Complaint Review: Delta Mechanical - Internet

My 16-year old hot water heater started leaking very bad two days ago. So I called a very good friend who repairs appliances (not water heaters) and he suggested that I should contact a plumber.

I first went to Home Depot here in Fort Collins, Colorado. Their sign said that they would guarantee the lowest price in town for a new heater. My wife and I looked at all of their heaters and chose a 50 gallon heater with a 6-year warranty for $419. The warranty specifically stated that the heater had a 1-year warranty on LABOR and a 6-year warranty on tank and parts.

I took that information to Home Depot's customer care counter where they took my contact information and told me to expect a call from their plumbing contractors, Delta. They also assured me that Delta would beat any legitimate competitor's price by 10%.

Later that day I received a call from "Alanna" at Delta Mechanical's HQ in Arizona (information provided by her). After asking some questions, she gave me a quote of $976.32 for the heater that I wanted, explaining that part of it was to meet the city ordinance on permit and inspections. When I told her that we were still shopping around, she also reiterated that they would beat any legitimate quote by 10%.

The next day I called several professional plumbers in town and got separate estimates from them. Most came on-site and gave me written quotes; some just on the phone. Some of these were higher than Delta's, but most were a bit lower.

Then I went to Lowe's and got a quote for the exact same hot water heater. It was a 50 gallon, with the exact same 6-year warranty (1-year labor; 6-years tank and parts) that was priced at the exact same price of $419.00. The only difference was that the Home Depot heater was made by GE and the Lowe's one by Whirlpool! Lowe's gave me a quote of $858.98. The detailed written quote included all that was included with Delta's (delivery, installation, hook-up kit, permit, inspection/testing, haul-away of the old unit, etc.). It was the total delivered, installed, tested cost to me.

I then went to Sears for another written estimate. Sears gave me a quote for a Kenmore, 50 gallon, 6-year warranty (1-year labor; 6-year tank and parts), with the exact same delivery/permit/installation/haul-away final cost of $733.23. They also gave me the option of purchasing a Protection Plan for an additional $89.00 in order to extend the 1-year LABOR warranty to 6-years!

So I contacted Alanna at Delta Mechanical with the information regarding the quotes from Lowe's and Sears. I did not mention anything about the other professional plumbers in town, because I didn't want to enter a discussion/dispute over their legitimacy. I figured that you really couldn't get any more legitimate than Sears and Lowe's!

She told me to scan and email both written quotes to her email address and that she would contact me shortly thereafter. I didn't hear from her for the rest of the day or the next morning.

I called Delta Mechanical the next afternoon and was told that Alanna was not working that day. They transferred me to Aaron (Ehren, etc.?). I told him the reason for my call and offered to email him a copy of the written quotes from Lowe's and Sears.

He told me that it was not necessary because they price checked their competition every month, including Sears and Lowe's, and that they charged additional on-site fees.

I pointed out that he hadn't even looked at the quotes and that they were complete and total, including everything that Delta had quoted to me. He then stated that their warranties were different and that Delta would warranty their heaters for 6-years for BOTH LABOR AND PARTS!

I told him that the information from Home Depot stated clearly that the warranty covered labor for only 1-year and, if he would take the time to look at the quotes that I had submitted, Sears would offer me the exact same warranty as he was claiming, for only an additional $89.00 which would still leave a difference of more than $150.

He then went back to the claim that regardless of what the written quotes from Lowe's and Sears state, they ALWAYS have additional on-site charges that they do not disclose ahead of time. So it was "comparing apples to oranges" and they wouldn't accept those quotes.

So after all this, I was left with the impression that Delta's scam is to deny any lower quotes by claiming that their competition LIES! I'm just hoping that this will keep others from wasting time, going through the same rubbish of having to deal with these unscrupulous frauds.