Clear View Plumbing And Heating

Glad to hear about it! We always like to leave the place as clean or more than the way we arrive to the job site! We're lucky in having such versatile technicians - many times one technician can solve multiple problems - it doesn't cost YOU any more if we send two, (or ten) the way it would for an hourly rate company! We'll quote the price, in writing, BEFORE you pay - 10 times out of 10 - that way you can make an informed decision, instead of one based off a rough "ballpark" figure over the phone and finding out after - we aren't playing baseball, we're quoting plumbing and heating!

Thanks Sonia! We love hearing from our customers - especially when they have had a great experience with us!

Well that's excellent David, thank you. Chris and John are some of many great technicians that we hire - after all, we only hire the best and we keep them happy! If we are going to base our business around being welcomed into our customer's homes, we're going to do whatever is possible to ensure that it's only the best of the best going to our calls! Many people have turned to hiring handymen online, through Kijiji or Craigslist! Yikes! While it may work out some of the time, it's likely SOME will get burned - Kijiji doesn't exactly drug test, background check, insure or check the certification of these entrepreneurs - we want to make every effort to get the best people for your job!

Thanks Noreen! Glad we could introduce ourselves, but ALSO glad we could introduce you to Homestars! The phonebook is great - we get a lot of great new clients from there - but remember, ads in the yellow pages are not subjective! Of course those yellowpage ads won't tell you if the company doesn't have insurance, drug-tested and security cleared technicians, or even licensed technicians at all! It's important to cross reference with CERTIFIED customer testimonials - unfortunately it is not uncommon to hear about people getting "burned" by even the most seemingly reputable of companies. It's just nice to know that there's a place (homestars.com) where we can go to see what OTHER homeowners think about a company before YOU invite them in! Learn from other's successes and mistakes and don't forget to contribute - especially if it's GREAT service you received!

Thanks again!!!!

Glad we could help you out Dennis! Leave it to Calgary to give us such beautiful weather and then make us use our furnaces again at the end of May! I'm glad our technician was able to help you out - We like to make sure we can educate customers as well as fix their problems. Always a pleasure, helping a fellow Calgarian get by in spite of the bizarre weather we enjoy so much! Call us any time!

Hi there Patrick, I apologize for the service you feel you've received, however I do not apologize for our pricing - our prices are carefully crafted and adjusted quarterly. Just for our other Homestars Readers and Reviewers, I'd like to take an opportunity to provide the other side of the story - the one you rarely get to hear!

Our pricing (which is based on our overhead and our overhead alone) was quoted up front to you and agreed to by you before the job was started. Unfortunately we do not price match based on phone quotes for jobs that are already done - it is the oldest trick in the book for competing plumbing companies to quote on jobs after they've been done and over the phone (and often for half the price it would actually cost) - there's no accountability! I only mention this to point out the source of your "less than $1,000" figure comes in, which is why we didn't factor it in to our price nor our resolution to your concern.

You mentioned your displeasure in the fact that we do not "leave room for negotiations" - you're right, we do not - what we DO is quote UP FRONT, PRIOR to the work being performed, so that the homeowner can make an informed decision based on the exact price, as opposed to an hourly rate plumbers low-ball guesstimate. You're right - we are not the cheapest in town and will never aspire to be!! But nor are we the most expensive, believe it or not! We ensure we're within 10%-20% (higher and lower) than who WE consider to be our competition.

Likewise, when we went back over (at no cost, as per our guarantee) to repair a callback (which ended up being a manufacturer defect in a part), you opted to go forward with two more shut off valves at that time - it was quoted when we were there the day before, you approved the price and work up front, and then once things were complete you had refused to pay (on the grounds of wanting to negotiate and barter) after the job was done.

During our first visit, we provided a free year of planned service and a free shut off valve. After coming back to fix what you considered to be "poor service" on our part (although we did not craft the parts ourselves and it was to do with the product, not the installation) you agreed to a job and then refused to pay until it was discounted a further $345. All told, roughly $700.00 worth of products and services were compensated on this job in your favor, based solely on the negative experience you had with us. I truly do not know what more we're able to do, but we're open to suggestions.

I was under the impression, after the immensely discounted service that we provided (remember, this is all work that you had requested AND approved up front) we had taken care of your concern. If there are further issues, by all means, give us a call in the office - we'd be happy to address them and finally bring this price concern to a resolution.

Again, apologies about what you perceived as a lack of service, we do appreciate your comments!

Thanks Karen! Actually, I cannot thank you enough - you hit the nail right on the head for me. Many people think that if a company is the "best" they must be the "cheapest" - this is far from true. There are a thousand analogies I could use to explain the situation but it can be summed up as this: you get what you pay for, whether it's the comfort of knowing who you'll have in your home time after time (our technicians are liscenced, bondable, drug tested, are the other guys?) or the comfort of knowing that not only do we guarantee our work, but we'll actually be around to warranty it! It's unfortunate how many companies cut corners and go out of business as a result - although many "One man and a Van" style companies CHOOSE to run that way - it's pretty hard for a "Company" to honor a 14 year warranty if they've gone under several times and created a new business!

Thanks so much for your kind words, Karen - it's always very much appreciated!!!

Hi there Tricia! Thanks for your kind comments! I'm sorry we weren't able to get all of your problems solved on the first visit, that's what makes our flat rate system ideal! Many hourly rate companies tend to pad hours by coming to the job site unprepared! This leads to the inevitable trip to the suppliers while they're "On the Clock" and you're footing the bill! Is there any accountability to that?

We like to keep things fair - if we have to get a part (which does happen on occasion, although we do drive trucks stocked with well over 500 parts - like little warehouses on wheels!) your price doesn't change a penny!

Thanks so much for your comments Tricia!

Thanks Pat - Carbon Monoxide is not something that we want to mess around with! It's scary just how lightly some companies take an odorless, colourless, toxic gas - some companies shrug it off when they can't find an imminently hazardous level of gas (even though Monoxide poisoning is an accumulative thing - the CO stays attached to the blood cells until they die 100 - 120 days, so even a small but constant amount is enough to do harm - that's why some people experience headaches, nausea and other symptoms from low level poisoning) or they test heat exchangers on furnaces that aren't running to factory specs - cutting corners like this is how families are put at risk every year. Our technicians have gone to specific certification courses all over North America to get the PROPER information and techniques (we do use proprietary methods that not every company can boast!)

Get your furnace tested, every year, without fail, you can never be too careful!

Thanks Jeff! You wouldn't believe how many unknown variables we encounter on a "basic job" that can possibly affect the price. Most customers don't realize just how difficult their "simple jobs" can be, which is why we REFUSE to "quote" (a more accurate word is guess....) prices over the phone. I don't know about the other Calgary companies, but we try not to keep our Journeymen in the office answering phones and questions, so really, when these companies RECCOMEND phone quotes, it's nothing more than an office staff's best guess, based on the sometimes less-than-accurate information a customer gives. Be wary of phone quotes, and should you feel you NEED one before hiring a plumber, be sure to compare the price they "quote" and the price you actually pay, it can sometimes as much as double!