From the beginning, the experience with King Plumbing was poor and communication was extremely poor. Other plumbers that saw the work after they finished weren't impressed and called the job lazy. Upon seeing the conversation between myself and Julie, the wife of the owner, they were appalled. Local plumbers won't be referring customers they can't take on to King Plumbing based on the conversation we had with them. Customer service is non-existent here.
Despite everything that occurred (including an inspector that was confused by the tub not even being connected to the main line with a p trap when he came), I will solely base this review on communication.
To begin, 5PM rolled around the day our bid was suppose to happen, and no communication had been relayed to me on their ETA. The bid appointment was missed because Julie scheduled us a week later than we had agreed upon. This wasn't a big deal, and they said they were able to come the next day to do the bid. Cool, so I thought. 5PM rolls around the next day, and no ETA had been given, or any communication at all, so I reach out. Julie says Josh is close and will be at our place soon. Cool, so I thought. 6PM comes and he hasn't showed. Julie texts and says he's actually not close, contradicting herself and showing she hadn't actually communicated with the plumber, Josh, and will be coming at 7PM. This should've been the red flag for what was to come.
Time comes to schedule the work, and Julie mentions she'll get back to us the next morning. This doesn't happen. I once again have to follow up to receive communication.
Day 1. Work begins. My experience with Josh is very similar to the other 1 star review they have on Yelp. Adolescent man child is a perfect description! He has some attitude and was generally a grumpy guy. From the get-go, he was in a bad mood, swearing even. The only nice part was when he left each day he thanked me. They finish day 1 of work and mention they'll come back to finish up the following day in the afternoon. Cool, so I thought.
Day 2. 4PM rolls around and I've heard nothing about when they'll show up. I once again have to reach out to receive communication. Julie mentions how sorry she is, again, about the bad communication that's been occurring, and that he won't be showing up due to issues at another job. I had waited and taken time off from my work day for them to come, this was extremely frustrating since the poor communication was continuous. I tell Julie to please let me know what time he will be showing up the next day and to tell me when he's coming ahead of time.
Day 3. No ETA was given, and Josh randomly shows up in the middle of the day while I'm in the middle of a work meeting. This goes against what I asked for, a heads up with an ETA is all that was needed. It is now clear that, not only does King Plumbing have poor communication with their customers, but the husband and wife duo (Josh and Julie) that run the business also have poor communication. They finish the work, and Josh mentions that after the inspection occurs they will test everything and put a cap on an old sewer vent that now vents into the attic. In the end, he never put the old sewer vent cap on. This didn't matter in the end since we had it removed and roofed, but still disappointing.
A few days after they finish the work, the inspector comes. He is confused as to why the tub isn't connected to the main line, and is also confused as to why it doesn't have a p-trap. He asks if this was communicated to me, and if I know why it hasn't. It wasn't communicated to me. Josh receives the inspectors pass with suggestion to connect the tub and p-trap, and he comes back later that week to install the trap. Another failed communication. I'm not sure if he forgot, if communication failed between him and his partner, or if he planned on doing it after inspection (we hope it was the latter). Nonetheless, other plumbers and the inspector were confused as to why it wasn't done before and why it wasn't communicated to me.
In the end, I brought up the communication issues with Julie before writing a review, and she absolutely exploded. She comes off as a great, nice person at first. But, if you have any issues, take this as a warning--She will explode and say some nasty things, such as you have no common sense. Funny, common sense is communicating with your customer on basic things like your arrival time, or if you're not arriving at all (which happened twice). As I mentioned earlier, other plumbers witnessed the conversation I had with Julie, saw their bid, and saw their work. Not impressed.
The pattern of poor customer service, poor communication, and utter carelessness for the customer is clear with this company. The other 1 star review and my review should be a warning if you choose to move forward with King Plumbing. It might turn out fine like the great reviews they have (and I truly do hope my experience was a one off), but it could turn out very bad.