A & B Plumbing-Heating-Electrical

BEWARE OF THE RIPOFF CON ARTISTS! I made a mistake thinking I was calling A & B Malibu for a backed up sink that caused a major water intrusion in my kitchen 2 months ago. The house is a tri-​level with the kitchen in the middle level. When I called A& B they came out right away. They viewed the sink and said they could snake it but they’d better check to see what the «real cause» of the water intrusion was. They went under the house and reported I had «fissure leaks» and under the house was soaked wet. They recommended that I replace all these pipes! A&B went to the lower part of the house, where no water damage was, accessing the sewer pipe leading to the street and reported it was broken with standing sewage evident in the pipes. (Note: standing sewage is almost always present — it’s a sewage pipe!) What did I know? I hired professionals to tell me what was wrong. A&B said he needed help so he called the company that just bought them, Ritz, came out. They lived up to their name. They told me the pipe was broken in two or three places and it had to be replaced immediately. I didn’t believe them! I panicked at each $ 5000 hole (3 in total) they would need to dig to fix the problem. They repeatedly told me this had to be done to fix the problem. $ 21,000 was required, according to them, to fix the broken pipes. Thankfully I did not allow them to replace the pipes under the house! After paying $ 15,000 of this bill my pipes were restored. A day later I had an independent contractor confirm there was no standing water under the house. Within 3 days I had 2 more independent opinions that if water had come from the sewage the lowest level of my house would have had damage — and it didn’t. In short, they told me to fix something that did not require fixing. The water intrusion was actually the result of a clogged sink, dishwasher that was going in a wash cycle, and a 22 gallon soft water tank that recycled overnight. With no where to go with the clogged sink but over the top of the counters and onto the floor the water intrusion was not the result of a broken pipe that Ritz told me I needed to replace. When confronted with this information A& B and Ritz claim no wrong doing. DO NOT HIRE A & B SANTA MONICA OR RITZ PLUMBING!

I had earlier given A&B 5 stars. I wish I hadn’t. Two days ago, we scheduled an appointment with an 8a-​10a window of arrival today. At 9:40a we called to find out if the plumber was going to make the window and were assured he was on the way. After several more calls in which we were told he was «20 minutes away» he still hadn’t shown up. It is now 11:05. Not here. We’re cancelling and will never use them again.

Danny, the supervisor, is frustrating and is completely difficult to deal with. I was just trying to get a quote for how much they would charge for a pound of freon. He at first just «preferred» not to give me any kind of quote over the phone. But when I pressed him, he said he’d get FIRED if he quoted me anything over the phone, and that that’s the company policy. Any company that FIRES the employees for quoting how much a pound of freon would cost is either trying to hide something or they are trying to rip you off by charging you a fee for coming out and then over charging for whatever they diagnose. DO NOT CALL THESE PEOPLE!!! DO NOT LET DANNY LIE TO YOU OR RIP YOU OFF!

Lol… woow. What’s going on Danny N. so many negative shoes been thrown at A&B…no surprise it hasn’t changed. not the employees fault. just policy

Wow! I’m stunned by the negative reviews here. We have been using A&B for years. They keep their appointments on time, sometimes arriving early. They’re polite and friendly. They get in and get out. They diagnose the problem immediately. The job has always been done right. Yes, they are expensive, but, what good plumber isn’t? It looks as though some customers may have drawn the short straw, but our experience has always been positive.

These guys are a joke. They charge way too much money. Just to come they charge $, which is understandable. But the price to change a flapper in my toilet was $ 251 for twenty minutes of work and a piece of toilet hardware. To top it all off the guy took a dump I’m my toilet which really smelt afterwards. I guess he had to test it out.

Beware contacting this company. They will come to you then try to hustle money from you. I have a bad experience with them and won’t be contacting them anymore.

4 parts, 40mins= $ 660
They won’t itemize and did a sloppy job, I queried the work twice (in his 40min visit, which included evaluation) he had to go back and tighten the cheap crap he installed. I had on hand a better part on hand he refused to use. He also changed two breakers that werent broken. He wrote down some random numbers that I asked about and he quickly shut his note pad and said ‘that’s the price of the job’. Read/​follow the many negative reviews
They are thieves!

I have read a number of the reviews and have to admit that I had the exact opposite experience from most. A&B was helping us with an HVAC issue. They were thorough, upfront (telling us the process at each step) and were the only ones who ended up fixing what was a real problem in our system. My only knock is that they don’t like to quote time and materials separately. When we got to recharging the air conditioning system (which is mostly materials v. labor), I had to look-​up refrigerant costs online to see that they were charging me fairly. I can’t speak to them as plumbers or electricians, but they did a great job in HVAC.

The real huge issue with A&B is their plumbing department. STAY AWAY FROM A&B PLUMBING! They are crooks and con artists. The biggest mistake I made was hiring them to fix some banging pipes underneath my house. The plumber who visited spent an hour under my house and around the property and couldn’t figure out the problem. Then he claimed adding a $ 500 water hammer arrestor would fix the problem. He installed it and the problem got worse. Then he proceeded to quote me for other expensive solutions, one solution worse and more expensive than the next. I already spent $ 500 on the hammer arrestor (which A&B refused to remove and refund even though it didn’t fix the problem). I told the A&B plumber that I think (again I am not a professional plumber) that the problem is the main line coming into the house. He looked at that pipe and quoted me at $ 1200 to fix the main line. I told him to get the hell out of my house. I called another reliable plumbing company and they quoted my to fix the main line for $ 400. Considerably less than A&B. This other company came and fixed the main line no problem. If only I used them originally. I called A&B after my experience and complained to them that they charged me for a hammer arrestor that didn’t work and were going to over charge me to fix the main line. They didn’t apologize and refused to give me a refund for the hammer arrestor. A&B plumbing are crooks and should not be used by anyone. Truly the worst plumbing experience I’ve had in my home. Avoid A&B plumbing at all cost!
The only reason I am giving them 2 stars instead of 1 or 0 star is because the electrical department is ok. I’ve hire an A&B electrician a few times and they always did a decent job. I probably could have found an electrician for cheaper but A&B electrician service was solid in my experience.

Had them come out to fix a plumbing issue where the service fee was supposed to be rolled into cost of repair. The service man couldn’t diagnose the problem and after I complained that they couldnt even assess the situation, they proceeded to THREATEN to call all of the credit agencies if I didn’t pay them for doing absolutely nothing. Again, I was willing to pay for an assessment/​service. THEN, the owner proceeded to lie to me over the phone saying it was an issue with the drainage under the toilet rim that the service man said it definitely wasn’t… all in order to fulfill their obligation. You could physically see that wasn’t the problem. AGAIN, the guy was standing there saying, no way that isn’t your problem!!! Absolute crooks, bad people, bad business… I can not stress enough… DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME/​MONEY. Reported to the BBB and they lied to them AGAIN saying it was a cleaning issue or some bs. Absolute crooks… look elsewhere or you’ll regret it!!!

They lose 2 stars for missing the appointment window but Garrett wins them back one for his tireless effort in unclogging our backed up draining system. He made sure to tell me when the next attempt would raise the price and was neat and friendly during the challenging process. To be fair it was a last minute call due to flooding so they were squeezing us in on a busy day.

Great service. Called because of a plumbing issue. The office staff was very helpful and was able to send a plumber that day. The plumber Garrett showed up in the time period I was given. He checked out the problem, then explained exactly what was wrong and let me know how much it was going to cost. He was able to fix the problem, which was a main line stoppage that day. I’ll definitely call them again for any plumbing or electrical problems I have in the future.

I would also like to report fraud. They quoted me over $ 7000 to replace my ‘old’ plumbing under the house. When I called elsewhere for a second bid, they laughed and said my house had all new copper pipes and that I was being scammed. I couldn’t believe it. It was such a blatant scam and they were obviously trying to take advantage of a 1^st time home buyer. DO NOT use this company unless you have money you want to throw away.

Stay AWAY! Do not even bother getting an estimate. It’s not free, and their prices are exorbitant. They are a big corporate company with no customer service and ridiculous prices.
On the phone, they make it seem like they are a cheap company — «For $ 57, our guy will come and look and chances are it won’t cost more than that» Guess what they quoted me for moving three electrical outlets over exactly one foot? $ 978! We found someone who did it for $ 200, and he basically contradicted everything the guy giving the estimate said. A & B: It’s a complicated job. Our guy: It’s a very easy job. A & B: It will take all day. Our guy: Done in under 2 hours. Now we are out our $ 57 for their «estimate» (more like attempted robbery), but you don’t have to be. Stay away, far far away.