Bay Area Plumbing & Heating

Thought we’d share an extremely unprofessional experience we’d encountered last Thurs. with a local plumber by the name of BAY AREA PLUMBING & HEATING! Wish we’d have done a little more homework and read prior Unilocal reviews for this company, to see that they’ve had several other complaints which seem to be indicative of what we’d experienced ourselves.
On Aug. 6^th, Lance Eastman, the President/​Owner of this outfit, came to our home to give us an estimate to repair (or re-​route) a leak in the cold water line in our guest bathroom. He informed us that he could perform the repair with no problem, however as soon as he discovered that our Homeowners Insurance Co. would be paying for the majority of the repair, he then suggested that we go with a total re-​route, up and over the roof, explaining that this would have to be done for both bathrooms and the kitchen as well. We told him that our Insurance Adjuster asked that we call her while he was here so she could speak with him directly, rather than playing phone tag or trying to reach him via e-​mail to let him know what was required on his part. She then asked him to provide her with two written estimates, one for a repair and the other for a re-​route, explaining that until she received these docs she would not be able to authorize the work. Hearing this, he promised to get the paperwork to her by the following Mon. (⁸⁄₁₀) since he doesn’t work on Fridays. My mother and I were both present for this conversation and overheard him quote the Adjuster 15k — 20k for a re-​route, should that be necessary. After hanging up with our Agent, he informed us that he was booked for the next week but would be able to begin our job on the following Mon. (⁸⁄₁₇).
Well, we received two calls from our Ins. Adjuster on Tues. and Wed. of the following week informing us that she still hadn’t received anything from him in writing, had placed three calls to him on his direct cell phone # that he’d provided her with, and sent him two e-​mails, all of which went unacknowledged. She asked if we would mind trying to reach him and light a little fire under him explaining that he would not be authorized to begin the work on Mon. ⁸⁄₁₇ until she received the written estimates. We too left him two voice-​mail messages on his cell on Wed. and three more on Thurs. We became extremely concerned when we still hadn’t heard from him by 2 p.m. on Thurs. since we knew that he didn’t work on Fridays, and had no idea if he was still planning on coming out to begin the job on Mon., even though we hadn’t seen, nor signed a contract. Fortunately, my 2 p.m. call on Thurs. to his cell was forwarded to his «secretary» in his «office», giving me an opportunity to tell her that we were concerned about his lack of response and lack of paperwork. She then asked us to try calling him back at 4:45 sharp that day, saying she would send him a text telling him that we needed to speak with him ASAP. Well, at 4:45 we reached out to him again and this time he actually answered his phone. I could tell that he was in his van, on the road, by the lousy reception, plus he mentioned that he was on his way back to RWC, which is were he’d previously mentioned to us that he lives. I told him that our Adjuster was still waiting on his promised quotes and that we were wondering if we were still on his calendar for this coming Mon. the 17^th. Well, I’m not sure what about either of those statements set him off but he then proceeded to let me know that he was on the road and not interested in getting «another» ticket for driving while talking on his cell phone. Then he told me that we were crazy if we think that we can simply contact a professional plumber and expect them to be available in a weeks time. I then reminded him that I was simply basing my inquiry on his time frame that he’d given us when he was out at our home a week prior. He then proceeded to tell me that he was booked up for at least another 3 to 5 weeks and that he didn’t know if he was interested in doing the job after all, since our «re-​route» was only a $ 25k job! Needless to say, we were a bit flabbergasted, (to say the least,) to hear not only his attitude, but to hear that he’d already made up his mind that he was going to perform the more expensive of the two repairs, a re-​route as opposed to a repair. I then told him that either our Adjuster or ourselves would have appreciated the courtesy of having him return at least one of our numerous calls. He then told me that he wasn’t interested in arguing with me and that he was very tempted to simply tear up our phone #. Not believing what I’d just heard, I told him not to bother and to simply forget that he’d ever heard from us.
One would think that the President/​Owner of a business which requires that he stay in contact with his «office» as well as his «clients» while traveling during business hours would at least be able to invest in a Bluetooth in order to avoid incurring traffic violations.

Really disappointed. The new air condition and heating system hasn’t cooled in the summer or heated in the winter for a complete season since it was installed in 2008. And I’ve been charged annual repairs of over 1,000 each year to repair it and it still doesn’t work. No, I don’t want a new $ 800 thermostat this year to make it work. I’ll find another company to work with.

If I could give a negative star, I would. We were referred to these folks by our tankless hot water manufacturer, Noritz. They came out, misdiagnosed the problem and gave us a $ 2,400 repair estimate. What did they do wrong? Everything. When I called Noritz because I doubted their diagnosis, Noritz agreed with me and mentioned it was strange that the repair person never called Noritz to troubleshoot the problem. Further, I got another estimate from my normal plumber for the same repair they recommended at ¹⁄₃ the cost (and trust me, he isn’t cheap!). The kicker, we (the service repair person and I) fixed the hot water heater after I called Noritz again. The fix: a higher flow shower head for $ 25.
They are either lazy, incompetent or fraudulent. None of these are really traits I want in my plumber.

6 years after my Radiant Heating system was installed in a brand new home construction, leakage in the system throughout the home caused by faulty piping, poor installation by the Radiant Heating contractor, the entire poured gypsum floor became saturated with water, wicking up walls, growing mildew, attracting insects, horrid situation, bottom line the entire home had to be scraped out, exotic wood and tile finishes, baseboards, cabinets, all had to be removed because the mildewed poured floor was saturated with water, dead.
I did not want to ever have to go through this kind of reconstruction again, and my search for a reliable, long term Radiant Heating Contractor was paramount. I scoured the Bay Area, spoke with and met on-​site many Radiant Heating Contractors in the Bay Area, and Lance of Bay Area Heating met the task with the right price, a ‘can-​do’ attitude, schematic diagram of piping for new installation, all of the right stuff — — the installation also had to include a new Triangle Tube Boiler to replace the cranky, sputtering Munchkin Boiler, also only 6 years old.
With the home completed last year, I was a now a satisfied long-​term customer, with a new efficient Triangle Boiler, a 5 year warranty, and toasty warm floors.

After our old radiant heating system in our Eichler home died, we faced a heating challenge. We were in a rush to get radiant heating installed prior to the release of my child from tan extended stay at the hospital. We initially talked with LaChance Radiant Heating, but ultimately went with Bay Area Plumbing and Heating as they were more familiar with Runtal side board heating — which we liked for color and configuration perspective.
Verdict? We should have gone with LaChance Radiant Heating. They are awesome. Bay Area is so-​so.
Facts?
1 — We had a fully functioning heating system installed prior to my son’s arrival at home. Caveat — we had to push and prod to make deadline.
2 — However, I was not impressed at all with the installation team. We pointed out the dangers of some of the proposed placement of pipes to one member of the team. He agreed the placement made no sense, but indicated several times that he was only following orders. Ultimately, I had to call Lance — and I had to personally design the flow of the pipes, which Lance indicated was the right one. Ridiculous as I am the least handy, DIY man that you will ever meet.
3 — When we did have a perceived problem with our actual boiler, we called Bay Area again. The guy who came out was once again not impressive. He wound up relying on the word from a phone call and recommended a 1000 dollar repair — or a 10 000+ replacement of the boiler. We called LaChance for a second opinion. There was nothing wrong with heater. Nothing.
4 — We had the work inspected and found short cuts in the insulation of the pipes.
Recommendation? Go with LaChance Radiant Heating.

Took 2 weeks to hear back from them. Then on the appointed date, they were a no-​show, no-​call. (I stayed home from work to meet him.) I called the office back, and apologetically, they were happy to reschedule.
The second time, again the estimator was a no-​show at our appointed time. I called the office and got the cell-​phone of the estimator that was supposed to arrive at our house. He assured me he was on his way, but would be a couple hours late. (It would have been considerate if he had called in advance to let me know.) We rescheduled for 12:00pm that day. Again, a no-​show. I called back at 12:50pm to find out where he was. He assured me he was on his way. I told him not to bother. Three strikes and you’re out.

BAPH and Dantes reached a negotiated settlement acceptable to both parties, and this matter is now considered closed.

Lance and team did an amazing job redo– ing the heating for my 1920/​30s Mt Carmel area bungalow. As part of a remodel, I wanted to update the ducting to improve energy efficiency and lower my Pg+e bill (and the giant sequoia in my back yard makes me a poor candidate for solar, so that wasn’t an option).
Lance came out for a site visit and we discussed options. Radiant heating sounded supercool but was outside my budget so we opted for a zoning system instead. He guided me toward a very affordable package and I was still able to add Internet enabled thermostats and come in on budget, which was important to me since I travel quite a bit and wanted to be able to control the hvac system from my iPad.
The guys who work with lance were also very clear and easy to work with.
Bay area plumbing is a first class operation and I’d highly recommend the team to anybody.

We just hired Lance /​Bay Area Plumbing and Heating to fix our heat, and they did a great job.
We live in a townhouse in a development in Redwood Shores that’s about 10 years old. The units have a hydronic heating system made by a now-​defunct company called Apollo. The system carries hot water from the water heater up to a radiator in the ceiling, where fans blow air heated by the water pipes into the vents. The problem: An air bubble in the pipes that prevented hot water from flowing into the radiator. We bought this townhouse in the summer, and had the seller put in a new water heater. The installers did a poor job — while hooking up the new heater they let the air into the heating pipes. The bubble reached the high point and stuck there. To make things worse, our system was built without an air bleed valve, so there’s no way to dislodge the bubble. We didn’t find this out til we tried to use the heat during winter. Like a lot of folks, we’ve been shivering in a cold house.
Lance did a very good job at a reasonable price. Their office staff, Suzie, was courteous and informative and straight with us. The only service bump was that we had to call them twice, and had to wait a few days as they had many service calls to get through. When Lance came, he was knowledgable, asked good questions, and made sure I understood what was going on. He was able to install another valve to properly flush the air out of the system. He did the work quickly. Lance even put on shoe-​covers to make sure his boots didn’t dirty our rug.
The work ended up costing under $ 600. This is a lot, but also much less than a number of estimates I saw.
We would definitely hire them again.