Herman W. Allen, Inc. 8157 Elm Drive, Mechanicsville, VA 23111

"I purchased a maintenance plan from them after they assured me that was the most affordable way to maintain my heating, cooling and plumbing systems. It was $300 for the year and was to cover an annual inspection, and cleaning of my boiler, plumbing and HVAC systems. When they came last season for the boiler (they knew it was a boiler when it was scheduled, that's why they charged extra for the maintenance plan), the guy they sent showed up and said "oh i don't do boilers, i need to call someone else". Then, another gentleman showed up and appeared to give him an onsite quick lesson on boilers. I guess I always assumed it was more to it then a quick lesson, which is why folks go to school for HVAC. Either way between the 2 of them it looked like they cleaned it and hopefully did a decent inspection. When they came to do the plumbing inspection the guy seemed to do ok, and he left a little checklist with suggestions. It just came time for the AC system inspection. They sent 2 guys, i had to leave to pick me son up from school, and they were gone once i got back, so who knows how long they actually spent cleaning and inspecting but i did not see a checklist anywhere when i got home. I called and was told it would be emailed to me. I still have not received that. It has been 5 days since they were at my house. 2 days after their i inspection my AC stopped working. I called Herman Allen to find out if it was possible something was missed during maintenance/ cleaning, and was told "no it must be something else, nothing they did or didn't do would cause AC to stop working and if i wanted them to come back out i would have to pay them to come back out". I would assume they would want to come back out as good business since they had just been out to my home and said system was fine. Regardless i passed and called my home warranty company and my home warranty company send River City HVAC, and the tech who showed up informed us that the drain pipe was dirty and stuck a brush in and showed us the yucky stuff that came out. Apparently the yucky stuff had backed up and caused automatic shut off to protect system. He told us we should purchase a maintenance plan with them bc this is part of annual maintenance that should be performed to keep system working correctly. My mouth hit the floor, as he didn't realize when he told us this we already paid another company for a maintenance plan and they had just been out 2 days before and should have cleaned that. Guy from River City cleaned out and had us up and running in 15 minutes. I called to report this to the manager at Herman Allen, left message and he has not called back. I really would have loved to have given them the opportunity to make it right. However on top of being deceitful, apparently returning my call was not a priority either. My goal is to be sure another homeowner doesn't get taken advantage of like we did. Herman Allen will never make another dime off of me. Scam Artists! I'll call River City first next time. UPDATE: After my review I was sent a full refund for the cost of my maintenance plan."

"Carl S was very professional, knowledgeable, and helpful in answering our questions and concerns. I would highly recommend Herman W. Allen for your plumbing needs."

"Let's just start by saying after spending in excess of $1000 to have a new hot water tank installed by Herman Allen Plumbing. I will never use or recommend this company. My experience was the technician turn off some of the circuit breaker during installation. The technician failed to turn the air condition unit circuit breaker back on. I had to pay another company a service call fee of $99 dollars to check the air condition unit only to find the circuit breaker turned off. I reported my complaint to Herman Allen Plumbing and for better words they said it was my problem. My elderly father has used this plumbing company over 25 year. NEVER AGAIN!!!!"

"We use them for all our plumbing needs. They are responsive, thorough, and have great customer service."

"Bathroom drain was plugged. I tried my 15' snake and drain cleaner which did no good. This a 57 year old house and this drain has always been a problem. The guys came the same day and skilfully snaked out the drain. Initially their 30' snake was going up the vent, so they removed the trap to get in (smart move) which solved the problem and did an excellent job. Drain now flows freely. Charges were time and material which saved me money over big companies like Woodfin who only do flat rate. Personal service is appreciated and I will continue to use Herman W. Allen, Inc. Thanks Capel P. our Service Pro!"