What to Look For Before You Hire a Los Angeles Plumber
Get Personal References From Trustworthy Sources
The first place to get references about a Los Angeles plumber – or about any service professional – is from a trustworthy source. Ask around. Everyone has used a plumber before. Some have had good experiences, some have had bad experiences. Ask people you trust if they can recommend a Los Angeles plumber. You can ask family members, you can talk to your business associates or work colleagues, you can ask at your church or at any society you belong to. Someone that you know knows a good plumber. Don’t even think of talking to a plumber until you have had a good recommendation from someone you trust.
Read Reviews on Yelp
After you have had a good recommendation for a Los Angeles plumber from someone you trust, you still need to do another few steps. The next one is to go to Yelp — or any other peer-review site you like — and check out the reviews for the plumber you are considering. The friend who recommended you to the plumber may have had a good experience with that plumber, but that may have been some time ago, or that plumber’s service may be erratic – he may have some good reviews and some not-so-good reviews. So check for good reviews. Check for many good reviews. And make sure the reviews are real, not fake. Fake reviews are those posted by Yelp users who have very few reviews and very few Yelp friends. These enthusiastic reviews may be posted by confederates of your plumber.
What if my recommended Los Angeles plumber has some bad reviews? That’s a good question. The thing here is how many bad reviews does he have? If half of the reviews are good and half are bad, you should probably stay away from that company. At best, it seems like their service is erratic, or they may be having personnel problems or there are other reasons why some of their customers are happy (and probably genuinely, too) while other customers are plainly not happy. I would stay away from a Los Angeles plumber with many bad reviews among the good ones.
But if you are checking out a Los Angeles plumber on Yelp and he has 100 great reviews and 3 lousy ones, you should probably ignore them. Why should a plumber who takes so much trouble to give such great service that he gets 100 great reviews then give such lousy service so as to get lousy reviews? There’s usually something fishy here. These negative reviews can be posted by someone else, someone out to “get” that plumber — it could be an unethical competitor, or it could be a disgruntled former employee. And these bad reviews usually come from Yelp users with few reviews and few Yelp friends. Ignore three bad reviews among 100 good ones.
Check Out Their Website: It It a Sales Pitch or an Informative Site?
OK, you’ve been recommended to a Los Angeles plumber by a trusted source, you’ve read lots of great reviews about that Los Angeles plumber on Yelp, now what? Go to the plumber’s website and check it out.
Is the website just a sales pitch or does it show that this plumber cares about his customers? Are there plumbing tips and articles about various plumbing problems and possible solutions? Does the plumber have a blog where he blogs regularly and keeps his customers informed, educated, or even just entertained? Is your Los Angeles plumber involved in social media? Would he be able to respond to a question you posted through their Twitter account? How long would it take? Try it. The more you can find out about the kind of customer service experience you are going to get with any company, the better off you are. If this plumber gives lousy customer service, you want to know on social media – not after they start working on your sewer and then run into problems. Fill in their form. How long does it take for them to respond? A plumber’s website can tell you a lot about a plumber and his business.
Make Sure His Insurance & State Plumbing Contracting License is Valid
Assuming all is good to here, make sure you check that the plumber has adequate and CURRENT insurance and that his state plumbing contractor’s license is valid and current. Both these issues are important: if something goes wrong, especially with a big job like a sewer replacement, your plumber must be insured so you can collect if there is a big problem. And his license must be valid otherwise his insurance company will not cover him against any liability.
Finally: Is Your Los Angeles Plumber Using Automation Software?
One more thing. Ask if your recommended Los Angeles plumber uses automation software. In the past few tears, field service management software has allowed plumbing businesses to become completely automated – from Scheduling and Dispatch to GPS field location, to electronic Invoicing to Inventory control to accounting automation. Those companies that use field service management software always give their customers a better experience. There’s no more duplication and error, no more documents in triplicate, you are invoiced in the field directly from your plumbing tech’s smartphone, no more Post-It Notes all over the plumber’s office, no more errors due to handwriting or other discrepancies, you are advised of the tech’s arrival time – and any delay if that is the case, so there’s no waiting around. And a permanent record of every transaction is recorded and kept – from the initial Work Order through receipt of your payment. So if there’s ever any dispute between you and the plumber or the plumber’s technician, a permanent electronic record of the entire job is available for easy resolution of any problems or disputes. Built-in SMS text messaging allows your plumbing company to easily communicate with you. Your customer service experience is always better if your Los Angeles plumber uses automation software to stay on top of his business.
At Mr. Speedy, we meet all of these traits and more, we encourage you to reach out for all you regular and emergency repair needs.