A leak started coming out from our first floor bedroom ceiling below an upstairs bathroom about a month ago. Being new home owners with a 1 year Home Warranty, we submitted our plumbing issue and were given Barker Plumbing as a contractor to complete the work.
Communication (First Impression):
Barker called us around 8am on a Monday and scheduled our first appointment. I have a day job and was not able to get to the phone immediately. I called her back within the hour of missing her call and was met with attitude that I had missed her first call. Nonetheless, we scheduled to have them come out between 10 and 12 that morning. I gave her my number to call to confirm when the plumber was on the way, but made sure to explain to her that I was at work and would be home at 10. She called at 9:45 and berated me that the plumber had been waiting to get in the house, and called me irresponsible (literally said that over the phone). I arrived home at 9:55.
Services (round 1):
We had the water turned off in our house to prevent compounding damage when the plumber arrived. There was plenty of evidence of the leak in our bedroom (wet/cracked/bubbled ceiling, water in buckets on the floor). Our upstairs bathroom was completely dry and normal looking. The plumber insisted the issue was that the toilet needed to be reset. I know a bit about setting toilets and told him nicely that I didn't think that was the issue. He reset the toilet. I asked that he stay for 15-20 mins while we turn the water back on to see if the leak stopped (it takes a little time for the leak work its way up to actually dripping out of the ceiling plaster). He said no, left, and closed our request with the Home Warranty. 20 minutes later, the leak restarted and we called Barker, they said we would have to submit a new claim through the Home Warranty and essentially restart the whole process.
Communication (Round 2):
After submitting our new claim, we were again given Barker (despite asking our Home Warranty to contract someone else). Barker stood by their initial plumbers ineffective work and claimed the issue had to do with rain water coming in from the roof 2 stories above (at this point we had gone over a week without rain and very effectively correlated that, when the water is turned on we have a leak, when it's off the leak stops). Either way, they scheduled a new plumber to come out a calendar week from the time of the call. Anyone with experience living without running water can agree that that is very bad news. The receptionist was also constantly very rude on the phone despite me doing my best to be as nice as possible.
Services (Round 2):
The new plumber came out, looked at the same things the first plumber looked at, I turned on the water, and again the plumber left before seeing the leak. He said to call them once it started and they would be able to send someone right out to get to work the same day. They again claimed the issue was rain water (it had coincidentally rained that day for the first time in weeks). Rain water made no logical sense since the leak wasn't even occurring when they got there with the water off. Again, 20 minutes later, the leak started, we called, they said they closed the claim, and we had to open a 3rd claim with the Home Warranty.
Communication (Round 3):
This is where their services truly floored me. I submitted our 3rd claim with the Home Warranty and were again given Barker (again, despite pleading with them to get a new plumber). I called Barker and the owner of the company, Chris, answered. He said to turn and leave the water on so that when his plumbers get there it will be actively leaking. He said he'd call back within 15 mins with a scheduled time for that day. I turned our water on and waited for a call back, but never got one. I called an hour later and again were told they'd call back in 15 minutes. They never called. I called back again, at this point it was around 3:50pm (within business hours), and they did not answer. They never called us back (RE: Irresponsible). We had left our water running for hours, actively damaging our house, for no reason. We continued to call, were continuously promised calls back with scheduled times, and were continuously ghosted for an ENTIRE WEEK. I remained nice on every single call as I was raised to treat service workers and contractors with respect. Every communication we had with them was initiated by us. They never called us back.
We were able to get our claim switched to a new plumber after proving Barker was being delinquent with communication and scheduling. The new plumber has been great. They found and fixed the leak within a couple days. We gave Barker one last call to see if we could talk to the owner again who had ghosted us for an entire week, and were refused a conversation.
The lack of care and lack of respect for our property was astonishing. I would never recommend this company to anyone with plumbing needs. read more