Farmington Plumbing & Heating 315 4th Street, Farmington, MN 55024

"The a/c wasn’t cooling so I called to have someone check it. Tom came out and connected his gauges to the a/c unit. He didn’t have me turn it on. He looked at his gauges and told me that there wasn’t any Freon in the system and I had a leak. After charging $160 he left and I contacted the builder of my new home to find out who installed the a/c. He texted me with a name and number. I called the person the builder gave me and he came out He connected his gauges and had me turn on the a/c and after a few minutes read his gauges. He told me that I was down 2 pounds of Freon He added the Freon and told me to use the a/c and if there was any problem to call him and he would come back out and check the system again. He did all of this without charging me a cent. Tom didn’t know what he was doing apparently and I will never use this company again. Be careful if you use this company and Tom comes out to fix the problem."

"We called Clearwater/Farmington Plumbing & Heating to install a gas line from the HVAC manifold in our utility closet to our kitchen floor for a stove. We were quoted $500 for the job and an additional $56 for the permit. The job was scheduled to be done within the next week beginning with the installation on Monday. The installer, Tom, arrived and was immediately concerned about accessibility and stated he would have added $100 had he known there was a closed area of the ceiling. This area is about 5 feet long and I have routed gas line through it myself without issues. He finished the job in an hour or so and made specific references to whether or not we would be completing the "final connection" and I stated we did not have a stove to connect to the line yet and would be doing that ourselves. My main concern was that his job was complete for inspection. He said it was complete. I called for an inspection and the city was not able to find a permit. There was some discussion back and forth with Clearwater/Farmington Plumbing and Heating and we finally got a Wednesday appointment later that afternoon. The inspector immediately failed the job on Wednesday after seeing 6+ inches of pipe sticking out of the kitchen floor with a cap on the end (no valve). The inspection passed the pressure test, but the installer had not secured the gas line to the wall or floor in the kitchen. We called back to have these changes made and Tom was back the next day. His repair amounted to a pipe clamp through two pieces of rubber pinched between the wall and the pipe. They were fastened to the wall right at the floor. He added a valve to the top of the pipe. The inspector returned on Friday and passed the work, although he explained that the length of pipe above the floor was still concerning. I made the repair myself, adding two additional clamps, removing the rubber and adding an appropriate wood shim. The takeaway from the inspector was a simple statement ... an installer should leave their work in a state where inspection can be done and the homeowner can hook up their appliance ... no less. With the price I paid, I would agree that the inspector made a fair claim and the work from Clearwater/Farmington Plumbing and Heating fell short. Tom returned the following week (Wednesday) to remove the pressure valve and hook the pipe to the manifold (final connection). He claimed that this was a chargeable service call and attempted to have my daughter sign off on it. She called me, as I was at work, and I immediately explained to Tom that this was not an additional charge and certainly part of his work. He said he would put the pressure gauge back on and discuss the matter further with the company. I immediately called Clearwater/Farmington Plumbing and Heating to report this job running into trouble once again and I expected no further charges to finish a connection after the inspection was complete. After following up with my daughter I understand that Tom spoke with someone over the phone and left without putting the pressure gauge back on. I have since spoken with Susan, an owner, at Clearwater/Farmington Plumbing and Heating and explained that this experience was unacceptable and far below what I would expect an average homeowner who pays a high fee to have to deal with. We will not be using their services again. Tom is a nice person and clearly a very courteous human being, but we expect a much higher level of quality and reliability from a professionally contracted service which should be standard practice for a plumbing company. We have experience with two other installations from other companies (one for a garage heater gas line and the other for a fireplace gas line) and both installers returned after inspection to remove their pressure test valves and complete the manifold connections. Both companies also installed shutoff valves on the appliance end of the installation."

"We had our furnace go out and needed someone to find the reason why it went out and fix it, contacted this company and they said they would be out the next day. The service man, by the name of Tom, they sent out the next day did not know what he was doing and spent the next 2 hours trying to find the problem while calling tech support constantly because he could not find the problem. It was very hard for him to give a straight answer and he danced around the questions, we did not feel comfortable using him because we honestly felt like he did not know what the problem was and we would still end up with the same problem. He then wanted to charge us close to $300 just for that day, I asked if that amount would be reduced if we went with him and he said no, and the additional cost to fix the problem was $710 plus $148 an hr in labor. If you want a company that hires people that cannot fix your problem and will charge you an arm and a leg go with this one! We had someone come out the next day who was able to identify and fix the problem in less then 1 hr for significantly less."

"As a small business owner myself, I want to see other small businesses succeed. That being said, I expect competence from any business I work with, as well as service recovery when things go wrong. I didn’t receive either from Clearwater Plumbing Heating Cooling (also known as Farmington Plumbing and Heating). My 1980’s Lennox furnace was taking longer to start up than usual, and the main blower motor was making noises that indicated the bearings were close to failing. I called Clearwater Plumbing Heating Cooling and they sent out Tom. Tom arrived early and was courteous. He didn’t know why the startup was taking longer than usual, but he did have a blower motor in his truck that he could replace mine with. After he replaced it, the furnace started shaking so badly that it could be heard throughout the house. Tom tried to explain that the Lennox factory has balancing equipment that he doesn’t, so there isn’t much he can do about it. I looked at the blower fan itself, and it was visibly out of round. The only explanation for that is that Tom bent it during the motor replacement, and the furnace was going to shake itself apart if left this way. Also, when installing the new motor, Tom sheared off the set screw on the fan, so it was impossible to take it back apart. Tom insisted that the set screw broke off because it was rusty: Note that he sheared it off during installation, not during disassembly which is when a rusty screw would have caused issues. Tom handed me the broken piece of the set screw, and there was no rust (see pictures). It was obvious that he had overtightened it. My biggest surprise was that Tom was OK leaving the furnace in this state. I took a video of the vibration and would be happy to share it if you are considering this organization to do any work for you. He then charged me $340 for the service visit and $275 for the blower motor. I spent my evening fixing Tom’s mistakes as best I could. I was able to get around half of the vibration resolved by straightening the blower cage, but it was a two-hour effort that I should not have had to do in the first place, and the issue is not fully resolved. I called them the next morning, and I spoke with their receptionist. I explained the situation, explained my frustration at Tom’s workmanship, and asked to speak with an owner. I also asked for a refund of the service charge, but I did not ask for a refund on the blower motor, as I was trying to find a reasonable compromise. She called me back later in the afternoon and asked that I speak with Tom, who was still insisting that the screw was rusty and failed and that the issues occurred on disassembly rather than assembly. Rehashing did not seem productive, so I asked for a call from a manager or the owner of the company. No one called. No refund has been offered. I will find a different company to do any service for me in the future. Hopefully others will find competent technicians for their furnace. It’s too bad that I didn’t, and that this company is unwilling to admit their mistakes and try to make them right."

"Got multiple things done from them on the same day in our brand new home. They were on time ! Reliable and very experienced in both gas work and plumbing. Their price was fair and they kept their promise. I highly recommend them and will definitely put a magnet on my fridge . I hope Matt and his team get great success and continue to provide this great service for years to come. Great job Matt !! PS: Tom was courteous and friendly-not rushing to get things done. Not rude and hostile if I ask questions ."