Somerville Thos

We purchased a lot of plumbing parts from Thos Somerville using the showroom in Arlington for the decorative fixtures and this store for hot water heaters, pumps, and other pieces. It turned out that we bought two expensive Eternal hybrid hot water heaters. Eternal went out of business in the United States before we ever even activated the units. So I was stuck with two expensive hot water heaters with no warranty or parts available for service. We contacted Thos Somerville and the manager arranged a trade of the Eternal units with equivalent capacity AO Smith units at no cost to me. This was huge. I thought I was going to lose 1,000’s of dollars replacing these units at my cost. The fact that they took these units back and replaced them is true customer service and standing behind their customers with the products that they sell.
Additionally, the manager offered free delivery of a toilet after I arrived on a weekend after they were closed and I couldn’t receive it.
Customer service is alive and well at Thos Somerville.

This Fairfax location has very helpful salespeople and counter staff. I am able to get last minute parts or fixtures on the same day because they have good stock of items. Otherwise arrangements can be made for delivery within a day or 2. Prices for contractors are comparable to other retailers, sometimes a little more expensive but worth being able to get things in time.

Are you kidding? This place is horrible. First I didn’t know how to enter. Only to discover you had to go through the loading dock. Then you couldn’t browse the aisles to see the products. So I was forced to ask a salesman who was extremely condescending. When I finally asked simply for him to show me the parts I needed so I could decide he continued to dissuade me and refused to show me any parts. I asked if he was trying NOT to sell me parts. He finally brought me a single product to examine. When I asked him about it he persisted to try and convince me not to purchase the product. I then asked him the price he wouldn’t tell me and I was astonished so I asked again because I was sure I didn’t understand his reply but I did here him correctly. He wouldn’t tell me the price. I then went to the salesman next to him in disbelief to ask him if he would tell me the price and he replied:“I don’t know maybe $ 7 or $ 8″ and then walked away. The original salesman followed me and then said he would find out and after several minutes finally said it was $ 10+. What a joke if you are at all capable and know what you’re doing avoid this place. Apparently they know what you need better than you do. I was appalled to the point that I was compelled to write a review and this is only my second review in over 4 years on Unilocal.Is it possible to have less than 1 star?

I came here on Monday because I need some parts for a plumbing project I’m working on in my house. I’m not a plumber. I’m not even handy.
I had actually gone to Home Depot looking for the parts I needed. After searching exhaustively for the parts I needed, an employee at Home Depot recommended that I come here. He said that Thomas Somerville would have what I needed. So I heeded his advice.
The person that helped me was very helpful! I showed him the old part that I had, and he immediately knew what I needed. After a few tries, he finally found what I was looking for. I was very relieved to be able get the help of an expert. He was attentive to my needs, and I was very grateful.
I went home with the parts I needed. However, I discovered that one piece would not fit because of the location of the screw holes. But now, I’m not fretting because I’m going to be going back to Thomas Somerville soon to get help.
I’ll be updating this review after that trip. (I originally rated this as 4 Stars)
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Update!
I returned to Thomas Somerville on Friday to see if they can help me due to the problem above. I went to the same employee who helped me on Monday and explained to him my problem. I brought the parts I bought and the old parts as an example of what I needed. He immediately knew what would be an easy fix: an adapter! The adapter was exactly what I needed for the parts I bought. I asked how much. He says that he was in a good mood so he’ll give it to me for free. I was pleasantly surprised. I will definitely be returning here again for all my plumbing needs.