I had a very disappointing experience with Best Plumbing. I am extremely confounded by their billing system, poor communication, and total lack of transparency. I hired them for a shower faucet repair. After the fix, I received a bill (no itemization or explanation and no upfront estimate) paid $630 for it which I found very frustrating, especially since the repair was non-sensical (the functioning of the handle did not correspond to the base plate, the range of tolerable water temp was about a centimeter, making it hard to shower without scorching oneself or getting icy water, they left a screw out). The faucet failed within the month so I called for a redo. The person on the phone said it was under warranty but wouldn't give me an estimate since they said it would depend on how long it took the technician. The technician returned and serviced it a second time. This time I purchased my own hardware to save on some of the charge. When he came back, he was there for most of day with multiple trips to and from Best for supplies. By the end of the day, only the shower faucet was replaced and not the shower head. At that point, I said to skip it since I was stressed by how much time he was taking. Then I received a bill for $1600. Again, no itemization, no supply costs, no hours, no rate, no note that anything was under warranty and applied to this second bill. When I spoke to someone about needing more detail on the bill, they told me that charge wasn't based on hours... that it was basically a flat rate for a type of job, and that I could have had an estimate at any time. This was completely counter to what I was told over the phone and by the technician. I think the only thing the initial $630 I paid went toward was to cover a service call fee that would have been added if the second fix was the first visit. (Also, if the actual needed repair had taken place at the first visit, I wouldn't have been out the whole initial payment). I also ended up calling in a second time once I requested and received a slightly itemized invoice. The invoice said complete replacement of tub and shower faucet for $1300. When I called back to say that it was only a shower faucet, and not a tub, and that the shower head wasn't changed out, and should the rate be adjusted since that whole job on the invoice would've taken twice as long, they said no, the total on the invoice was just what it cost. ??? So now I have a functioning but mismatched shower faucet for $630 + $1600 + $200 on hardware I purchased myself.
This is dumbly tedious to report when I could just summarize that I will never work with Best Plumbing again because of the lack of transparency and communication when it comes to their billing practices. It feels very much like they can put any amount on an invoice after the job is done and you are at the mercy of the technician. The people I spoke to and the technician were polite, I just don't trust that they have a consistent, communicable way of billing for work which leaves one with the feeling of being taken advantage of.
If you decide to work with Best, make sure to receive an estimate up front with some clarity about how they plan to charge you. Good luck getting that info from them. I don't think it is possible.