Allen Plumbing Inc

Extremely professional and outstanding courtesy! Not to mention very good plumbing but the former are more important than just knowing how to do the job.

I've used Allen Plumbing for over 30 years. Lori is attentive to the office, leaving Michael to do the plumbing. His work has always been impeccable. He recently installed a tankless water system for me that has completely changed how warm my place is. It saved some money also. Plus, Michael has quite the whistle

Michael is awesome. Great attentive service. Persistent in the face of challenging issues. And Lori, the business manager, rocks.

I've used Michael on at least 10 projects. I'm a contractor and I have never had a problem with his service or price. The reality is that people's time is worth something, especially on a weekend emergency call.

We called them because of a leak in our waste main. This is a condo building, and the past three property inspectors all quickly and easily noticed the pipe was cracked (without being told about it) and recommended repairing it sooner than later. We had a horrible stench in the basement at times. My own personal plumber found it as well. We called Allen Plumbing, who came by and did not find any crack in said pipe.

Not only did they charge us $125 to accomplish nothing other than wasting or time, they tried to scam us into a $700 "smoke test" although they wouldn't guarantee that would find any leaks either. There are enough plumbers in the neighborhood. I should have called Prospect Hill Plumbers first.

Gets the job done very quickly. Knows exactly what he's doing. Appears a bit pricey but this may very well be the speed of work once pro-rated per average hour. Still quite a bit pricey.

This is by far the sleaziest operation in town. Came over to snake the drain, blew a hole in our pipes and then charged me 1200$ To fix his mistake as water poured through the floors into the basement. Put me in a situation where I had no choice but to agree to this price. What a JOKE! Avoid them at all costs, many many other options out there.

I really don't know what to think about this company. Our boiler was short cycling, and I called another service company because their sticker was on the boiler. They fixed nothing, and quoted me $3600 for repairs but told me it needed be replaced. I said no thanks and lost $150 to them for their visit/crazy advice. Then, I found out the previous owners had used Allen to service it a couple months ago.

Their office lady is really wonderful, and she felt bad the boiler died 2 months after they worked on it, so she gets Michael to come out pretty late that same day. He says the exact opposite of the 1st guy- its fixable, he has the part, and 1/6th the cost to repair, but they charge $225 just for the diagnostic. An hour later, he's replaced the part but broken the boiler more/found a second faulty part/now it doesn't work at all.

He apologized profusely, and worked super way after hours late to fix it, which was good. But, he was extra moody- at one point really defensive, but then later super friendly, which was.strange (hangry maybe?). It ended up costing 1/3 what company #1 said, which is still a ton, but less shocking. Then, icing on the weirdness cake, the next day I get a call from sweet office lady telling me he lost our check on his way out of our place. Thankfully a neighbor found it and returned it to me and they gave us a bit of a discount.but still. In the long run, his fixes worked, and the total price was less than the other companies, for emergency plumbing, so I guess its worth the personality quirks?

They are as good as it gets! I have tried a bunch of big name plumbers and small ones too in the Cambridge Somerville area. But I was having trouble finding a plumber who had follow through on quotes for a larger project and in general was getting very frustrated with companies that had poor communication and not great results. Allen Plumbing has turned out to be exceptional and I am happy to recommend them.

They are responsive, do good solid work and communicate very well. Both small repairs and big projects have worked out very well. They do prioritize if they have clients with emergencies which in my opinion is a good thing. But they always let you know if they are going to be late or need to schedule, and that doesn't happen that often. Are they expensive? Yes, but no more than most others. And frankly, from my experience, you get what you pay for.

My kitchen sink backed up at 4:00pm on a Friday night, two hours before 8 guests were arriving for dinner. Of the three plumbers I called, only Allen called me back. I was told the nights and weekend emergency service rate would apply, with a minimum charge in the $300s. Michael arrived within 30 minutes, worked diligently for more than an hour, and solved the problem just as the first guests arrived. For as hard as he worked, I was pleased the final fee was equal to the quoted minimum charge.

Like above, they were responsive and fixed it, but they charged well above market.

These guys charged me $350 to replace a toilet part that costs $25 at the hardware store. It took them a total of 15 minutes to do the job. I only wish I had the time to find the part and fix it myself. They clearly have no problem charging customers exorbitant amounts.

I had a new boiler put in a couple months ago when I converted to gas, by a different plumber. Less than a month after installation, i had no heat and no hot water. The guy who did the job was out of the country and so i had to find a new guy to fix it. I must have called 20 plumbers in the Somverville, Cambridge area and though many of them were very nice and called later to make sure I found someone, Allen was the only one who fit me in. Michael came to my place around 4 and 30 minutes later, i had heat and water, but he said it wouldn't last and showed me the ignitor and the crack in it.

He charged $125-$150 (can't remember) for the first trip. Worth it to me. He said he could get me a replacement part on Monday, which he did. He had one of the guys drive to Woburn, pick the part up and drive my old busted part back to get the refund from my warranty. He gave it to me to install, as to save me labor costs, it took me 5 minutes.

He only charged me an hour of work for the drives back and forth. The office manager called multiple times throughout this whole process to keep me informed and update me on times. May not be the cheapest, but he is straight forward and helpful. He is my new plumber.

Very expensive and extremely poor customer service. Not sure what is up with this company. I feel the plumbers know their trade, but in my experience they charge more per hour than any other tradesperson I've ever hired, including architects. We had them put in a new faucet (same faucet type, just replacing old) and they charged us over $600.

The next day the faucet fell over. They charged another $135 to come again. The faucet still swivels around and it appears they won't come back, I guess, unless we pay again. To be honest, I am perplexed. We had used them in the past--years ago--but stopped because the cost was just too much. We hired them again to fix a bad sink leak and they did a good job. However, when we called them again to put in the new faucet and they charged us $600 + $135 (and wasn't ever finished correctly), I have to scratch my head.

What is most painful is reading all the Yelp complaints and not reading them before we called this fall. On another note, when Mike came to fix our leaky faucet, i was stunned by his attitude. He was arrogant and not pleasant at all--turned off i guess because we had stopped using them. Before he left, he turned to me and said something like, "Well you're going to use us in the future, right?" The way he said this put me off and I should have listened to my gut reaction. Allen Plumbing is doing everything possible to make sure Alewife Plumbing stays in business forever.

They take advantage of you if you are in a fix. My water heater broke and called them to replace it on a Saturday. They came replaced the heater took the old one back. GE Water heater with same warranty (6 yrs) costs $425 in Home depot. They charged my tenant $2250 plus $ 375 for coming on Saturday. When confronted I was told that they used better water heater which costs $1100.

That means I was still charged $1400 for installation ($350 an hour ) He agreed to refund me the overcharged amount and sent me a Big check of $100. Which was promptly returned to him. Isn't it day time robbery? Never use them if you don't want to be robbed.

I called and explained that our water heater was not working, with the lights "Vacation" "A" and "B" lit. According to the manual this meant there was a gas flow problem. They sent out a plumber, to charge $50 to tell me what I told them over the phone, then he hinted that it might involve getting a new water heater, for $2350. He called me a few days later to report that since our water heater was so old (just under 6 years) the parts couldn't be located.

I asked about the fact that all the water heaters in our multi family house had the same heaters with the same exact parts, but I was told again, our tank was "so old". The only option was a new water heater, for $2350. I called a different place, Alewife Company, the next day, they came out, replaced the parts the same day I called, in 2 hours, for $625 (that's parts and labor). I now have hot water again. Do not use them, unless you enjoy wasting money.

I called Allen for a fairly straightforward problem. I had a good idea of what would be involved in fixing it but didn't have the time or physical strength to do the work myself. I was amazed that they were able to send someone over right away (also Michael, who answered the phone, was funny and charming). The technician was super friendly and professional.

He explained what was wrong and what he would need to do to fix it. He made sure that I understood the cost in advance. I was really amazed at how careful he was -- covering his shoes in the house, covering my bathroom floor. When he was done, he made sure to explain what he'd done and made sure that I was satisfied with the result. I work with a lot of contractors and repair men and I have had very few experiences that were this easy and efficient. I was incredibly impressed. If the cost was high, it was well worth it in terms of professionalism and thoroughness.

They do a good job, but only get 1 star because their hourly wage must be higher than a brain surgeon's. There was a little crack in a gasket in the condo's kitchen drain pipe. it cost $250 to diagnose the problem (which involved sawing the pipe in half). He then quoted me an additional $575 to fix it. I said okay because the pipe is sawed in half and nobody in the condo can use their sink now. Well, Michael ran into some problems fixing it, and said it would cost some more because he had to saw a hole in my wall to access the pipe. I'm in deep now, so I say fine.

Just get it done. Another $450 and it's fixed. Total cost $1235 to replace some PVC pipe. He's there for 4.5 hours. Not sure what the parts were, because he wouldn't tell me, not sure what his hourly fee is, because he wouldn't tell me. They use "up front pricing" that is, of course, subject to change. That and he whistles, sings, and makes annoying noises when he works.

I own a GF Monitor Gas Heater and called Allen Plumbing for service for the unit. The service was excellent and "Aaron" was fast, efficient and very knowledgeable. The scheduling of appointments was prompt and Aaron was helpful in advising me on other plumbing and heating issues in my house. I would recommend Allen Plumbing and plan to replace my current water heater because I feel confident in the company.

I called Allen plumbers because of a few good reviews on Angie's List. I am giving them one star because of attitude and potential pricing. The owner came out to look at our furnace which, according to our downstairs neighbor, had been making "funny noises". The first thing I found offensive is that Mike walked into our basement and made at least three comments about the amount of our stuff, the dirt, and the "budget job" that someone had done on our ducts. That's really not professional.

The second thing that happened is that he told me I would have to have an entirely new system, including new duct work. Later on the phone, he quoted a price of 8-9K. No middle ground, and he would not service our old furnace ( which, by the way, was not the cause of the noises), that he "didn't want to be responsible" if anything broke. He also told me that the power to the furnace was out.

When I suggested that it might be on the fuse box, he said that everything was OK on the fusebox. He then fooled around with some wires and almost gave up when I suggested we go back and trip all the circuits on the fuse box. The furnace started right up. That was not encouraging! He peered into our chimney and said it has to be cleaned immediately.

For this ( I think he spent about 40 minutes total ) I was charged $175 ( $150 when I pointed out the Angie's list discount, which they did not bring up, even though I told them I had found them on Angie's list). Suggestions: 1) Don't make snide comments about your possible customers' basements/previous jobs; 2) Give your customers a range of possibilities;3) Give your customers the courtesy of a quote, backed up by facts, rather than giving them sticker shock over the phone.

After the third time of using their plumbing services, I learned my lesson. In short, a review of my experiences: 1. We have a dripping bathtub faucet. My husband calls and schedules Allen Plumbing to come over. He asks on the phone how much it will cost to repair, and they cannot provide this information. I do understand that they are unaware of the exact problem, but couldn't they AT LEAST give an hourly rate?

Apparently not. They come over and complete the job in about 2 hours time, and charge $350. I know absolutely nothing about plumbing, so I groan and hand over my credit card and pay the bill. The dripping in the bathtub has stopped, so I am pleased enough. At this point in time I would give them 4 stars. 2. A few months later (two weeks ago) we get a new dish washer. (We are redoing the kitchen so need several plumbing services in the next few weeks). Again, they cannot tell me on the phone how much it will cost to hook up the dish washer. Again, I tell them to come over and complete the work. (Stupid me). Plumber comes over and completes job to satisfaction in an hour's time.

Charge this time is $375. I am shocked by price, but pay again. 3 stars now. 3. Two weeks later (last week). We are having new countertops installed, and so I call Allen again to disconnect (and one day later reconnect) the sink/disposal/dishwasher. I justify this in that their work has been solid so far. (But really, shame on me as I know their prices seem high, and have not yet looked elsewhere). Plumber comes over and charges $200 to disconnect the above items.

This takes 30 minutes. Plumber THEN QUOTES THAT IT WILL BE $700 TO RECONNECT ABOVE ITEMS AFTER COUNTERTOPS ARE INSTALLED. (Sorry for caps, but that is just insane). Plumber leaves. 0 STARS if allowed. Disgusted and shocked. Another local plumber must charge less, right? I call several plumbers around the area, and come into contact with Alewife Company. Reviews look solid.

They charge $93/hour (upfront, how novel). He says it will take about 3 hours to complete project. It seems I will already save $300 from Allen Plumbing. Alewife Co plumber (Donald?) comes the following day. It takes him one hour to hook up the dishwasher, new garbage disposal, and faucets. The price? $106. I just saved $600 (and probably could have saved much more with prior projects).

Now - Alewife Co - 5 stars, Allen Plumbing - 0 stars. I feel robbed, and will never, ever use them again. This is my first review EVER, but I deemed it necessary to warn potential customers. Go elsewhere, PLEASE.

If you like paying your plumber $336/hr, this is your place! I just got of the phone with Michael, the owner, to clarify the invoice from yesterday's work. When I asked why the two hours at my house cost almost $1,000 when the parts cost only $315, he said they charge by the "task" rather than breaking out parts and labor and that the estimate was provided before the job was started.

While this was true, I had no idea that I would be so taken by my neighborhood plumber. Here's the math: -$729 for a pump (retail is $286 which would have been discounted to him) and 1.5 hours of work at an average of $307/hr -$259 for a water shutoff valve. I'm seeing the part on Amazon for $29 which puts the hourly rate on that job at $460/hr for the 30 minutes invested In short, his response to these numbers was, "Well, I could have taken 4 hours to do it." The work seems solid, but I prefer to work with someone who is a bit more straightforward in their approach, honestly assesses a job for the time it takes, and charges a little less than $300/hour.

Great job. Came out on a Sunday, finished the job on a Monday. I really appreciated how Mike took the time to explain everything to me. Highly recommended!

I contacted Allen to request that someone come and give a quote for running an additional gas line in my house. I was informed that they would not come give me a quote (four of the five other places I called would) and if they did come out they would charge me $49.95 for the visit and insist on starting the job right away. They also informed that their quote "probably wouldn't be lower than the other ones". Basically I'm right down the street from their office, so I don't think it's too much to ask to zip out and give a quote.

Both our boiler and our hot water heater suddenly decided to spring leaks lately. I found Allen Plumbing through Angie's List (where they also get multiple stellar reviews). In both cases, A.P. sent someone within hours of my call, so we didn't go without heat or hot water for very long at all. On the second visit, the plumber (Chris) actually already had the right type of new water heater in his truck! He was in and out, with everything installed, within three hours tops. So I cannot recommend him, or Allen, highly enough.