Benbow J P Plumbing & Heating Co

In the early summer of this year, we had contacted Benbow Plumbing & Heating to come out to our building and give us an estimate on repairing our two Central Air Units. It was just starting to get incredibly hot and we understood that they couldn’t make it out immediately. When they finally made it out, it was on a Friday. They gave us an estimate of $ 800-​$ 900 to replace a few valves, clean the units, re-​weld the copper pipes, and fill the units with freon.
The maintenance man admitted our units had a severe leak and were not running because it was low on freon. He said he topped it off so they would run and he would order the parts and be back the following Monday to repair the units. I was ecstatic they were going to be able to repair the units so fast, but I expressed my concern about the leaks in the units, being charged for the freon, only to have it leak out over the weekend and having to pay to have it re-​filled again. He looked at me blankly and said they would ‘work’ with us on the cost of the freon.
Monday comes and goes and he doesn’t show up. I understand its blazing hot and things happen. Tuesday comes and goes and no call, no show. I finally call Benbow on Wednesday, two days after my machines are supposed to be fixed. The lady explained we never had an appointment for Monday, and had no idea why their maintenance guy would even tell us that. I asked her why he would admit there was a leak, fill the units, charge me for freon, only to allow it to all leak out if they weren’t able to show up right away and that would be a bad business-​practice to do such a thing. She also said she would ‘work’ with us on the cost of the freon.
The parts came in and the guy finally shows up to fix the units on the next Friday. Without asking, he alters a metal coal chute in our building that had been boarded, cabled, and secured to prevent any possible break-​ins. I notice the coal chute had been pried open and I spent the morning reviewing the cameras thinking someone had tried to break in the night before. He had opened it to run his extension cords to where the units were, which I understand, but I would think a professional reputable business would ask permission before altering a building’s structure. It is an absolute HUGE security liability and not once did the maintenance guy ever mention, let alone, ask to do it.
The job is finished and the Central Air Unit’s seemed to be working fine. Fast forward a few weeks, Galesburg hits a record low one night of just over 50 degrees. Our units do not shut off, our lines freeze up, and start making all sorts of loud noises which disturb the neighbors living behind our building. I called Benbow and explained that the units are having issues only 2 – 3 weeks after repairing them. They said they would send someone out to take a look.
A week comes and goes and I haven’t heard an update on whether someone came out or not. I called Benbow and left them a message because I was angry that no one had showed up as they said they would. Not long thereafter, I get a call back from a lady who was extremely rude and snippy saying someone had already been out there and hadn’t found anything wrong with the units. If the maintenance man did show up, he never stepped foot in the building, never checked the thermostats, never checked the filters, never checked the lines on the interior of the building, and most importantly, did not even let us know he had been there. We hired them to fix our unit’s and they were still not working. The lady repeated over and over she was just a secretary and asked us what we would like her to do. We wanted her to put us in touch with someone that could help us get our A/C’s fixed, but she was more adamant in expressing that she was ‘just a secretary,’ but at the same time had no problem threatening to take us to court when we refused to pay our bill because our A/​C Units still had not been repaired. To this day, we have never received a call from someone higher up. Trying to get a hold of ANYONE at the company that can help is IMPOSSIBLE and the lady ‘secretary’ continuously gave us the run-​around.
We received the bill and it was just over $ 1300…AFTER COMPING US FOR 5LBS OF FREON. Of course the bill did not have a dollar amount for the freon that was credited. The bill was still much more than the $ 800-​$ 900 we were quoted even after crediting us. We finally just paid the bill. Complaining that their repair-​job and customer-​service was just falling on deaf ears. It does not seem that anyone at that company cares about their business’ reputation, let alone their customer satisfaction. Our A/​C Unit’s, to this day, are still not repaired. It is more than likely a thermostat issue, but Benbow refused to even acknowledge or even look at that. We probably would have even hired them to repair it.
STAY AWAY FROM THIS BUSINESS. THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE IS HORRENDOUS!