Benjamin Franklin Plumbing

This company always exceeds my expectations. Work is completed right the first time. I know exactly what it's going to cost ahead of time. Professional service is far above average. We just had 3 shut-off valves replaced that started leaking from age. We also previously invested in a plumbing maintenance protection plan. This is the first time I've ever had a good experience with a maintenance plan. It actually does what it says it does, covers what it says it covers, no hidden loopholes, no hassles. Reputable company by far.

Fast and excellent service!

Very pleasant technician - [redacted]. On time. Explained costs. Asked if I were interested in one of the maintenance plans and outlined each, showing me the pamphlet as he explained, but was not pushy. Offered a biodegradable product to use to help clear drainage line, but again not pushy. I did elect the basic maintenance plan.

We recently had our whole house repiped by Benjamin Franklin plumbing . They were very professional and did a great job keeping the mess to a minimum. They cleaned up after themselves. And tested the pipes when they were completed. The price was very reasonable .

My second experience with Benjamin Franklin Plumbing was once again as good as the first. The service technician, [redacted], was very professional, knowledgeable, courteous and friendly. He installed a new water heater and neutralizer/softner system quickly and did not leave any debris behind. I would definitely recommend both [redacted] and Ben Franklin Plumbing for any future needs

Sunday morning we discovered our water heater had failed and started to leak. The crew from Ben Franklin arrived shortly after lunch and replaced the water heater within 2 hours. Excellent response even for a week day but even more impressive given it was Sunday.

timely, professional service

Excellent Service.

[redacted] was very friendly, courteous, and professional in answering my questions and arranging for the technician to come to the house and give a free estimate on replacing a water heater.

[redacted] Grant was the technician on this job. He called in advance of arriving. When he arrived, he was very professional and provided a competitive quote for replacing the 75-gallon gas water heater. As the heater had a small leak, I asked if he could install the next day and he replied that he could do it right away even though it was 2:30 pm in the afternoon. He estimated it would take 4 hours to complete the job. As I have a finished basement and delicate fixtures in the middle of the room, I requested he keep the area very neat and clean during the removal of the old water heater and installation of the new.

He returned within 30 minutes with the replacement water heater and had all necessary drop clothes and tools to do the job. A second colleague joined him to help remove the old heater and put the new heater in place. They did an excellent job in respecting my property. [redacted] encountered a couple unexpected situations but was efficient and resourceful in resolving them. He did an outstanding job, and I would gladly have him perform another service in my house.

Review: We were promised a reply by the field supervisor on September 21 and never heard from Benjamin Franklin. We sent the letter below on September 26 and have not heard from Benjamin Franklin. The letter below explains our problem in detail:

[redacted] and [redacted]

Benjamin Franklin Plumbing

410 Meco Drive

Suite B

Wilmington, Delaware 19804

September 26, 2015

Dear Madam or Sir,

We already communicated the following verbally to your Field Supervisor [redacted] on Monday September 21, who after seeing the material evidence of what we relate below said to [redacted], “I completely agree with you” in response to our request for the extension of the warranty to September, 2016. However, Mr. [redacted] also said at that time that he would report back to your company owner for the company’s decision, and get back to us. As of today’s date, we have not heard anything back from your company.

At this point, we want to communicate the following to you in writing:

On October 1, 2014, your technician installed a new shower faucet. In order to install this faucet, he soldered the new copper pipes onto our existing galvanized pipes, on the left and the right of the faucet.

Within hours of installation, water started leaking through the ceiling underneath the shower. The right side connection between your new copper pipe and our existing galvanized pipe was found to be leaking. The problem was identified as an improperly installed faucet/faulty part/bad workmanship. You assumed full responsibility for all damage, repaired the leak by re-soldering the right hand side connection, and patched the ceiling.

On September 2, 2015, we yet again discovered water leaking through the living room ceiling, in exactly the same spot as before.

Your technician came out on September 3. He diagnosed this leak as “old, porous tiles in the shower, need to replace entire shower” without as much as looking at anything in greater detail. He did not offer to insert a camera to check for leaks. He did not even want to unscrew the base plate of the faucet to check for leaks similar to the previous incident, the way your previous technician had addressed the problem (and fixed it at the time). We had to insist and literally make your technician check behind the base plate of the faucet. Within seconds of opening, he claimed there was “nothing wrong” with the copper/galvanized pipe connections you had installed on October 1, 2014. He claimed that Benjamin Franklin was not responsible for any damage and repair, told us we needed a complete new shower, and left.

On September 17, we had our licensed housing renovation contractor remove the base plate of the faucet. We discovered a leak at the left connection between your left copper pipe and our existing galvanized pipe. There was a slow, constant drip, with drops forming, clearly visible. We took photos as evidence. There is no way your technician could have missed this damage. It is quite beyond our understanding why he did not repair it instead of denying its existence.

It was clear that the new damage was the same exact problem we had already experienced on October 1, 2014, which you had assumed full responsibility for, except this time on the left side instead of the right side of the new faucet and pipes you installed.

On September 17, we again asked for your company to fix the leaking connection and make all necessary repairs. You sent out the same technician as on September 3. He was quite rude and essentially did not want to talk to us, beyond a few monosyllabic “yup” and “nopes” in response to direct questions. He did not offer an explanation why our problem had not been properly addressed two weeks earlier, why he had denied seeing the drip and recommended replacing the entire shower instead, due to “porous tiles”.

He claimed he fixed the leak (however, at this stage, our confidence in this technician is zero).

However, unlike your previous technician, he was unwilling to address all other issues and damages resulting in this leak. He refused to take any responsibility on behalf of the company over the hole he made in the bathroom wall. And why was this hole even necessary? Your previous technician had been perfectly able to fix the right hand side leak without cutting an ugly hole in our wall.

He refused to take any responsibility on behalf of the company for the living room ceiling. Although this is no longer leaking, we have reason to believe that this area is moldy internally. We found an outright mushroom growing out of the ceiling on September 16 (we have a photograph, as well as the mushroom itself). We suspect that if we chose to contact the Delaware Department of Health, our house would be determined unfit to inhabit..

Your technician determined that “no other leaks were found”. Completely without checking. Where does he get this knowledge from? He had no access to the pipes beyond what little was revealed through the faucet base plate and hole he made. He refused to insert a camera to check for further leaks or to open the ceiling to look. With the ceiling being so damaged, how is anybody supposed to be sure there is no more leaking? Your Field Supervisor Mr. [redacted] admitted as much when he suggested that we wait for a week or two to make sure there were no other leaks.

The technician also mentioned that he had to replace the less than one year old cartridge “due to lack of pressure from messing with the galvanized lines”.

In other words, the galvanized pipes in our house have been disturbed by the installation of the faucet on October 1, 2014 and your subsequent interventions. We hold you responsible for all consequent damage this may have incurred. It is your responsibility to check for further damage and leaks and fully repair all damages and repairs incurred so far. We’d like to note that before your company installed this faucet, we had no water damage, dripping or pipe issues whatsoever.

We disagree with your technician’s comment that our warranty will end on October 1, 2015. Since you installed a brand new cartridge, the warranty should end on September 17, 2016.

Also, we have been trying to address the fact that your faucet installation caused yet unknown damage to our galvanized pipes and our home multiple times since September 2, 2015 and you have not been in a position to provide adequate repair service. Simply stalling this process until the warranty will conveniently expire on October 1, 2015 is not an option, because we are herewith giving you official notice before the date of October 1 that all damages caused need to be addressed to our full satisfaction even if the process will take longer than October 1st. Also, we maintain that a new cartridge and new workmanship executed on September 18 needs to come with a full one year warranty, expiring on September 17, 2016.

We will not hesitate to contact the Revdex.com in this matter if all damages are not addressed and all repairs are not executed in the swiftest delays and to our entire satisfaction.

Sincerely yours,

[redacted] and [redacted]Desired Settlement: 1. Check for any damage to our galvanized pipes and/or other damages caused by your installation of the shower faucet. Identify all leaks and make sure there are no more leaks.

2. Repair all leaks caused by the installation, and resulting two warranty repairs of the shower faucet.

3. Replace, repair and repaint the moldy ceiling caused by leaks.

4. Repair and repaint the hole in the bathroom wall caused by warranty repair to shower faucet.

5. Issue a full warranty for workmanship and parts for one year from the date of final warranty repair service performed at our house.

6. To restore our faith in your company, extend a goodwill gesture to us on behalf of your company to make up for the fact that we have been forced to devote hours and hours of our time to deal with these warranty issues of damages you repeatedly caused, and living in health-hazardous conditions (mold), without your company taking any responsibility nor satisfactory steps, and repeatedly just walking out on the situation, replying reluctantly, rudely, or not at all, and only when repeatedly prodded by us.

7. Desired outcome is desired within 30 days of this complaint.

Business

Response:

I am writing ta you regarding our customer, [redacted]. We have reached out to this customer multiple times with phone messages and our most recent attempt was via email on October 15c. We are aware of the situation and will continue to contact customer to resolve this issue as quickly and efficiently as possible. Thank you and have a. great day.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Service Plumber [redacted] was extremely helpful. Punctual. Clean. Informative on repairs. Great repair work. Great suggestions for future services.

[redacted] was quick and knowledgeable and resolved our issue. I had other questions that he answered thoroughly.