & was nice. However they did a full analysis of everything remotely related to water in my house and gave me an initial quote of $20,000 while pushing their subscription offering to waive a $100 visit fee for only $13/mo in perpetuity. When I said I didn't want anything close to the $20k, their final price was $4,000 to replace a sink drain.

I felt stuck so I signed but had second thoughts. It was a day of work and the tactics of presenting a $20,000 offer to make the $4,000 seem reasonable were just shady.

I cancelled the appointment and got a refund - the company was good about that. I also got a quote from a qualified independent plumber recommended by a neighbor that's coming in sub-$1,000.

Don't believe their estimates & scare tactics meant to anchor you at a crazy high price. Ask your neighbors for recommendations before googling & picking Hero.

Brooke M.

02/08/2019 12:00:00 SA

$368 to unplug my sink drain is ridiculous! I had a 7-9 appointment told I was the first one of the day they didn't show up until 8:40. Never again!

Kara D.

5/17/2021

We had a random pipe in our basement bathroom get backed up and overflow, and the only plumber we could get in here asap on a weekend was Hero. They were communicative and did a good job. I forget the total cost for this service, but we doled out our money for this emergency visit.

Later down the road, we bought ourselves a new toilet and bathroom sink faucet, and so we reached out to Hero again just to install them for us. But WOW they're expensive. They quoted us $551 just to install the toilet and $490 for the sink. They also quoted us $360 just to replace a valve. We ended up using another local plumber for less than half of Hero's quote. (We would have just figured it all out ourselves had we not been working full-time with a busy baby on our hands.)

Amanda T.

6/27/2023

We had Hero come out and clean out the main line because it had some roots growing into the clay pipes. $93 - what a deal, right? Except this was just a ploy to get in the house and scare me into a $15k liner or $5k picote/jet cleaning I ended up not needing. They also use a too-small 4 auger that can't possibly clean out the entire pipe and then said more was needed to fix the issue. If they had done it ethically the first time, it would be fixed already. So their great deal was completely worthless.

Since they came, we had two other companies give a second opinion and they both recommend a simple clean out with an appropriately sized 6 auger for under $500. One of those companies even does liners and could have easily told me to get one from them but confirmed we didn't need it.

Hero should give me the $93 back for wasting my time and for generally being crappy. (pun, heh) Never going to them again for anything. I'm fuming.

Rory T.

12/17/2012

We contacted Vogt Plumbing and Heating to do some servicing on equipment they had installed. Uptown had bought that business when Vogt ceased to exist. They called twice saying they were coming... soon. They never showed up, never called to explain and we did not hear from them the next 2 business days. I'd say that's pretty flaky.

Jeff S.

9/22/2020

We had Hero come to our home on 9/14/2020 to clean out a clogged floor drain in our laundry room. When making the appointment we asked if the $93 or free applied to this service and the operator said that if it was anything other than the main drain that they would let us know. The plumber arrived within the timeframe and did an initial inspection of the drain and then started a sales pitch on all of the things we could do with the drain. He pushed to do a blast of the pipes and a camera for over $800! The cheapest option he had was to run a cable in the drain for $410 but he said that Hero would not stand by the work if it clogged again. We opted for the $410 which cheapest option presented as the plumber was quick to explain why it would not be $93 or free. It sure does seem like he gets that question often, I'm assuming from Hero's deceptive commercials and phone operators. We were shocked by the price of $410 to do this work as it took him less than 10 min to get the drain unclogged. We had 2 separate neighbors that had the same thing done to their floor drains within the last year and they paid less than $200 with another company. I would like to know why the $93 did not apply for such a simple drain cleaning.

Robert E.

9/23/2019

We were paying Hero monthly on a contract for preferred status. I was never completely satisfied but the last experiences convinced me to get someone else immediately. The air conditioner was not working. They sent one of their supposed top repairman out on a Friday morning. He spent only about 10 minutes at the house and then told me the power saver for the county savings program was malfunctioning and I should call the utility company and have it disconnected. I had that done the same day . Still, no air conditioning- so the Hero was wrong. Called again the following Monday after an uncomfortably hot weekend. Another Hero came out Tuesday and said the air conditioner was shot and needed to be replaced. He set up an appointment for a sales rep to come to the house and present us with options (pitches) for a new air conditioner. I delayed and called one of Hero's competitors. They came out and told me I had one bad part that would be at a nominal cost to replace. So I went with that new company and have been enjoying cool air ever since. I'll never do business with Hero again.

Brittany L.

11/15/2019

This company is a predator company. They lied to us. Told us it's now or never, our pipes could get worse and they wouldn't touch them after that. Once we tried to postpone the services and employee stated we would have to pay for the permits that were pulled. The manager confirmed that was not true, and when I expressed my sheer anger with his employees sales tactics, his response was did the other plumber give you a number because we can work with you. Watch out for these people. Always get a second opinion. Do not let these people tell you it's now or never. Do your research! Terrible terrible experience. Will never request them to come to my home again.

Robert L.

03/09/2017 12:00:00 SA

great in every way

they fixed my mother up the best in shakopee with a/c

i know, i heard it from all her neighbors

one problem they made feb feel like march and vice versa

ha

Alicia J.

8/31/2018

I was not provided with a copy of the bill until I called in to get one and they emailed it to me. When seeing the bill it is not itemized, so you don't know what you are being charged for what part of the service. I was told to diagnose my AC unit it would be $69 diagnostic fee which would be applied to any repair I do, sounded great! Then the technician had to replace fuses to test my system because my fuses were bad and they blew again while he was diagnosing, my final bill for the diagnostic was $147 and that was with a $57 coupon, so how much did they charge me for fuses...no idea because their bill isn't itemized. I found out after the fact that fuses are only about $10 and they charged over $100. I called to inquire about the charge for the fuses, but I will never know because they don't itemize their bill and if you call they will not tell you line by line charges. Very bad business practice, very disappointed and they said my compressor is bad and system needs to be replaced, I don't even think I can trust their diagnosis now and their estimate for a new system was extremely high. I will not do business with them again, they are too big business. Update: my concerns were quickly addressed and resolved by Jessica at Hero and I appreciated her follow up.

Scott O.

1/18/2014

Weird SItuation. They came out to look at a problem with a boiler with zone valves. Said it would cost $4900 to fix, partially because they would not touch the boiler without replacing a valve, etc... and they would do it next week... then called the day before the work and said they were going to cancel because they couldn't get the parts! Found someone else to do the work, only charged $1000!!!

Danae Lynn L.

02/01/2023 12:00:00 SA

Extremely Overpriced!!!! I paid $6,382. to install a new furnace in 1800sqft house!! I could have purchased two for that price!!! They take advantage of people desperate situations.
My pipes burst and showered everything in the basement including the furnace. They wouldn't write in the receipt that the water cause the furnace to go out, which was the source of the problem. (Tech could hardly speak English) I'm stuck with a over priced furnace and a huge debt. Then they didn't find the 2nd leak when they repaired the first leak, so I had to have them come back twice and paid $1600 for 2 small leaks.
Your paying for the fancy Hero vehicles and the fancy houses that these people own. I would think these people would have a hard time sleeping at night, I know I would.
The constant emails and messaging is annoying as well as 3 different people coming for one job.
Services: Plumbing leak repair, Heating system installation

Libby M.

02/08/2023 12:00:00 SA

My 5 year old water heater needed a new heating part. When I called they said they'd have the part. When they got here they didn't have it and wouldn't be able to get it for a couple weeks. Said I needed a more efficient water heater anyway. Your stuck. No water heater for weeks or get a new one today. Well after they left, I looked up the price of the water heater. They charged me almost 4 TIMES what it cost. NEVER CALL THEM TO FIX ANYTHING. I WOULD NEVER LET THEM IN YOUR HOUSE NO MATTER HOW DESPERATE you are.

Camille C.

12/05/2019 12:00:00 SA

No Stars Review
Unethical and deceptive company

The representative came to our home because the water heater was old. While there he tested our water, which indicated high levels of chlorine and TDS. Based on this information, we agreed to his recommendation to install an whole house filtration system.

After the work was completed, we were told we'd receive an owners manual for the equipment. The manual left behind was for OEMs (it says so on the inside cover - see the photo) So we called, asking for the manual. Despite leaving frequent messages, they were not returned for weeks. Then we were sent manuals for water softeners and reverse osmosis systems. We were sent to two different manufacturer websites and most recently provided spec sheets for industrial water filtration for bottling and treatment of aquariums.

If the specification sheet for the GAC (granulated active carbon) filter they provided is correct, it doesn't even treat the two things that were tested during the service call. Chlorine and TDS. Based on some Google searching, this seems to be a common practice - to test for TDS and introduce fear, then sell equipment that doesn't actually treat the issue.

I fear Hero has no idea what they installed and worse yet oversold me on equipment, taking advantage of my trust in their recommendations.

Six weeks of communication has not lead to resolution of our request for owners manual for the equipment.

MC P.

7/13/2016

It's hard to find enough stars for Uptown. We had them install air conditioning in our 100+ year home. I could not believe how quickly they got the work done, and how professionally they handled the job. As part of the job they put paper down on the carpet, and they also built surrounds for the piping and painted those surrounds, being careful to match the paint to our existing wall colors. They've quickly come out every time we had a follow-up question about the air conditioning. The scheduling is polite and efficient, and they provide updates to the homeowner as to when and who will be coming to provide the service. We were so impressed that we've also had them come out and handle an emergency plumbing issue, which they also handled quickly and capably. I would recommend them to anyone for air conditioning or plumbing, and I'm only sorry that we waited for so long before installing the air conditioning.

Harold F.

10/22/2017

It was late Saturday afternoon. I was hanging a mirror and put a small puncture in a water line. We needed it fixed immediately. I called several plumbers. All got back to me later. Uptown had a person who picked up the call immediately. He scheduled Davis to come out to my house in a half an hour. That was great as I needed this fixed right away.

The good: Davis was friendly offering advise and help on other issues with our plumbing. Since the puncture was small, he was able to remove a small amount of drywall and applied a copper patch in about 15 minutes. Nice workmanship.

The negative: the service was great but the price was $537.00 for a half an hour of work and the only parts were the application of a copper sleeve. I understand I paid extra for the Saturday hours. I haven't needed a plumber in a long time but this seemed quite excessive. He let me know the price before he started so no surprises and I needed it done but I felt like my situation was forcing my hand.

Andrea D.

10/09/2017 12:00:00 SA

I'm really surprised that there are not more negative reviews of Uptown on Yelp and other sites - they are unscrupulous and prey on your fear and anxiety. I'm so disappointed with our experience.

First of all, I called for a routine check using the coupon they offered, which, as others have noted, ends up being closer to $150 than the $69 they are offering. That alone is pretty shady and certainly should have been a warning to me. Nonetheless, I continued with the check despite those red flags since I'm a nervous new parent and wanted to ensure our house would be in good shape for the winter.

Yes, they do text with a technician's information, which is nice, and some personal info about the person. I did appreciate that.

But, as other people noted, they totally pulled the scare tactics of 'red tagging' my boiler due to carbon monoxide leakage and telling me I needed to pay $900 for a clean/seal job in order to eliminate the leak. They did the same need to double check call to another tech who was at our place within 20mins. I was totally convinced - and my next door neighbor, who works on the industrial side of heating/electrical was as well. I was ready to pull out my credit card and have them do it when I thought to ask the likelihood that the clean/seal job would be successful - and they said 10% of the time it works, and 90% of the time there is STILL a leak, and you have to get a new boiler, but you'd be paying for both the clean/seal and the new boiler. At this point, I realized a new boiler might be a better bargain, and they sent someone over to give me an estimate. Like everyone who writes a good review, they ARE fast - but I think it's because they want to capitalize on the job before you get wind that they might be less than honest.

Anyway, after 48 hours of being convinced we'd need to shell out $7K within the next week, I did a little research (thank goodness I asked really specific questions to the tech) and realized that in fact there might not be a problem at all - that a small level of co leakage was to be expected - and sure enough, I called in two separate second opinions and they confirmed what I thought - my boiler is totally fine and normal. It was a hugely stressful experience and I'm really disappointed at what I believe to be a aggressive marketing scheme coupled with an attempt to take advantage of my lack of specific knowledge. The two other plumbers I called remarked upon first seeing the huge stickers that Uptown put on my boiler (unasked - they just plastered them all over) that they are known within the industry as crooks. It's such a shame since they have a community space and I know people trust them given the immense amount of marking and outreach they do - but honestly, steer clear.

Emily A.

07/10/2021 12:00:00 SA

Very overpriced!!!! I have a clogged kitchen sink. They quoted me $321 AFTER a $77 coupon! Absolutely ridiculous!!!!! I said that it was very overpriced and researched online as he stood there. Found 3 other local plumbers. They all said that was absolutely outrageous! I have someone coming today that has a special for $75!! the 2 other plumbers I called quoted $100 and $145!! do your research people! Hero is an absolute rip off!

J L.

11/15/2016

Mike F, professional and quickly identified an economical solution. Mike's work provides all the functionality and it looks good, too.

Tyler M.

06/02/2023 12:00:00 SA

Scheduled 2 days prior and then I get a call saying I need to reschedule because they over booked today. My house has been at 86 degrees this whole time and now they wanted me to wait 5 days. If you schedule with them, don't be surprised when they give you a call saying you need to reschedule and won't even give a discount for making a mistake on their end.

Thomas B.

12/22/2018

The technician was professional enough but Hero's pricing is nothing short of gouging! With a leaking pipe spraying water they put an absurd price in front of you with no itemization. How can one understand the labor and materials that will go into a job. After the fact when I realized the 1.5 hours and 12 inches of copper was needed to complete the job, I was able to figure out their labor rate is $400 per hour. ROBBERY! Hero's explanation is they give up front pricing and anything unexpected won't cost extra. So they charge for all the extras, EVEN WHEN THERE AREN'T ANY EXTRAS!!! ROBBERY. Don't use Hero. Use ANY other plumber. TJBrown

S E.

10/18/2020

Do NOT use Hero! They charged us $200 to come out and tell us what the flashing light on our furnace meant which we told the guy on the phone when we called asking for service. We told the guy on the phone we think we need a new circuit panel. They sent a repair technician who came out. We took off the panel for the repair tech. The repair tech looked at it with a flashlight and said yeah you need a new circuit panel... He then said we should probably buy an entire new furnace and if we purchase it with an AC unit we will probably get a deal. Further, he said if we wanted to repair the broken part, it would be $1,403 and it wouldn't guarantee a fix. We then called around to 3 other companies who said Easy fix, couple hundred bucks, do NOT buy a new furnace. I LOVE how the guy who wasn't trying to upsell us anything we didn't need was trying to sell us an AC unit in October. Do NOT use this company. They are a scam!!!!

Suzette V.

10/21/2016

We've had our boiler for over 50 years and it was wearing. Uptown replaced it to a new one and we couldn't be happier with their work! Rob O talked us through what was going on with our old boiler. Justin detected MAJOR ISSUES. He and Wayne R did the exchange, so clean in fact our furnace room was cleaner when they left than before they started. Joe helped with financing which only took minutes.
We live in a 1940 Colonial and when it's time to install air conditioning I wouldn't go to anyone but these guys!! So HAPPY with this company of professionals!! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!
Suzette & Douglas

Brian G.

6/13/2017

Just like MANY other negative reviews posted here, my experience with Uptown revealed that they run a TOTAL scam! Like many other reviewers on here, I had the technician who showed up at my house to do a furnace tune-up, said he needed to call in for a second opinion on the heat exchange, and then the second opinion came and told me that they needed to red tag my furnace, blah, blah, blah...the next thing I know, my furnace has been condemned, and they shut off my heat in subzero weather. Fortunately, they tell me that they will be able to send over a sales person within the hour to give me a quote on a new furnace so that I'll be up and running again by the next day!!!

The sales person came out within 30 minutes, gave me a CRAZY inflated quote, and a promise that they could complete the work the next day. Before pulling the trigger, I called another company to get a second opinion. They came out to look at the furnace, and concluded that there was absolutely no reason to condemn my furnace at this time. They turned back on my heat, and told me to replace the furnace some time in the next couple of years.

I can't believe that this company hasn't gotten in trouble with the BBB for this!

Brad N.

06/09/2017 12:00:00 SA

After talking with them for just a couple minutes they said they would not help me fix my Air conditioner. Then they just hung up. Not very professional.

Ilan W.

1/24/2020

Total scam. Tried to charge me $800 for $25 worth of parts. I get markups but 3,200% seems a bit high. Call anyone else but these clowns...

Mark S.

11/06/2017 12:00:00 SA

Tim H. did an excellent job doing the fall tune up for my furnace. He evaluated all the things that were required. He provided me with a thorough explanation of the status of my furnace. I was very pleased with his service.

Mary A.

11/26/2013

We have a pre-1900 house that had a very complex mess of a heating system, and I was getting very discouraged about finding anyone to work on it, after being turned down by a couple of companies and having others just not show up or not show any interest in the job. Uptown didn't seem alarmed by the complexity, provided a clear explanation of what they could do, with a choice of options in different price categories, quoted definite prices, came out when promised, finished the job in less time than predicted, left the place cleaner than it was when they arrived, and were very pleasant to deal with. We will definitely use them for our heating and cooling service in the future.

Angela K.

07/06/2021 12:00:00 SA

Just had a really frustrating experience with Hero plumbing, heating and electric. We decided to go with them to install some light fixtures. Had an appointment today but unfortunately it is an open schedule, meaning they'd be with us some time between 7 and 4. So, my husband took the day off work (unpaid) and waited & waited & waited. They're supposed to call an hour before coming so at 3:15 we called and they said they'll have to reschedule. They're running behind. Apparently, it never occurred to them to call us! They will not keep their techs late and have no interest in accommodating us in any other way. But, they're happy to give it another try some other time. No thanks!

Also, just to mention, their receptionist was lovely and I was careful not to take it out on her. But I don't recommend Hero!

Brad C.

4/24/2020

SUMMARY: Hero was available in a flash and I would guess that they are great for emergencies. They were also up-front about their charges. But if price is a consideration, then you better be prepared.
DETAILS: I recently bought my house in New Brighton, having just moved here from Chicago. The seal in my basement toilet tank was leaking water into the bowl, causing the tank to have to partially refill nearly every other hour. Otherwise, the toilet worked well. I called Hero. What a mistake. Although they were very prompt to arrive, their price estimate was such that I was also prompt in telling them to leave. The work to be done was to replace the mechanical workings of a Kohler toilet, a common, run-of-the-mill model. Their repairman noticed a little dampness between the toilet and the basement floor and recommended that the seal be replaced as well. Their price estimate was not at all what I expected because I had the same work done in a condo in Chicago two years earlier. In Chicago, I paid less than half of the price of Hero's estimate. A neighbor in New Brighton recommended that I call Crown Drain located in Blaine. Before Crown came out, they recommended that I buy a new toilet from Menards or Home Depot and have Crown install it. The combined prices of the NEW toilet (American made Mansfield) and Crown's installation was half of Hero's REPAIR estimate. The disadvantage of using Crown was that they could not offer the prompt service that Hero does. Crown was booked and required that I wait for three days.

Matthew T.

7/17/2019

BBB doesn't let you leave negative reviews for pricing. If they did this company would be shut down. I live in Phoenix and this company does the HVAC work for Home Depot here. They gave me a quote of 10,400 for a 5 ton Rheem Package heat pump. I almost signed the deal but I decided to call a couple other companies from angieslist. I'm glad I did because I am getting the same exact unit with all the same equipment and work for 6k with a great warranty. Be aware these guys are very expensive and high pressure sales tactics make it worse.

John R.

1/24/2015

We recently bought a house that had been kept up amazingly by the previous owners. and everything had been done better than the right way.
Therefore, when I saw that previous work on the boiler had been done by Uptown, I was convinced they were the best choice.
They're not.
We have water sloshing through our baseboard heaters and it keeps us up at night. Apparently, this is a simple problem (too much air in the pipes) with a simple solution (get the air out) . The fix seems as simple as changing oil in the car. We also have some small leaks from some drain knobs.

Attempt #1: Technician came over and bled some air out of a valve and tightened the knobs. $69.00 for the trip over. I'd pay that - reasonable.
Result #1: Water still sloshing through the pipes and the leak still dripping.

Attempt #2: Next day, a different technician came over and flushed out the entire system and tightened the knobs. He said, There was a TON of air in the pipes - more than I've seen in a long time.
Result #2: Water still sloshing through the pipes and the leak still dripping.

Attempt #3: Next day, a DIFFERENT technician came over and flushed out the entire system and tightened the knobs. He said, There was a crapton of air in the pipes. When i asked how in the course of 24 hours, a crapton of air could have gotten in the system, I got no answer. I then asked, How will I know that THIS TIME it will be fixed? Technician said, It will. He also tried to upsell me a fix to the tune of $2000-$3000.
Result #3: Water still sloshing through the pipes and the leak still dripping.

This is my first yelp review and I really wish I could make it a positive one, but this experience with what I thought would be an exceptional company was an exceptional waste of time.
I will be asking for a refund and calling another company from now on.

Joseph S.

08/03/2021 12:00:00 SA

UPDATE: As promised....three years after Hero told me I desperately needed a new furnace, the furnace is going strong, without any issues whatsoever.

It was serviced today by Phil from Golden Valley Heating and Air.
This time it was quite clean - everything working well.
Blower motor needing replacing? Heck no!
Heat exchanger failing? Three years later, still no problems, Hero!

Either both the service technicians and the sales representative do not know what options homeowners actually have with respect to their furnace, or they are not being forthcoming for the sake of selling a new system. Either way prompts me to red tag Hero itself.

I will update this again in two years, after the next service call.

Jill J.

7/30/2022

I needed to have my bathtub faucet replaced and the Woman who answered the phone sounded almost upset with me for asking. All she said was that that was outside their scope of work and couldn't help me. I just thought it was very strange. I won't ever call them back since they're that fussy about the work they do.

Sam M.

02/08/2022 12:00:00 SA

I bought a house in November and the previous owners had a brand new expensive water softener installed for me 10 days before closing and purchased Hero's Happy Home Club. The water softener is not working and when I called to to get it serviced they are charging me to come to my home and fix it despite it being BRAND NEW. Because the previous owners purchased it and didn't have to put in my name they will not honor the warranty or the Happy Home Club, and they will not make exception. I think it's super shady, I could understand if it was months later and then they sold the house. But it was literally purchased for me and now they've wasted their money and I have a 3 month old water softener that doesn't work. If they were a decent company and stood behind their work and building customer relations they should come out and fix it. I'm really upset and will never use them and don't suggest anyone else to either.

Nate R.

2/21/2018

We had a very old furnace from the early '90s. Chad came over for a tune up and did a thorough job of checking out the condition of the old furnace. My family decided it was time for a new furnace. Matt and Max did the installation of the furnace and central air conditioning unit (they had a buy one get one deal). They were very nice, knew what they were doing and were very informative. We are happy with their service. We did have a issue with a rebate offer but they resolved it for us. Overall we are satisfied with their work and would recommend using them.

Catherine S.

6/18/2016

Called on a Friday AM because we had water running leaking through the finished basement ceiling - the person who answered the phone was very professional and nice, but said the soonest they could send someone was Monday AM. I explained the water was literally running through the ceiling and we couldn't let that continue all weekend - she simply repeated that they could come Monday between 7 and 11am. They never even offered suggestions for shutting the water down to stop the leak until someone could get there. I called McQuillan Brothers and they had someone out within 1.5 hours. I won't be calling Uptown again!

Ben M.

03/07/2023 12:00:00 SA

I am just starting out in my homeownership journey, and they told me my water heater needed emergency replacement. So out of my no knowledge of how the things work, they charged me $6,000 to replace the furnace. I come to realize that not only did I over lay $4,000, but the problem was only a $200 fix and not an emergency at all. So I blew my whole emergency savings, and now hope nothing else goes wrong while I try to build it back up. Don't know how they sleep at night taking advantage of people who think there is an emergency and no other options.

Anne B.

8/21/2021

Would never call them back. Came to my home and gave an estimate 2x higher than two other plumbers- one who fixed our drain.

Lori Anne W.

4/13/2023

Called Hero today all over their adds say same day sump pump repair/installation. Price for repair is 79.00 - 10.00 for 69.00 !! The girl breathes hard on the phone telling me they cannot come today and gives me a next day window of 8 hrs ? She then quoted me 89.00 and says I can get it for 69.00? Do you not know your ads? Again, market hours that work the best for you and will not give me less than an 8 hr window after booking me for the next day ? Shouldn't your marketing match your business model? Just saying. Very poor marketing and customer service. !!!! You are even on tv with the same message. I think they call that false advertising.

Terry B.

04/04/2017 12:00:00 SA

Dustin arrived on time and did a great job installing a new exterior faucet for our townhouse. Uptown's office quickly provided the paperwork required by our Board to obtain project approval prior to starting. Final invoice matched the proposal. It was a pleasure working with this team.

Sara O.

8/22/2018

I would give this company 0 stars if possible. By far the worst customer service I've ever experienced. As part of an inspection they were supposed to fix two drains. They did not fix either of these issues. When I called, they said they didn't see any issues. There are buckets under my sink. They do not stand behind their work. Not only did the plumber not do their job. The lack of follow up and accountability from their experience leader was pitiful. They do not return phone calls or follow through on anything.

Shakil S.

07/09/2017 12:00:00 SA

Uptown Plumbing has yet to resolve the leaking Mitsubishi AC unit. The unit is defective and under warranty. Service tech cannot seem to fix it. The problem continues for 3 weeks and still no calls from the company owners how they will take care of the problem.

Barb J.

10/22/2019

If I could give a zero rating I would! Terrible company with such predatory business plan.
We were on Hero's (formerly Uptown) Happy Home Club service plan. After three years of high pressure sales tactics for very expensive things that didn't actually need fixing/replacing I just cancelled the plan. For example, this year they told me I needed to replace my furnace for $12000! It was only 13 years old, and would typically last 25! After Hero taking several carbon-monoxide readings from two different technicians, I called a different company we have used before for for a second opinion. They read absolute zero carbon monoxide leaking and also zero within the flue - indicating a perfectly functioning furnace.
Last year it was the hot water heater I needed to replace for $8000 - after a second opinion and 12 months later we have had no problems whatsoever with it. Before that, we needed to fix out 4 year old A/C for many hundreds of dollars. Luckily I always got second opinions and didn't do any of this totally unnecessary work.
I am so glad to be finally done with Hero - it is a brilliant marketing strategy to call such an immoral and predatory company a Hero. Look at the other reviews - they seem to all be either one star, or 5 star. I assume that the 5 star reviews are all from the company itself, and the true rating is one star. Don't use Hero - you will end up overpaying for service you don't need.

Colleen S.

06/06/2018 12:00:00 SA

Excellent service and very fair pricing!! I was very pleased with Hero Plumbing and I would highly recommend this company for any plumbing services.

Andrea K.

02/10/2016 12:00:00 SA

Ian was super helpful and fixed our problem (motor went out in our furnace) quickly and cheerily. Ian was really knowledgable, and I felt that he was going to make sure that everything went smoothly for us. Thanks!!

Kristina P.

03/12/2019 12:00:00 SA

I also have a Google review that says the same thing but since I recently came across more reviews/reports of people who experienced the same scam I felt I should share on more than one platform.

We had some plumbing done and got a 'free' boiler inspection as a result. They came in, claimed there were seals on our boiler that were not repairable and there was a dangerous amount of carbon monoxide floating around. Proceeded to lock out/tag out our boiler and then tried to sell us on buying a new one. Of course, we are upset because we think there is a CO leak and it is dangerous to be in our home so we naturally buy into the suggestion that we need a new boiler, that will of course be 15k. The HVAC guy leaves and we do some research on the boilers that Hero is pushing and they have horrid reviews. Like horrible reliability and not at all near the efficiency they claim. So we decide to call around for a second opinion. After a visit from a different company, turns out there is nothing wrong with our boiler at all and the only CO 'leak' is going out the chimney, which is where it is supposed to be. The seals that couldn't be repaired were repaired and we were told we have at least 15-20 more years of life left on our boiler. They tried to use the fear of a CO leak to scam us into buying a 15k boiler system.

Additionally, as I was reading our neighborhood monthly paper, I noticed that in the From the Editor section that she had nearly an identical experience to the one we had. Again, the technician reporting unacceptable levels of CO and trying to hawk a super expensive replacement unit. How interesting! I've added a screenshot (non-relevant sections were removed) from the paper. While it doesn't say Hero the scam is the exact same.

The 'great' reviews on Google or similar sites are obviously curated as well. Within hours of my original Google review I was called by Hero to discuss it. NOPE. They could offer free plumbing for life and I wouldn't change it.

Somer M.

6/18/2020

I will not be giving any stars. I worked with Hero in January on a weekend call due to toilet leaking into basement. Gentlemen came and diagnosed and could fix toilet seal for $700. I did not have much of a choice since the next day I had to fly out for a conference. Well, past week I noticed water drops in my basement again. Flushed the toilet and saw water leaking again. Highly irritated I called Hero and the lady was very sweet and was reaching dispatch. All they could do was wave diagnosis. I would still have to pay for repair since it was only a 30 day warranty. Which...was never told that. Asked to have estimates emailed to me to potentially change gas piping in the future, which never received. So now I have water damage again, and something that is not fixed. I do not like my money wasted. I informed them I will not work with them again and will be going with a different company. Very disappointed that I have to deal with this again and then how far it goes.

David S.

10/12/2019 12:00:00 SA

Scheduled with Hero Plumbing last Friday. Can't give a window but I stayed home all day. They called and said they had too many other emergencies and kept changing their story about what was the problem. I had even done a preview visit to plan the work. So two days down the tube and no work even started! Don't use them. Not my Hero!

Ann P.

8/15/2017

Consistently prompt, knowledgable and able to get the job done. We've used them for over five years.

Neil H.

10/04/2021 12:00:00 SA

Bought a very expensive radiant system from Hero. Salesman told me that we would have infinite hot water......we absolutely do not. On days below zero it takes 3 runs to fill a bath tub. On above zero days it takes 2. The care given to the installation of the system was also unsatisfactory. This year they have been out twice to not fix the problem. NO HOT WATER FOR THE LAST WEEK. Says open til 1130 p.m. I was told today they have no on call technician. I was also told after 330pm is difficult.... so it's my fault for having a job. I haven't had a single year in 8 years my system hasn't had problems. DO NOT USE HERO.

Scott N.

06/04/2015 12:00:00 SA

An update from the Better Business Bureau regarding Uptown Plumbing, Heating & Cooling:

After numerous attempts via telephone and certified mail trying to reach Uptown Plumbing, Heating and Cooling, Inc., they have chosen not to respond to our requests. We understand this does not resolve your complaint against the company and empathize with your frustration over this issue. We will be closing the case as unanswered.

Your complaint will remain in the company's BBB Business Review for 36 months, our standard reporting period. That review is made available to the consuming public, the news media and various regulatory agencies. Your complaint will reflect the lack of response by Uptown Plumbing, Heating and Cooling, Inc.. Your complaint may spare another consumer from having the same experience that you had.

Stacy M.

7/19/2018

Saw their commercial and gave a call. They are a well oiled machine. We needed some work on an air conditioning unit. Zak came out and gave us an estimate. He came back a few days later to clean out the unit (it was full of mold!!) He did a great job. We will call again for the other unit to be cleaned. We also got an estimate to run a gas line to change our stove from electric to gas. Lance came out for that. We will be booking soon. We joined their happy home program and look forward to getting our house in shape and happy!

David S.

09/02/2020 12:00:00 SA

Replacing a Schrader valve is a fifteen minutes job. I just don't have the tools to do that. I asked them to fix it. Figure it would be about $100 for the call plus the part. It was almost $300.00 for a simple job, that I told them what needed done.

Tech was capable, it seemed, but I didn't like the way he spoke to me, he just came off wrong, and when he asked to use my bathroom, I just was not comfortable with him to enter my home.

But I am upset about the charge. I thought the charge would have been $150.00 at most and all these bastards make it impossible to shop around even when you ask for cost. It's a shady industry and these clowns are no heroes. Just scammers as usual. I won't be buying a replacement system from them. Though they want that business, they needed to treat me fair.

It was being held up without a gun!

George K.

1/14/2019

I have had good and bad experiences with Hero. The best experience today, Jan. 14, 2019. Andy, a technician who tuned up my boiler was excellent! He was thorough, polite, and answered all the questions I asked him-there were many. I would recommend him to anyone. Good job! I have hired your company to do lots of work for me. The work was always excellent but very expensive. The bad experiences involved high pressure salesmanship, your customer relationship from your office toward me was very poor, and the work I hired to be done was not completed for a month. I have learned how to avoid high pressure salesmanship. Always get a second opinion, even if your furnace is dead and you have to wear a coat inside your house.

Adam G.

01/02/2019 12:00:00 SA

Have dealt with Hero 3 times recently for 3 different issues at 2 properties. I keep returning to them out of convenience, though I should've shopped around a little more.

Overall, fantastic quality of work; I have no doubts about the products they sell or the quality of their handiwork. In the last month, I've had: a water softener, water heater, furnace, and air conditioner installed; a bathtub/shower replumbed; and a few other miscellaneous things.

The technicians are all really fantastic. Nice, courteous, respectful in and around the home, and clearly qualified to do their work.

I do however have repeated frustration with the high expense and lack of pricing transparency. I realize that every job is different, but the technicians have on all occasions said my jobs were easy, yet I still felt overcharged and I can't explain why because I have no receipts -- itemized or otherwise; they do everything on tablets). This was expected for two of the visits where I asked for or anticipated replacement, but the third visit was supposed to be for a range gas hookup and turned into 3 new appliances and a multi-thousand dollar unexpected expense.

I do think the new furnace is now under-powered for the house, but it shouldn't be an issue as long as it doesn't stop working entirely during a bitter-cold day. Watch out if they show you an appliance pamphlet; I thought I was getting a 16 seer air conditioner, but when it was all said & done, I now have a 14 seer air conditioner. When looking at the options pamphlet a little closer, it says up to 16 seer which means they can install whatever they want. I can't complain too much, it was a free add-on.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the Heroes ;) but I would recommend going somewhere else if you aren't willing to allow scope creep or unexplained cost structures.

Cody H.

9/16/2020

PREDATORY PRACTICES FOR EMERGENCY SERVICE

I wasn't going to write a review because there was somewhat of a resolution but when it fell short of what was promised, I felt compelled. In the beginning of September, I was going to replace a shower faucet in our master bathroom one afternoon. Being pretty handy and doing numerous small plumbing jobs over the years, I felt I could handle it. Unfortunately, I tweaked a corroded fixture in the wall which began to leak. It leaked enough water to the point where it was leaking through the kitchen ceiling below. I turned off the master water valve and called a couple of plumbers I knew. They were tied up on contracting jobs and I needed it done right away since we didn't have water in the house. I've seen Hero Plumbing's advertisements on TV so I figured I would give them a shot. Wow, was I in for a surprise.

Hero was able to come out within a couple of hours and promised a diagnosis for $89. I showed the tech what was wrong, explaining we just wanted a cheap fix since I had the fixture and we were going to remodel the bathroom in the near future. The tech went downstairs to check my water softener and upon returning, showed me two options for the fix: Best and Better. Best was $1330 and Better was $1472. I was floored. I knew what needed to be done and it should only take about 2-3 hours max. I explained I felt I was being taken advantage of and was told they are a union shop, he was a journeyman and a permit would need to be pulled through the city. I found the permit requirement odd due to my experience being around the trades and knew journeymen typically charge $100/hr on the high end while a master plumber is usually $150/hr max. I pleaded that we needed water in the house and asked to get the price down. He explained removing the specialized access wall panel would save $180. I asked what made it special, so he showed me an image of it and said it was spring loaded. I told him to go ahead with the cheaper of the two jobs, minus the wall plate, thinking I would deal with management later. While he was working, I checked Home Depot's website and found the same panel for $15. When he was installing the faucet I purchased, I went into the master bedroom closet and looked at the parts which were installed. Needless to say, the parts he supplied were $10 max! The tech finished in 2 hours and I could not believe we just paid $547.50/hr for Hero to fix our leak.

The next morning I called the city to line up an inspection. The inspection coordinator did not understand why a permit was pulled because it was not needed. They refunded Hero for it and strongly encouraged that I contact them to request a refund. I called Hero and requested to speak with a manager about our issue surrounding their pricing. Just shy of 48 hours, I received a call back from a representative of Hero. I explained that the permit was not needed, I had some knowledge being around the trades and the plumbers I typically use were all tied up on jobs. I went on to say their practices seemed predatory and felt I was being taken advantage of during a time of need. They told me the best they could do was refund 10% of the bill, plus the cost of the permit. I confirmed with the rep. that I would be receiving a $204 credit back to my credit card, which would still be $488.50/hr, well above what a master plumber would charge.

Now when I write this, it's not to disparage the courteousness or the install from the plumber. It's to advise others of the predatory practices of Hero plumbing during a time of need. I finally got the refund back from Hero in the amount of $200, not the $204 which was promised. You might say it's only $4 they didn't give back to you but for me, this was the breaking point to write this review. In the service industry customer experience is everything and your word is your word. In the eyes of Hero Plumbing, this obviously is not the case. They might do good work if you plan ahead, but when a last-minute emergency arises, BE AWARE!

Rebecca A.

5/18/2018

They canceled my schedule appointment and I had to push my project back an entire week. I called to ask them to come on Saturday because they were the ones who had to cancel it and they said they would have to charge me a emergency fee. They were the ones who had to cancel and to me, that means the company makes it work. So I would not recommend this company at all. If you cancel on me, you make it right. NOT me.

Jaimie L R.

6/27/2021

This is from my father,whom you won't respond to about his yard.
I had HERO Plumbing replace the main line outside of my house. I would like to mention a couple of things about signing with HERO. First, what the estimator says & what is on what you sign are not the same thing. Remove two small trees (to me, dig up so I can maybe keep them alive), no on the order it is cut off at the base of the trunk (they took 5 trees!). When he comes with his ipad & says sign here this is what we talked about, don't do it until you get a copy(hard copy or email). It is extremely hard to receive copies of estimate or receipts, i'd say almost impossible! That is just a few complaints I have, I would like you to look over some before & after pictures I have & make up your own mind. They have no regard whatsoever about your landscape. Be careful!!

Maribeth R.

7/31/2018

DO NOT HIRE THIS COMPANY.

On a Happy Home Club routine maintenance visit, the technician told us we had several gas leaks. We couldn't smell anything, but he gave us ways to fix the problem with thousands of dollars of work. He was required to shut off the gas.

I couldn't smell gas, but I could smell something fishy with this assessment, so I got a second opinion.

We went a week with our gas turned off while we waited for our second opinion.

No gas leaks anywhere according to a more reputable and honest company.

Imagine what I would have spent on unnecessary work if I would have trusted the Heroes (eye roll).

Thanks for the cold showers this week while our gas was off!!!!!

Unbelievable.

Morgan S.

01/08/2020 12:00:00 SA

Not sure what changed organizationally along with the name change from Uptown to Hero but service is not as great; in fact, at times, it's a little awkward. I wish they'd stop exerting energy/money on niceties such as their overabundance of branded trucks and other marketing materials, pictures/bios of techs in emails/text messages before they come, showing you laminated steps of their process (which is obvious, diagnose, suggestions, decision, work, etc.), etc. and focus more cost and time savings for the customer. They should also either get rid of their online messaging system or staff it with people who can actually help you or ensure your message is properly escalated and followed up to. I don't care for their scheduling technique of scheduling multiple customers in a day and then getting through them in first in-first out order. Staffing/scheduling should accommodate customers selecting a specific time and expecting the tech to arrive at that time. Finally, either bleeding radiators and adjusting boiler pressure should be included in the annual inspection/maintenance for Happy Home members or not. It's always been covered in my free annual servicing (part of Happy Home club membership) and this year we were charged over $200 for it because there was a lot of air in the radiators and the work required a lot of trips up and down the stairs *rolling eyes*.

Prashant M.

08/04/2019 12:00:00 SA

I would not even give them 1 star. The technician came over and told us that our air conditioner wasn't working as the capacitor was broken. For a Sunday service we agreed to pay $200. But when he quoted us additional $350 to change the capacitor which only cost $13 on Amazon or any parts.com. I only reasoned out with him what was the additional $350 being charged for and the guy was so rude that it's for the service to come out truck gas other services. Also since I was not satisfied I only paid for diagnostic and decided not to continue for repairs. The best yet to come, I see a receipt for the company and the technician in my email with a review that the customer was not respectful. What surprises me is if you deny to take a service of repair for which you are enormously being charged and the amount cannot be justified the technician harassed you by leaving a note in the receipt. Please beware of these guys and their services.

Will O.

06/07/2016 12:00:00 SA

Update: Uptown called me after this review posted, and upon reviewing my invoices they agreed that this situation was not handled well. They apologized profusely and refunded the cost of the trip. Because of their professionalism in dealing with the matter, I've adjusted the rating to three stars from one.

Original review: As bad things always happen on weekends, I called Uptown on Saturday afternoon after our sewer main backed up. One of their on-call technicians was able to come out around 6pm to help us out. After discovering that our cleanout was located under a lot of dirt, we decided to pull the toilet for access to the main, and the tech proceeded to cable the drain with a 3 blade. He hit something around 65' and pulled back the cable. There were quite a few roots. The technician was unsure whether he'd cleared the line (he hadn't), suggested light water use, and then scheduled a complimentary camera inspection for Monday morning. The camera inspection showed water backed up and verified the hard stop around 63' down the line. The gentleman doing the inspection said I had two options: continue cabling by the hour with a low likelihood of success or spend $5k digging up the sidewalk, installing a new section of pipe, and two new external cleanouts. He suggested the latter. I was out $343 for a non-functioning drain and an estimate for $5k plus sidewalk repair.

Needless to say, I called a sewer specialist that same morning (Shout out to Ron the Sewer Rat!). They'd apparently heard this story before and were fairly sure they'd be able to fix the problem. They came out promptly and cabled the line with a 6 blade. They felt a lot of resistance but were tenacious, and were able to get the cable down about 95'. After they pulled it back they scoped the line, which was in perfect condition and required no service whatsoever. They suggested cleaning the line every 3-4 years. Total cost: $334.

Long story short, if you have a mainline backup I'd avoid this company. They didn't clear my drain and suggested a lot of unnecessary and very expensive work. On a positive note, the techs were very nice and professional while not solving the problem.

J E.

08/03/2023 12:00:00 SA

Dispatched 8-3-23 to my in-laws house in Bloomington. Technician was onsite for 2-5 minutes. Did not remove any of the furnace covers and proceeded to explain to my father in law that he needs to replace the entire furnace, raise the height of the furnace 6, and replace all the duct work,in order to fix the problem. I called and complained to the company about this and was told that this is the safest way to deal with the furnace... The issue at hand is a bad capacitor on the motor start relay. It costs $15 for the part, but Hero wants to install a complete new furnace for thousands. Find another company to deal with. It appears that they prey on the elderly, in-laws are in their 80s. Will be calling MN Attorney General.

Jason K.

08/10/2016 12:00:00 SA

This company charges $70 for a bid on a project....which you can roll into the project if you accept their ASTRONOMICAL BID! Crazy pricing! I hope no one has to use this company.
$600 for toilet/installation......$1500 for sink drain/disposal/revOsmosis/frig hook-up

Karen M.

7/30/2014

We contacted Uptown because of an issue with our furnace, and while there was a problem related to the repair, the owner was great in helping us to resolve it. She clearly cares about her customers and her company, and we were satisfied with the resolution.

Brent R.

10/26/2018

Hero came out to my house in Spring 2016 and told me my entire igniter had to be replaced on my furnace. At the time, I had to pay an already extremely overpriced $400 for the new part. If I wanted to have the part warrantied past ONE month, I was told I had to pay an additional fee, which is ridiculous.

Now two years later, the igniter has failed. Since I didnt pay extra money to protect the product outside of one month, I am out of luck. At least this time around I found someone who will not completely rip me off in the first place. This igniter will cost me less than $200. Edina Heating and Cooling is a far superior option.

CJ R.

9/26/2020

I Would never ever recommend Hero Plumbing to anyone! We were charged $410.00 to clean a 15 foot drain! (Wasn't a weekend or holiday) It took less than 10 minutes to clean the drain and we were told it was probably build up from lint from the washing machine. Then the guy wanted to sell a $40 replacement plug for the drain after he broke the plug that was in the drain. Home Depot sells the same plug for $3.36. A week later I was talking to 2 different neighbors and they had 2 different companies come out and clean the same drain in their homes and it was $175 and the other neighbor was charged $200! I'm Starting with posts here on yelp and I will make sure friends and neighbors on the Bloomington, Apple Valley, Burnsville, Richfield, Eagan community pages hear about this also. We Reached out to Hero Plumbing thru their webpage and received no response from them. A post from my husband on Yelp last week and no response for why their prices are double other companies.

Susan E P.

12/21/2020

Prompt and friendly service was the best part of our experience. We had a main line sewer clog, Tony arrived to clean out the sewer pipe, the machine did not work and required repair. Tony and Austin returned and ran the cleaning tool down the sewer along with the sewer camera to assess the clog / problem. Their assessment was a $2200.00 sewer clean out was what was required with a 90% chance to fix the problem. After Tony and Austin left our home, I called another plumbing company for a second opinion.
They came out, assessed the problem and were able to repair it within 30 minutes. They use the same tools that Tony and Austin used.
Hero plumbing attempted to deceive us into believing we needed a major repair. Very disappointed in this unprofessional behavior. We will be contacting the Better Business Bureau.

Cathy R.

3/29/2019

Called them after a disastrous wasted day with another plumber. They were very helpful and understanding of my frustration. The got me in at the time I requested. The technician arrived early, they sent me a text with his picture, information about him and that he would be here soon. He was polite, courteous and very helpful. He promptly fixed the issue, cleaned everything up and gave me pointers on regular maintenance to avoid the issue in the future. with my Hero experience.

Alicia S.

09/06/2023 12:00:00 SA

If you decide to bring in Hero Plumbing into your home, you are going to need a hero to clean up the mess they made. We fell prey to them under an insurance claim so this is not even a grumble about their rates/expense. They are not responsible, reliable, or thorough, inexplicably incapable of documentation of their work lest you elect to hold them accountable, upsell pure nonsense to the elderly and take full advantage of the confused. Do not even try to reach a human with capacities outside of taking messages. The Hero invoices and paperwork do not include a phone number or email address, let that speak for itself. Heed the one-star reviews, thank me later.

David H.

12/20/2016

My go-to plumbers - a little expensive, but you get what you pay for when it comes to skilled professionals. Everything is quoted in advance - no surprises, and they always provide three options for every project. The crew here gives the best, most attentive service in town, too. No endless waiting. No run-around with pricing. I've had Uptown handle multiple projects in our aging home and I've never been disappointed.

Peter N.

5/13/2021

Avoid at all costs. Had an appointment scheduled and made arrangements to stay home. They called at 11:00 AM to tell me they couldn't make it and wanted to reschedule for 3 days later. I will never call them again.

Mina W.

12/13/2019

My husband had been worrying about our furnace going out and considering it's 15 years old and I was on maternity leave I called Hero for a tune up. We were given options for repair but considering its age we decided to do the inevitable and replace it sooner rather than later. We also decided to go ahead with the AC replacement to avoid additional separate labor costs. Tony, offered free duct cleaning and Jon, the guy who did the furnace tune up was friendly and I felt good about our decision.

Shortly after the Friday afternoon visit I received a call from Tony saying that if we agreed to install on Monday we would get an $800 discount (yay!) I gave information for financing and we weren't automatically approved but Tony says if it was an outright denial it would say so. Not having any reason to think we would be wouldn't be approved I didn't think much of it. On Monday at 6:30am I received a call from Hero informing us that our financing did not go through and they asked for alternative payment. I was completely baffled why our financing was denied and told them I would call them back with the plan to discuss with my husband. As I'm talking to my husband about how we are going to pay this massive bill Hero shows up to install the furnace and tells me they won't get started unless I pay. With Hero literally at my front door, I tried calling the finance company and the Hero office but don't get any answers about what is wrong with our application. My husband says just pay them so we can get the discount, I provide payment and our new furnace and AC were installed within a few hours.

The paperwork left behind states that if you pay outright and don't finance you get a discount...which I was not offered in this debacle. I also don't get a call to schedule the duct cleaning (I wanted to schedule duct cleaning before my maternity leave was over). After calling Hero twice and leaving a voicemail with Tony who never called me back I was told we would be receiving a check in the mail for pay in full discount and the duct cleaning company finally calls to schedule the appointment. However, when they came we are told they can't clean our ducts until the snow melts in the spring because they need to bring in a portable machine which is something Hero should have known.

A week later, I receive the reason we were denied from the finance company and it states that the reason for denial was unverifiable application information. To me, this means some of the information I gave for financing was not submitted correctly.

At the end of the day our furnace works, it is much quieter than the old one and I have peace of mind knowing that we will get through our baby's first Minnesota winter without losing heat. Two stars for having a new working furnace. Zero stars for competent customer service.

Treasure T.

08/02/2017 12:00:00 SA

Davis Pratt was fast and flexible. I had a budget and we were able to make it work. Will call next time I have a plumbing problem!

Monica A.

09/12/2019 12:00:00 SA

I live in Kenwood, a neighborhood where we are price gouged constantly. I am trying to get my elderly mother out of a house that is falling apart. Each year I have a 5-10 K repair surprise. Each year I try to have the furnace systems inspected. This year is no different. Hero to the rescue to check on my new water heater that seemed to not heat. I ended up having a minor plumbing repair. While there the tech offered to check the furnace pipes and bubble tested them. He then said there were numerous leaks he had to red tag my system and turn off my furnace. This led to a quote to replace the whole piping system for ~5K

This did not pass my sniff test so I had CenterPoint come and sniff test it and they found one baby leak and also red tagged my system.

Today I had McQuillan come and they found the one and only leak also found by CenterPoint and gave me a minor quote commensurate with the leak! Shame on you Hero. Your no hero of mine and need a new name. I felt taken advantage of when I was the most vulnerable in the midst threat of gas leak.

Derrik S.

4/21/2022

Horrible customer service, bait and switch pricing. I wish I never would have wasted my time. Seriously... find ANY OTHER plumbing service.

Nate D.

8/14/2015

In January I had them come out for a furnace tune-up I found on Groupon. The tech came out, removed the front cover of my furnace, and within moments, decalred it to be a safety hazzard. Said he couldn't turn it back on, but that a sales rep lived nearby, and he would have him stop by on his way home to discuss my options. The sales rep showed, and explained that I had many new furnace options from which to pick, with the cheapest being $3,000 or so. I explained that I was hesitant to make such a decision based on their tech's 20 second review of my furnace, and that I would rather they turn the furnace back on, and let me mull my options. They refused to do so without first making me sign a hand written document absolving them of any risk, since my family was likely moments from death without the new furnace. I had a reputable furnace guy come over to check things out, and he told me that the furnace was in perfect shape, and that whomever had told me otherwise was likley a scammer. So, I would mirror the other advice on here. If you want to use them, fine, but before spending thousands of dollars, I'd suggest getting a second opinion.

Kathleen R.

08/05/2023 12:00:00 SA

This is a belated follow up review. I was looking for a plumber and came across Hero. I had a very negative interaction with a contentious owner when I used them about 2 years ago. I called and spoke with him after questioning a repeated floor drain that had been repaired about a month ago that was backing up again. I wanted them to come out and clean it out again. I had just come home from a hospital stay when it was cleaned. I had forgotten that the tech said before he left that the drain would need more work. He did not say it was urgent or that it would need to be soon. I believe it was 1 day past the warranty. They came out again and after using a camera the said I needed some line replaced. For 1 day of work by 2 techs I was charged $8000. Basically $1000 an hour. The techs were all personable and cleaned up after themselves. No complaints there. But as a senior citizen I felt and still do taken advantage of. I wish I had checked Yelp before hiring.

Cindy T.

06/10/2021 12:00:00 SA

A couple of months ago I was dealing with a serious health issue for my husband. Of course, my sump pump died and basement flooded. Hero charged me $1500 for the install of a new pump and talked me into signing up for an annual checkup. With a monthly charge. Then I had an electrician from them out for some electrical issues. That guy gave me an estimate of +$3000! YES $3000!!!!!! Today I had a local electrician out who fixed everything for $175!!!!!!!!
BUNCH OF CROOKS!

Catherine D.

6/20/2017

Steve M. came for a tune up for our 10 year old air conditioner...he was very friendly, tidy and knowledgeable. He explained things clearly and worked efficiently. Would use them again!

Elliott G.

3/20/2018

This company is a complete racket. I wanted a bid to install a new bathroom sink and faucet - a relatively minor plumbing job that should not have cost more than $300 or so based on previous experience, not including the price of the sink and faucet (which I had already purchased). Uptown Plumbing gave me a quote of $1,200 - sheer highway robbery. The technician was as nice as could be and I reassured him that I wasn't angry at him but rather at the greedy owners of this unscrupulous company. I'm glad that I'm just out the $69 trip charge rather than over a grand. If you're looking for a plumber, you'd be much better off going with some of the smaller local companies. Professional plumbing is not cheap but there is still a range for a fair price, and this outfit falls nowhere within it. Their entire business model is predicated on systematically gouging their customers.

Prism L.

04/07/2022 12:00:00 SA

I just wanted to say thank you to the beautiful couple that started hero plumbing. I am beyond impressed with how much they care about the environment of their employees. I love the kindness in their heart. Thank you so much for allowing me into the space and feel so genuinely loved.

David M.

2/28/2022

Have an issue where the main drain is backing up when draining kitchen sink and when doing laundry. Ten years agtor a company came out and did a sewer line clean which fixed the problem. This time due to Google ratings and Hero's $93 main line cleaning special gave them a try. Had Friday appointment with no time frame. Got notification they were running behind. Plumber finally arrived about 12:30. He then flushed my toilet numerous times and told me the problem was not in the main line. He then gave me 3 options, a $500 rotor of the pipe, a $1000 jet wash, or a $2000 service plan including plumbing, heating , electrical and you name it with numerous visits a year. I can only imagine how expensive that would get. I gave him a firm no. Ended up paying $69 for the service call. Was not offered the $93 main drain clean which was why I called them in the first place. Horrible company, bait and switch and selling services beyond anything I requested. Will never do business with them again. Purchased a gallon of main drain cleaner and put it in near the floor drain. That has helped. Am trying me second gallon. At $11 a gallon much more reasonable.

Liz M.

11/23/2019

This is Liz Morrison again. Ian checked my furnace on 11/18/19 and told me that my furnace had an over-amping inducer and a failed blower capacitor. The cost of replacing the inducer would be $777.00. And the cost of the blower capacitor would be $211.00. I gave Ian a good review because I thought he told me the truth about what was going on with my furnace. I found out a few days later that Ian lied to me. He stood right in front of me and lied. There's no such thing as a failed blower capacitor. Either it works or it doesn't. And the cost of replacing it is around $5.00 not $211.00. And the cost of replacing the inducer is around $60.00 not $777.00. I also found out that there's nothing wrong with my furnace. It's working just fine.
Ian was in my house for 11/2-2 hours. What he did down in my basement for that period of time is a mystery. My guess is that he found that my furnace was in good working order. That he called someone to see what furnace problems he could come up with that would convince me that I needed to spend almost $1000.00 so my furnace wouldn't stop working. Or better yet, that I would decide that putting that much money in a 20 year old furnace might not be a good idea. So decide to buy a new furnace from HERO.
The part that bothers me the most is that this young man had no problem lying to me. And my guess is that the company has no problem having him do this.
I'm giving you one star only because I have to fill something in. I'd rather give your company a negative rating but that option isn't available.

Jarrod E.

3/15/2016

Called to have a valve installed for a bathtub faucet. I was scheduled for between 2-5pm and got a call at 4:07pm saying the plumber was tied up with another job as were all the others and asked if I could reschedule for tomorrow. I told him I took the afternoon off from work and tomorrow wasn't an option. He said they would keep me informed as to when he would be able to come. I got another call at 5:07pm from a manager stating there was no way any plumber would be able to make it today. She said one could come tomorrow and when I said I wasn't able to be home she suggested Saturday. No apology nor effort to make it correct.

Lesley N.

04/05/2023 12:00:00 SA

Beware! This place is horrible and not to be trusted. My parents had an simple leak with the toilet flap and $600 later, it was fixed, by buying a whole new tank, pulling the flap assembly and reinstalling in the old toilet tank. They didn't even leave the new tank that they had paid for. What kind of company basically steals from their elderly clients?

Dave K.

8/25/2020

Would have absolutely NOTHING to do with this outfit if for no other reason than their irritating, annoying, obnoxious, insipid commercials.
Cannot believe that ANY business owner would view this commercial and say, Yeah, that's good, let's go with it.
A suitable punishment for such stupidity would be for those responsible to be forced to listen to an endless loop of their crap commercial.

Peter T.

08/05/2021 12:00:00 SA

I started using these guys almost 20 years ago, and tried to stick with the same company, but they keep disappointing me. Misdiagnosed problem with a hot water heater (I fixed it for $20 in 15 min when they told me I would need a new hot water heater for $1500), upselling every time they come, telling me the whole problem with my AC was that it needed to be cleaned (for $1200) when it really had a coolant leak, trying to get out of honoring a warrantee. They are real friendly and everything, but I just don't like the way they do business anymore.

Patricia R.

09/09/2020 12:00:00 SA

I had a great experience with a water heater in March, just after the shut down and was super impressed, so I called when the condensation unit blew out on the furnace/ac. That guy got the AC going, and after 3 days of high heat and no AC, I thought he was wonderful. But when he opened up the furnace, the pilot blew out. Since it was a hundred degrees outside, he didn't check the heat function. I didn't either, until today, when it was cold. I went downstairs and the little fire in the window was not going. I chatted with Hero. Then I called. Then I waited. And waited. And was told the furnace wasn't opened. I asked how he fixed a part inside, then. They refused to send someone to relight it, but are oddly refunding the price of the repair. Go elsewhere with someone that will provide actual service.

Chris C.

11/18/2016

November 18, 2016 and this is what they did to me. I scheduled a basic tune up for the winter. The technician came out and drilled a hole in the vent, stating the furnace had been installed backwards so a drilled hole was the only way he could inspect it. He snaked a camera in and stated the heat exchange looked cracked and called for a 2nd opinion from a senior tech. He also stated the O2 levels were off and the airflow was bad. Senior tech came out, checked and red-tagged my furnace! Cold front just blew in and my heat was turned off! I called a 2nd company and a technician came out, unscrewed the panel (vs using a drilled hole) and fully inspected it. He said nope! The heating exchange IS FINE. The furnace was NOT installed backwards, I just need a better access door in the wall next to it. (it's cheaper to cut an access door in a panel wall vs ripping out and reversing a furnace installation). He removed the red tag, reconnected the gas and did a thorough inspection. He gave my furnace a clean bill of health. Said its working fine, is a newer furnace and there wasn't even any corrosion on the heating exchange, much less a crack. I will not EVER call Uptown again. Not when they tried to rip me off by $5000 (which is what they quoted for a heat exchange element replacement).

Robert E.

3/14/2022

In Minnetonka, MN (not San Francisco)

** BEWARE **

I had a plumber out to replace the wax seal in a leaking toilet. The plumber that was dispatched was excellent, very nice and worked efficiently. Importantly, however, after less than $10 part and about 45 minutes of work, I had a $800 bill!!!!!! I called to question this price and express my concern that the bill was roughly triple what was appropriate relative to other plumbers in area and level of effort required to do this work. Customer service was very friendly and well spoken but completely failed to resolve this over-charging.

$800 to replace wax ring....SERIOUSLY?!?!?!? This overcharging ON TOP OF the $13/month Happy Home Club that we were paying to essentially be put in cue to be summarily gouged with respect to pricing on services.

Deb G.

11/09/2021 12:00:00 SA

I hired them for some plumbing repairs. One was the outdoor hose bid that had a continued leak. It was fixed but now as I tried to unscrew my hose for the season it would not move at all. I had 2 strong guys try and it would not budge at all.
So, I called for an appointment to have this repaired again. My appointment was for today, November 9th. I was updated through the day that the tech would be here. This started at 8:00 am. I waiting all day and just received a call that they would have to reschedule for another day.
Awful customer service and a complete waste of a day!

Monti M.

8/28/2023

THEY FLOODED MY HOME TWICE IN ONE YEAR!!!

WARNING !!! They flooded my entire finished basement after an unlicensed kid was banging on a pipe with a big machine for about 40 minutes straight. Here's where HERO is the worst - they make you sign a waiver before they do any work in your home and they are very very tricky about it. You're signing that they can damage anything and they are not responsible. So you will have to file for damages under YOUR OWN HOME OWNERS INSURANCE!!!.. and home owner's insurance won't cover the initial damage or the deductible. So right away I'm out almost $6000.00 This practice seems very illegal to do. Hero is supposed to use their insurance when they have an accident. They have to be insured yet they trick you into signing a waiver. This practice is under review. They then will charge you 3 times the amount to fix the problem!! They charged me 3 times what the other plumbers said they would have charged. What was I going to do ? Shop around for quotes while my basement fills with water ?? Of course I had to hire them they just broke the pipe. So after they refused to help at all, forced me to use my home owners insurance, they then refused to let me speak to anyone within management. Fast forward 7 months... I finally got my basket back together and the new carpet hasn't been down for not even 30days and HERO comes out for a free AC inspection. And the inspector left the condenser hose out of the pump unit to flood my basement again. This time HERO got a team of three women to stop me from speaking to anyone at the company from management. I just thought after flooding my house a second time maybe someone from HERO, like the owner maybe, would feel bad and want to make it right. NO !! HERO doesn't care about you. They want your money. They will flood your home and never give you the time of day. So I had my entire basement gutted and rebuilt and then my brand new carpet pulled up and new stuff put in again and the second time it , of course , didn't go in correctly and now the doors to closets and laundry rooms won't close without a great deal of force. Im sure the walls have moisture in them again. The city plumber was here as were other contractors and plumbers through the now over 8 month ordeal and they have never heard of the same plumber flooding the same home twice. I've heard they will leave hoses loose or unattached after inspections so you will think you need to replace the system. The ac inspection guy from hero , who isn't a licensed plumber , said my entire unit needs to be replaced for like $14,000.00 I had two other plumbers look at it and they said it was working perfectly. HERO is scamming people. The first guy who broke my pipe was also not a licensed plumber. They seem to be working on pipes and plumbing without licenses. Scam. Beware. I'm out over $6000.00 now and couldn't use 1/2 of my house for an entire fall and winter.

Cary S.

1/30/2019

They are not very honest. Beware of the tuneups. They lower the prices so they can get in the door to sell you something you don't need.

Michael L.

6/22/2023

These guys are not reputable, They charge a $70 fee to come out to your home, when you schedule your told they cant even give a ball park fee as I was told all drain issues are different, Except when the Tech gets there the quote is $600 before he even looks at the job??? Why? because this is their business model. Collect $70 fee to come out, charge double the industry standard, then leave with your $70.

I had 2 bids under $370, I had the work done by a Plumber not a TECH, for $225.

Sad to see these guys pushing the Veteran ownership angle and then have no integrity. Look at all the other related complaints, all note $600 fee's.

Jessica Z.

04/06/2017 12:00:00 SA

I initially called Uptown Plumbing (based on the reviews) to have the main shut off water valve to our house replaced. After fixing it, there was still water leaking so I called and someone came back and tightened it. Again, still water leaking so I called and they ended up redoing the entire job. I was happy they finally got it right, but it shouldn't take 3 times!

Fast forward a couple of months and our main sewer line was backing up in the basement. We decided to give Uptown another chance. Someone came to our house and spent ~45 min attempting to unclog the drain. He said he was hitting something about 10ft out and had to send someone out with a camera a different day. Scheduled and rescheduled the camera 2 times before someone showed up. Once the camera did show up, I was told that we need to excavate and repair a section of our sewer pipe for $6000. They tried to pressure me into making an immediate decision by telling me that if I booked it before the technician left they would take off the $415 I'd already paid to have the drain 'unclogged'. We decided we wanted another opinion before making a pressured/rushed decision to spend that much money. After calling around, we were told by several companies that we most likely didn't actually need to have that work done, but just needed a good drain cleaning. We decided to risk another ~$450 on a different company to clean/unclog it (again). The person who came was excellent; had the camera and the snake and was able to completely clean 90ft of pipe to the front street in ~2.5 hours (we don't need the sewer repair/excavation work done). I paid Uptown Plumbing a wasted $415 for a job they did completely inadequately while trying to upsell me using high pressure tactics. Their prices are also waaaaaay higher than competition; the place who cleaned our pipes correctly quoted HALF the price for the sewer work if we ended up needing it. Also, the skilled drain cleaning of 2.5 hours was $465 as compared to the terrible 45 minute job we paid $415 for with Uptown. We definitely will not use them again and do not recommend them.

Jamie W.

1/14/2021

High pressure sales- they take advantage of a regular maintenance call to to recommend costly services and overpriced replacement - cannot be trusted. Regular$69 A/C service call didn't include 5 minute cleaning of fins on exterior compressor unit - they wanted $100s for work that either didn't need to be done or i could quickly do myself. Scammers.

Molly K.

2/28/2019

Today was my third time using Hero/Uptown Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling and it will definitely be the last. First 2 interactions of getting a new water heater and an air conditioner repair were good, though a bit pricey. I agree with other reviewers that the technicians are trained in scare tactics; I remember feeling some of that with the AC repair.

Today I had someone come to my house and quote me $800 in labor just to install a kitchen faucet. $1150 if I wanted their stock faucet. I was shocked and appalled. I know it should only take 45 minutes to install one, clearly he was trying to take advantage of me. But no, not today, not ever. Called Hero to ask about the exorbitant pricing to see if this was just a rouge technician. The dispatcher was unable to connect me with someone who could speak to pricing. I asked her to have someone call me if this was truly a mistake. No one has called.

I have already called another local company that has confirmed the 45 minute estimate which would be $205 in labor. 1/4 of the Hero quoted price.

Mary M.

02/09/2023 12:00:00 SA

If you are considering using this company, please read this review--along with the other 1 star ratings - before you make a decision.

This company OVERCHARGES and makes INACCURATE claims aimed at getting you to put in super expensive water treatment filter.

We needed to replace our kitchen sink because the dual drain and faucet wasn't working. My husband had already taken out the sink and placed the new one in but was not able to complete the hook-up. (Yes - I know, be careful what you start! It's a long story but a friend was supposed to help and then wasn't available). On a positive note, when he called Hero Plumbing, they said they were able to send someone over that day. We appreciated that responsiveness but that was the only positive part of the experience. And boy, did we pay for it.

Our house was built in 1936 and the plumbing is old and a bit of a mess. We've lived here for about 5 years. We have been slowly tackling projects; primarily because of my husband's health, we are on a limited budget. I wasn't at home when the plumber from Hero arrived, but he walked through the basement with my husband (to see the overall scope) and then took a look at the kitchen sink situation. When I came home, my husband said the good news was that the plumber could fix it but the bad news was that it would be about $1200! I was stunned. I wondered what could account for that high of a bill. When the plumber left, I looked at the invoice he emailed my husband and this is what is said (copied directly from invoice):

Install Customer Supplied Sink - Top Mount: $1,181.95
- uninstall/disassemble existing sink
- removal and recycling of current sink
- install and reassemble new sink
- leak check and test all fittings

That comes out to be about $400 per hour! With very little in terms of material costs (but how can a person know given this ridiculous invoice). He had to pop out the new sink so he could work but there was NO uninstalling/disassemble or recycling that he needed to do.

Also, after the plumber left, I went downstairs to see that there was a pile of debris that had fallen through when he worked on connecting the drain and that the connecting lead pipe had cracked and was leaking. Yes, he had my husband sign a document that said he was not responsible. But now that we've paid this outrageous bill, we have little left to take care of the resulting damage to the old pipe in the basement.

And lastly, he strongly suggested to my husband that we needed to put in a filter system - for $3,960.42! - because our chlorine levels were dangerously high. We didn't have this done because we surely don't have that kind of money. When I checked appropriate levels on the CDC website, we were well within a range that is considered safe.

I wonder: Does Hero Plumbing have a business model where they try to frighten and overcharge people as much as possible? As a carpenter and licensed contractor, my husband has worked in the trades for his entire life so really honors paying for good service. But this time he certainly feels like he was duped.

PLEASE DON'T REPEAT OUR MISTAKE. FIND ANOTHER PLUMBER.