Smiley Plumbing ripoff Uses deceptive practices to pressure consumers into using them Phoenix Arizona

The one guy that had a positive experience with Slimey Plumbing has to be in the tank for them. He mentioned how there is very little return for plumbers... According to public records, Walter Gotschall of Smiley Plumbing earned such a heartbreaking low income that he was only able to purchase a $400k+, 4,624 sq ft house at 7918 W Briden Ln, Peoria, AZ 85383 in 2001. From what I understand, Smiley is well known within the community for shady business practices.  Their calling card appears to be high prices and no to little return. 

I happen to be a past customer of Smiley Plumbing and was quite satisfied with me service. Although this lady says she was ripped off, most people dont understand how little a plumbing company actually makes when they do business the right way. I know personally that most plumbing companies out there hire illegals and go the back road to do things. Smiley Plumbing does not. I was very pleased with how clean their technician was compared to most plumbers I have had come out to my house and they cleaned up their mess very well. The membership is not a ripoff and I actually found it to be helpful. I automatically recieved 17% off my bill and am only paying 5.75 a month for it. The money I accumulate paying the 5.75 a month gets taken off your next bill with them so you get all your money back. Although this lady was not satisfied, I was extremely happy with their work and knew they were a great choice. I guess some people are always going to find something to complain about when things dont go the way they want them to. I will say that tho that They were a little more expensive then most companies but they told me this up front saying they werent the cheapest and not the highest...but i feel they were well worth my money!

Some updates of interest for the record about how things finished up with the (extremely costly) work done by Smiley Plumbing;

1. Initial job was done incorrectly!
They sent some techs back to the house to check the work "prior to inspection" and discovered that the pressure release valve their tech had installed was installed incorrectly and has to re-do the job so it would be up to code.

2. They failed to schedule inspection by the city!
I happened to go to the Surprise permits department some time later to obtain a permit for electrical work I wanted to do and asked about the plumbing inspection. I then learned that Smiley Plumbing had failed to request the final inspection on the job they did (after all the hoopla from them about the need for permit, inspections etc), and time to get one was almost out, so I ordered the inspection myself. Since they corrected their initially non-compliant work it did pass city inspection, but it goes to show that homeowners need to excercise due diligence and active oversight if they use this company.

While his ad on his trucks and service agreements say "Smile today or You Don't Pay", and his two page yellow page ad display offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee, the terms of that satisfaction guarantee on Smiley Plumbing's web site state the following:

"If you are not completely satisfied with an installation or service repair job that we did we will come back and do the work again for FREE!"

We don't want him back. My husband doesn't even want him phoning our house any more.

If you check Smiley plumbing's yellow page ad, you'll find he quarentee's satisfaction or your money back..If I were Sara, I'd demend my money back via certified mail and if refused, I'd be in Justice Court, ad in hand.

1/25 4:28 pm Update again, (sorry but I want all the facts to be right)

Mr. Gotschall is correct about the need for a permit and inspection after all. My apologies to him about thinking he was untruthful about that. The city of Surprise just called me to say they were wrong about that and the owner of Smiley Plumbing is right about needing a permit and inspection.

Still disagree with the way his technician represented costs and believe he (the tech, not Mr. Gotschall) misrepresented things, but the owner of the company, Mr. Gotschall is knowledgeable and on target about the permit and inspection.

Interviewed about the above situation on Jan 22nd by Channel 3 (Phoenix) for their "3 On Your Side" consumer segment. They also interviewed Mr. Gotschall (owner of Smiley Plumbing) and aired both sides on TV at 6:10 p.m. Jan 23rd during the evening news.

To quote part of the segment, "Gotschall said that he had to obtain a $75.00 permit to replace the valve. And the time and energy in getting that permit, he claims, justifies the $700 bill".

"You're required to pull a permit to show it was installed correctle and your also required to do a certified test..." he said.

I read 1994 Arizona State Plumbing Code (section 603.0, CHAPTER 6 WATER SUPPLY AND DISTRIBUTION, 603.0 CROSS-CONNECTION CONTROL, myself to verify this and found that part C. states "Unless a cross-connection problem is specifically identified, or as otherwise provided in this Section, the requirements of this Section shall not apply to single family residences used solely for residential purposes."

So I called the Surprise Permit Department on the morning of Jan 24th and was told quite clearly that Surprise does NOT require a permit be obtained to remove and replace an existing backflow prevention valve on a single family residence sprinkler system line. Furthermore, said contractor has not applied for any such permit (which wasn't needed anyway), and also that they were unable to find said contractor in their database of contractors licensed to work in Surprise and would notify code enforcement of same. Furthermore, the woman I spoke with laughed and said "besides, a PERMIT is supposed to be obtained BEFORE any work is done. The entire purpose is to give permission for work to BE done at all, so obviously there isn't any point to applying for a permit to do a job AFTER the job's been done.

(Ordered a public records request to verify above info and notified 1/25 that report is ready)

1/25/2007- Telephoned by Mr. Gotschall at 1:30 p.m.. He proceeded to tell me who his work was worth so much and told me he "still has to get that permit but it may take a few weeks because there were so many valves around town to replace so things are backed up" (it takes two weeks to get a business license to do work in Surprise btw, BUT, the permit department informed me over the phone that if an unlicensed contractor applies for a permit it will be granted and issued right away as long as he applies for his license as well).

He then said once he had the permit he'd have to have a city inspector come inspect the valve replacement. (Surprise City officials laughed on the phone when I told them what he said and told me there's NO WAY they inspect backflow prevention valves on single family residenses in Surprise because there are over 100,000 houses in Surprise and they would have to employ a large staff of inspectors to do nothing but inspect these type of valve inspections every day if they did that).

I suggested to Mr. Gotschall that we agree to disagree at that point - and he then mentioned this internet post and the TV interview and said he'd have to have his lawyer sue me for defamation -- at which point I told him to have his attorney contact me then -- hung up on him and called City Hall and the Arizona Reg. of Contractors.

So that's the latest. Nothing but the facts. The facts are interesting enough though- for sure.

Walter Gotschall Jr. is the owner of Smiley Plumbing ROC145493 formerly known as Desert Valley Plumbing after it changed its name in 2004). It has unethical business practices and the things Walter does are simply wrong. The scam with the clubs and memberships is nothing new for Walter/Smiley. Moreover, his reputation for misleading customers and his absorbenant charges are frequently spoken of in the plumbing business. Walter Gotschall Jr. hides his physical address from the public. You should always be leery of contractors who list a P.O. box like he does. I have included his physical address below because It helps when trying recover damages through our courts.

Here is his P.O. Box
Smiley Plumbing
P.O. Box 83564
Phoenix, AZ 85071
Phone: 602-298-8100

Physicall address is:
Maria and Walter Gotschall
7918 W. Briden Ln. Peoria, AZ 85383
You can contact him directly @ 623-537-3544

Please stay clear of Smiley Plumbing and check you contractors carefully.

Sincerely,
Tony

The internet is such a fabulous resource even if your not a plumber you can check prices and diy forums to determine what a fair price will be. As for the neighbor, maybe the endorsement was in good faith but remember this: businesses change hands, guys decide to get crooked especially if they're at their tail ends of being in an area and other times businesses get new mgts that might not be the same as they were in the past. And don't rush unless your basement is flooding or something.