Apparently there is more than owner of this business. Names won't be mentioned to protect privacy, but they know who they are.
One was very responsive and quire friendly (hence the 2nd star). It was the "other" owner who f'd up and lost a potential customer.
It's never a good day when you need a plumber, right? In my case, my hot water tank decided to crap out in the middle of the night and flood my garage. During a cold snap. What's worse, my water heater also supplies heat to my home (hydronic heating). I'd always intended to replace the tank with a tankless unit, & lucky for me, my neighbors recently had it done! So of course I asked who did their installation.
When I called Excalibur, I mentioned my neighbor"s home & a possible quote to save them a trip out since it would be nearly identical. The "friendly" owner said it was most likely the other owner who did the installation because of his knowledge of tankless units combined with hydronic heating. He'd also mentioned they were busy and it might be a couple days before it could be installed. So he gave me the other guy's number. I immediately called and left a message. (Remember - cold snap + no heat + no hot water)
Well, owner #2 didn't call me back that day. Or the next. Or the next. So knowing they were busy, I gave him 48 hours to return my call. Mind you, to have a tankless heater in these units is very rare. To my knowledge, only one other person has one in his unit & the company who installed it closed during Covid. So I really wanted someone I *knew* who was knowledgeable, rather than have multiple people come over to check it out. I wanted heat & I wanted it yesterday!
When I called owner #1 & said I'd never heard back from his co-owner, he seemed shocked, told me to call again immediately, & that he'd text him as well. I actually never spoke with #2. He solely communicated via text. The price was massive. I asked about other options (smaller unit - he advised not to). The price to install a *tank* that was HALF the size of my previous one wasn't much less expensive.
I remember I had a plumber fix the pump in my hydronic heater a couple years ago & actually had him take a look at my neighbor's unit to see if it was something he could do when the time came. He'd mentioned he was surprised to see what they'd done & it wasn't exactly up to code. I didn't ask how - I knew I couldn't afford it anyway at the time.
Long story long - I found another company to install the *exact* same unit, right down to the mixer valve & expansion tank, for the same cost as Excalibur would've charged for a SMALL TANK!!
So maybe this should be a 4 star review, because, had #2 got off his a$$ & returned a call, I wouldn't have had the time to look for someone else & saved a bunch of money!
Oh, the "up to code" thing was a part where the condensate goes through to lower the PH before going down the drain. Also, Excalibur installed a $100 wired "remote" 1 foot from the unit. It does the *exact* same thing that the front of the unit does. It's great if it were in the house, but 1 foot away (in the garage) is $100 + labor down the drain. (Look at me & my puns!)
The point is, I'm sure Excalibur does fine work. But why would you pay a pretty penny for it, with unnecessary add-ons, when you can get the exact same unit/work for much (MUCH) less? read more