It's been awhile since I've written Yelp reviews, but I wanted to take the time and do it for Classic Drains & Plumbing because of the outstanding experience I recently had with them.
My family and I recently moved and the new house did not come with a washer and a dryer. Black Friday was approaching and I thought that was the perfect time to make a trip to Best Buy and buy those much needed appliances. I asked my husband if he'd like to join me on this (big) purchase, but he, being as interested in washers and dryers as I am in mud truck racing, told me I could just go and buy anything I liked.
Well, to spare the reader from the whole story, I ended up buying a gas dryer when it turns out we didn't have gas hookups. Call it a "mommy brain" move (or, as I prefer to humbly call my moments like that a "dummy mommy" moment), but really it was not: I had heard him mention we had gas in the garage but it turns out he was talking about a gas line, not hookups. Anyhow, that's what happens when you tell your wife to go and buy anything she likes. The reason I went with the more expensive gas dryer (vs electric, which was $100 cheaper) was because I had researched the internet and it seemed that gas was more cost-effective in the long run if you do a lot of laundry, which I do with three kids in the house (um, I meant two kids and a husband, but same thing). That is if you already had gas hookups at home. My optimistic husband told me not to worry and that him and his brother would easily install the hookups themselves. Three weeks later and several "hanging laundry around the house" sessions (and friends who were so kind to let me use their dryer and even folded my laundry - so thankful for friends!) I concluded that if I wanted my dryer to get hooked up in this decade I needed to call a plumber (plus, I didn't want to risk blowing up the house having the rookie husband and brother-in-law do it). I asked around and was highly recommended James with Classic Drains & Plumbing.
I called James and told him about our situation and asked him if he would be able to give me a quote over the phone. I knew plumbers were expensive when it came to gas and was scared to hear a huge number. But I was also so desperate to have my dryer hooked up and, thinking that I already missed the return window and that the store would not honor Black Friday sale prices, I was prepared to pay whatever that amount was going to be. Before even giving me a quote, James straight out told me that several years ago in California, gas indeed used to be much cheaper than electricity and it would have totally been worth it to have a gas dryer, but now with gas and electricity prices being pretty similar, it is not worth it for me to hire him and if I could get the dryer exchanged for an electric one that would be the best thing he could recommend. Wow! I could not believe it, a vendor telling me not to hire him because it would be better for ME? I have not encountered such honesty among service providers in a very long time! Just in case I could not get my dryer exchanged I did ask him to give me a rough estimate anyway, which he did explaining that it could be more or less than that depending on how far the gas line needed to go and how much work actually needed to be done, which made me even more amazed he was being so honest with me and willing to not have this potentially high-paying job.
Long story short, I called Best Buy and they were very nice to do an even exchange. I didn't get the cheaper electric dryer model but got a one level up, which is still totally worth it considering that if I called some other plumbing company they could have just taken advantage of my naivete in the plumbing business and sold me their services. Although, James did not end up coming to our house, I was very compelled to review him on Yelp because of his honesty and integrity. I highly recommend him, because one thing I know for sure, he has his customers' best interests in mind and he's not like many greedy people out there who will do anything to milk your hard-earned cash. And one other thing i know for sure is, next time we need a plumber I am not going to look anywhere else! Thank you James for being so honest and saving our family hundreds of dollars! read more