Sherry F. 5/11/15
DO NOT HIRE THIS COMPANY. Mr…read more Alverio, the owner of Act Now Plumbing was given a check for deposit. He claimed to have lost the check and I provided him with a new one. Additionally, he left my house with an unfinished access panel and leaky faucets. He came back for another job approximately 3 months later and ended up depositing the "lost" check in addition to the payments I made. This resulted in an overpayment of $314.95. After a month of empty promises and lies, it became evident Mr. Alverio had no intention of refunding the money overpaid to him. He essentially stole $314.98 from me, not to mention the amount of money it will cost to redo all the shoddy work he already did. Had I asked around prior to hiring him, I would have quickly learned that he has a reputation for overcharging customers. I hired him based on reviews from his website. After the bad experience I had with him, I did some research and learned his wife is the primary reviewer.
I hired Act Now Plumbing in the Fall of 2014. My bathroom faucet was leaking on either side of the fixture and into the interior of the wall, which then drained under the carpeting. Consequently, he had to cut a hole in the wall in order to access the fixtures. He assured me it would be patched the next day and he would install an access panel in case I needed to access the fixtures in the future. He did not return to fix the hole as promised. Act Now Plumbing owner, Jesse Alverio, was working on the leak when he went into my garage and saw my water heater. He stated it was a fire hazard and needed to be replaced. He explained the issue and showed me the area of the heater he was referring to.
The total to fix the leak, replace the tub fixtures, and replace the water heater was a total $2,350.00. Since the expenses far exceeded the anticipated amount to repair the leak, I did not have all of the money to pay the bill. Mr. Alverio agreed to accept post-dated checks to cover the total bill. A couple of days later, he informed me one of the checks had been lost. Consequently, I wrote him another check for the same amount and same date to be cashed at a later date. Mr. Alverio ultimately deposited one of the checks early which resulted in my bank charging me $35.00 for non-sufficient funds. I did not contact him about the early deposit because I appreciated his working with me on payments.
Unfortunately, I had 3 more leaks in late February 2015. These leaks were far more severe than the first. So bad, in fact, that when you stepped on the carpet, it squished under your feet. Mr. Alverio came out and determined the leaks were under the house causing water to squirt up to the subfloor. He fixed all three leaks. During this visit, I reminded him the installation of the access panel had never been completed and reported to him that the fixtures he had installed were loose. He indicated that he tightened the fixtures and he fixed the hole resulting from the installation of the access panel. However, the fixtures are still loose. For example, when the hot knob is turned on and is pushed in, the cold knob pulls away from the wall. The total for these services was $1,950.00.
Again, Mr. Alverio allowed me make payments by providing him with post-dated checks. As he had with the previous checks, two were deposited early resulting in non-sufficient funds charges of $70.00. As of March 18, I owed him a total of $250.00 which he could deposit at that time.
On March 18, a check for $564.98 was paid out of my account. Initially, I had no clue where this check originated, but quickly realized it was the check Mr. Alverio claimed to have lost from the first job. I had replaced that check and he had cashed it already. I called him and we discussed the error. Mr. Alverio suggested his secretary, Mary, deposited the wrong check. I found that to be interesting since he had reported the check as lost. We determined the monetary difference between the $564.98 lost check, which he cashed, and the $250.00 balance owed resulted in an overpayment of $314.98. Mr. Alverio assured me he would immediately drop the check off at my house. However, no check was delivered. Throughout the rest of the month until April 25, he continued to say he would stop by "and put it directly in my hand", was in the "hospital" twice (was not, I checked) and would not directly answer my phone calls but he initiated calls and still didn't come by with the money.. Also, he claimed once that "Mary" mailed me a check (that I did not receive). I went to his business that was located in a "Mail Center" and "Mary" told me she worked for the Mail Center not Act Now and has seen Jesse, the owner only once, when he picked up his "paycheck",
