I would also make it a point to contact those who run their ads. If any of them start dropping them maybe that will influence some change, or at the very least save others from getting screwed by them.

Upon buying my first home here last year, I have been warned SO MANY TIMES. It is the thing that unifies all small contractors here, regardless of their field. In fact, if it came up and the person I was talking to didn't immediately say "don't ever EVER so business with those scumbags" I would be suspicious.

He got the friend discount so even if he were to go to your place not going to be that cheap

"He was able to get it running again by spraying some WD40 down into the motor. Loosened it right up and started running. He cleaned out the inside, did a full service check, and told me that it was in beautiful shape for a 37 year old boiler and should be running for years to come. Cost me $120 and three cans of beer."

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I've had dates like this TBH

They are criminals. I met a guy from Erie, PA. His friend had to change the name of his plumbing company from his family name to a fictitious name, in order to keep gillece corruption at arm's length.

Wahl has gone that route too, just FYI.

5 years ago they weren't like that and I used them for a bunch of my properties; then after COVID it was like they became Gillece "lite" - I couldn't get a $90 seasonal tuneup without a quote for at least $3,000 in services that where needed. Even for 3 year old systems they had installed. Similar garbage with gas leaks too. Pipes that had plugs in for 10+ years that I had been around dozens of times were all of a sudden leaking.

Moral: Don't leave your tech alone while they are "doing work" - you may end up paying more for it than you expect.

My wife had Sullivan come to our house to clear the drain of our laundry tub while I was out of town. My wife called me saying the tech told her it would be a $5k fix as the elbow is "likely" corroded and crushed and they'd have to bust up the concrete to replace it. I didn't buy this at all because I know it had been draining slowly for a month and I was admittedly being lazy and didn't snake it myself before it got too bad. I told her to tell him "snake the drain or get the fuck out of my house". 10 minutes later the broken elbow magically fixed itself and the drain has been clear for the past 2 years. Never again.

Can you pm me that two man company? My boiler is over 30 years old and could use some servicing!

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I’ve been skeptical of them since I first saw their vans and the decal choice of having that man wave at you

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Don't call them for a backed up sewer line. They will come out and make you sign a contract saying if they have to make a follow-up visit they will have to tear up your basement floor and your yard to replace the whole sewer line. Then they run a 3/4" auger down the floor drain which cuts a hole in the blockage and all the water goes down the pipe. Then the first time something solid hits that 3/4" hole, water backs up again. They come back out and tell you the pipe replacement will cost $20,000+. If you try to refuse, they threaten to sue. Most of the time it's just tree roots growing into the pipe. If that's what it is, you can avoid service calls by using a root killer in periodic intervals as stated on the product. Try to find one that is environmentally safe and is the proper one for your type of pipe. Never EVER call Gillece.

"Call Gillece" more like ""Call the Thief" the did an inspection of my brothers old drain in the basement of his house. Said they needed like 30k worth of work. Ripping up the concrete in the basement, new lines, etc etc. Turns out they were showing him a pre recorded video of another house that needed that work done. He had someone in for a second opinion and got it fixed for like $200.

Fuck Gillece.

If my furnace turns on right around when I'm hopping in bed, I never make it through the cycle of it running. Lights out baby, every time.

Always get three quotes. I had some trees logged. First guy offered me a few thousand, top of the market price he said but I had to sign right then bc the price was dropping by the minute!!!

So I didn’t sign and my second quote was more than 3X the price 😂

You can add Matt Mertz to that list. I have helped several people who got bogus quotes from them. Fixed something for 300 one time that Mertz quoted them 6000 on.

I had a really positive experience with ARS Pittsburgh when the 20 year old furnace in our new house finally gave out last winter. They were very professional and reasonable.

As a rule of thumb, if a contractor advertises on TV and radio, they’re a ripoff. Gillece, Wahl, ARS. I’ve gotten quotes from all of them at one time or another and they’re all crooks.

Never dealt with Matt Meartz or Ireland Contracting but I’d assume they’re no better.

And gives plumbers like me a bad name.

Ha, that's what bar ends are for.

On the contrary all my buddies in the industry express how fortunate it is to have an older furnace. A lot less moving parts and harder to breakdown. The newer ones have a lot of extras that fail often

My boss had his A/C go out over a weekend and he called Gillece since they have the emergency 24/7 response.

They told him he needed to replace the whole system for about $12000. Turns out he just needed to replace the capacitor on his outdoor unit. It cost him like $30 for the part and he replaced it himself.

https://www.trane.com/residential/en/resources/blog/air-conditioner-capacitors-what-they-are-and-why-theyre-such-a-big-deal/

100% criminals

Only time I ever actually used Gillece was after storm damage/falling tree took out a power line. I knew insurance was gonna cover it so I literally didn’t care what it would cost. They were the people who could get out and do it the fastest and I needed my damn power back I work from home.

To be fair they were there the next day and the third party inspection said everything looked great. So they did fine work.

But oh lord any other company could have done it for a third of the price.

I pretty much hire contractors for a living. The real people to blame are the contractor houses/journals/whatever bs they're calling themselves now. When the average person googles for a contractor, the first 5-10 links are all going to be "top ten (plumbers, whatever) in your area." People assume that these are the 10 best reviewed or reputable ones around them, when in reality they're the ten companies that journal has a backend deal with. They don't guarantee work or signify quality contractors. They literally mass aggregate and bid jobs and they're the reason local contractors sometimes struggle to compete. They're the wal-mart of home repair.

This is why I have a very select list of contractors I've built over the years of working in facility maintenance. I am a huge believer in small businesses. My contractors are almost entirely small business owners, unless it's entirely unavoidable. They get their shit done on schedule, I don't have to chase them around, and I don't have to supervise their work. They answer when I call and sometimes even proactively take care of problems for me that are out of the scope of the call if they notice them on site. I understand how people can unknowingly get duped into calling one of the big crooks, but we really do need to continue to spread awareness.