Complaint Review: Whipple Plumbing

My parents hired Whipple Plumbing to install a water heater and kitchen faucet for me as a housewarming gift. The original water heater had completely died, but the faucet worked OK, it just looked more like something you'd find in a laundry room sink than a kitchen. The new water heater Whipple installed had some issues that were more or less resolved after a few visits, but the kitchen faucet has been a different story. From the minute it was installed, it was obvious there were problems. The hot water pressure was very, very low (it was fine with the old faucet) and the plumber said he couldn't find what the problem was. Unfortunately, it was the only one in his truck, so he took the faucet off and did something to it and reinstalled it. It worked fine for a minute, then again no hot water pressure. The plumber said he still wasn't sure what the problem was, but he took it off and put it on once again and it worked. He said if it stopped working again, Whipple would send someone out to replace it. The faucet had a lifetime warranty as you'd expect with a $750 faucet, so I wasn't concerned. Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb!

The next morning we couldn't get ANY hot water from the faucet at all. There was a slight trickle of barely warm water, then we'd have no water at all, then again barely a trickle. When we turned it to cold, the pressure was fine, then suddenly the pressure would drop again and then come on full blast, then drop suddenly making a loud noise each time, multiple times per second, like a machine gun. At this point, the new water heater had completely gone out so we had to have someone come out for that anyway, and I asked him to also take a look at the faucet while he was there. He got the water heater going and then looked at the faucet. He said right away that they had been having problems with the faucets recently (some sort of manufacturing defect) and he had replaced quite a few of them himself for the same problem in the past week and unfortunately he didn't have any spare ones in his truck, but he apologized and said to call Whipple and they would send someone out with a replacement. Whipple sent someone else out, and when he noticed the hot water pressure being so low and the cold water pressure going from high to low he said I had water hammer and that Whipple would replace the faucet but only after I had water hammer arrestors installed.

I explained that  I didn't have water hammer (the problem happened only when the faucet was ON, not after I turned it off), and told him what the previous Whipple plumber had said about the problem being due to a manufacturing defect in the faucet causing the water pressure to go off and on - something to do with discs inside - and that it wasn't a problem with the pipes. He told me that was NOT true, that the other guy didn't know what he was talking about, and as he was packing up to leave, he reminded me to call Whipple and schedule someone to install my water pressure regulator. I said, "Wait, is that the same as a water hammer arrestor? Which one do I ask for, a water pressure regulator or water hammer arrestors?" He looked annoyed and just told me to call them and they'd have all the parts in the truck. Now that I knew better than to trust Whipple, when I had a clogged pipe some time later, I called a local, independent plumber and I asked him about the problem with the kitchen faucet and asked him if it had anything to do with water hammer or water pressure. He laughed at the water hammer question, and told me that wasn't water hammer, and that my water pressure was fine. I told him what Whipple had said, and as luck would have it, he had previously worked for Whipple and recognized the brand and where the faucet had come from, and knew exactly what was wrong. He basically said the same thing as the second Whipple plumber and told me that if I called them that I should have them call him and HE'D explain to them what was wrong with the faucet. I called Whipple and told them what I had learned, and they told me that since I had someone else work on the faucet, the warranty was void. I told them that my plumber hadn't "worked" on the faucet, he just knew what the problem was. No dice - they weren't going to call my plumber and they weren't going to replace the faucet.

I didn't have the money to have a new faucet installed, and I certainly wasn't going to pay Whipple to do unnecessary work, so we were stuck with what we call our "Pioneer" faucet - if we want hot water in the kitchen, we have to heat it on the stove like in pioneer days. To add insult to injury, not long after this the sprayer handle snapped right off, so now in order to keep the hose from pulling back deep into the faucet where we can't get it out (and where you get sprayed when you turn the water on), we had to tie a piece of string around it along with a pencil to keep it hanging out. When people stop by and see our faucet and ask us what the heck is going on, we're sure to explain exactly what happened and warn them against using Whipple EVER. During this whole fiasco, we had other problems with Whipple. One example: instead of calling me to tell me a plumber was on the way when we were still trying to get our new water heater to work, they called my father (same last name, but different address and phone number of course) and when no one answered the phone at my father's house and he didn't call them back within half an hour, they cancelled my appointment. I finally called Whipple hours after they were supposed to show up to find out what was happening. We finally figured out what had happened, and they told me that it was not their fault they had called the wrong number, and that my dad should have called me and passed along the message that they had called. I was pretty angry about this because I had already taken time off work, and they did finally cave in and send someone out hours later. Another issue was that the first plumber that came to our house was kind of a weasel. He was going on and on about how he was brand new to Whipple and then he told us that it was his birthday.

He told us a while later that it was his first anniversary and that he and his wife had been having an anniversary dinner when we called. I said something like, "Wow, what, so it's your birthday AND your anniversary?!" He got quiet for a second then said, "Oh...uh...no...haha - I was kidding about my birthday. I meant my anniversary" Before he finally left he was sure to mention that he had been at my house an awfully long time and as he was packing up to leave he was sure to mention how his wife was keeping his dinner warm and that also that tips were appreciated. Pretty sleazy and not the kind of person I want in my house again. My advice is, when you see Whipple's advertisement with the supposedly classy, clean-cut guy on the right with the flag emblem shown on his sleeve next to the picture of the scruffy guy with the plunger, I suggest you call the guy with the plunger. At least he seems to have a work ethic and might actually get the job done.