Bel-Carlos Plumbing

Craig was prompt in servicing our kitchen plumbing problem. He replaced our p-​trap line from plastic to brass. He ran into an alignment issue but was able to repair the pipes in a reasonable time.

Craig did a great job fixing my broken water heater!

Craig has been handling my plumbing needs for over ten years. I own three homes in San Carlos and one home in Redwood City. Craig always stays until the job is complete and won’t try and rip you off. If something he has fixed breaks or malfunctions he is quick to make things right for you in a timely manner.

OK… here is an update. After the first repair (they showed up 2 hours late) and six months later, the sewage pipe out of the kitchen sink cracked and water leaked out, causing the cabinets and floors to get wet. I called Bel-​Carlos and Craig showed up as he promised to, and did the repair free of charge.
I offered give him money for doing the repair so promptly this time but he refused to take the money, saying that it was his job to take care of his repairs.
I think he is overall a good, no-​nonsense kind of guy. He might just be overwhelmed by the amount of work he has so he might not show up on time every time. But once he is there doing the repairs, he does give his 100% best.

I am amazed any any positive reviews with this company. 9 out of 10 times never show up or call, over priced. I guess Craig is in charge downright rude and a thief. They take on more work that they can handle just plain greedy. They took out all our pipes and never showed up or called, we had to purchase a porta potty. We than hired a good contractor, Paul Gutierrez. Craigs team showed up days later when the new contractors team was there. Craig called up nasty and rude demanding $ 1500 for removing the pipes and said his men will not leave the premises unless we paid them. We paid them $ 1000 just to get rid if the nasty loser. Please do not use this company, very bad news.

I never do review but this guy Craig deserve my review!!!
Do not use his service .
He is rude never show up.
I call him to follow up he yell at me and said I told you I will call you I have another job and then he hung up on me. Who does that !!!
What kind of business is this !!

I have never used Craig’s company for any plumbing problems. I am the owner of Leonardo’s deli in millbrae. Craig recently wrote a bad review of my business on Unilocal.I have known Craig for many years and have done lots of catering for him. Thank you. What truly happen on our phone convention is false on Craig’s part. The thing I do not understand is all the years I have helped Craig out, Craig has never gone on Unilocal and given Leonardos a positive review? That’s ok Craig. I would much rather do business with positive costumers. I wish you and your family all the best. If I could give you some advice. Try not to be so negative.

Craig is a little quirky, but amazing and has had all of my plumbing business for 10+ years.

Sadly, I am yet another person who had this business not show up and not return calls. There are three other reviews on the main page and two in filtered where the same happened, this is looking like a pattern.

Showed up on time when he said he would, efficient work, and reasonable rates! What else could you ask for in a plumber. Oh and he was very courteous and nice as well. Left the bathroom very clean afterwards. Would recommend and very glad we used him.

Bel-​Carlos Plumbing did not show up when promised. They didn’t show up at all. No phone call.
That’s okay — I’m going to work my way through the long, long list of plumbers that serve this area and anyone who breaks their promise gets 1 star.

Super Craig to the rescue… again.
«Craig was here»
He will come.
He will get straight to the task.
He will not stop or waste time.
He will get things fixed and if it requires more time he will get to it so the job is done. He will not fool or try to rip you off.
He will CLEAN UP before he goes and for that matter he will clean up better than your housekeeper who has spend her entire life cleaning homes…
When your plumbing is now perfect and your old problem area is now sparkling white glove check approval clean — everyone will know that…
CRAIG WAS HERE!
Call him.

So far so good. I work for a school and we have a preschool bathroom with kid sized toilets. the toilets always have problems. I usually end up calling every few months for service. In the past I have used Cabrillo plumbing but I always felt like they were over charging me and the issue was never fully resolved. Yesterday was the last straw with them when they quoted me over $ 400 to fix the recent problem. The tank was taking way to long to fill up (like 10 minutes). So when the next person used it there wasn’t enough water and it would clog. Cabrillo said they could replace the tank for $ 489 and that would solve the problem. I decided to get a second opinion and asked another employee for a reference and she referred me to Craig. I Bel-​Carlos and spoke to his receptionist first. she was very nice an listened to my whole drawn out story. She then said that she would have Craig call me back. About 30 minutes later she called me back to let me know that she was leaving for the day (it was later in the afternoon when I called) but she would email Craig and that he should call me later in the day. She then said she would follow up with me on Monday to make sure he got the message and called me. What great customer service!!! I really appreciated her updating me. Anyway, Craig called me about 30 minutes after that and was able to come to the office within the hour. He looked at both little toilets (the other one was having some issue at that point too) and was able to fix both toilets for half the price that Cabrillo quoted me. Everything seems to be working great now. I will be switching to Bel-​Carlos for all our future plumbing issue at the office (and let me tell you… with 50 students, we have a lot!)

Craig and his helper arrived a bit later than appointment, but with everything needed to clean our plugged kitchen drain. A great job and they were very neat and did a perfect cleanup. Great plumbing company. Found them thanks to Unilocal

Craig is a great and honest guy, reasonable price! Only problem is, he is always LATE you will have to wait for him all day! But besides that he does a good job! We can call l Him Craig Late have you seen him latetly??? Highly recommend if you don’t mind him being late on the job with all his excuses, but he is a very nice guy! i would have given him 5 stars if he was not late… Hehehe

I gave them a second chance; this time to install a new toilet and everything went fine.
First time, plumber was late and started at 12:20 (he got lost and called to find out how to get here at 12:00). It took him 40 minutes to install the faucet and I asked him to finish instaling my garbage disposal since I was paying by the hour. He finshed at 12:15, but I was charged for 90 minutes PLUS the garbage disposal was leaking within 30 minutes after he left (he used the wrong hose). I called and they allowed me to replace the check I had written with one MINUS 30 minutes labor… unnecessary effort on my part.

When I realized that my sewer line was clogged (on a Saturday night!), I dreaded having to make calls to various plumbers at 2−3x their already outrageous rates. So I Unilocaled. Thanks to all the Unilocalers reviews!
Called the first plumber and was quoted $ 250 — $ 325 plus I would have to wait until Monday. Then I called Bel-​Carlos. Quoted me $ 160 and would be would be here in 2 hrs. He was right on time and got the job done. He reset my toilet and replaced flush mechanism in the tank for $ 50. It’s Turbo now! In total he spent 3 ½ hrs and got the job done. $ 210 out the door on a Sunday, Thank you Bel-​Carlos Plumbing.
I’m Happy. It’s what I needed. I recommend his service… but just understand that he has a unique personality, and all will fine.

We had to eventually fix our mainline pipe since it was inevitable (gut out the drive way, replace the pipes from house to the city line, the whole thing). …quite the project. Craig gave us a thorough plan from start to finish, and gave me updates any time the plan needed modification. He takes pride in his work and it shows. He is also used to working with the city, so getting the permit, etc. was completed in a snap. The strict city inspector came and went to review Craig’s work.
If you have emergency mainline back-​ups or need to re-​do your pipes, give Craig a call!

Summary:
Save yourself $ 150 and call a real plumber! These guys are either poor excuses for plumbers or total scam artists.
The Delay:
Thursday morning at 7am, I called Bel-​Carlos Plumbing to check out a plumbing problem; I had no hot water throughout my house. The receptionist told me that their crews were out on on emergency calls that morning and would be able to come by a little after noon. So, I waited patiently all morning and decided to give them another call at 1pm just to check their status. This time, the receptionist told me they would be able to make it over in a couple of hours. It’s now 4:30 and I decide to call again because I was concerned that they might have forgotten about me. The receptionist assured me they were now on their way over. Finally at around 4:45pm, they arrive! I took a PTO day for this! I could have went to work and dealt with this when I got home if I knew it would have taken all day!
The Arrival:
As I open the garage door, in walks Craig Coccellato (Owner of Bel-​Carlos Plumbing). Craig aka «Butt-​crack Bandit» shakes my hand without telling me his name, then heads right over to the water heater. I’m thinking to myself, Uh… okay…thanks for introducing yourself buddy. By the way, you’ll see where he gets the nick name once he starts reaching for things and his shirt makes its upward migration.
The Crack Gets Shady:
Craig starts going to work on my 4 year old water heater as I explain to him that I have no hot water in the house. He tested both inlet and outlet nipples on my water heater, replaced ONLY the outlet nipple, and in 15 minutes later comes to the conclusion that my 4 year old water heater needs to be replaced. Oh, by the way, did I mention that my water heater was only 4 years old? Hmm, why didn’t he replace the inlet nipple? We’ll come back to this later. This diagnosis cost me $ 150!
Shady Negotiations:
Here’s where he tries to gank me. To replace my water heater, he quoted me $ 1100 if I decide to go with his Bradford White model or $ 400 for installation if I provide my own water heater. Although, by this time of the day, its too late start on this job and the earliest that it can be done is tomorrow. My decision now is to see if I can get GE to warranty my current heater and save money.
The Following Day:
I spend all morning contacting GE Tech support about getting my water heater replaced. I must have spoken to at least 8 different GE Reps and 1 manager about my issue. They all tell me that my water heater is still under warranty but will not agree to replace it until they are able to confirm with the plumber that this heater is indeed broken.
I call Bel-​Carlos Plumbing several times trying to get Craig to call GE Support. Craig relayed a message to me through his receptionist (Veronica) that it was my responsibility to deal with warranty issues and not his. Luckily for me, Veronica was nice and helpful enough to get on several conference calls with me and GE Support. Veronica spoke with GE and tried to convince them that Craig used all of his plumbing experience to come to his conclusion that my heater was bad. Still, GE would not budge. «Sir, there is nothing wrong with your water heater. As long as there is good water flow into the tank and nothing obstructing the outflow, your water heater is not the problem.»
The Solution:
Okay, its been 4 days now of no hot water. What to do? The options I have at this point are to hire Craig, call another plumber, or pick up a new water heater and install it myself. After consulting with my friend’s brother (Paul) who is also a plumber, I decided to have him come out to give me a second opinion. Paul came by, checked out my water heater, and in 5 minutes diagnosed and fixed my problem. The inlet nipple on my water heater had a stuck backflow valve and there was weak water flow going into my water heater. AH HAH! So, this is why Craig did not replace the inlet nipple! It would have fixed the problem! I have a message for you Craig «You are a dishonest fucking asshole!»
If you need a good plumber, I recommend calling Paul Gutierrez: 415−412−3727
USEFUL TIP: Scroll to the last review below and click the FILTERED link to unlock the TRUTH! 4.5 Stars… Ummm…ya.

Craig has saved our butts on numerous occasions from coming to our rescue on Thanksgiving with a full house of guests and a backed up sink to appearing with us in Small Claims Court when we had to sue our counter-​top contractor for screwing up.
He has also helped us out in choosing the right fixtures. He really has an eye for quality and durability.