American Leak Detection

UPDATE:
After posting a negative review, the owner contacted me and asked for more information, which I provided. An apology was given, with the promise of speaking to the employees who were involved in the service and phone contact. He also personally phoned my mother to apologize which I appreciate. This could have been done after receiving my mother’s written complaint last year, which would have earned another star in my update!
We’ll see if Unilocal lets me keep this on. Apparently you are only allowed to write reviews (negative, the positive ones are ok) if you were the actual customer. My mom does not use the internet very well, and I feel it is important to let other people know experiences had by parents that must be looked after by adult children, using Unilocal.She is in no way mentally incapacitated, and therefore I feel that her feedback is valid.
Review: My mother (88 years old) called them to check for a pool leak. The guy came out and was rude, did not check the leak and did not offer to assist in finding someone who could. He turned off her solar pump system which she could not turn back on again (it was turned too tightly). She called and requested that someone come back out and turn the valve and the reply was, «we can’t do that, you’ll just have to find someone to do that for you». 400 dollars up front for NOTHING.

Don’t waste your time. In the past this company was ok. It would take forever to get an appointment, but at least when they did show up they were pleasant and helpful. Not sure what happened recently, but I called for an appointment and the person I spoke to said she would look at the schedule and call me back that day. Never heard from her, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt and called back the next day. She said she had been busy and would call me back in 10 minutes with appointment options. Again no call back. Then today — 15 days after she told me she would call back in 10 minutes! — I get a phone call. «Uh, so we have you on our schedule…» No apology, no explanation, not even some options for dates! They just assumed we would wait and take anything they had. No thank you.

So we got a leak coming in over our patio door. Called American leak detectors at $ 500 per visit, yeek! But as they say on the site, better than taking apart walls. Well it would have been better if they actually found the leak. They told me were they thought the water came from, I took apart the wall and its dry, no water there and the leak is still leaking. Called the business asked if they stand behind their work and since the leak is not where they said it was would they be willing to find where it is. They said sure at $ 200 more an hour they’ll send someone out, I bite the bullet and say ok, and ask, what if you’re wrong again and the leak is not where you say it is. The lady said, «Oh you just don’t understand how infrared works I’ll have someone call you and educate you about infrared.» No thank you! I already have an Architecture degree, researched infrared extensively (thinking of buying my own camera) and don’t need anymore education! What would like, is a company that is called «Leak Detection» to actually stand behind their service and Detect the Leak. The lady said the owner will call me tomorrow in the meanwhile I am emptying a gallon bucket everytime it rains. Will let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Wow!
So, after we returned from Thankgiving travels I noticed that while the house was cool the floor was warm! WTF? Called the insurance and they recommended and called American Leak Detection. Next day, David, came out. He put on booties over his shoes and left no mess behind.
David was friendly with my dog and super good as his job. He found the leak under our slab in the kitchen. I got to listen to it.!! (Hey if your going to have an expensive problem, ya might as well get to hear it). It was far less obstrusive than expected.
Back in the day to detect a leak there would have been jackhammering and digging and such, but now, David and few cool gadgets and I know exactly where my leak is AND what it sounds like! The positives of a negative situation.
I would definately recommend ALD.
Now… on to repairs. UGH.

Earlier this week I called American Leak Detection in Berkeley regarding a drainage problem. I talked with Joe and he was very, very helpful. He asked questions and gave me a lot of good information. Even though I ended up not needing a service call, I thought the phone customer service was outstanding. I also appreciated their honesty and their ability to determine whether a service call was needed or not.

We had been trying to find the leak since this summer and one call to ALD and all was good. They came when they were scheduled and found the leak and then .returned to repair the leak. It was 2 ½ feet below the surface in the outtake jet. I have a fiberglass pool so they had to remove the concert decking and dig down to the leak. They drained half the pool to reach the leak. It took one day to repair. and the techs were very professional and left the property in the exact shape as they found it. I would highly recommend them. If I ever have another leak they will be the first company I call. e cost of the repair was very reasonable.

I had a leak in my pool and had them come out. I spent $ 450 for 2 hours of labor, which is just crazy. Additionally, they want another $ 500 to fix a very small leak by the skimmer. Then they only give you 2 years warranty. I found this company to be extremely $ hungry and would not use them again. Lets see, if I put epoxy and fix the leak, even if I had to do this every 2 years, at the cost of epoxy $ 10.00, it would take 100 years. They are just not worth it in my opinion.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY
Our insurance company recommended ALD.
The report indicated that there was a leak at the shower valves and that there was a leak at the shower drain connection.
Both were incorrect and the problem was a 1″ gash in the main drain line of the house above the concrete slab. This gash was a completely independent drain from the shower and water was flowing out of it unobstructed.
The real problem is that our insurance was not going to cover the repairs and it required completely gutting the shower. We had to pay a contractor to address what the report indicated to the tune of $ 2,400. Lucky for us, our contractor did not want to seal up the walls because there was far too much water remaining and nothing had dried out over 2 days.
Once we decided to investigate, an indication that there was more of a problem was the sopping wet/​rotted Sheetrock at the sink that my finger shot straight through with no resistance… Pulled a little bit off the wall and found the gash that was the source of our water problems.
My advice: if you see water stains near your plumbing walls, just pull a little Sheetrock off and see for yourself… You are likely to see the problem, you are going to have to replace damaged Sheetrock anyway, and the Sheetrock repairs will cost you less than the ALD inspection… AND you may save more by NOT addressing things that are non-​issues.

I don’t live in the area, but our family owns a rental property in Dublin and we had to file an insurance claim for a leak on the property. I talked to a couple of other companies but it was a mess trying to coordinate everything. A friend in the bay recommended American Leak Detection and they were a lifesaver!
Everyone in the office was really friendly and answered all of my questions and their techs were awesome and really knowledgeable.
I hadn’t seen some of these negative reviews before I worked with them, but I had a great experience and will call them again if I have another problem on the rental.

Not only did I use these guys to replace a root-​clogged, constantly-​backing-​up, sewer line at my residence but I used them many times as a landscape architect and contractor.
As a contractor I had many jobs at old houses solving ancient drainage and irrigation leaks and problems. I had 100% satisfaction with their analysis and the recommendations. They saved both me, and especially my clients, a lot of time and money that could have been wasted trying to figure out and solve underground problems.
I was especially happy at how quickly they were able to respond to my calls, knowing that, for me, time was money, and that, for my clients, they needed a reasonably priced investigation.
I would not hesitate to continue using them in the future.

Great service, fantastic equipment, honest and professional technicians. Highly recommend!

«Leak Detection Without Destruction» reads their brochure.
I have a leak in my pool and I found in the homes files that American had been used previously, so I called them.
Let them know that I had turned off my pool pump and sweep for 3 days and the water level didn’t change. But when I run them for 4 hours level drops by about ¼ inch.
Tech came and performed «pressure» testing of pump and sweep lines, which took about an hour. Then he asked me to turn on the pump and within a few minutes informs me that my pump is malfunctioning. Funny, it was fine that morning.. .
So he leaves and I have to call my pool service guy to check it out. Diagnosis is a broken impeller. 10 days to replace and part is $ 185 with $ 110 service charge.
ALD Tech returns and once again performs a pressure test and finds a leak at the cover of my pump filter. It’s cracked. Funny, it was fine before. Cost to replace, $ 97.
And, he tells me that he found that my pool sweep inlet connector was broken. Funny, when I bought the replacement piece, cost $ 7, I noticed that the broken pieces are the parts that hold the hose in the connector. If it had been broken prior to the service call, the hose would not have stayed in place but would have been «blown out».
Then I was told that they «think» there is a leak in the vinyl pool lining and that I’d have to call someone else to have that checked.
Their cost: $ 325
Thanks for nothing. I told them that I would NEVER call them again!
They probably don’t care.. .
They claim that the pump was «old and damaged «prior to their testing. How can they make that claim? They DID NOT check the pump prior to their testing, even though I told them that the water level only dropped when the pump was running.
I’ve called 2 more pool repair companies and when I mentioned American Leak Detection, they were silent. Not a good reputation in the business AND I can see why.
If you look at my reviews, I do not complain unless it is deserved.
Look, for that much money and a «Detection without Destruction» motto, I expect more. Check these guys out very carefully before hiring them.

Leak detection worked for me. Here is the full story:
Was having some yard work done (major) and suddenly my pool starting dropping (about 4 inches in 1 week). I tried digging up where the new lawn sprinklers were going but after a few holes I decided it was time to get in some help.
I called two places. One local company (with Leak in its name) and American Leak Detection since these are the only two companies that seem to do this type of work. The «local» company said they could get to my project in 2 months. OK that isn’t good and American Leak Detection said they could be there next day.
I was really worried by other Unilocal reviews but what can you do when the pool is leaking and no one else can do the job.
Our technician Ken Johnson was fantastic. He started by testing everything in the pool with some sophisticated equipment, but after 2 hours had found nothing. Undaunted he proposed we isolate pool from spa and see what happens overnight… turned out Spa was the culprit. (if it was the pool he would have dived the pool). He came back in 2 days to find the problem in the spa. It turned out to be the light. Yep behind the light there was a leak. (I would have NEVER found that, never). He fixed the leak with some epoxy, refitted the light and we are all good.
What a great experience, would recommend Ken to anyone. I am so glad I did not try to do the work myself. I would have destroyed my yard and never found the leak.

They called when they said they would to give me a 30 minute heads up on arrival, they reconfirmed the appt., showed up at the front end of my 3 hour window.
Scott had a positive attitude, and only charged me for the performed work instead of the original quote.
Followed up with a recommendation for a repair specialist within an hour of leaving my house.

DO NOT USE THESE PEOPLE BECAUSE THEIR TECHNICIANS ARE INCAPABLE OF FINDING A SIMPLE SOURCE OF A LEAK.
This company was recommended by my plumber. We had a leak that appeared to be seeping up from the carpet.
The technician came out and performed an inspection and a written report. His report stated that the leak was coming from the nearby guest bathroom because the caulking was worn.
But when I replaced the caulking we continued to have the leak. I called the plumber to come back and he found that the leak WAS NOT from the bathroom but from a split line from my refrigerator. He fixed and guess what, NO LEAK! Had they come out in the first place, this would have been resolved
We called American Leak Detection back and asked for a refund because THEY FAILED to find the leak. (Their erroneous information cost a whopping $ 295!). After a week of phone tag, they refused and offered a «courtesy» credit of $ 75! Really!!! What is the «courtesy»?
What they lack in skills as leak detectors and in the area of customer service, I more than make up in social media. Rest assured I will be using every avenue to spread the word.

1 stars for attitude, 1 for value, and 1 for service.
I had already dug a hole within a foot of where the leak turned out to be that filled up with water. No rocket science required to determine the leak was very nearby.
The first one put his flag about two away from my hole. After digging for hours under the flag and with no luck my wife called them again.
This time the technician put the flag within inches of where my hole was. I was informed that we should be grateful that they came out again because the industry standard is placing the flag within 6 feet of the leak. They claim success if the flag is within 3 feet of the leak, «that is a 6 foot diameter hole».
After paying $ 290.00 for supposed leak detection, they want to charge $ 150.00 per hour, minimum 2 hours to repair the leak. This technician estimated 3 hours to do the job and an additional 1 hour to come back the following day to turn the water back on at the meter. $ 840.00 so far and I am reasonably sure it would have been more than that.
The office advised my wife that they charge $ 150.00 to come back if they do not find the leak the first time and will charge the $ 290.00 if they determine there is no leak.
Don’t waste your money.

They are the Best!!! Scott was Great!!! He was very descriptive in how he located the leak. What I liked best was he explained everything as well as giving me knowledgeable about how to detect a leak and what to do next time. A repair I expected to cost thousands of $$$ only cost me about $ 300…Thank you Very Much American Leak Detectors You are the Bomb!!!

Scheduling the appointment with Hillel was a breeze and he was very friendly and helpful when chatting about our issue and their service. They came out to the house today and discovered our «leak» right away… it turned out to be quite simple, but I was happy to have some experts come out and give us a definitive answer instead of us trying to guess (we’re just not that handy, I’m afraid). They even charged us less since it was fairly simple and they didn’t have to bust out the big guns (aka the fancy leak detection tools). Highly recommend!

American Leak Detection was called to my home because I could hear water running but could not find the source. They used air in the plumbing so they could hear the leak location better, and marked the leak location on the wall. They also traced the pipes in the leak area. My only complaint is that for $ 295 they could have traced all of the pipes in my floor for future reference. Aside from this quibble, I would recommend this company.

these guys are great, they found the source of water damage in my unit even when my plumber missed it. they were extremely thorough in their inspection, testing every possible water source.
costs me a fortune though — $ 475 for a commercial inspection (i live in a condo, which is connected to a business).
fortunately for me, i’m Unilocaler and as of now they do offer a 10% Unilocal discount (yay Unilocal!). they were kind enough to give it to me even though an invoice had already been submitted through my HOA.
i’m still over 400 bucks in the hole, but the $ 47.50 did add a sliver of a silver lining to my day.
great work ALD.