Drain Works Plumbing

I called Drain Works from doing research here on home stars, and found that they had an excellent rating! I live in Mississauga, and I called Drain Works and told them that according to the Reliance Technician that did work on my hot water tank this morning, I needed to have a plumber install a 3/4" check valve sitting in a horizontal position that is not spring loaded. Drain works advised that I would be charged a $69.00 for assessment fee, which would be deducted from the cost of the job. The Drain Works technician came in and looked at my hot water tank and said that I needed a new mixing valve (among other things). I told the Drain Works guy that the Reliance Technician said I only needed check valve installed. I suggested to the Drain Works tech. to speak to the Reliance Tech. and the Drain Works guy said he did not have time to talk to the Reliance Tech. The Drain works guy proceeded to write me up a quote of $685.00 + HST for the new mixing valve install and another $380 +HST to repair 3/4" Ipex ring to eliminate leak. I got the Reliance tech. on the phone and told him what was going on, and he told me that he wanted to speak to the Drain Works guy. I tried handing the phone to him, but the Drain Works guy would not speak to him, saying that he's the 'expert' in plumbing, not the Reliance guy, and did not want to waste his time. In my opinion regardless of whether the Reliance guy is a licensed plumber or not, the Drain works tech should have spoken to him to at least hear his reasoning for installing the 3/4" check valve! The Reliance tech. told me to "kick the guy out of my house" as he was trying to rip me off. The Reliance guy told me that YES my mixing valve would eventually have to be replaced, but NOT at this time. Obviously I feel that the Reliance tech. was looking out for me, so it was either I take the Drain Works quote or I pay the $69.00 assessment fee. I paid the assessment fee as I felt the mixing valve replacement was unnecessary at this time (as the Reliance Tech. suggested).

When I called Drain Works Mississauga back, "William" told me that the Drain Works tech. didn't need to speak with the Reliance tech, as I called for a plumbing issue (Drain Works) as suggested by the Reliance Tech. TRUE... but what harm is it to speak with the Reliance tech for a minute to hear his side of the story?!?!? I'm sure the Reliance tech who came out to replace the dip tube in my hot water tank has some plumbing experience, or he wouldn't have suggested me to get a plumber to install the 3/4" check valve.

Furthermore, "William" from Drain Works Mississauga said that it isn't a "pressure tactic" but if I wanted the work done now, he would be able to get the Drain Works tech. back and perform the work, otherwise if I call again in the future, they would not come back to do the work, as I've wasted their time by having them come to do assessment (which I paid $69.00 for) and sending them away, saying that the $69.00 charge doesn't really cover their costs. $69.00 for 5 minutes of looking???!?!

Well, the reason I sent Drain Works Mississauga away was because I felt I was getting a quote for work done that I didn't need to do at this time. The Reliance tech. told me plain and simple that it was my money and my choice whether or not to go with the Drain Works quote, but in his opinion he suggested I get someone else, and chalk this up as a learning experience.

I have tried to be as unbiased as possible writing this review. Maybe it's because I dealt with Drain Works Mississauga, I don't know... maybe Drain Works in other areas are more trustworthy.

***RESPONSE TO EDDIE GUIDO 2011.03.01****

EDDIE, Yes, I agreed over the phone to pay $69.00 for the assessment fee. That was before your technician came over and in my honest opinion made a very quick assessment. An assessment that needed me to pay for work done that I didn't need to do at the time. (Your GPS may have shown him to be at my address for an hour, (I don't believe he was there for an hour) but the actual time he spent assessing my problem in my furnace room was 5 minutes! He then went to his truck spent maybe 15-20 minutes writing up his quote for me), came back into the house and explained his quote and when I declined to do what he quoted me for, he took another 10-15 minutes for him to go to back to his truck and get his credit card machine and for me to make payment. I would like to see this GPS proof of how much time he actually spent at my address, the 1 hr you say your technician spent at my address doesn't actually mean he was assessing my problem for the entire 1hr. When I called Bosco plumbing after your technician left, I told the gentleman what I experienced with DrainWorks, and even he said that the technician should've at least spoken to the Reliance Technician, what harm was there to just speak to him?!?! As far as $69.00 not covering your costs, well maybe your company needs to rethink the assessment fee you charge or realize that it is the price of doing business. And why.. why... would "William" tell me that if I called DrainWorks again that they would not come out to service me? I assume that I would be paying the $69.00 assessment fee again if DrainWorks was to come over. Does that not seem like a "pressure tactic"... which "William" said it wasn't?! I just feel like I was put in a situation where I was going to lose either way, either by paying the $69.00 for the (BS)assessment, or by agreeing to have work done that I didn't need at the time, which would probably have amounted to $800-$1000.

And by the way, the Reliance technician may not have the "title" of plumber, but I am confident that when he came and did work on my hot water tank and told me that I needed to have a 'check valve' installed, NOT a mixing valve at this time, he knew what he was talking about, and wasn't trying to take me for a ride. Like I said, the Reliance technician told me to "kick the guy out" of my house as he was trying to rip me off. He knew what was going on, when the DrainWorks technician refused to speak to him. Again WHAT HARM IS THERE TO SPEAK TO HIM? That would show me and any potential customer that he has nothing to hide and can explain to the Reliance tech. why in his opinion I needed a mixing valve and to listen to the Reliance tech. on why I needed a check valve. Call me foolish, but to me that just seems like good business practice, and being upfront. Is a couple of minutes spent talking to the Reliance tech. too much waste of your company's time?

As for my credibility, I am being 100% honest in my dealings with DrainWorks, I did not hide or make anything up. I provided proof to Homestars that I paid for the $69.00 assessment fee. I have nothing to gain from this and just want people to see your business practices and to share with them my bad experience with DrainWorks. Hooray for Homestars!!!

I only wish other people could comment on my review and your response.

P.S. I changed the rating to a "2" because your technician did show up in a reasonable time.

had main drain clogged by a tree, they came and were knowledgeable. they tried to find the best solution and knew about a city refund program that reimbursed the whole cost! they even made a repair thinking about minimizing long term issues that may eventually come up.

main drain was clogged up, they fixed it. prompt and good service.

We called a local plumbing company but they never showed up. so we decided to call these guys and an hour later they bwere there. very polite and professional.

This morning we had our service call taken by William and later visited by Matt. Both were exceptional from the time the call was taken - appointment followed up on - Matt's initial inspection and details of both options, procedures and price to completion and clean up of the job.

WELL DONE GENTLEMEN!!

The Kings

Drainworks plumbing provided an amazing service on my home, they were really helpful by assessing the problem first, which was a faucet dripping in the sink, and in the shower, and also the tubes under the sink were dripping, I decided to do all these three jobs at once, and it amounted for a bit more than $1,000, they presented me with the possible options and their costs, as well as provided insight on what was the problem, they recommended possible solutions and did they work extremely quickly, it took about 3 hours to fix everything and now I have nice new faucets, really pleased with their service and would recommend it to anyone

We have used Drain Works a few times now. Prices always reasonable - no unforeseen horrors that escalate costs and work needed, etc. Mike gave us tips on how to prevent and deal with calcium buildup. Service always on time and professionally completed - exactly as promised. Thanks guys.

Having just moved into a new house we were unpleasantly surprised to wake up to frozen pipes. But DrainWorks came to the rescue in a timely manner, solved the problem and even provided a quote to fix the issue permanently. Would recommend.

We hired Drainworks to address a number of plumbing issues that we were made aware of through a home inspection before the purchase of our house. Chris was sent and from the minute he came in the house he was professional, courteous and efficient in his work. He made a total of three visits to the house and completed all the work required as promised. There is no doubt that we will use Drainworks in the future.

I was interested in possibly installing a backflow valve on my sewer line to avoid any potential basement flooding - in case the City sewer ever backed up due to torrential rain. Drainworks recommended that we investigate the state of my sewer line using a snake and a camera. Drain technician came over on the same day that I made the appointment. He was very thorough and spent almost 2 hours showing me the state of the line on camera and explaining everything to me: state of sewer line, options for backflow prevention. In the end, we decided that a backflow valve is not really necessary and not worth the expense. However, in the process, it was discovered that the sewer line is heavily clogged with tree roots and that, at a minimum, they need to be rooted out or the outside sewer line replaced. Technician was very professional, wore booties and cleaned up after himself. I would have no hesitation re-hiring this company for future work.

An ongoing sewage problem was finally addressed by ourselves and became much more complicated as work progressed, expanding beyond our own townhome into two neighbouring ones. Mike Dunn was extremely personable; work was explained thoroughly; money paid certainly in keeping with the days of work. The team worked as neatly and cleanly as possible. in this kind of situation.