Cape Cod Mechanical Systems (CCMS) has taken care of my HVAC maintenance and all plumbing repairs for the last six years. Their logo reads "Heating-Cooling-Plumbing". They replaced my water heater, fixed leaks, toilets, pipes, washer valves, etc. The repairs totaled over a couple thousand dollars. A long-term customer. A couple of weeks ago when it was really hot I went to take a shower in the evening and there was no cold water (Moen push/pull handle, left hot, right cold). The next day I had a scheduled ac maintenance at 2pm, so I called them in the morning to let them know I also had a shower emergency as well (July 4th company coming and no shower). The technician showed up two and a quarter hours late with no explanation or apology. The ac maintenance was done with no issues. He said the shower problem was probably a cartridge replacement. I had gone out in the morning and bought a cartridge just in case, as CCMS has sometimes charged me twice retail for parts. The technician replaced the cartridge, but it didn't fix the problem. He went to the basement and was looking at the pipes, came back upstairs and then said the balancing spool needed to be replaced, after taking it out and putting it back in. He said he couldn't fix it because he didn't have the part and all plumbing supply places were now closed or closing (it was about 4:40 pm). I asked him to please speak with the boss to try to fit me in the next day. He said "I'll see you tomorrow".
I didn't get any call in the morning and called their office about 10:30am. Spoke to the receptionist who didn't know anything, and said she'd get back to me. Later that afternoon I received a voicemail from her that said "we're too busy to fix your shower and my boss said to find a plumber..just look one up".
So my plumber is telling me to get a plumber. Inexplicable. Inexplicably bad business. First real emergency and they are gone. Finding a new plumber on Cape Cod right before July 4th weekend...impossible. (in addition, I had texted the boss (Sid) the day before to order me a part for something else and set up an install...he never got back to me).
However...had some incredible luck..called a friend and got the name of a plumber (this is 10 minutes after I got the bad news). Called him, did not get a voicemail, and he answered the phone. Asked me what the problem was, and after I described it, he said I needed a balancing spool. I asked him how he knew, and he said "any competent plumber would know". Asked me where I lived, said he was nearby between jobs, and that he would come over in 15 minutes. He comes over and while we're walking upstairs, I asked him if he had the part with him...he said "any competent plumber would have two or three of these on their truck". Previous plumber said I also would need (to pay for) an extraction tool to get some of the stuck part out. New plumber popped the debris out with a screwdriver and said "there's your extraction tool". New plumber took a total of about one-half hour and charged a very fair price. Previous plumber (CCMS) charged me a hundred dollars in addition to the ac maintenance fee to accomplish nothing but aggravate me.
CCMS is no longer in my phone book. read more