Affordable Water Heaters and Plumbing

BEWARE, WARNING, PRETTY PLEASE, do without hot water for a few more minutes to consult Unilocal before calling this company. Prompt, pleasant, pricey… by at least double what you should pay!!! Consulted another plumber for the same job AFTER paying an exorbitant amount to AWH&P. Four different plumbers/​plumbing companies gave quotes $ 300 being the highest. I paid AWH&P $ 726.
ALL these customers cannot be and ARE NOT wrong – WAY OVERPRICED!!!

WARNING: Do NOT hire this company. They are scam artists to the T!
Our water heater broke just yesterday around 1:30 pm. I called these people immediately to get some help. They gave us a time window of 3 – 5 pm. The «tech» didn’t come until 5:55 pm. So, basically an hour later than the time frame we were given.
Anyway, we had water everywhere. Luckily, our neighbor let us borrow his wet-​vac and we were able to get that under control (also by turning off the water). The tech finally arrives. He doesn’t say why he was late, no apologies… nothing. He «inspects» the unit and he gets out his sheet of paper and adds up all the things that have to be done (while talking to someone on the phone). He quoted us a whopping $ 2,800! We immediately thought that was pretty steep. So I call my brother who is in construction hoping he might have a better idea of what the average cost might be. I also ask some friends the same question. They all said that company is trying to «get over» on you big time. A friend of mine recently had her water heater installed (and the old one removed) for $ 1,500. Another friend said that for $ 2,800 we could get a tankless water heater (come to find out, my husband asked about a tankless water heater and was quoted $ 6,000)! When I heard that, I lost it. I told my husband (loud enough for the tech to hear me), «get this clown out of our house. They made us wait an extra hour and now they are trying to scam us. The guy starts walking while on his phone. And THEN (rolls eyes, yes, AND THEN… as if it couldn’t get any worse), we get a call from the guy who was whispering «sweet» conniving, scamming nothings in the «tech’s» ear. He aggressively tries to negotiate with my husband and drops the price to $ 1,000. What the heck??? Who does that?! My husband tells the guy, no thank you. You don’t quote someone almost 3k and then drop the price to 1k. That’s shady! The guy said, «we’ve been in business for 20 years!» I thought to myself, well I don’t know how! (SIGH)
Note: they have several phone numbers servicing a number of areas throughout the bay area. But the locations are questionable. For example, I Googled one and the street view shows a house (figures). Just in case, here are the phone numbers they have listed on a sticker on our water heater…
Same day of review update: I’m posting my review on all locations, some of which I see they have added new numbers. Too many to count. But as I mentioned, here are the numbers on the sticker on our water heater.
Hayward/​Castro Valley/​Union City: 510−581−1071
Fremont/​Newark: 510−791−0449
San Lorenzo/​San Leandro: 510−881−8566
Milpitas: 408−263−3003
As you can see, I am still fired up about this. I can not believe this «company!» Outrageous! Stay away!
Lastly, I’m sorry everyone on here had to waste their time with these fools. We called another company today. I will let you know how that goes.
Best wishes to everyone here reviewing. I hope you all were able to find a quality and reputable company to help you out.

I should have read the review and believed them… I called them last night since my parents water heater went out and they said they wouldn’t be able to provide a general quote over the phone but they do it in person. So I said fair enough and set up the appointment. I already had another company quote me 1175 to 1375 depending on the size of the tank but figure is give them a chance. My parents are older and don’t speak English very well and they charged them 2400 using scare tactics like everyone else mentioned saying they are licensed and do everything up to code with permits but guess what… so does every other company… they should really change their name since they’re not competitive at all for prices

If you’ve ever gotten a mail from these guys, toss it away ASAP.
This company is 100% scam.
When you call them, they’ll come over, sound really professional and give you a usually $ 600 repair quote, when you ask for it cheaper, they’ll call their «manager» and you can bargain it down for $ 400. If you ask for a complete replacement, they’ll give you the «we’re professionals» speech and quote you $ 2k to replace a 50gallon water heater.
So we paid the $ 99 for their fee to come out and take a look.
Later that night, dad and I bought a new one from home depot for under $ 450 after tax (with a coupon) and did the job ourselves within 1 hour.

Wow… these reviews for this company across different locations are very negative, and had I read them before committing to the water heater replacement and signing away the 3-​day waiver I would have looked elsewhere. However, my experience was different in most ways.
Our situation: 25 year old 100-​gal water heater was clearly leaking from the bottom and we needed to replace it… that day! Like others on this list, I had placed Affordable’s Emergency Shut down instructions sticker on mine several years before, as it had very clear instructions and was not going to fade like the original manuf. sticker. In fact, I had 2 – 3 other unused stickers of theirs on the bench in case it ever did. I also liked that it had about 7 – 8 Bay Area city phone numbers, and so I felt comfortable that they had been in business a while and covered the Bay Area well. So… yes, their marketing tactic got me. I have to give them credit for the idea, honestly.
However, the only two negatives were the wait (service guy arrived 4 – 5 hours after my initial call and almost 2 hours after my followup call. plus we had to wait about 2 hours for the bigger tank to arrive from another driver) and ultimately the price. Total = $ 3900 for complete installation of a 75 gallon tank (highly rated as I can tell… and on the same day as the problem tank was reported) but with all the other necessary items needed to meet new codes and permits (which they pull). I discovered after that the core tank unit ranges from $ 970-​$ 1200 + 9.25% tax in my Google Search for this model# (7 year warranty). While that is the price for DIY plumbers/​contractors to buy and pick up themselves, we would not have the vehicle to do so, nor haul the old one away to the proper dump, etc. We were charged $ 1899 for the core tank + sales tax + what I speculate are hauling and disposal of old tank + an obvious profit. The rest of the charges were for price-​itemized parts+labor that were necessary for installation and code. I did have to ask for them, but everyone should.
Their service guy was very courteous and professional, and performed the rip out of the old and the installation of the new tank very well and quickly once it arrived.
I am happy with the result… and honestly only believe we may have overpaid by a few hundred dollars for a tank that had to be replaced THAT day…
Oh… do be prepared to pay via credit/​debit card/​cash as they said they generally don’t take checks. As the guy did not have a working card swipe machine with him, he said ultimately that they would take a check if the office manager was not there to run the card (it was evening of Vet Day)…but he was… no big deal…
If you DO have the time to shop around (i.e. proactive replacement or slower leak than we had), or know a certified contractor plumber to do the work, delivery, and hauling away the old, then definitely shop around. We didn’t have that luxury, and were a bit stuck. They did a great job though.

I was dishonestly taken in very badly and costly by this company. The technician told me that his quote of $ 2950 is competitive, as others even go over $ 3,000. The main reason for this quote he said is the that the city of Hayward requires that the work be reported, inspected and given permit. He gave me a $ 100 senior discount. I called this company because it repaired the old water heater several years ago. It was a Sunday and the tenants need hot water badly and he was already at the property and inspected the water heater; so I said yes that he do the job, trusting that I am getting a reasonable deal. This was done on Sunday, Sept. 29^th.
I was promised that the invoice will be emailed in a few today; it was only today that I got the invoice be email.
Today, I called 2 companies/​contractors and I was quoted $ 1.050 and $ 950, using a US-​made Bradford White 40 gal. water heater costing on retail $ 512.86.
I called Hayward City Hall and was told that they cannot do anything about it. I will report this BBB afterwards. I am still researching what other options I have to recover part of I paid the company.
What I unfair and costly deal I got myself into.

They gave me an outrageous quote for a water heater, then gave me discounts, gave another price still high and then told me about a sale and gave me another price still high. It just did not feel right. I just did not feel confident and took my business elsewhere.

Wayne get the work done within 6 hours from the time I call. So we can have a hot shower by 10pm.
But the price is high. For an american standard 50 gal. T1−3 gas water heater installation, it cost me $ 1800 after some discussion about the original $ 2200 quote. The heater might be $ 600, other material for ~$ 80, city permit $ 220. So material cost around $ 900. So ~$ 900 for 2 hour labour and another 2 hours drive back and forth. That is too much.