Reviews

0/10

I was experiencing problems with my soft water and called Pete the Plumber. I had some questions as to what would be recommended, so was put through to Pete directly. He recommended a new soft water machine and iron filtration system since we live on an acreage property. The install was booked within a couple of weeks. The day of the install technician Zach and an apprentice came and we all discussed together the placement of the new equipment since there were 3 additional pieces that would need to be installed in place of my old water softener and we needed adequate space. As you can see from the photo of the equipment, they needed a lot of space. They hauled the equipment down to the basement, complaining about how heavy it was. I offered them a drink, and brought them coffee down to the basement. I later returned to check on how they were doing and Zach complained about the girl who booked this appointment in. He complained that it was a 6 hour job and she only booked it for 3. He was upset with her, but that wasn't my fault. I went back upstairs and left them to it. Later I went to check on them again and they were installing the equipment in a very tight space between the sump pump and the furnace, contrary to what we had discussed before the job began. I questioned why they were installing it there, and explained that this is not what we had discussed, and in fact I would not be able to change the furnace filter nor remove the lid to my sump pump for servicing, let alone being able to access the softener to add the salt, etc. Zach got very angry and stated that he was installing it there because it was easier for him. I told him that I didn't want it there, that it wouldn't fit, and that it needed to be installed where there was more space as we had already discussed. He got very angry and told me that if he was going to move it, he was going to tack another $300 onto my bill. I told him I was not comfortable with him installing the equipment at all any more, that he was fired, and he needed to leave the property and take the equipment with him. I informed them that I needed to leave the house in half an hour to take my homeschooled children to chess. I left them alone. 20 minutes later they still were downstairs doing god knows what, but they hadn't started hauling their equipment or any of their tools out. I went back downstairs and asked what was taking them so long to leave. Zach told me very rudely that they weren't hauling the equipment back up the stairs and were finishing the job. I told him to leave immediately. They refused again. I screamed at them and told them that they had 10 minutes to get out of my house or I was calling RCMP. Finally they listened and left the house, stating that they were not turning our water back on for us. They left the house, however they remained parked inside the property, inside the gate and fence, and wouldn't leave. Zach informed me that he called Pete directly, and Pete told him not to leave unless he had a cheque for the full amount in hand. I refused, and told him to have Pete call me directly. Because I needed to leave, I had to leave the gate to my property open so they could get out and would not be trapped in, and therefore I needed to get my 2 large acreage dogs into my vehicle so I could leave with my kids so they wouldn't run away when we left with the open gate. When we returned home later, they were gone, They left us without water connection for the night, so the next day I called another plumbing company to come out to help us. I never did hear from Pete or anyone from the company until we received a notice from Land Titles that they had placed a writ on the property title. I contacted Pete the Plumber and was put in touch with their court agent, who had gone to court to obtain a default judgement, by serving it to an incorrect address. I hired a court agent costing several hundred dollars to have this judgement reversed, and finally will to attend court to defend my position against this company.

Approximate cost of services:
$1,000.00
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Company Response

After consulting with our legal counsel it is with regret that we have to respond to this review. We find your review to be an interesting spin on the facts, which are as follows:
- The install was completed in line with the spacing that was agreed upon initially and with the expertise of a journeyman plumber who has the knowledge to suggest the best placement based on functionality and plumbing codes.
- The install was 95% completed and the technicians had been on site for about 4 hours when you asked them to move the equipment. When you asked the technicians to leave your property, 20 minutes was not enough time for them to uninstall the equipment and remove it from the property. As a result the equipment remained on the property unpaid for. Pete advised our technicians to remove themselves for safety reasons and contact the RCMP as our supplied equipment was not being paid for.
- Pete tried to contact you numerous times following the initial install date to come to a mutually acceptable outcome and even had a second booking set up to have another plumber from our company out to finish the install for you.
- As a result of not hearing from you and with Pete the Plumber’s supplied equipment being left on site and not paid for this matter was escalated. Pete the Plumber consulted with our legal counsel and this situation is pending mediation in hopes of not needing to go to court.
- Zach is an outstanding journey plumber that has been an employee of Pete the Plumber for over 10 years. He has one of the best customer service records and is requested for service by customers regularly.

0/10

The company response is false and misleading. They are fully aware, it was ONLY THEIR company, VALLEY VIEW, who had been out on previous occasions and charged for the service call on previous occasions. Also contrary to their claim, their tech spent only 20 minutes looking at the unit, didn't seem to know what he was doing, and then gave a bogus "rewiring" quote. They charged for this service call and the part and replaced the same part that they had replaced upon their last visit several months ago. No one from the company would come back out for a second opinion unless I agreed to pay the quote of $800 - $1000. Their claim of mouse droppings causing the unit to break are also false. The company is very hard to deal with and very rude also, I imagine they are very tired of dealing with dissatisfied customers. After no success in dealing with this company, I hired another company also referred by the dishwasher manufacturer, who replaced a missing float in the dishwasher, likely removed by Valley View's technician on their last visit. They thoroughly checked wiring to be all ok, and replaced some screws left unattached by Valley View's technician. I have still not heard back from Steve or anyone from the company regarding this, even though there is no excuse, they are now fully aware of my issues with the service I have received and paid for. Valley View Appliances was referred to me directly from Bosch, as a repair company for my Bosch dishwasher as it was not draining and continued to refill and cycle without turning off. Several months ago, after much waiting, missed appointments without notification, and no apologies, replaced a valve which temporarily fixed the dishwasher. When the dishwasher was not draining yet again, I called them and told them it seemed like the same problem. We waited weeks for them to come, then they rescheduled the appointment saying that they knew what the problem was and had to order a part so there would be a further delay. We waited and finally they came to replace the valve again, but now the dishwasher is not even turning on. Weeks later the tech claimed that there is $1000 of electrical work on the dishwasher that needs to be done and that was the problem. I discovered afterward that they charged my credit card $146.49, for the second time. After 3 requests for reply they finally provided me with a copy of the bill. When I enquired with Valley View they said they would not offer another opinion, and to call another company. If they were to come back to take another look I would be charged $1000 for their quote. I asked to speak to the manager, Steve, I was told "he'd get to me when he'd get to me". Very unhelpful and arrogant. Still have yet to hear from him. I called a different Appliance repair company also referred by Bosch instead this time and they will be out today to fix the dishwasher, and this is not the first time they had heard about this scenario from Valley View. DO NOT USE VALLEY VIEW APPLIANCES, THEY SHOULD BE PUT OUT OF BUSINESS!

Approximate cost of services:
$300.00
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Company Response

Dear Mrs. Jones,
How upsetting it is to see your comments about our company. In life there is always two sides to every story.
Here is what I know of this call. On June 15/14 we were scheduled to service the Bosh dishwasher at your rental property. The technician involved discussed the issue with the tenant and it was agreed upon by both that we would pre-order the required part and reschedule and return with the required part. On June 27/14 the tenant had rescheduled as this was the date she was available. Our technician arrived at 9:36 AM and worked on the unit till 11:07AM. The required water valve was installed, however as soon as the power was re-engaged the new part was damaged. The technician discovered that there was a rodent infestation and that the rodent's had chewed multiple wires throughout the entire wiring harness. Not being able to exactly know the true extent of the damages caused by the rodents our quote was between $800-$1000.00. Our recommendation at the time was to contact Bosch to see if they would be able to help with some of the parts costs. The tenant had advised the technician that other multiple companies had tried fixing this unit prior and had failed. She had indicated that there were multiple requests to yourself to replace the dishwasher prior to our call out.
The reason we had not sent the technician back for a second look was due to the 1.5 + hours already spent examining all of the wiring harness and components and felt this was a very fair and proper assessment of your dishwasher. The charges that you paid for were for a diagnosis $99.95 as well as the installed inlet valve at our cost $39.56 + GST $6.98 = $146.49. We feel this was an honest and fair charge for the service provided.
At no time do we have documented that you had asked to speak to myself or a manager.
Respectfully,
Steve Krause
President
Valley View Appliances Ltd.