ProStar Plumbing & Heating

Do not use these guys. They charged my 85yr old mother $2,000 to unplug her kitchen sink.

Stay away from this company!

We live in a large house, a couple months away from starting a major renovation. One of the old PB waterlines started to leak. I called ProStar Plumbing Heating & Air. The cost would be $99 service charge, plus the cost of the repair. I simply wanted one PB line capped off, nothing else was required so I did not think it would amount to much.

The “technician” arrived, I offered to show him the water line, he said that he was required to do a full assessment of the property including the main water shutoff valve and testing water pressure to the house & hot water tank before starting any work. I showed him the shutoff valve, it was off due to the waterline break. Then he wanted to test the water pressure, I showed him our pressure gages, he seemed happy. Then he tried to test the hot water tank, twice! He concluded it was empty for some reason. I had to remind he that there is no water pressure as the water is turned off, therefore the tank will not have pressure. At this moment I thought “is he really a plumber?"

Back to the scope of work. He looked at the PB waterline, it was accessible through a speaker hole in the basement ceiling. He proceeded to tell me that he would need to cut a much larger hole for access. (I knew the hole was large enough, again, is he a plumber?) I also showed him an outside tap that was dripping, he said he could replace it. (It is a ¾” screw on tap in an irrigation pipe, $12 at Lows)

He then tells me he must write up a “scope of work cost”, it would take him about 10 minutes. He came back with an offer to do the work for just under $900.00!!!! I asked for clarity because this work should be under $100. He disagreed saying that it is very detailed work and that I could save $150 if I sign up for a membership.

In conclusion, I asked him to leave. He insisted on my paying the service charge for his visit.

What a scam!! He collected a total of $103.95 then left without fixing the waterline! Unsure if he saw a 61-year-old woman in a big house so he thought he could jack up the cost, thinking I did not know better. I am fully convinced that he had no intentions of doing the work as he is not a plumber! I called the company, left a message to be called back.

This company is a scam! Be very careful as this company markets with a list of different phone numbers to confuse consumers. I have found 5 phone numbers so far and 3 different addresses.

After ProStar left I called our renovation contractor, he stopped in after his day of work (fabulous contractor), capped the PB waterline and was out within 15 minutes. Now that is service!

Managment from this company called me back to defend the over inflated estimate. Should have read the past 1-star reviews before calling ProStar. This is a very greedy company, call another plumber!

Avoid this company at all costs. I was quoted a $69.00 call out fee and when the plumber arrived he tried to sell me a one year service warranty for $100.00 and quoted me a 400.00 charge for a toilet that would not flush or $500.00 plus with the service warranty or $900.00 to replace the toilet. When I said no thank you to any of the above he asked for $99.00 for the call out fee. I paid the $69.00 w/get. I called another plumber and paid $200.00 and have a toilet that flushes.

On July 16th I went to my basement and discovered I had sewer back up on the floor. Because this had happened before and I had to rip out my whole finished suite I didn’t do my due diligence in selecting a Plumbing Company.

I checked plumbers on the BBB site and called ProStar Plumbing.

On July 17th Darcy (from ProStar) came and quoted me $4,400.00 to install a backwater valve. This would include removing some of the concrete to expose the pipe, installing the valve and pouring new concrete to cover the hole.

Darcy said he needed $2,000.00 to secure the job and this money wasn’t refundable. I gave him my credit card and he put through the charge.

On July 20th a (young) man came with a jackhammer and proceeded to remove the necessary concrete. He was here between 2.5 - 3 hours and then left leaving broken concrete piled on the floor.

Spoke to Darcy again who advised me that there was more work than was first thought but wouldn’t expand on what this meant. He also wouldn’t give me the additional cost involved.

After this conversation I thought I should check with other plumbers as to what they thought the cost should be. One said it shouldn’t be more than ½ of what was quoted for the whole job ($2,400.00) and I should call ProStar and request $1,700.00 back from my deposit as even at the outside for 3 hours labor already done it shouldn’t be more than $300.00. The 2nd plumber said for the total job he charges between $1,200.00 - $1,500.00. These quotes are $2000.00 and $3,200.00 - $2,900.00 less than Prostar.

After speaking to the other two plumbing companies I called ProStar and advised I wouldn’t be needing their services any longer and asked for $1,700.00 of the $2,000.00 back as there was very little work actually done. The concrete removal wasn’t even completed.

The owner of the company (Carlton) called me back and was extremely abrasive. He wouldn’t concede to anything. I told him I had conversations with two other plumbing companies and the consensus was that ProStarr was gouging. He said I would be hearing from his lawyer; so far nothing. Probably because at the time of this report I haven’t yet made a complaint with the BBB, the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumers’ Association of Canada.

The owner also wanted to know the names of the other Plumbing Companies. I told him I wasn’t divulging that information at this time.

I was also asked the same question by Brian, the person sent back to collect the jackhammer and I responded to him with the same answer.