How many of you know what hard water is? If you answered "ice" that is not the correct answer no…read morematter how cold it gets here in Minnesota. Well at least in case of what I am talking about here. Hard water actually has some pretty detrimental effects on items in your home. Some signs that you have hard water are your clothes don't get clean when washing them. There are stains in the toilet (no not from that either), and your shower head is not working as well as it once did. Your appliances can actually wear out faster with hard water and your pipes could even get clogged. No I am not a hard water specialist, but when we moved into our home over 20 years ago, I wanted to learn as much as I could about our home and how to take care of it. One of the first items we purchased was a water softener from Merles. Now over 20 years later that original water softener that we purchased is still going strong. We definitely can tell the difference between soft water in the house and hard water outside. The other nice part to all of this is that the only maintenance that we have ever had to do is every few months add a bag of salt to the salt bin of our water softener. You can purchase big bags of salt right from Merles. They even have a punch card where you can earn a free bag. If you think about the appliances alone that could be effected by hard water (dishwasher, washer, hot water heater), this is the type of product that is not only important, it pays for itself. Merles has always been great to work with and if we are ever worried about our water, we can bring a sample in for testing. To me, water is water. Like when I drink lemonade and tell my wife that lemonade is water, just with more flavor. Well water is water, but there is no doubt that soft loveable water is much better for you and your home than hard water.

Merles was old-school trustworthy. With the business being family owned and operated since 1950's,…read moreI felt it was great to support, and other reviews seemed to share they had good experiences too so, why not. John examined our water and gave us a quote and Dave installed, and both brothers were very friendly and knowledgeable, even when our older house gave a bit of an issue on the install. When I called with questions, I was given helpful information too. I recommend for anyone wanting to know if they need RO or just water softening, I cannot say enough about the Merles family being great and knowledgeable!

Our water heater failed and was leaking. Predictable Plumbing was able to schedule immediate…read moreservice. Plumber Jack was professional, friendly and did an excellent job replacing the water heater with a topline product. He also did a new installation of water supply to our new refrigerator while on site. They are our preferred plumbers from now on.

We've had our Linx water purification system for over a year now. We are very happy with it. We…read morelove having a separate faucet for it, as we used to have just a Brita filter on our main faucet . The only thing with our system, is that we have bubbles in our water. The technician tried everything, but nothing has changed. I would give it 5 stars otherwise. It is nice to know we waste much less water than with a reverse osmosis system.

We had a few different companies out to our house to evaluate our water. Premier Water was by far…read morethe best one to work with. Lars Erickson was very knowledgable and explained all our needs in a very detailed, but understandable way. The installation of our system was seamless and our new water is great. I would highly recommend this company for it's honesty and integrity.

We had a water heater rust out and fail on Sunday afternoon. I contacted Plumb Right via a…read moredistributor portal on Monday and they came out to bid the job. The pricing was competitive to the other two bids I had and they were able to complete the job on the spot. Since they were there, I had them quote another couple items that have been on my "to do" list for a year. They got those knocked off too. I'm more than satisfied.

They try to over complicate a simple project to overcharge and nickel and dime you toread more

Came in and replaced my shower valve, were very clean and did a great job. I'd go back again if I…read morehave the need in the future!

Scheduled an in-home appointment (they confirmed) to see how much a water softener would cost and…read morethey didn't show up or reach out to say they wouldn't make it. Still haven't heard from them. Frustrated considering we planned our workday around their midday visit. No idea on actual quality of work, but poor customer service given this experience.

Met the owner at a home show in February and he honestly blew us away from our first interaction…read more We listened to a few other water softener folks, but ultimately came back to Taplin as we just had a great first experience. This is a small operation, but big results. Super friendly, kept us informed, competitive pricing, and came within 24 hours of us closing on our house to get us squared away. So far, the water softener seems to be doing its job. I would definitely recommend Taplin to anyone in the market for water softeners.

This person tailgated me in a zone marked 30 MPH in a residential area. Six inches off my bumper…read more He did this in his car marked, "Taplin Water Softeners." Based on him being a rude driver, an inconsiderate driver, and an unsafe driver at 30 MPH in a residential area I would never hire this guy to do any kind of work, in any capacity. Tailgating is extremely rude and unsafe, but to do it in his work vehicle, with his company name on the vehicle, defies any kind of mental reasoning. I would never hire him to do anything. He is a poor thinker and poor judge of his own behavior. He is an extremely rude and unsafe driver. So, based on that, I wouldn't hire him to take out my garbage.

I ordered a new water heater thru Center Point Energy. Urban Pine was the subcontractor hired for…read morethe job. The plumber doing the installing was Torell. He was a friendly, respectful young man who was very knowledgeable. He put little booties over his work boots which is appreciated. He reviewed what the game plan was before starting to make sure we were on the same page. I had another plumbing concern (faulty water shut off valve) that I wanted his opinion on. He was able to complete the job same day, for an extra fee of course, since it wasn't a part of Center Point Energy install. He walked me thru the type of valve he would be installing (lever) vs what I had before (knob) and why it was better. He also showed me how to empty the outside faucet line after I bled it from the outside (to winterize the line). He also reviewed steps of city inspection and when I should here from city hall. I had an appointment window of 8-12. He arrived at 9:30 and was done by 11:30. Products look nice, pipes look shiny. Very happy with their service! ***I second T.S.'s review before( 12/2017).

Beware of this company. Very bad business practices. This is the company that Center Point Energy…read moreused to install my new water heater, so I wasn't given a choice on doing my background checks. This company said they pulled a permit, but when I called the city days after the work was done I learned that they in fact did not pull a permit. That was months ago. Update to today, I got a call from Urban Pine saying that the city I live in had called them and they need to come back to my house regarding the install of my water heater. I called my city inspector and was told that the city never called them - that it must have been the State of Minnesota - that Urban Pin is under investigation for not following code/rules of the State. That's it in a nut shell - beware of this company. Save yourself some headaches and don't go through Center Point Energy to get a water heater and don't hire Urban Pine.

Customer service is fantastic. I was trying to find out if an old well on our property was ever…read moresealed/capped off. I called E H Renner whose sticker was in our pump room. All they needed was our address and they found the info. Their paperwork stated it was sealed but they asked if I could send pictures of the uncovered pipe in the pump room. Because the pictures were not real clear they asked if they could send someone out today "free of charge " to just double check. The second well was dug back in 1994. Nick was at our house in about 45 minutes. He was very thorough and took the time to explain everything to us. Everyone told us it was no problem to check it out for us. We will definitely use them if we have any problems with the well in the future.

Maybe inform your customers besides the 150 dollars to ring the doorbell as you told me that you…read morealso charge 150 dollars per hour just to try and guess what needs to be fixed. Nothing like telling someone to try putting in a new pump for 3500 but it's not guaranteed to fix the problem.