Union Plumbing

Just to update on what happened since last week. On Friday (after 6 day of the resident not having hot water) I confirmed that Union Plumbing received the owners credit card payment and that they made an appointment with the resident. They said the received the paper and made appointment with resident for between 6 – 10 that night. They showed up with no supplies and told the resident they were there to diagnose! WTF??? That is what they did on Wednesday. They then sent a fax late Saturday saying the credit card payment didn’t go through. I confirmed with the owner that it did not and sent our regular plumber. Union Plumbing was trying to charge $ 974 in additional charges that our plumber said did not need to be done. By not going through warranty and sending an actual plumber it saved the owner $ 200. They are cons. Do no use them and if you warranty tries to assign them tell them no.

I had my 75 gallon water heater break during the night and woke up to my garage looking like a FEMA site. I contacted my home warranty company, HSA, to report the claim. I received a call from Union Plumbing within one hour. The girl who called was very nice, scheduled me for service the same day between 2−6pm. She said I would be called 45 minutes prior to the plumber’s arrival so I could come home from work. I started getting concerned when I hadn’t heard from anyone by 5pm. I called their only phone number and spoke with a very useless after-​hours answering service operator. She said if I’m scheduled then I will get service. I asked her to double check to make sure I would be called ahead of time. She told me she had no idea about the status of the plumber and that he was probably running late. Having just wasted 5 minutes of my life I’ll never get back, I headed home. Once home, I discovered a «Sorry we missed you» door hanger timed for 5:25pm from Eric… about the same time I was on the phone with their nitwit answering service. I called the number and finally got a live person who was pleasant and said she would call Eric. After about 20 minutes of not hearing anything, I called them back. Once I got through the answering system and to a «live» person, the line disconnected. I attempted to call back 3 more times with the same result. I then called from my husband’s phone and got the girl I spoke to previously. She said she left Eric a message but hadn’t heard back. I asked her to call the owner, but she said she didn’t have his number. I called HSA’s emergency claim service, told them what happened and that I needed a water heater ASAP. I also said I didn’t want such an unprofessional, sketchy company as Union Plumbing in my home. I told the rep to read the Unilocal reviews, which she did and attached them to my complaint. Now I’m waiting for A&R Service… hopefully I’ll have better luck with them.
UPDATE ²⁄₁₈ 8:30 pm – after the chaos of the past few hours, I received a call from Ryan at Union Plumbing, who is the plumbing manager. He said he was in the area and was aware of what had happened. I hadn’t yet heard from A&R, so I agreed to let him come over and do the job. As it turns out, water heaters aren’t repaired on the spot. He let me know that my current configuration wasn’t up to code. We discussed some different options, including installing a tankless heater which will last for 20 years. He was very nice, professional and informative. He said he’ll call me tomorrow to let me know what he finds out from HSA regarding code issues and cash payouts. In the meantime, I’m contacting a friend of mine who is a city building inspector to get his opinion on the matter. Will post updates as they come.

Update from Charlie K @ Union Plumbing. Charlie’s direct response to my YEP comments regarding his company’s poor performance and lack of professionalism.
Charlie K direct words: «You seem like a heartless fuck you slam companies without any regard on what it may do to them. I would sue the fuck out of you or just kick your ass»
Another example why you should never ever let UNION PLUMBING in your home.

Truly unpleasant experience starting with the unhelpful office staff. The customer service rep «Valerie» answered the phone with a curt «Hello», I didn’t even know if I had called a plumbing company… Our home warranty company sent Union out and it took three plumbers to NOT FIX the problem. They didn’t even turn on the water to check if the leak was corrected. I’m not a plumber but that seems like the next logical step to me. Really disappointed with quality of workmanship and lack of professionalism. I suggest Union Plumbing stop donating a portion of their earnings to charity and invest it in training their staff.

This company is a rip off!!! They came in for 5 minutes to diagnose a plumbing leak. He checked under sink (obvious not from there) and the fridge. My entire kitchen floor is warped as well as the center island and his diagnosis is there is no leak. They did not check for moisture and their explanation that a water line leak in the fridge from a year ago is finally causing the warping was ridiculous. When a competent plumbing company came to my house they found that my sewage pipe from the second floor is leaking within my kitchen walls. They are going to have to demo my entire kitchen and upstairs bathroom to the studs!!! All this when Union Plumbing diagnosed NO leak. What a joke this company is. If they don’t want to do quality work for Home Warranties than they need to REMOVE themselves from AHS list. Their reputation is horrible for a legitimate reason

Beware. They do not answer their phones. I was on hold for half an hour before giving up. I was referred through my home warranty company but will be requesting a different plumbing company now.

Whatever you do, avoid Union Plumbing!
1. They don’t answer the phone. Once they left me on hold for an hour. Every few minutes, someone would pick up the phone for half a second and put me back on hold before I could say anything. This went on and on and on.
2. They frequently turn off their phones, leaving an answering service to take the calls. The answering service does nothing. At least with voice mail I could leave a detailed message describing the problem
3. If and when they do finally call you back a few days later, they schedule an appointment a week away
4. The plumber who came for my first visit didn’t take very good notes or order any parts so when he got sick and another plumber had to come (again, nine days later thanks to the office staff), they had to do another evaluation and diagnosis visit.
5. Finally, another nine days later, they came with the parts to repair my three plumbing problems.
6. They do bad repair work. They let trainees attempt repairs, unsupervised.
— My toilet flush handle was sticking in the down position. They changed out my toilet’s flapper and the new one actually caused the toilet to leak, wasting water until they finally came back 12 hours later and put my original flapper back in. Now my toilet handle is once again sticking in the down position.
— They replaced my kitchen faucet but didn’t take care of the hardware underneath, resulting in a massive leak under the sink for which I had to call out a different plumber, pay for a service call, file a reimbursement claim with my home warranty, and miss another day of work. I did give Union Plumbing a chance to come and make this right — I called them at 8 am, was told they wouldn’t be coming in until 9. I left a message with the answering service. That was on Wednesday. This is Friday and they still haven’t returned my call. For all they know or care, my house could be completely flooded due to their negligence.
Again, avoid Union Plumbing at all costs!

One star is required, if I could I would give negative stars – for my experience with the office/​scheduling staff.
I have American Home Shield and have some plumbing problems involving a leaky faucet, a weak toilet flush, and a messed up shower valve. Through AHS, I scheduled with Union Plumbing to have a technician come out on a Thursday. The tech came, fixed the toilet, and said he needed to get parts for the sink and shower.
Stupid me, this is where I made my huge mistake – I had somewhere to be that evening, and timing for the technician to leave, get the parts, come back and fix everything was not going to work. He said he could get the parts and come back tomorrow. BIG MISTAKE – once I paid my fee, why on earth would they ever come out again???
I was worried about whether this sounded too good to be true, so while the technician was still at my home, I called the Union Plumbing office. I spoke to Maria, on speakerphone, so that the three of us were all on the same page. I thought we had established that the plan was the technician would get the parts, come back the next day. I specifically called Maria at the office to confirm that the technician would in fact be available to do so.
I took work off on Thursday, then I took work off on Friday because I had been assured that the plan was for the tech to come back the next day with the parts and finish the job. When I called Union Plumbing to find out where the technician was, as I’d been waiting all morning, I was told that the earliest someone could be out again was Monday night.
I took work off two days in a row. I can’t use my shower. And Maria was incredibly unhelpful. When I explained I never would have let the technician leave without fixing everything if I knew it would be until Monday, and did she not remember the fact I called the day before to confirm he would be here — she told me she never confirmed anything with me. SILLY ME! I thought my phone call asking to be assured that the tech would be back the next day with the parts, and did the schedule allow for that, was a CONFIRMATION!!!
Finally, when I asked for a confirmation email regarding my now-​Monday appointment, she told me they don’t do that.
TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE and I will NEVER use them again, and I will tell AHS I refuse to work with them and to send me a different contractor.
Too bad because the technician was a nice enough guy.

This is our first experience with Union Plumbing. I was a little leary because of the negative reviews. Our home warranty company said Union Plumbing would call and schedule an appointment. They called within three hours. The girl doing the scheduling was very nice not rude at all. She scheduled the appointment the same day between 4 and 8pm. The reason I have 4 stars is that the tech didn’t call before he came over. He rang our doorbell that doesn’t work. I was home and didn’t hear a knock. So he left a note telling us sorry we missed you, he also did not call prior to coming over. Most of the time when I schedule a service call someone usually calls. I then called Union Plumbing and Johnathan answered he was super nice not rude at all and very helpful. He advised to call back in the a.m. and reschedule. I called in the morning again the gal on the other end of the line was helpful not rude, I will add that when they answered the phone it went immediate to holding no one asked if I could be placed on hold. The customer service level was on point so that really didn’t bother me because I was not on hold for very long. We scheduled the appointment same time same day. Johnathan called before coming over, he was friendly nice did not ask for the home warranty deductible right away. He looked at everything and took care of all the issues we had no hidden extras. We gladly paid them when everything was taken care. Our faucet in the kitchen needs to be replaced so we have to wait on the warranty companies approval so I will update this review when that is taken care of. Overall I believe that everyone’s experience is different. I’m thankful that we had a really good one. For a professional experience I would request Johnathan if you go with Union Plumbing, which I would definitely recommend.

They were suppose to be here between 12, and 4. At 5 pm no call, no show. I called and cancelled the service. When you call you will be on hold for over 15 minutes. Half Ass Operation

The one star is required. I bought a water softener from Sears. Brought it home and realized I might be better off having a professional install it as our house is brand new. It has a loop of plastic pipe and I didn’t want to make a mistake. We told Sears what we had for pipe.
Guy comes out, says he doesn’t have the fittings required and it will be 200 dollars on top of the 290 we already paid Sears.
He leaves for 2 hours and doesn’t call. Says he had to get the fittings from a coworker. I ask him him much the fittings cost and he guesses 45 bucks. He also says it should take a half an hour. Their labor rate is 90 he says. That adds up to 200 How???
I’ve been to Sears twice and there were more employees there than customers. No surprise a failing business contracts these crooks.

American Home Shield tried to get me to use these guys, but after reviewing their horrible record on the State of Nevada Contractors Board (violations up the ying yang), I said no thank you and requested a different company. But Union kept calling my house anyway. I had to wait for 25 minutes on hold before a person came on the line so I could tell them to please stop calling. And by the way, their website proudly boasts a 5-​star rating from Unilocal.Are they for real?

Fast, friendly, professional, capable! Mike was great. Thank you so much! Restored my faith in humanity. Will definitely use these guys again

This is the worst company I’ve ever had to deal with. The job is never completed. I called them several times and they never have the parts in to place it. I have called my insurance company and complained as well. Be aware when using this company.

I wish there was a way to give negative stars. These people are the worst plumbing company out there. The office is rude and doesn’t return calls. The service sucks. The Home Warranty contracted with people to address some issues in the house. Took a week to finally get someone out there. RUN

They have 21 reviews and 12 are of the 1-​star variety. It’s not a coincidence or shock.
Absolutely the worst service ever. I’ve had the unfortunate experience in dealing with 2 different receptionists and 3 different plumbers. I was also referred by my home warranty thieves American Home Shield just like many others.
Both receptionists were rude as heck and couldn’t be bothered to be polite. They made it seem like a gigantic hassle to even have to answer the phone let alone answer questions or make an appointment. I have been placed on an outrageously long hold each and every time I’ve called. We’re talking between 8 – 14 minutes each time, not 1 – 2 minutes. Also, the call service they use is equally rude. They turn on their call forwarding at 4:30pm even though they’re «open» until 5pm. Worst service ever.
I could look past the horrible customer service if the job was at least done correctly and professionally. Alas, it was not.
First plumber came out because my tank leaked and I needed a new one, at the time it was an emergency and I didn’t question all the permits and new codes and straps that were «necessary» and ended up paying $ 400+ even though the tank was fixed under warranty. Second time was months later when I wasn’t getting enough hot water. A 50gal tank should last 33+ minutes with 1.5gpm water rate but I was only getting 10 – 12 minutes. Second plumber showed up looking homeless and without the ability to take a hot shower himself, he had only been doing on the job training for a year and after 3 hours of investigating, he was convinced the problem was the gas control valve. $ 250 later, that wasn’t actually the problem. Had him come out for another 3 hour investigation to which he couldn’t diagnose the problem, but just threw his arms up and said it must be the tank that needs replacing. Next day, third and different plumber comes out, doesn’t think the tank is the problem, investigates for 1.5 hours, can’t figure it out, I urge him to just replace the tank, finally he does. That still doesn’t fix my problem.
So, now I’ve spent who know how many of my own precious hours and almost $ 1,000 to get 10 – 12 minutes of warm water all while dealing with horrendous customer service and inept «professionals.» Thanks Union Plumbing. I hope you’re not in business much longer.

American Home Shield contacted Union Plumbing to replace my water heater under my warranty service contract. Union Plumbing charged me $ 245.00 over my deductible of $ 125.00 for work that was not necessary. Everything was up to code and upgrades were not needed. I was even charged $ 105.00 for a permit and so far they have refused to send me a copy. I have no way of proving the work was not necessary… after the fact. I was out of state at the time and my daughter OKed the work order because we needed hot water. So I am stuck with the extra expense but I have cancelled my policy with AHS I think they are in kahoots with Union Plumbling.

HSA recommended them to us for our water heater. Told us they can fix it but it will take 10 BUSINESS days to fix. So I would be out of hot water for an additional 10 or more days on top of the 3 days I’ve been without hot water. They really suck

Be very afraid! I was referred by AHS home warranty for water heater repair. They wanted to up charge me $ 120 two times! In addition to the $ 125 service call fee and charging insurance company additional monies as well. When I asked to explain charges to the plumber, office manager, and even owner, none was given. The charges were unnecessary and exorbitant. You cannot trust a company looking to take advantage of customers at their most vulnerable. I took the pay out and am very happy I did.

Scam artists. If your warranty program recommends them go for the warranty cash out instead. Wanted to charge 120 for a 40 permit. Made up fictitious repairs to bring the job up to «code.»