Acclaimed Services

I had my dish disposal repaired by this company and was charged $ 800 in totall, $ 500 of which for the materials. Given I was in a rush I went with this quote (silly me!). Later I researched and found the same materials on the Home Depot site for under $ 200. Be careful with this company as they seem to dramatically over charge.

Do not use this company. My husband called them to fix a toilet. They way overcharged. I mean WAY OVERCHARGED. We should have referred to Unilocal before we called. them.

Avoid them at all costs. By mistake, I called them for a service call after hours, thinking I had reached my usual service. The repairmen showed up the next morning, and for a 10-​minute service call, I was charged a fortune. I later called and complained bitterly to management, who just said essentially, «oh, well. That’s what all plumbers charge.» Not so, as my later calls to others gave totally different and much lower prices. A major ripoff,

True story :
A recent storm caused my elderly parent’s basement to flood. The sump pump failed. They called Acclaimed Services to come out on an emergency call (weekend hours.) Adam arrives. He says he stated the price to them upfront (my parents say otherwise.) He does the work in about one hour and thirty minutes. To replace a sump pump and a pipe and some smaller items he charges $ 4300. My Dad, though agitated and shocked, gives Adam the benefit of the doubt and signs the invoice. This sounds very very high to me and to them.
–I call Adam who explains to me that they sometimes charge DOUBLE for parts and labor for emergency services and says that is what they did with my parents. He goes on to say that Acclaimed Services is typical in that regard and that most companies in the area have the same policy.
— I call several other companies in the area. None of them have this policy, only an emergency fee which they explain upfront to any customer. All of them told be that charging 100% is outrageous and unheard of.
— I call Adam back to inform him of my findings. He gets a little testy. I ask him to refer me to someone higher up, say, the president of the company, Mr. Bejjani. He gives me the number to another office. I call three times and each time the same guy takes down my number and says he’ll have him call me back. Nobody does.
— I call several more times, each time I am told someone will get back to me. They don’t.
–I call and talk to Roger. I ask him if charging 100% for emergency services is company policy. He says it is when it a a very dangerous situation. Roger says I should be extremely grateful that Adam risked his life for my parents! That’s right, Adam, cared so much for my parent’s basement that he risked his life for it. For the record, Adam told me there was a spark and some standing water.
I still can’t find a single company in the area that doubles their prices for emergency services. They charge a fee and they state that fee upfront. Adam did not tell my parents that he would double the cost nor is it indicated on the invoice. I am sure they would not have signed off on it if he explained that there was to be a 100% markup.
Not s single person returned my calls during any of this. Not once. Roger refused to give me his last name. I have never in my life dealt with such a flagrantly dishonest business

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY
We recently had an issue with the handle on our shower leaking and called this company to come and fix it. We should have researched more companies but were in a bind because we were unable to control the water leaking and wanted someone to come in as quick as possible.
They originally said the entire job would be around $ 1000 when he first started and by the end of the 3 hours that he was here, we had a huge gaping hole in our wall and a bill for $ 2500. We recently had our contractor that we regularly use (who unfortunately was unavailable on the day we had the leak) look at the work the plumber did and was told that he should have not charged more than $ 500 for the entire job.
This company completely ripped us off and please don’t do what we did and panic and use this company. Not only that but the plumber continuously had us help him by having us run and shut off the water, hold screws while he tightened things etc. For $ 2500, he should have done it all himself.
If we chose to have them actually repair the hole in the wall (which is about 2×2 feet) they would have charged another $ 1000. COMPLETE RIP OFF!

Such a scam! This place is awful. Adam was rude, and disrespectful. He yelled at me and hung up on me when I asked him not to do any work until my husband spoke with him. He yelled on the phone that he wasted an hour of his time coming up here which is not true since there is a fee for him to show up. The reason why i wanted him to wait was b/​c I thought that $ 1200 seemed a bit ridiculous for fixing a clogged up sink. After he yelled at me I told him we’d not be doing business with him. He then proceeded to take my tenants credit card and charge $ 189 for simply showing up (i was told $ 45 was the fee to come to my house). He told her that I would pay her back but never okayed it with me to charge $ 189 as my understanding was he would charge $ 45. My tenant stated he was at the house for all of 15 min. The next day we hired another plumber who fixed the problem for $ 200. Acclaimed Services wanted to overcharge me by $ 1000. This place is a joke and I hope this review could save one person from the hassle and theft that I experienced!

Same experience as previous poster — THEY ARE TERRRIBLE!!! Adam was who came over and because I’m a woman with a crying baby he thought he could use scare tactics to convince me to spend $ 2−3K for a clogged basement drain. He actually had the nerve to tell me to ‘calm down’. I could’ve punched him in the face then. Because he was already there I agreed to have the drain rotor rootered, but not for the $ 1600 of clean up and ‘mold protection’ (bleach spray), he decided to make more of a mess on his way out. Total jerk and then asked me why I wasn’t happy with his service. I was honest, but he’s such a jerk he still didn’t understand. NEVER EVER use this company. I was charged $ 750 ($ 250 to diagnostics — flushing toilets and running faucets and $ 500 to unclog drain). That plus an a&* of an attitude.

My tenant was having issues with her water pressure so I called a few plumbers that could come by that afternoon. Acclaimed Services were available and it was a quick diagnosis that I needed a new water pressure regulator. I had to get back to work so I had them charge my card and finish up the work at the rental. I was charged $ 610 for their labor, which definitely did not take any more than an hour of their time. I knew I overpaid, but couldn’t do much when my tenant was complaining about the very little pressure coming out of the washing machine.
The next week I called another plumber to snake a drain in my rental home. He was curious how much I paid and so I told him. He laughed and said I definitely overpaid by $ 200. Their company would have charged me that much maybe if it was an emergency night call, but not for a weekday appointment.
I should have listened to the reviews, but was anxious to get a plumber over there ASAP. Avoid at all cost.

The absolute WORST service I have ever come across! I am a Real Estate Appraiser and I have a ton of agent and Lawyer friends who would use a company like this but after the lies and shister type business I just encountered NEVER AGAIN!
Stay away from this company. They will tell you $ 25 to come out and check but before they even look at anything they want to charge you $ 289! Thats right without even looking at it! Then to top it all off they didn’t fix anything, not a damn thing! I knew what the problem was and told them (I had a Home Inspector come out and tell me what it was) I informed the guy this but did he fix anything? NO! In fact when I called the office and spoke to the horrible, disrespectful owner he claimed that he diagnosed the problem that is why it was $ 289! What a joke! DO NOT TRUST THIS COMPANY! What they failed to tell you was it cost $ 25 to pull up in your driveway and $ 289 before even looking at the problem! BAD BAD BUSINESS!

The only reason this has one star is because you can not put zero stars.
We have had an issue with our basement drain in the past and I said once and for all I wanted it fixed for good.
On 7÷31÷2012, I called Acclaimed and specifically asked whether or not they perform the camera service. I wanted to have a video done of our basement drain. Even after I asked if they had a camera, and they told me yes, the technician showed up without a camera. He even told us that they didn’t even have a camera. He said in order to do the video, he would have to rent a camera– in other words, he had a million excuses.
I told him that I wanted the problem fixed, and he said he would fix the problem. I told that I wanted whatever problem there was to be fixed permanently. Instead, all he did was snake the drain and charged us $ 315 to do it. In other words, he did not fix the problem. He then quoted us $ 785 for jetting, $ 350 for snaking, and $ 640 for video scoping. He told us that the $ 350 would go towards future repairs if we had to call them back. But he wrote something totally different on the invoice and had my husband sign it because he knew that my husband had not heard all of the conversation that we had. He also wrote on the invoice that he was only giving a warranty of TWO WEEKS.
It lasted all of two months. And now they want to charge me FULL PRICE of $ 650 to put a camera down there like I asked for in the first place. And they refused to credit the $ 315 ($ 350 minus a small discount) towards the repair.
When I called them, their answer was basically «too bad, so sad». I talked to the manager and he said they did not guarantee snaking. When I told them that I did not just want the drain to be snaked, I wanted it FIXED, his answer to me was, «well, you paid for it.» When I told him about the tech showing up without a camera and the renting story, all he could say was «that’s weird». I will NEVER do business with Acclaimed ever again.

I would give this company 0 stars and a warning report if you had it. This guy came to my house $ 65.00 inspection fee, I told him that i needed my main line snaked, he said that he would have to remove the toilet to get to the main line which would be 150+ dollars, then he said that it will be close to 900 dollars to snake the line since it was after hours and an emergency call. I paid him the $ 65 and pretty much told him that it would never happen, i could call another company and have it done for 500 bucks. He smiled and said well then do so and pay me, I paid him and put him on his way, this company is a rip off, I highly suggest using Mr. Rooter, they came and did everything that this guy was going to charge me close to a thousand for and it was $ 455.00 dollars, the guy was nice and he was on time and wasn’t trying to rip me off. CONSUMER BEWARE, DON’T USE THIS COMPANY.

DEAR FELLOWS LIVING IN NORTHERN VA AND SOUTHERN MD.
PLEASE READ THIS AND THEN DO YOUR HOME WORK BEFORE YOU CALL THIS MERCHANT FOR YOUR NEEDS
On Tuesday, 23 August, 2011, the vibrations and earth movement caused by the earthquake which hit Northern Virginia caused structural movement at my home. Specifically, pipe joints were loosened in the gas line downstream off the isolation valve. This gas line feeds HVAC unit located in the attic serving bedroom level. When we became aware of the leak we contacted Washington Gas, who sent a representative to our home that evening (Tuesday, 23 August 2011). After investigation, he concluded that the gas leakage is from the piping joints, a union, and pipe fittings between the isolation valve (located ~ 12″ to 18″ away from the unit) and the HVAC unit. Before leaving he turned the isolation valve off to stop gas leak. In the same evening, (Tuesday, 23 August 2011), I spoke with the owner of ACCLAIMED SERVICES, Mr. Leo, and arranged to have someone come to my home, Wednesday, August 24, 2011 @ 1:00 pm to fix the gas leakage. He quoted $ 29 for service personnel to come to my home. Adam, from ACCLAIMED SERVICES, showed up at approximately 1:45 P. M that afternoon. I informed him that the leakage between the isolation valve and the HVAC unit had been stopped by Washington Gas Company Representative the previous evening (Tuesday August 23, 2011). Adam then went into attic, turned the isolation valve on, and confirmed the gas leakage location in under 5 minutes. He proceeded to give me an invoice for $ 476 for the 5 minutes of work he performed confirming the leakage area. He called this billing an «inspection charge.» I informed Adam that this was unacceptable for several reasons. First, when he arrived I informed Adam that Washington Gas had already inspected the unit and had identified the leakage location. Second, his efforts identifying the leakage location required less than 5 minutes of work (which is logical, given that I’d just told him what the Washington Gas representative had found). Adam responded that the $ 476 inspection charge would be forgiven completely so long as I paid Acclaimed Services to fix the leakage with new pipe fittings, nipples, and a union. I then asked Adam to quote me a cost for having this work performed. He gave me a cost of $ 936 to replace a couple of short nipples, a couple of 90 degree elbows, and one union — which included a fee of $ 250 for the Fairfax City/​County inspector to approve & certify the work. I advised Adam that this was unacceptable, as it would take a plumber no more than a few hours to replace a half dozen pipe fittings and pipe nipple pieces. Further, I informed him that neither he nor his company’s owner had ever mentioned a mandatory $ 476 inspection fee; so throwing out this fee and then agreeing to forgive it in exchange for paying a hugely inflated repair cost was unacceptable. During this discussion, Adam threatened to have his co-​worker call the police, if I do not pay him $ 936. I then called the company’s owner, Mr. Leo, to try and resolve the issue. As I did not have any option so I agreed with him $ 800 for the complete job, which broke down to $ 300 for the confirmation of the gas leakage area and Fairfax City/​County inspector certification of the repair work and $ 500 for repairing leaks by replacing nipples, elbows, and a union. He scheduled a plumber to come to my home around 3:30 to 4:00 P.M. At 4:30 P. M the plumber arrived. While the plumber was completing the repair work, I observed that he was re-​using the existing nipples, elbows, and union so, I asked him to use new parts and fittings. He then got angry and stated that he knows what he is doing. After a few minutes, I again requested that he at least install a new union. He refused, stating that there was nothing wrong with the existing union. The only new material plumber used to fix the leaky fittings, was piping joint compound. I strongly believe that $ 800 for 2 hours work is surely high and unreasonable.

Ripoffs. I called them to fix a slow leaking tub and they told me they could only do it from the roof of the house, adding 1500 dollars to the cost. In addition to this they charge 1200 for video scoping. After this was done they said I needed a complete sewer line replacement.
Meanwhile they tracked mud into my house, asked if I smoked so they could borrow cigarettes, and threw the feces soaked root they pulled out at one another — VERY unprofessional.
I got a second opinion from Roto-​Rooter who video scoped the line (from the ground) for free, snaked the rest of the line Acclaimed failed to clean, and inspected the line and verified it was NOT in need to replacement or repair… all for nearly ¹⁄₁₀^th the cost.
Avoid these hucksters!

Cheats
Dave (one of their managers) came to inspect leaks and flush problems. We had problems with 3 of them. One was leaking since the flushing mechanism didnt work alright and water leaked through the tank, causing water to go down the floor and mess up the roof dry wall downstairs. One needed the flapper changed. Other one he pointed out a crack, which I later found to be just a dust mark.
So he tried to recommend 3 new toilets ($ 500 each). Fortunately he forgot about the type of toilet tanks he needed to get and just changed the mechanism on the top floor. He says to me «I dont know why you wanted me to change the entire toilet when all it needed was the mechanism change».
At that point I realized that I couldnt trust him. I cancelled most of the work. Also after the inspection, he promised he would be there the next day (Sat), but instead he showed up only on Monday after multiple calls back and forth.
The quality of the work was bad. The one flapper he had changed started to leak as soon as he left. He had to come again to fix it. Overcharge, dont stick to promised delivery times and poor quality of work. Also did I mention pushy… he tried to make it sound as if I was trying to cheap out on him. Talk about treating your customer well.