Benjamin Franklin Plumbing

We had a wonderful experience with this company. Water heater leaking in our top floor. They came out immediately to drain it and replace. One technician did all the work. Very fair price, great service, and good advice. We will never use another plumber!

I made an appointment for today (Saturday). I needed 40 minutes notice so that I could drive to the location that needed to be serviced. The operator when I called said that she could not give me a time, but that it would probably be early afternoon. I received a call at 8:30 am from the plumber asking me if I was available. This is an hour before they even opened. Needless to say, I was having breakfast and my teleportation machine was on the fritz, so I never got to have my appointment. The only service I’m willing to sit around all day for is a cable provider. Especially in a house with no running water.

This company is fantastic! They are honest, professional and efficient… they showed up when they said they would and the serviceman could not have been any more capable and professional. I highly recommend this plumbing company and will call them again should the need arise.

They came out in a reasonable amount of time, but charged $ 59 for the service call plus they wanted $ 180 to run a snake through a 10 foot piece of drain pipe to determine if it was frozen. It was a drain pipe (which shouldn’t be frozen since it’s non pressurized) and if it turned out to be damaged, they would have charged more to fix the problem. So here’s the rundown:
$ 60 to drive to the house + $ 180 to run a snake for 3 minutes = $ 240
I sent them away and bought a snake at Home Depot for $ 27. Hopefully that clears out the clog in the drain, but either way I’m glad I didn’t move forward with them since their prices are very high. If you’re looking at having them clear your drains, I’d recommend going to a local plumber and not a franchise like this.
UPDATE: after reading this review, I was contacted by Ben Franklin (the company, not the man) and they refunded the service charge. So in response, I upgraded them to two stars from one.

Great company! During my one experience with them, they get top marks. During our most recent «Polar Vortex» where it went to –8 degrees here in PIttsburgh, I had a pipe burst in my tenant’s unit. I had to shut down the water to the whole building. Benjamin Franklin Plumbing came out that same day, even though half of Pittsburgh needed a plumber, and he found the crack in the pipe and repaired it on the spot. I had initially thought they would just come out to give an estimate, but when he priced it out it was very reasonable. Not a cheap fix, granted, but came in a few hundred less than I anticipated. Will be my plumbers for life!

They showed up slightly after they said they would. However, the service was excellent and the drain was not just cleared, he expertly removed and disposed of years of gunk and debris. Will use again (but hopefully not too soon)!

I had a problem with an odor of sewage that I had several plumbers try to figure out. I called Ben Franklin Plumbing and they sent their team over with some high tech equipment, and cameras. It turned out to be a broken waste line under my concrete porch that was leaking into the foundation. This was one tough job but when it was done, the problem was fixed, odor gone, and you would never know they were there. They really did a professional job worthy of a 5 star recommendation no matter how tough the job is.