Kenco Plumbing & Heating

Our heater went out the next day we discovered our  glow plug cracked.  I went to Kenco they had the part at a reasonable price and saved the day.  In the past if they don't have the part they give other businesses names as to where to get the part.  They go above and beyond to satisfy their customers.

Do NOT ever think this business will do the right thing by providing superior customer service and parts. They won't. Especially if you are a woman. They treat customers poorly and don't give a d**m about it. They are doing business like an 80s Going Out of Business electronics store in NYC. They are not a forward thinking, on top of current business trends, and treat every customer with respect and dignity. I was treated so poorly at Kenco and will continue to let the world know about it. DO NOT ever seek parts or service from this company. There are so many other plumbing companies in Albuquerque that are reputable and have good reviews. Go elsewhere.

If you are concerned about Covid-19, know that this business does not wear masks either.

There was a mix up on a tub diverter spout where the threads did not engage.  The manager refused to give my money back because he claimed the part was a special order.  This was a standard Kohler part that was available at their local warehouse do I don't agree that this was a special order.  The manager refused to investigate why the part did not match my old one.  The manager gave me an extension nipple to try to make the new part work. This resulted in a major gap between the wall and spout.  When I investigated into this more, I found that a different style part was switched in the box.  

The manager at the store whose name I did not get was very uneducated on these parts and refused to figure the exact replacement part.  The manager doesn't seem to understand what constitutes a special order.  

I still trying to get my $71 refunded and it is taking more of my time to prove that new part does not match the part number on the box.

Because of this experience, Kenco does not even deserve a single star.

(This review is for the Kenco plumbing service, unrelated to retail sales.)

Tub/shower valve replacement job was the worst customer experience I've ever had.

I took off work to meet the plumber at my house five times (once for $900+ quote, once for the original job, back due to forgotten joint without ***any*** solder, then back out twice more for leaks after that two separate days).  The new valve's joints were still leaking in two completely separate places.  I couldn't afford to keep taking off work for Joe to practice his plumbing, so I watched a few YouTube videos, dropped $120 at Lowe's, and did it myself.  Bear in mind, all of this was only possible because I had cut my own hole in drywall to inspect the work after Joe left; otherwise Joe's solder joints would still be leaking in my wall today, causing all kinds of more permanent and expensive damage!

Went to the Kenco owner, Ray, several months later with this story and a sample of Joe's work in hand (pictures still available).  Ray disavowed all responsibility to right the situation since I had taken the faulty joint out myself, and felt no need to refund a single penny.

So, if you are considering a Kenco plumbing service job, make sure you have 1) your own hole in the wall to inspect the joint after the plumber leaves, 2) a free schedule with no competing responsibilities, 3) the skills to do it yourself, and 4) the budget to mend their errors without any support from Kenco ownership/management.

Or, you know, you could use someone else.  I know I will next time.

This Place needs a Big lesson in Customer Service!
We needed to purchase replacement values for 2 bathroom faucets.  The gentle man came to counter and seem to be very unhappy.  We showed him the 2 old parts and he went to back to the warehouse get them.  He came out and put them on the counter and told us next time we should not buy cheat stuff from Homedepot.  We should buy quality faucets and then you won't be having to replace them. The parts were $25.00 each per value.  I decide not to make the purchase since the faucets are almost 10 years old.  I went out to his show room to look at what he had to offer.  As he came over with his pricing book in hand.  I asked how much is this one I was looking at.  It was $189.00.  Wow ,I told him I need 2 of them do you have anything less expensive.  He laughed at me and said if you want quality that is what you get.  Wow a real charmer!
Apparently for my cheap faucets lasting almost 10 years I guess I got what I paid for.  I went to Home Depot and purchased 2 brand new Moen Faucets for $ 100.00 each.  And will never return to this place again.! It is a shame I want to support local whenever I can but I do have a choice where and how I spend my money.  If I am treated rudely - I will go somewhere else.  I was going call the business direct and report the issue, then when I saw the reviews on Yelp.  I decided the issue might be the owner himself.

My water heater stopped working so I did the easy DIY thing and changed out the thermocouple. Didn't fix the problem. I went to Lowes, Homedepot, and Samon's to find a replacement gas valve. No luck. Then one of the workers I spoke to told me about Kenco. Hopped in my car, drove across town with the bad valve. Kenco had the part! Later that night I installed the new valve and it worked perfectly. No more cold water in the winter, brrrr

Working in customer service myself, I know that Thank you and Job Well done are seldom heard. Most people won't write a good review but are quick to complain. That is why I wanted to take time to do so. These guys have every plumbing part you can think of. When I needed a cartridge for my older model sink, I couldn't find a replacement anywhere but here. The guy at the counter knew his stuff and was very friendly. I have also used one of KenCo's service plumbers for a bigger job at one of my rental houses. He did a great job and left everything working great and cleaned up after himself (believe it or not, some plumbers don't do that!). So let me say, thank you KenCo, job well done!

They carry hard to find square toilet seats, and the guy at the front desk was really helpful. I don't give out 5 stars often, and I won't here,but could I do 4.5?

I've had a small positive experience with Kenco, and one large awful one.  Once I bought some rubber washers, and that transaction went fine.  

Today, I had their plumber out for what I thought would be a 1 hour or $100 job to fix 3 slightly dripping faucets and an outdoor hosebib at a quoted rate of $85 per hour.  The work was a little more complicated than expected (Kohler cartridges) and took 2 hours, but I was shocked when they handed me a bill for $538.  

I called the owner to discuss, and he defensive to the point of being hostile.  I wanted to at least leave the feedback that if the parts were going to be $225, I would have appreciated a little warning, and might not have wanted to replace the cartridge on both sides of the faucets (hot/cold), since the leaks seemed to just be cold (or I might have replaced the whole faucets). Part of that my shock be due to my lack of familiarity with Kohler parts prices - but I was never given an estimate of prices, or whether it would make sense to just replace the faucets with something else if the work (including parts) was going to be so expensive.  I do know that $20 for an outdoor hosebib seems a little much since they are $6 at Lowes or Home Depot, and he could have replaced the rubber washer for under a dollar in parts (my original suggestion, but he said replacing the whole thing was cheap and their policy).  They also billed an extra 40 minutes for 'travel time'.  I know the store is 15 minutes from my house - so I have no idea where they started.

The owner growled at me that TLC or some other plumbing company would have gouged me $1000 - which seems even more outrageous.  I mean we are talking about fixing some drips into sinks, not a whole house plumbing remodel.

Lessons learned, get a serious estimate and revisit it and any options.  I think it could have been more cost effective to replace the faucets with new ones - but I was never given that very logical option, and instead paid over 5 times what would have been a reasonable price I would have paid to fix the problem.

Incredibly disappointed in Kohler for leaking in the first place, and Kenco for providing a very expensive solution.

A footnote, the owner called me back afterward in a calmer tone but still insisted I got a fabulous deal.  One or both of us is out of touch.

I went into Kenco last week to see if they had specialty parts for my Eljer toilet. I was immediately verbally attacked and belittled by the worker at the counter and he refused to answer any of my parts inquiries - he would only respond with questions as to my ability to do any toilet repair on my own. Even after letting him know as politely as possible that he was being belligerent and completely unhelpful, he continued to verbally accost me and would not answer my questions. When I decided that an anger outburst on my part would do nothing towards getting any help from this ignorant ass (and I would simply take my business elsewhere), he told me that was a good idea (?!). I do not know whether my treatment was doe to my being a woman or that I did not go to get plumbing supplies in my best business attire, but I will say that I would rather order online and wait for shipping than to give any business to this company - - and if ever asked, I will let everyone else know this as well. Buying local isn't worth it if you have to deal with mistreatment as a customer.

Christopher from Kenco came this morning to check my gas furnace that was making a strange noise and not putting out much heat!!! I was worried a replacement furnace was in my future. But no, he assessed the problem saying the igniter might be starting to fail, but not entirely. He gave the furnace a good cleaning and it fired up with heat!!!!! $123.00 was what it cost. Christopher was wonderful. Ran a little late getting here but called to let me know he was on his way. I was nervous having read the reviews. Kenco was also able to confirm the appointment with only 2 days wait. The bigger companies had a wait of over a week.
Thank You Kenco I have heat just in time for cold weather!!!!!

Their plumber installed a toilet, in our master bathroom. He did a good job! He was professional, and left the area clean!

Kenco mounted the wrong length of pipe for our bathtub spout.  When I called Kenco I was hoping to hear Sorry about that, we realize you're in the middle of a project and our mistake is holding up progress, we'll get someone right over, and we'll cover the cost.  What I actually heard was What do you want us to do.  We send someone over now, you pay the overtime rate.  Three days later Kenco fixes the pipe and decide to give us a break at half price ($40 for 25 minutes work comes to $96/hour).  The original work cost us over $300 for two and half hours work (we may be in a recession, and live in a poor state, but you'd never know it by the price of plumbing in Albuquerque).  Looking for a plumber?  Keep looking, you can do much better than Kenco.

Kenco Plumbing is the worst business in Albuquerque. If you expect expert guidance and help, you will not get it from this business. The staff will mislead the customer, promote products that do not fit your needs, and cannot measure accurately. When they make a mistake, they never make it right, but stick the customer with the incorrect product and the bill refusing to accept returns or make it right. Their installer is frightening and should not be allowed in anyone's home.

I was in there a week ago.   ABSOLUTELY  the worst customer service I have ever experienced.  Don't bother ever going here!!!!!!

This was the third place I went for a part for a hose bib.  I had the old part with me, and they showed me a part similar, but looked a bit different.  I ask them to unscrew the two parts apart, to make sure it was the right size, as the two previous places showed me similar parts, but they weren't the right size.  So obviously I was apprehensive about buying this part, before making sure.  
So not only did they refuse to unscrew this simple part.  They said I would have to buy it first to unscrew it.  Then I ask if it wasn't the right size, (since they assured me it was) could I return it?  They said no.  Then this HORRIBLE work said to me, I DON'T EVEN WANT TO SELL IT TO YOU.   Which at this point I left.  Nice place.......

I went in for some replacement parts, not really knowing much, just that I needed to replace them. William at the counter greeted me with a smile and was able to supply all the parts I needed, and he made some good suggestions, as well. (This after being treated very poorly by the clerk at Garrecht Plumbing Supply - so much so that I left with out making a purchase).

I who's I could give kenco -5 stars
They ordered wrong install kit for tub faceted when my licencesed bonded plumber with 30 yrs expierince said your missing a part I drove the 21/2 hours back to kenco and the sales person told me parts just  don't just jump out of the box basically calling me a liar implying we had lost that part
We went back and forth.
I returned the next day and they had the right install kit but wanted another $200:00 they eventually made there mistake right and gave me the right instal kit
The shower head wasn't even close to what I ordered some wired thins with a blue Tooth speaker in the middle $1,700 worhh of parts nothing right called me a liar until they realized there mistake! Avoid this place like the plague!!

I was relieved that Kenco had older plumbing fixtures that fit my bathtub, and the person at the front desk was helpful in finding me the right parts, I will give them that.    
    After I purchased the fixtures it took me awhile to complete a new tiling job in the bathroom.  But when I did finish, I applied the fixtures and there was a slow cold drip coming thru the shower head.  I figured I best get it repaired as did not want any kind of drip after just re-tiling and did not want the drip to cause water sediment to the new fixtures, or waste precious water.
    The Kenco Plumber that came said he had been plumbing for many years.  He assessed the situation and realized a new diverter was needed, so had to run back to the store to get one-we live about 5 minutes away.  When he came back he installed the diverter, new seats and washers and then tried re applying the fixtures but was having problems.  Now mind you, I had already applied them and they were a bit tricky because they had options for proper placement but I, (a female), figured it out.  He could not get the middle faucet to attach correctly so he went to his truck and got a plastic extender piece instead of figuring out how it was supposed to fit properly.  I asked him why he needed that, being that I had it fit just right before he came.  He rudely told me if I knew how to do it I should do it.  I told him it would take me some fiddling around but I was sure it could be done.  He did not like that and refused to put it in place correctly. Not only did he add the plastic extender, but he re-applied the other 2 faucets differently so they did not match and one did not fit tightly.  
  I called the next business day and asked to speak to the head Plumber to explain how disappointed I was.  I explained that I knew I could make the faucets fit properly as I had already done it before, but did not think I should have to lift a finger after I had just spent $151.62 on the job that took about 40 minutes for their plumber to complete incorrectly, and had purchased the hardware from them also for a hundred some bucks.  And being that I bought the fixtures from them, I especially would have thought the plumber that came would know how to install correctly.  I also explained that the plumber was rude.  I asked if someone could come and re-install all 3 faucets correctly and he said the same plumber could come and do it.  I explained I would prefer to not have him back in my house and asked why I would have someone that could not figure out how to simply apply the fixtures correctly return?  He had no empathy for me whatsoever. He never said he was sorry and did not seem the least bit unhappy that I was an unhappy customer.
   I would prefer to use small businesses whenever possible, but will never use Kenco plumbing services again.  Disappointing.

Great customer service!  Kitchen sink gooseneck came off and I was unable to get it back on.  I went to Kenco because I suspected one of the rings (hard plastic) had broken.  The Kenco rep was not condescending (because I'm a woman) and told me the ring was actually severed on purpose to allow the gooseneck to swing back and forth between the sinks -- learned something new!  I told him I could not get it on the base low enough to start threading it on.  He said that a) I could try lubing or b) the threads were stripped.  I asked if I could use WD-40 and he said no - without a smirk (hey, I'm learning).  He gave me a small of packet of lube and said if it didn't work I'd need a new faucet.  Well, it worked!!  I really appreciate the good service and learned something new in the process.  I've been to Kenco in years past and have always received great service.  Highly recommend!

9:30 Saturday morning - Leaking tap - leaving 4am Sunday for a month!  11:30 Saturday morning - job done!  Quick,clean and fast!  Wish Bob was near our home in CA!  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

Very kind and helpful when I came in today looking for a part for my shower. Unfortunately, they did not have what I was looking for (which I anticipated would be the case) but I appreciate the associate taking the time to try and find it. Will come back for future projects.