Douglas Wisneski

I’m just wondering how honest Bill Howe Plumbing is in printing reviews. One star is generous. I’m the owner of a 41-unit building in Lakeside, CA. My property manager hired Bill Howe to diagnose and fix a problem of hot/cold cross-over in two of the three buildings. They did the work on 11/8/12 and 11/9/12. Fast forward to today, I was on the premises and the handyman showed me a work order request to fix a loose kitchen faucet in unit #6. He told me it had been installed by Bill Howe Plumbing. He knows this because we supplied the new, high quality faucets, and it was a particular brand and model. I believe the tenants could corroborate it. To my chagrin, the new faucet was installed without the wing nuts (locknuts) installed under the sink on the 1/2″ NPT supply connections, necessary to hold the faucet in place. If you don’t know, these are not only necessary, but so very easy to install. They are plastic and screw on by hand–no tools required. The plumbers putty under the base plate and the tension of the two supply lines must have held it in place temporarily. It probably came loose very soon, but the tenants are reticent, and they put a screw in the wall above the backsplash and wrapped a wire around the screw then to the faucet spout to keep the whole thing from falling over. I called Bill Howe immediately, and the person on the other end couldn’t find any record of work on unit #6. Or of any work on the premise since much earlier in 2012. I left a msg for my property mgmt accountant because she was not available. I couldn’t wait, so we used another plumber to fix it. Later that day, my property manager faxed me a copy of the bill. What a piece of work that was. There was no reference to unit numbers, or quantities. It said, “Hot water by passing to cold,” as the problem. The action was “Replaced all stem with new stem also replace kitchen faucet single handle & install two handle kitchen & lav faucets. We make sure that all shower valve were properly installed (left is hot, right is cold) & replace only 5 angle stops with hose connection to stop all water from bypassing. “ Huh. By the way, the materials were $1,120 with no itemization. The labor was “2 plumber 2 days, $79 hrs, $2,528” If they have the integrity to print this, I will follow it with another post, with my phone #, asking for advice. I can send you pictures of the installation that are astounding. Bill Howe Plumbing, contact me and make things right. Now to see if they will take my rating… I’ve clicked on one star, “unsatisfactory”. If it appears differently, it’s reprehensible.