Have used Central Penn for both preventative maintenance and plumbing repairs, and they are very…read moreprofessional and note pricing up front. Based on previous experience and calling around to other plumbers, I believe their preventative maintenance is reasonably priced ($125 for 'spring maintenance'). For repairs, they charge a 'trip fee' ($65 at the time of this writing) just to come to diagnose the problem, which again, is about in line with industry standards (some plumbing companies I called were a little cheaper while others were more expensive), though I did find one area plumbing company that will waive their trip fee if they do the repair (David Long in New Cumberland). To me, that's the most reasonable policy.
We recently had Central Penn come out to the house due to an issue with our shower plumbing. The handle to turn the water on/off became impossible to turn in one direction. The issue was diagnosed as a bad cartridge, and the technician had the correct part to fix it, which he did in about 15 minutes. At the same time, we had him check our kitchen faucet, which had also had some leaking. This got a little more complicated because of a 'nut' that wouldn't release (no fault of Central Penn), and the technician had to call the manufacturer for instructions because the faucet was under warranty. Acting upon those instructions, we had to wait a day or so for a part to come in, and the initial attempt to make the repair failed (as the technician had suspected it might), so the tech called Moen again to get a different part. Unfortunately, at this point, the kitchen faucet was no longer useable. To make a long story short, due to a large party we were having over the weekend and the lack of availability of a tech to fix the problem prior to said party, I ended up doing the repair myself with the part Moen had shipped to the plumber (I live about 10 minutes from the business, so was able to pick it up), and ultimately, I paid Central Penn about $330 and the only thing we had to show for it was the repaired shower handle (again, a 15 minute job). Throughout the process, the technician was professional and worked with the manufactuer directly rather than making me contact them, which was appreciated, though I did end up having to talk to them myself to get the parts delivered prior to the weekend party (not knowing Central Penn wouldn't be available to do the fix until afterward).
In summary, Central Penn was quick to respond to our call, very professional, and discussed pricing up front, but in the end, we paid quite a bit of money and had little to show for it, so we'll probably give someone else a try next time those dreaded words "honey, call the plumber" are uttered in the house. In general, a cheaper route is to use a plumber who is not part of a larger company, but then you will likely not get the response time required to fix the issue quickly.
Update 4/14 - Owner of the company, working with Moen, has offered us a new faucet free of charge because he wasn't happy with how this situation was handled. It's the effort companies apply in trying to keep customers happy that separates one from another. Don't know if we'll go for the new faucet, but I've changed my previous opinion, and we'd certainly be willing to use Central Penn again.
