Experiences with Gateway Plumbing?
I found Gateway Plumbing on here–I know that one of their plumbers posts often as Masterplumber–and I wanted to hear from folks about their experience with this company as far as annual maintenance contracts on gas boilers. I figure it’s good or he wouldn’t dare put his name out there. But any feedback would be…
I found Gateway Plumbing on here–I know that one of their plumbers posts often as Masterplumber–and I wanted to hear from folks about their experience with this company as far as annual maintenance contracts on gas boilers. I figure it’s good or he wouldn’t dare put his name out there. But any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.
DEAR SPINTOTO:
WE WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHO YOU ENDED UP WITH AND IF YOU WOULD RECOMEND THEM OR YOUR NUMBER 2 AS WE ALSO NEED A NEW BOILER.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INFORMATIVE POST. WE HOPE TO BE ABLE TO RETURN THE FAVOR.
PS – WE DONT KNOW THE PLUMBERS YOU MENTIONED, BUT IT DOES SOUND ACCURATE THAT IF YOU WERE CONVERTING GAS/OIL AND TYING IN HEAT AND HOT WATER THAT THERE WAS A LOT OF ROOM FOR DESIGN AND EFFICIENCY SYSTEMS WHICH MAY HAVE BEEN OPTIONAL ON YOUR JOB. IT SEEMS THAT SO MANY PLUMBERS SAY EVERY JOB IS SIMPLE WHEREAS IF THEY REALLY TRY TO GO STATE OF THE ART IT MAY NOT BE SO SIMPLE AND SOME MAY LITERALLY NOT KNOW HOW OR WANT TO KNOW HOW TO PROVIDE A MORE COMPLEX SYSTEM WHICH HOPEFULLY WILL BE MORE EFFICIENT AND HAVE SPECIAL CONTROLS TIED PROPERLY IN TOGETHER.
“We recently had four companies come and give us an estimate on a oil-to-gas conversion on our heating and hot-water system, one of which was Gateway.
The four estimates were as follows: $4K, $7K, $9K and $14K, for same size system in all respects.
While the man that came from Gateway was the most professional, their proposal was the $14K proposal, which was clearly off-market, IMO.
We went with the $9k proposal from a very reputable provider, often praised on this site, and we are very satisfied.
It is also worth mentioning that of the proposals, Gateway didn’t cover asbestos removal or removal of the old oil tanks. So, not only were they the most expensive by far, but that didn’t even cover all the necessary work to get the job done.
While I do appreciate the advice Master Plvmber gives on this site, I didn’t appreciate the off-market pricing he gave when he came to my home”.
This is lp from the 1.15 post. Another good thing I can say about Gateway is that with all the jobs they’ve done for me (just 2 jobs actually), they give you the price up front. It’s not a time and materials quote, it’s a fixed quote for the job. Again, they’re not cheap, but they do things correctly in my experience.
As for the idea that no one will bash them, I don’t think people would have an issue with doing that. It’s easier to make accusations than for a contractor to defend their reputation if it is indeed good…
Yes, this is meta, but I am trying to say something that is specific and important for the OP in response to his/her question. Here’s my point (I am 7:06).
Hypothetically, say I had a negative experience with MP, I would be less than likely to post it here, not just because he often helps out people here (which could theoretically have nothing to do with the way his company provides services), but because he is reading those posts and is likely to challenge my opinion, and then I have to get into an adversarial position. So for that reason, the collection of testimonials here is likely to be biased and not representative.
It’s like exit polls: people often say face-to-face what they think is socially appropriate or safe, instead of what they think in private.
Also sort of a groupthink. E.g, after brownstoner himself recommended MP, the group norm has been set by what one could call the group leader, and you are unlikely to hear very divergent opinions.
And I think that may be important.
You know, maybe this is getting too meta, but 7:06 I have to ask you, so what?
I don’t know anybody who has never pissed anyone else off. Conflict happens–life is imperfect.
I agree with you. If I had a negative opinion about Gateway, I would not get into it here, because I know that MP is a valuable part of the community, and I think that the term for that kind of behavior is “pooping in the well.”
But you seem to be saying that it’s not good to trust people’s word on this site because he is a valuable part of the community, and that doesn’t make sense. The fact that he is generous with his time and knowledge here
(instead of acting like most contractors who hang here… stay anonymous and post weird nonsequiturs that are mostly intended to scare people and slam competition)
and that he has done the work to build a community makes me trust him more, not less.
And I can think that without doubting that MP has *surely* had negative experiences with people in the past, as we all have.
In this way, your analogy is right. It is like recommendation letters. But so what? Nobody is perfect and nobody only interacts perfectly with other perfect people, and so *of course* everyone is free to shape a pool of testimonials that reflect the best one has to offer.
What’s your point?
OP, I only want to say that it would be difficult for anyone to post less-than-postive comments about a company, if they were afraid of getting into a back and forth with the owner of the company. So you may get somewhat lopsided recommendations. It’s sort of like reference letters to college. They’re more honest if the writer knows that they will not be seen by the person about whom they’re written. Because even if one has one’s facts right, or an honest opinion about something, sometimes, one tends to avoid giving it if one prefers to avoid conflict.
I used Gateway Plumbing to install a new furnace and hot water heating system in my Brownstone. I shopped long and hard, studied books such as “the lost art of steam heating”. Spents months learning about these things on web sites devoted to steam heat. I chose them carefully. They did a wonderful job, were very professional answered every question and I felt were very fairly priced. You do get what you pay for.
Irene Reed
Let’s get one thing straight since you and I both know what really happened… we did not “send you a bill for $400”. You agreed to the price and when you were happy at the end of the job, you signed the invoice and took your copy. It seems you then “went to Russia” for the next 15 months because all of our calls to you went unanswered until we finally got a hold of you yesterday.
“Reduce the price or I’ll complain about you on Brownstoner.” is not a way to do business in this country.
I believe I responded best to your post in this thread, es910, where you posted as guest:
http://bstoner.wpengine.com/brownstoner/archives/2007/10/expert_post_hea.php#comments
Tell me, now that you’ve exposed us for the horrible people my brother and I are, can I print your name and address here?
I had a terrible experience with Gateway and would like to warn people about them. I am also super suspicious of the highly enthusiastic posts about this company throughout this site! I think companies like Gateway do a great disservice to such communities like Brownstoner dishonestly plugging their services throughout the site.
I called them because of the reviews on this site but experience with them was a total nightmare. The workers came late and did not have the right equipment and could not proceed because they did not know what to do trying to get in touch over the phone with their boss who was not available for a long while.
In the end, after they got the basic equipment that they were supposed to show up with (it was blower that one blows air through pipes to clean up any stuck debri in gas pipes), and only after 10 mins of work, they sent me a bill of $400 (after I generously tipped the guys).
I think for 10 minutes for work for guys who did not know what the hell they were doing, could not get in touch with their boss to find out, who did not have the right equipment and just look all around unproffessional was just not fair. When I tried to discuss my bill with David, the company’s boss, he refused to even listen to my arguments and did not even try to make any concessions in this unfair deal.
I would NEVER deal with these people again and would warn other people to stay away from them.
Thank you.
All true- Gateway rocks!