Complaint Review: Gillece Plumbing Heating Cooling And Electrical - Bethel Park Pennsylvania

NICE TRY, but i work with a former MARK gillece employee and we DO NOT have the wrong company, especially since the 2 are RELATED. i am a plumber for a major company, i went to a customer in greensburg after the gillece guy had left. it was because a hot water tank would not stay lit. the tank was only 5 years old and ONLY needed a new thermocouple. the gillece guy told her she needed a new tank for $2500. when the customer told him no way, he left without even putting the tank burner assembly back in the tank, he just left it on the floor, not only that, but he also pulled the wire off of the ignitor.the gas man had looked at the tank and noted on a red tag that all was wrong with it was the thermocouple, although the gas man was not a plumber, he would have noticed if the wire was off of the ignitor. these people are a joke, and the fact that anyone still calls them is amazing to me. although the company i work for is not the cheapest one around, we have prices that are fair and are way less then gillece. 
   a 2nd time i went to a customer after gillece. the complaint was a water leak from the 2nd floor bathroom. when i got there, i asked the customer to turn on the water main,they had it off. i proceeded to turn on faucets and look at drain lines and i found that the tub drain had a small hole in it that was easily fixeable for less then $700. after i told the customer what i had found and a price, she told me gillece was there right before me and they didnt do any of the things i did. she said they never turned on any water at all, that all they did was look at the drain lines and told her she needed an entire new stack at a price of just over $17,000. 
   i could go on and on about this joke of a company, but i think ive made my point, if i only prevent 10% from getting ripped off, then ive done what i could and should. how anyone can flat out lie to people is beyond me. everyone that reads these needs to tell everyone they know and maybe then gillece will be put where he belongs, in the going out of business section.

People! There are TWO Gillece Plumbing companies in Pittsburgh, you're getting them mixed up! There is the Gillece owned and operated by Mark Gillece and the one owned and operated by Tom Gillece. The one with all of the commercials with the parrot and the $99 "specials" is the one owned by TOM GILLECE. They moved to Bridgeville, they used to be in Bethel Park. MARK GILLECE is still in Bethel Park. You are all talking about Tom's business - not Mark's! Mark is the honest one - Gillece Services in Bridgeville (the one on TV, remember) is the one that rips everyone off. Please stop attacking the wrong company!!!!

My parents experienced the same negative salesmen vibe from the Gillece company.  Oh yes it happend the same way, I read in another report updated by an ex employee too -  "they will try to sell you a new one (pipes, a/c, heater, etc)...." .  We called about getting our furnace repaired. Only a matter of minutes in our basement resulted as Al's conclusion that we needed a whole new one, and jumped on phone lines looking for banking financing to take care of payment .

I must admit they almost sold me on the idea that they had a deal where they can throw in a free a/c unit, however we are not people who don't "read fine print" or do our research.  We knew to check out a second opinion when something doesn't seem right, fellow employees and some patients at the V.A. Hospital were against the idea of using this company, many had a chapter in this book of how they cheat.  It turned out all it needed was internal cleaning and a new belt mechanism.  Really, a whole new one?  Ha.

I like how one person called out Mr. Gillece about not giving a straight answer about the complaints.  As for Mr. G trying to discredit a possible former employee, the employee as well as many consumers apparently know how this guy operates, and knew to cover his behind... I wouldn't be surprised if Gillece has some form of black listing, or any other unfair employer practices.

I'll give em 1 credit;  on the BBB website, their grade climbed from a sorry "F" to a still sad "D-".  **slow, quiet, golf clap**

I thought the blue parrot in the commercial was singing the jingle as "call Gillece!" - but really I see it was saying "call the Cheats!" lol

Thank you so much for filing these reports. I was about to call this company today regarding installation of 2 wall mounted gas furnaces in my basement. Perhaps one black mark against any company is reasonable and perhaps expected, but a list like this is intolerable. I'm glad I found this site and kudos for protecting the consumer!

if you read alot of the complaints here about gillece there is one thing that REALLY sticks out and that is that MARK GILLECE only comments on what a previous employee had to say, he in no way ever comments on the complaint. why is that MR. GILLECE? also if you contact the BBB, gillece doesnt seem to respond to those complaints either and they also have an "F" rating. in order to get an "F" rating with the BBB, you really must be bad. 

I would agree that Gillece is a ripoff.  I needed a new hot water tank last month.  They wouldn't tell me the price over the phone, not even a ballpark number.  I had to pay the $65 visit fee just for them to come to my house, look in a book and tell me it would be $3,000 for a new tank.  Now, since it's already figured out, why couldn't they just tell me the price over the phone?  But since they were already at my house they might as well have told me it'd be $300,000 because they already got the $65 for doing nothing.  It's a total scam!  They don't tell you the price until you pay the visit fee, and then it's too late to make an informed decision.  I don't recommend Gillece to anyone, ever.

By the way, I got another plumber to quote me $600 over the phone the next day for the exact same tank.

Ha! The above person calls himself an ex-employee, and courageously doesn't put his name on the report - that's believable! If he were truly an ex-employee, he would know that our equipment is stored in our warehouse which remains unstaffed during the day! All employees have keys to the doors, so they let themselves in to check out equipment.

Second, we have only two on-call plumbers standing by at any one time. Our answering service directs client calls to either of these employees, who call in supervisors or additional hands when needed; no one is just sitting around waiting to go!

These accusations are fallacies and gave me some good laughs! Our strong consumer loyalty should be the #1 indicator that we are trustworthy and reliable.

Sincerely,
Mark Gillece
PA Area Manager

I worked for Gillece for approximately two and half months. They truely are rip off scam artists and scan the calls each day to see who might have money, especially for the plumbing side of the business. They will come in and tell you and your mainline is crushed and will sell you on the job for thousands of dollars. When thet get your signature on the line, they swifty move to get thier equipment in and start digging before you have a chance to change your mind. They have drivers at the shop just waiting to move the equipment in. Most of these plumbers are very inexperienced and do not know what they are doing. Most of the time I was there, customers were unhappy after the construction because they still hade mainline clogs. Now for the HVAC side of it. Thier techs are also inexperienced in installing furnaces and AC units with constant problems afterwards. Customers are not given any books on operation because Gillece does not want them to know how to fix the equipment. They often cancel customers in the poor sectins of town knowing that they will not make any money from them. DO NOT call Gillece, they will rip you off. I know because I worked there.