Carl's Plumbing

I requested service on a Wednesday night after 7 pm.  I received a call at 7:45 am Thursday morning and they were at my home by 8:15 am and unclogged my laundry drain before 9 am.    I was super pleased with the Pat's work!  Saved me taking time off from work and super prompt, professional service.

Carl's Plumbing was sent to us by our home warranty company to do some plumbing warranty work. They come out, order a part and several weeks later, leave a voicemail that the parts are in. 2 1/2 days later, leave a voicemail saying they returned the parts and we're being charged $250 for a restocking fee. I called back after hearing that voicemail at 3:55pm. They close at 4 (found that out later)  and no one answered. Called back and their on call technician answered. He was very apologetic that he couldn't help me told me to call back in the morning when they open at 8:00. I call back at 8:00, talk to a gentleman (loosely saying) he says they sent the parts back because we didn't call back and tells me to talk to Hailey but she only works 9-3. He hangs up on me. Called and left several messages to have a returned phone call. Finally, called again at 10:00 and Hailey was unapologetic, unprofessional and down right rude! Long story short, there was no information relayed to me regarding their hours, if I didn't respond in a certain time frame that the parts would be returned and I would be charged! I asked to speak with the manager and Hailey's response was that they have my contact information. Still waiting to speak to the manager so I'm giving them the same treatment as I got by not waiting any longer to write this poor review!
Go somewhere else for your plumbing needs!!

The actual plumbers who did the work and were very nice and quite professional.  However, the company itself is shady.   Why?  Read on...

AHS customer beware! Carl's will charge you a $150 disposal fee (something the local Plumbing Inspector said is not normal). If your local trash service offers free bulk pick up, you don't have to pay them, but you do have to haul it to the curb yourself.
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If your community requires a plumbing permit for hot water heaters (and most do), you can take it out yourself as a Homeowner Applicant and arrange the final yourself at a fraction of what Carl's will charge for the permit fee.

Also, Carl's refused to provide their WI Plumber's License Number unless I paid $50, which I didn't!  All AHS contractors MUST provide proof of license and insurance to AHS to be an AHS provider.

I have had two of my clients now in the last 6 months reach out to me to tell me horrendous experiences with this company.  DO NOT do business with them!

My HSA contracted with them. They refused to fix anything and were derisive about our desire to have corroded pipes replaced saying we should wait for the pipes to burst or leak. Absurd! The man also made some racist comments about the HSA agents being stupid because they're from the Philippines.

After inquiring for plumber service through BBB I was contacted by Carl's Plumbing. I called them at 8:30 am on 9/14/21 for a quote. The gentleman (Carl) informed me that they charge a trip rate of $55 per visit and $30 per 1/4 hour - estimated time of maybe an hour. After receiving a quote from other plumbers in the area, I agreed to hire them. The plumber arrived and called me before entering the house. The job took a total of 2 minutes. I asked the plumber to do additional work. With that, everything was completed in 28 minutes. The plumber then explained that the policy was to charge for minimum 1 hour plus the trip charge and additional materials. None of that was explained to me. I called the office but they were not helpful. After I persisted the lady told me that was their new policy and they weren't going to change it. If there were any new policies I would believe CARL himself would be informed. I feel like he flat out lied to earn my business.

I had a horrible experience with Carl's Plumbing. It started as a simple valve problem on my shower/tub. The uninterested Carl's plumber they sent said he had to order a part and never called me back. I called there twice and the uninterested receptionist said he said he thinks he ordered the part, but he'll call you back. He never called. I had company coming and couldn't attend to this plumbing problem until a month later. (They all had to use the shower in my master bedroom) It turns out the plumber decided that it wasn't a service covered on my HSA home warranty, and the $100 I PRE-PAID would not be refunded, since I had to pay for the 5-minute service call. This may be a fluke, but I wouldn't use this service again and would not recommend them to anyone.

I would like this story to be short, unfortunately to give full facts, it can't be.

If there was a star lower than 1, this company would get it. I've had the misfortune to have to use Carl's Plumbing through my HSA home warranty, a few times.

1st time, the person was yelling being a jerk, I'm the customer!!

Fast forward 1 year, I have a clogged toilet, also had an garbage disposal issue (different company, whom were fabulous).  Garbage guy tries to unclog toilet, says, no go.  Carl's Plumbing gets called in.  One of Carl's guys comes in, tries unclogging toilet with snake (which has already been done my me and 1st plumber) and recommends that Carl's come back with a sewer tool.  Two days later, another guy from Carl's uses snake, no sewer tool, which was recommended by 2nd of Carl's people (which the 3rd guy didn't even have in his truck).

Third guy manages to somehow get clog cleared, but everyone has been trying anyway, so we have made a little hole,  becomes unclogged  and walks away.  Not 5 days later, I walk into my basement, its flooded, shite everywhere!!

Call HSA, wait on hold forever, (of course its after hours). Rep says she has called Carl's Plumbing.  After waiting an hour, I call their emergency number, guy is obviously in a saloon somewhere, cause he can't hear me.  He steps out, I tell him my problem and say I absolutely have to have someone here tonight.  He says and I quote if you don't hear back from me in half an hour call back.  I did and the bastard had turned off his emergency pager.  

Another call to HSA, FINALLY get approval to use an out of service plumber. He has to call before he starts work to get authorization....guess what its 10pm by this time and everyone has gone home.  No approval, no working toilets.... HSA What a bloody scam !!  

I'll drown in shite and water, before I ever have Carl's Plumbing out again.  And a word of caution to other HSA people out there in Milwaukee, half the vendors HSA has on their list are now defunct.  BEWARE!! 7 Hours gone trying to fix a plumbing issue, which should have been fixed by CARL'S PLUMBING a week ago,

Bottom line: plumber charged $75, fixed nothing, probably broke the overflow mechanism, was hostile and dismissive.

Of course this would be a zero star review if possible. Carls Plumbing was sent to my home to work on three faucets by American Home Shield. I see that I am not the first to have this experience but I neglected to look up the referred plumber before agreeing to the assignment by AHS. When I called the plumbing company directly to discuss the poor service, I told them I would be posting ANOTHER poor review here and on YELP. The person who answered stated that he didnt want to discuss the service with me and didnt care about the posts that I mentioned.

The plumber arrived and absolutely refused to even look at anything before I gave him my credit card to charge the $75 service fee. As soon as I gave him the card he started to explain that there was nothing wrong but then looked at the items and agreed that they were broken. The main thing was the Waste and Overflow system in a bathtub. He started to work on it while I was in another room and soon came to tell me that he couldn't fix it because it was too big a job and he had to get to other calls. He covered the overflow with a cap and said he was done. He would not look any further at the other items again because he had to get going because he was losing money. I managed to get him to put me on the phone with the authorization department at AHS and while I was on the phone he stood over me trying to tell me what to say to them, while continuing to repeat how much money he was losing while at my home and how he had to get going.

NEVER USE THIS COMPANY

DO NOT USE THIS PLUMBER!!!!!
They are a SCAM. Do not even call for an estimate, advice, or service
The first time we used them, we arranged our work schedule to be home, just to have a plumber come to our house and tell us he does not have experience with gas pipes, and we would need to set up another appointment so a more experienced plumber could come.
The second issue they came out for, (under Home Warranty), and told us that they were not sure if it was covered under home warranty, and that I should give them my credit card info, WHICH WOULD NOT BE USED UNLESS IT WAS COVERED AND WORK DONE.  We received a text saying that the work was not covered by home warranty (useless), and two weeks later, received a a little paper receipt in the mail showing that our card was billed $100.
After being told right to my face that the card would not be used unless the issue was covered.

Aweful! They were dispatched by my home warranty company, called to see when tech would be out here and the guy who answered the phone was a complete jerk! Tech that came out didn't really seem like he knew what he was doing; said no evidence of a leak...REALLY?! Did you not see the water on the floor...it was coming from somewhere and I'm not a plumber! Don't waste your time with these guys...

Called HSA Home warranty they had Carl's plumbing call me to set up an appointment.  She said they could have someone out between 1 and 3 asked if the tech could call me 1/2 hr before he shows because I would be coming home from work and they said out of a courtesy they could.  Driver calls me around 1:45 and tells me he's 4 min from the house and sees the note to call 1/2 hr before and he doesn't know why the scheduled it like this and that he was right down the street from my house.  I told him I would be there in 25 min and I was told he had to call his boss.  he called me on my cell phone while i was in the car driving home and he told me his boss said they would charge me $30 for every 10 min I'm late and he asked if i wanted him to wait.  I told him no.  I was charged the 79.00 service fee which I called HSA and demanded a refund because this company did not give me the courtesy call like they said wanted to charge me $30 for every 10 min i'm late and they performed no service.  Stay away from Carl's plumbing they lie lie lie. If this is the only place that HSA uses then its time to cancel my contract.  
Wish I could give zero stars.

I have a contract with AHS and was assigned this company to deal with a leak dripping from my basement ceiling.  I assumed it was the pipe in that vicinity.  The serviceman correctly diagnosed a leak from a toilet, a simple fix, and recommended that I point a fan toward the basement ceiling in an effort to dry it out.  A week later I checked on the results only to find a significant leak, larger than the previous one.  Yes, the connection from the back of the repaired, offending toilet was leaking.  The next serviceman indeed took care of the problem.  I noticed the first repair was done with a PVC type material; the second repair with metal.
The last thing the final serviceman said to me; it wasn't your fault.  Odd thing to say. The point of this for me is that the first repair should have been the only repair on this specific job. I experienced another plumbing issue today; AHS again assigned this company to me. This problem as described to Carl's required the main water to be shut off to the house and the wind chill is below zero!  Next available appt. in 68 hours. I called another company and they texted a serviceman to arrive within the hour and the problem was fixed in 20 minutes. Regardless of the cost, this was the best option. I felt uneasy with the Carl's assignment today; I've lost my trust in their capacity to fix a simple problem let alone a more complicated one.

Update:

After speaking with a rep from American Home Shield, it has become apparent that throughout this ordeal the management of Carl's has been in violation of their contractor agreement- and likely has been with countless previous customers as well.

With the home warranty referral, payments are to be collected at the time of service, or else only routed through AHS to ensure documentation. (For you other AHS customers, their billing department reiterated that ANY ATTEMPT BY A CONTRACTOR TO COLLECT MONEY AFTER THE TIME OF SERVICE SHOULD BE REFUSED!)

Carl's repeated phone attempts to extort money from my girlfriend were an effort to fraudulently make them money off the books. Little wonder the scumbags swore up a storm at her when she said she wouldn't send them a check.

To make matters worse, a few days after their no-show they filed the job as completed with AHS despite never having set foot in our building, let alone looked at our plumbing. After becoming aware of the balance on our account I got in touch with AHS, explained the situation and was easily able to have it removed.

Now begins the process of formal letters to the AHS contractor complaint/review department (which I suggest to other AHS customers here) as well as the Better Business Bureau. Few things would make me happier than to see this company shut down.

Original Post:

Bottom line- anyone rating Carl's Plumbing greater than 1 star probably works for the company. DO NOT USE THEM UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

Like many, I was referred to Carl's by American Home Shield. They did set up an appointment in 1 business day as promised, but that's about the best I can say about their customer service.

My girlfriend and I are both physicians and because we work from 6 am to 6 pm, we had a family member drive two hours up to stay at our home and ensure someone was there for the appointment (scheduled from 11am-1pm.) She sat around all morning and afternoon without a phone call. I got ahold of the technician, Pat, around 4 pm and it became obvious that the main office had provided him with incorrect details. The service window he had been given by the main office was 2 hours later than the one they had quoted us and the contact number he had been given to call was not the same as the one we provided upon scheduling (which was likely just a transcription error.) So Pat showed up 15 minutes late, called the wrong contact number, inevitably received no response and then left.

To his credit, Pat himself was incredibly helpful, pleasant and apologetic. Unfortunately he does not run the company, schedule service or do billing- that is all left to the rude, slack-jawed inbreds who comprise their office staff. After several unreturned calls to Carl's office (and a few that were met with apathy to outright hostility,) I placed one to American Home Shield, who said they would reach out to Carl's and have them reschedule. But when Carl's called it was not to apologize for their error and reschedule service, but to insist we owed them $75 for the missed appointment. They called my girlfriend a liar when she explained the situation and said it wasn't their problem. As of now the issue is ongoing, but I'm in contact with AHS to switch services.

P.S. Pat, find a new place of work, you're too good for them.

We were assigned this company through our HSA.  They are rude and don't care about the customer.  We had to go without hot water for over a week because they didn't come to the area but twice a week.  Kenosha is not that far and they could have made an exception.

Based on previous reviews, I was a little hesitant about going thru Carl's Plumbing (dispatched thru my HSA home warranty service... they also have terrible reviews). I was pleasantly surprised on the prompt service for my sump pump replacement. Thanks Carl's Plumbing!

We had a great experience. Paul came out and out and replaced a faucet and a clogged tub. Only negative would be the dispatcher that caused us to almost cancel. He did not seem as if he was very interested in working that day, but other than that we had a good experience. Quick and reasonably priced.

Never even got the service asked for.  First they called my husband to change the appointment time to earlier than the 2-4 window originally quoted.  Then as soon as it hit 2 pm knocked on the door and quickly left before I could answer the door... I'm very pregnant so I move a little slow.  Sounds to me like someone wanted an early Friday.  I called company at 2:14 to ask them to return and never received a call back until 4 pm saying it was our fault, they won't come back and that we owed them the 75.00 simply for showing up.  They never even called to say they were here before leaving and just assumed we were not home.  Called to speak with manager and was completely blown off.  The customer service from this company is horrible. We will never use them again or recommend them.

Came out twice, charged me $272 and $147 just on the trip charges. I'm on the east side and they are on 56th street. Not sure why these high trip charges were so high. I would try to demand an explanation, but I doubt I would get anywhere. The plumbing work itself seemed fine.

Awful plumbing co!!!  Left me with cold water in shower and said it would be days before they could correct their mistake.  Plumber was unfriendly... didn't fix any of the big issues and inserted the internal parts wrong on the shower faucet so I have COLD water.  Pls use another Co.

Called them and they came within the time frame. Looked around at my gas line and did nothing but offer a guess as to what might be the problem. Nothing else. Then they charged me 75.00 and left. I asked what the charge was for and that was just for a visit. I'm guessing their business model is based on fee collecting and not doing anything. BEWARE.

Was reffered to this company by American Home Shield home warranty. i had a leaky pipe and water was coming into my basement. i called at 8am to reschedule my appointment due to my daughter getting sick and could not make the scheduled 11am appointment. the person who answered the phone was rude and had zero customer service. i was told that i had to take the scheduled appointment and it would not be changed and i had to pay them $75.00 no matter if they came out or not. I promptly called my home warranty and told them i didn't want these people in my home. I wonder how Carl's Plumbing stays in business with such poor customer service. i will never call or use this company again. To be honest i will start a petition to get them removed from American Home Shield all together, dont wast your time with rude and arrogant people!!!!!

Same day service, replaced my toilet in under 2.5 hours. Provided less-expensive alternative, as well as options besides standard toilet. Service person arrived within first 30 minutes of expected 2 hour window. Exceeded my expectations.

Our water heater went out, our home service warranty had us call Carls Plumbing. The guy came out and said our  water heater had a leak, took 75$ and said they would call in a few days. It's the middle of October and taking a cold shower and doing dishes in freezing cold water was getting ridiculous after a few days. Not that Carls cared. When we called to follow up, they said we needed to hire an electrician and plumber and get permits for the hot water heater to be put in first. This is absolutely  not true and if it were I'm really not sure why they couldn't have said this right away rather than us calling days later. My husband finally called back very upset and they said they have a water heater but they didnt know which was ours, and that it would take 1-2 weeks to be delivered. We finally got them to agree to let us buy the heater and send them the receipt for reimbursement. they sent an email closing out the contract order and after we sent the receipt we still have not heard from them for reimbursement. Never use this service.

So this took place at our children's home. A young man came to look at their sump.  They were still under their warranty  through their HSA until the 31st.  He walked he asked for an extension cord and immediately precedented to tell my husband that it was the outlet.  We knew for a fact it wasn't and my husband actually had to show him.  He brought in no tools and tried to get out there right away.  He  put no additional water to check the sump and because the sump ran once, he told us that it was fine and further went on to tell us that the sump that he had on the truck was not as good as the one that was current there.  This sump was in fact over twenty years and wasn't working.  Yes when he plugged it in, it attempted to drain.  Sadly we call the HSA and we were told that he said it was fine and there were no issues with it which was not correct.  He was in such a hurry to get to his next job, like I said, he brought in no tools and was on the phone the majority of the time he was there.  He was rude and in fact called my husband the hired work.    I can't believe that our children  were required to pay a $75.00 service fee when in fact he did nothing.  Now we have had to pay to replace it because we found out that the sump was bad.    We even had ask about him replacing and again he repeated that the one he had was not good and he would have to charge 35 or 40 per quarter hour to get the job done and it sure wasn't getting done that day.  He was more considered about getting to his next job.   He demanded his check, told us who to write it out to and we got no receipt.   All I can say is how rude.   So that is how you treat a customer.

Customer service is a negative 1,000. I called on a Tuesday to schedule an appointment for the following Thursday or Friday when I would be off and no one answered so I left a message letting them know Friday morning in the AM would be OK. I received a message Wednesday morning saying Friday morning would be OK but to call back and confirm the appt. I called back Wednesday when I got off work around 3pm and the guy who answered told me he had no access to the Friday schedule and to call back Thursday to confirm. I called back Thursday morning and left a message again due to no answer. Friday morning I had a death in my family and had to leave town and called this business between 5am and 6am that morning leaving them that message and wanting to reschedule. Some guy calls me back around 8am being disrespectful, with no regard to my recent family loss, threating to charge me $50 because I didn't notify more than 24 hours out and not knowing if this appt was confirmed or not. At the end of the conversation, the appt was rescheduled to the following Wednesday when I was not working and able to be home. However, due to my work, I was mandated for my off day and when I relayed this message to Carl's plumbing Monday morning (more than 24 hours) he told me to tell my job I could not work because I had plumbing issues and they would not be rescheduling me again unless I did. How dare you?