Banks Quarles Plumbing Heating Cooling & Electrical

Lane M.

Twice cancelled a scheduled appointment because other people needed service. I was a first time customer and will never use them

Shannon M.

Let me start by saying that I know this is a long post but I wanted to share the full story. This was my experience with Banks and Quarles from a few years ago. I have friends who have dealt with them recently and had the exact same experience--they haven't changed. Trash like BQ give honest, hard-working contractors a bad name!

Long story short, the drain on our patio was clogged and it was causing water to back up and flood into the back door. We called Banks Quarles out to try and unclog it with their fancy plumber tools. The plumber, Matthew Howton, arrived and took a cursory look at the drain before announcing, ""I can't use our machine on that drain because it's corrugated pipe and the machine will destroy the pipe and cause the problem to become worse. You're going to need an entirely new drain. We will use PVC pipe and it will cost you $2,500.00.""

Well, obviously, I didn't have $2,500.00 laying around the house. So, I told him I would have to talk to my husband and call them back. Oh, and keep in mind, I had to pay them $50.00 for them to come out to the house. So, I asked him to see if he could figure out where the drain actually ended. He wandered around the yard for a bit and told me he didn't know. Then, as he was charging me $50.00 for his useless service, he tried to hard sell me a $250.00 yearly ""preventative maintenance"" contract to check my plumbing and electrical systems. I said no.

So! I call Chris (my husband), and he calls Roto Rooter. They come out and look at the pipe and say, ""No, that's not corrugated. Yes, we're 100% sure it's not corrugated. You can use a drain unclogging machine on it, we'll charge you $300.00 for the service."" So now, we have two entirely different opinions. Just to make sure that I'm not an idiot, I spend time looking up ""corrugated pipe"" and then go outside to confirm for myself that the pipe is NOT corrugated.

So, Chris goes and rents this pipe cleaner thing. It was a heavy, metal, coiled wire with a spinning thing on it. It wasn't unclogging the drain, though. Well, I noticed that I could feel the ground vibrating when he moved the wire back and forth, so I followed the vibrations to the drain's exit--which was on the other side of our fence and it just clogged with leaves. A rake and a hoe fixed the problem. So, yeah. Banks Quarles is a horribly dishonest company. That guy straight up LIED to my face in order to try and get me to agree to a $2,500.00 contract for service, and then tried to get me to agree to a yearly maintenance contract.

Christopher D.

Do not buy from these people! We bought a brand new expensive unit less than a year ago. Last weekend it stopped heating. Still under warranty they informed me it would be $120 to come out on a Sunday, temp was 43 outside.

Came to fix it on Monday and tried to blame it on my Nest not being calibrated correctly. Informed them that THEY calibrated it when it was installed.

Woke up this am, NO HEAT! Called at 6:30 this am. Promised would call me back. No call. Called at 9:00. You are on the list we will call you in a few. Called back at 11:45. We won't be able to make it out today in the time you need us.

Are you kidding me??!?!? Unit is less than a year old, twice in less than a week it has gone down.

Moral of the story, if you want a unit that works and keeps you warm, go with anyone else! Worst customer service I have ever experienced. After they cash your check, you no longer matter.

Chrysoula B.

THIEVES! Don't bother with these people. For a simple kitchen faucet job they wanted $537.24!!!! Never again.

Jeff W.

Service was excellent & the technician who came out explained everything to me nice people

D T.

I called this company this past Saturday to address some electrical issues at my mom's house. I live in another state and was the person responsible for paying the bill. When I called, they booked me an appointment for the following Monday morning (today). I gave them my phone number (since I am out of state) and my mom's phone number in Tuscaloosa, where the home is located. My mom calls me this morning (the day of the scheduled visit) and says they called her to cancel the appointment. Of course, they never bothered to call me at all. Their excuse to her was that the electrician had a huge job elsewhere, and needed to reschedule a WEEK later. I immediately called them directly and inquired about the cancellation. The same lady who spoke to my mom (and who spoke to me on the initial call last Saturday) said, ""Our electrician is out with the flu."" Huh??? I don't which story was the truth and which one was a lie. Perhaps they got a bigger, more lucrative job thrown at them this morning last minute. Perhaps there are other reasons they chose to bail - last minute - on a confirmed appointment on the morning of. But I do not do business with folks who are not honest. If they will lie to you about cancelling appointments, they are likely to lie about other issues. So just know the type of company you are dealing with if you choose this business.

Britton F.

Charged $305 to ""inspect"" the unit and never even took the ceiling panel off to get to the unit. Technician stated nothing was wrong with the unit, and that it was doing all that it could. I'm not exactly sure why I was charged for an inspection of my unit, without the technician touching or even seeing the actual unit?? He didn't even bring tools in with him, other than a multimeter. I then called the office pretending to be someone else, and asked exactly what it would cost to have someone inspect my unit. They quoted the original price of $49.95 again. I then asked if there was nothing to be found wrong, would it cost any additional fee above the $49.95, and the office manager stated that it wouldn't. I feel completely ripped off, and will definitely be disputing these charges. What is worse is the technician stated that his boss was going to be upset that he had a ticket that was only being charged $305.00. Banks Quarles is obviously only in business to make money, and screw over anyone they can to do so!

Scott T.

My only complaint would be about the mix-up the company and I had getting someone out to my house, but they did discount me $50 for the inconvenience. The folks at dispatch are really nice and have great customer service. Jim G. identified my water pressure problem and gave me multiple options of what could be done to remedy. Once I chose the option that I felt most comfortable with, he got to work and got my 12-year-old water heater back up and running properly.

Paul S.

There is no way I would recommend Banks Quarles and let me explain why.

My elderly mother had a leaking outside faucet, so she contacted Banks Quarles. The first mistake was making this call.

When the service rep, Joe, arrived he did fix the leak with a washer that cost less than $2. The total cost for the trip on the Banks Quarles invoice was $351.33 to replace a washer! There is no way the trip, washer and repair should have cost this much.

After the leak was fixed Joe said he could check out the water heater. At this point there was not a problem with the water heater, except that it was old. Joe flushed the tank and recommended that she replace it with a 50-gallon Halo System for about $2,000.00. Mom said no, and Joe asked her for $200.00 for the service. He also asked that the check be made out to him and not Banks Quarles. He also left his contact information and advised her to call him directly next time she needed something. At this point mom said that she felt pressured to make the payment and she just wanted him gone.

Once the Service Rep was gone, mom called Banks Quarles and notified them of what happened. Their reply was that ""they did not do business that way"". They also stated that they would cover the cancel check fee. Contrary to what they say, they made no effort to rectify the situation. They had the money and they did not care about the customer. Mom canceled the check to Joe, so she is not out that money, just the cancellation fee that Banks Quarles never covered.

The day after Joe flushed the water heater it started leaking. We did not call Banks Quarles, instead we got a 40-Gallon heater from a local store and had it installed for a lot less than $1000.00.

I was really disappointed in Banks Quarles because of the way they charged for the simple tasks. I have reached out to them a couple of time and the emails and phone calls are not returned.

Bryan K.

Brent R. completed our regular service check and as always Banks Quarles was quick, informed and efficient.