Pete the Plumber

We have aging plumbing in our aging Canyon House. A few years ago, I thought we were going to have to replace plumbing when the line from our kitchen was completely clogged. I called one of those advertised services. While polite, they couldn’t do it. By chance, Tashman’s Hardware recommended Pete’s. I’ve now used them for about 4 years on an annual basis. Each time, they politely tell me I need to change the plumbing but there is no sales pressure. Stupidly I strayed from them when a blockage ocurred on the weekend. I saw great reviews for a guy who did weekend calls. What an expensive mistake. He didn’t get to us until Monday and he was almost double the price. He also turned a slightly leaky u joint into a broken one. I know those things can happen and my husband easily replaced it, but I realized later that the broken u joint meant he didn’t check his work on the clog. (He didn’t tell me the joint had completely broken. I discovered it after he left. Had I known I would have run a garden hose in the line to check it) After my husband fixed it and I ran the dishwasher, I discovered not only had he not cleared the line, he made it worse. When I texted this guy, he said he’d make another house call for an additional $ 160.00. I couldn’t believe it. I then called Pete the Plumber told them what happened and they sent their guys out that day. For $ 90.00 they undid the now completely clogged line after a lot of sweat and grit. They then cleaned up afterwards, and knowing I don’t like harsh chemicals, left with an advisement to put a half gallon of vinegar monthly to try and keep the line clear.

don’t service our area but didn’t tell us that when we called the first time!

Pete the plumber. Having never had PETE come the house. I can’t talk for his services. but the guys that did come. twice now. Henry — was amazing. shows up on time &Very fairly priced. He knows what he was doing. He suggested some work to be done in the future and we have had him come back to do so. We had a water heater replaced and other work as well. They did maintenance on all the toilets and drains.
Deb and Janice in the office are so nice as well as accommodating. We needed a replacement part. they charged me 110 $. I saw I could get it for less at Amazon. they said NO problem. Best plumber experience we have had in LA. Thanks.

Even though mgmt responded to my Unilocal review with a «we will look into it» they most certainly did not reach out to me after said investigation. Pfft… more lip service than plumbing service.

I used Pete the Plumber for 13 years. They always had good service and the average plumbing prices. The last two times I used them they totally jacked up their prices with false charges. I will never use them again! Watch your billing if you do, use their services!

The owner and the office manager provide lousy service and have an entitled attitude.

Excellent service again. I had a leaking faucet and could not resolve it myself. So, I called Chris and he came out and fixed it right away!

Please see addendum at bottom of page*****
I have been using Pete for many many years. I was first introduced to them through a landlord I was renting from. They always showed up, always fixed the problem and although I personally never saw the bill.
Many years later I purchased the very house they have serviced. Last year I had a leak, slow but steady, and wound up going through the floor and through the ceiling into the room below. I called Pete. Janet answered the phone and as usual, couldnt have been more courteous and helpful. We scheduled a time for first thing in the morning. 2 men were assigned the job and showed up between the hour promised. Chris, whom I have met before and Henry whom I had not. Both were polite. professional, and didn’t waste any time. They assessed the situation, gave me their opinion and I made a decision from there. In an hours time they had carefully broken through the ceiling from below, replaced the tubs hardware including the drain, and stopped the leak. This could have easily been dragged out to many, many hours not to mention days– it wasnt, and the price was more than fair.
I also called them for a toilet problem, they replaced the ball. I was a bit annoyed at myself for not realizing that was the issue. Lesson learned. Too much money for a $ 2 replacement I should have and could have done myself. You will pay for their service as I did and sometimes more than its actually worth, but I understand their need for charging to come out, and such is life. As a home owner its ALWAYS better to do things yourself when and if you can. and now I do. But when I cant, I ALWAYS call Pete.
Late friday I realized that I had to replace my hot water heater. I called Janet immediately and we scheduled a time for the guys to come out first thing monday morning (today.)
Henry arrived at the designated time, remembered me immediately and got to work.
He was kind, helpful, efficient, knew what he was talking about and when I walked away from the old unit leaving him and his assistant there, I felt like I was in good hands.
In about an hours time the old was was replaced with the new one.
A job well done! Everything was done through Petes– meaning we purchased the new hot water heater through them, as opposed to buying one on our own, and the price difference was negligible. If the unit has any trouble, they will replace it rather than dealing with an outlet or store which can be trying at best!
They have been consistently kind, courteous, proficient and honest.
I recommend this company 1000%.
Addendum: Henry came back today to replace a faulty water pressure valve and adjust the water pressure. It’s clear he loves his job and wants to make certain that everything is done right and working perfectly and that the customer is satisfied. In this day and age, that’s almost unheard of.
Thank you Henry, for being a good and honest man!
***THIS IS AN ADDENDUM TO THE ABOVE REVIEW.***
Chris, the owner of this company was so flat out rude to me on the phone.
After coming back time and time again for a toilet /​root issue. one of his guys who he hires from another company apparently when this company doesn’t have any more workers he can send over. went back and told them I wasn’t going to pay. So to get a call from Chris yelling and screaming at me like a madman about something that was never said. it truly took me by surprise. I couldn’t even get in a word edgewise to ask him what the hell he was talking about!
Finally I asked him what the hell are you talking about???
Thats when he told me. his guy told him I wasn’t going too pay.
Wasn’t going to pay? Why on earth would I tell your worker that?
We had every intention of paying him and I told him so. I also asked him if this how you handle your business affairs? By calling up the customer and a long time customer at that and yelling at them?
We called a few other companies after that and found one that actually FIXED THE ISSUE!!! Please see my review on the other plumbing service who by the way came out at NIGHT and with flashlights. found the problem that this company couldn’t find in the daylight! OR. they simply didn’t want to find it. Hell if you cant fix it right that means you make more money over and over and over again.
Because he was such a rude person AND because they never actually FIXED the issue and kept charging me every 3 months. I can no longer recommend this company to anyone out there.
I would avoid this rude man at all costs.
He’s got some good workers over there. at least they did. but also some horrible ones. but the bottom line is. I refuse to give this man one more dime of my hard earned money once I realized they were ripping me off!!!
It took me YEARS to figure out how flat out awful they truly are.
Please see my review on another company that actually FIXED the issue once and for all!

I called plumbers before for my house and it had been a nightmare of people banking on the client inexperience of plumbing issues and overcharging, instead of trying to fix the issue at hand as fast and best as possible.
My experience with Pete the Plumber has been a completely different story. A positive one. They came quickly, fixed the problem and charged reasonably — compared to my previous experiences. I was able to talk to the guys and together agree on the best course of action until we got the problem fixed. My neighbor also uses them and keeps calling them back when needed. Janet and the other people on the phone have always been courteous.
I highly recommend Pete the Plumber.

I’d called this company for service on a hot water heater that I was having problems with. The technician came to my door, told me they didn’t do work on condos and left. Never even looked at my heater. It’s now two years later and they’ve been harassing me to pay for the service. There was no service, the technician never came through my door, and they expect to be paid. Do not even call these people.

NEVER USE THESE GUYS!!! We called them over for warrenty work on our hot water heater… not only did they want to refuse our warrenty they wanted us to pay for the work and they managed to break a water line for my house and are now refusing to cover the damages… I REPEAT DO NO USE!!! if you call them for warrenty work they will half ass the work and then have an excuse to get out asap. Even the Owner of the company admitted to only wanting to do work for pay, and not cover his own warrenty. NEVER CALL or DO BUSINESS WITH!

After dealing with another company that couldn’t figure out why we were having water pressure problems, it was a joy to have the problem diagnosed quickly and fixed effectively for a reasonable price. My guy arrived on time, explained everything in really clear language, and was very kind. I won’t take my plumbing business anywhere else again.

The owner’s attitude is deplorable. There was damage to my apartment, he wouldn’t cover the cost of repairs and refused to finish the job, after reporting the damage.
.

These guys are great! Super fast, curtious and punctual. Beto was my plumber and I will call again when I need more stuff done. Thank you!

ZERO stars!
Do NOT spend your money with this company!
Called on a Saturday to get the roots cleared from the sewer line, was told it would cost double ($ 180) because it’s a weekend so I made an appt. on a Monday.
Two people were sent out but only one person did the work. After 20 minutes of rooting with very little amount of roots taken out, the machine malfunctioned and wouldn’t recoil or even go back out properly. The roots were blamed for the malfunction and it took another 30 minutes of hitting the machine with a metal pole and manually pulling the cord back to get the rooter out of the sewer line. That was the end of their service.
The employee mentioned that Chris has a camera to check the line. I called Chris thinking he would like to check the work of his employee to make sure the line was cleared properly and not done half-​assed due to the broken machine.
Chris said he has to charge for the camera because it costs him 10s of thousands of dollars. Really? Your machine breaks down, cannot fully complete the job and you don’t want to inspect the line?
Hmmm, so much for backing your work.
After mentioning the broken machine, Chris arrogantly said that making sure all the roots were out wasn’t the job — it was to clear the blockage. My interpretation: the heavy roots can stay in the line as long as the fine roots that caused the blockage was removed.
In the end, what was quoted as a $ 90 job was billed at $ 170.
BTW — to the reviewers who thank Pete — does he really exist?
Chris seems to be the person running this company.

Just a quick update– I continue to call Pete for all my plumbing needs; they’ve done everything from fixing a leaky faucet to replacing major sections of pipe *in the walls of my house* (that’s some major surgery, y’all). Always pleased with the plumbers they send over, and the work is always done right. Still forget sometimes that I don’t need to pay them when they come, but I’ve come to actually like receiving an invoice that I can review at my leisure.
Thanks, Pete, for being such a great, local, non-​chain plumbing service that does honest work. I’m really really happy to have found y’all.

when my usual plumber was all busy, pete came out within 1 hour and finished also in one hour! I had a clogged sink for my tenant and it was a reasonable price due to the time issue of the problem! Whenever I have a clogged up sink I def will hit up my boy, pete
Highly recommended!
Thanks,
Reid

What a surprise these guys were. I had a serious leaking bathroom faucet issue. I called for service in the morning on a weekday and two guys came to check out the problem. It became apparent that the faucet itself was irreparably shot, so they hopped into their van and, maybe fifteen minutes later, brought a new unit that was similar in appearance, per my request. They installed it and the whole episode from telephone call to the moment when I handed over the surprisingly small check was maybe an hour and a half or two hours.

I called Pete to have him come check out a leaking tiolet in my home, after reading favorable reviews on Unilocal.Setting up an appointment was no problem. On the day of the appointment, not Pete but Jesus showed up, who didnt speak a lick of English. He tinkered with the guts of the toilet for a few minutes, told me it was fixed, and charged me $ 120. About a half hour later, the toilet resumed leaking. I called back to Pete, who then informed me that i would need a completely new toilet, for about $ 300, plus the $ 120 would not apply to the follow up visit, even though nothing at all had changed. When i called him (Chris) out on this, he very rudely told me that i was paying for their TIME, not for what they actually did. That amused me, as I thought I was really paying them to diagnose and fix my plumbing problem, not just for them making my floors muddy. Anyway, i then looked on-​line (why didn’t i do this before?!), and found out that my particular toilet is known for its leaking problem, and the company that makes it (American Standard) actually is aware of this and offers free replacement valves (or you could buy on-​line for about $ 30). So I did this, fixed it easily myself, and saved myself the aggravation of dealing with Chris and Jesus, and once again paying them for wasting my valuable TIME.
I would not recommend Pete– they will charge you for doing nothing, are rude to deal with, and in my case did not solve my problem.

finally!!! a trustworthy and honest plumber!!!
my shower handles wouldn’t close properly causing water to constantly leak. i called them on monday and they came first thing tuesday morning. it took them about half and hour, and they were courteous, professional, and definietly capable. my shower handles can finally close properly!
thanks, pete!