A Payless Water Heater & Plumbing

I called their San Carlos office and after talking at length with one of their "experts" about the specific unit, capacity for my size of house, # of bathrooms, occupants, any additional gas piping, permits, electrical connectivity work, location of unit, etc. was given a cost estimate and scheduled the work to be done the following day, which I thought was great. They then referred to a technician from their Santa Clarita office, who knew exactly the amount I had been quoted ($3,800), but without even doing any real recognizance started to "explain" that the permit was extra $$ and I would have to do on my own (never mind it is in their list of included services for the type of unit), that the gas line would be more expensive (never mind that the expert over the phone had included the maximum length possible and the technician estimated at least 10 FT less), that the electrical work would also be more (never mind that there is an electrical outlet right there where the unit would need to be installed) and how he was not a fan of tankless units, etc. He then proceeded to give me an estimate that was >$300 over the estimate (>$4,100 but with no permits, no new gas line since btw we could use the one already in place from my old unit) Out of curiosity, I then called the experts again: San Carlos and Santa Clarita and for the exact specifications from the technician got again $3,800 from San Carlos and $4,000 from Santa Clarita for the same address and house and all in. So, not only they clearly have a surcharge for the South Bay, but they also showed what I consider unethical practices by teasing you with a low ball estimate over the phone while giving the customer the impression of a solid quote given all the detailed questions, to then have the technician at your home the day of the scheduled work bump the price up by 10-20%. Not COOL.

Payless Water came out to my property and told me that the water heater i had was a special unit and it had to be ordered. I asked if that meant i woud have to pay additional, Danny the service technician told me that I had the best coverage with Fidelity and they would cover everything and I would only have to pay the $55 deductible that night and he would come back with the water heater unit in the next couple days as soon as he got it. He also advised me to contact my home insurance and tell them i had no water and they would have to put me in a hotel.\t\n \t\nNext day i received a call from my home warranty stating I would have to pay $376 additional for ""modifications"" I told them that it was never mentioned and that Danny told me there would be no additional charges. I called Payless Water and spoke to Josh the manager and he basically told me there was nothing he can do, so I asked for the General Manager and Gonzo called me back and told me the same thing as Josh-that he couldn't help me out that I would have to pay the $375 on top of the $1900 from my home warranty.\t\nThey didn't seem to care about what I needed and didn't try to do anything to work something out. They didn't care that Danny had misrepresented them and acted like it was my problem, They didn't even seem to consider what I was saying and that there was no way it was Danny's fault for not disclosing everything up front.\t\n\t\nThese guys will trick you, don't believe anything they say because they will try to rip you off the day of installation. Read their reviews online, they have negative reviews all over the place.

I was very pleased how quickly Payless water heaters responded' It was dec 31,2011 that our water heater went out .I tried calling home warranty and no one was working until 1/3/2012. We had no hot water for 3 days. Finaly on on 1/3/2011 i got hold of the home warranty compay and they call two companies and no one was avaiable. I could not take another day with a cold shower. Finally Payless calland said they would be out to install a new heater in a few ours. Branden was out and in 2 hrs i had hot water. I was very grateful. They were fast and did a great job.