Soltherma Inc.

The hot water heater which is 16 years old stopped making enough hot water. SolTherma was used as directed through American Home Shield. The appt time was for Friday the 8^th, I was called the night before and told the tech needed to cancel, but that they had someone available for Saturday the 9^th, that person NO CALLED and NO SHOWED. They were called 3 different times that day with no answer and American Home Shield even emailed them as to explain the no show. Monday morning I called to reschedule, they had no openings until Tues morning, I was called 30minutes prior to that 3^rd scheduled appointment only to be told he could not make that time either and that something was wrong with his van and it was in the shop but that he should be able to make it later that afternoon. They finally arrived around 12:30 and in less than 5 minutes I was told nothing was wrong with my water heater, «it heats fine, everything is working.» He did not bother to run any water in the house or to use a thermostat on the water temp coming out of the shower. He expected to be paid and on his way when I asked him to show me the actual temp of the water drawn in the bath that only filled an ¹⁄₈ of the way before the water was cold. He argued that he did NOT need a thermometer because his hand was sufficient to tell him that the temp was «warm enough.» He said that it did not need to be set any higher as it was already set at 120 degrees. I used an oral thermometer to prove to him that the water was not anywhere near 120degrees, infact it was only 102 degrees and had only run for 4minutes before all the water was cold. Then he accused us of taking a hot shower before he arrived and that is why there was no hot water. At this point, things got tense, he said to prove that there was a sufficiently working hot water heater, we needed to wait 25minutes to let the water reheat. I asked him to wait that amount of time to recheck it and that was the least he could do since his company had rescheduled and or no showed 4 times. He rolled his eyes and talked down to me, said that he was a professional and that he knew what he was talking about. That it worked fine. I told him I would pay the service fee only after he waited sufficient amount of time to assess the equipment and that he needed to do it with actual thermostat and show me, that using his ‘hand’ alone to ‘check the water temp’ is not appropriate for our complaint. Again, he was argumentative, I explained that I have lived here for 16 years, and I know what it used to do, and what it does now, a 6 min hot shower is not appropriate for a 2400 sq foot home. I left him in the garage and called American Home Shield with my requests for another service provider. I am still working with them. 30min later, he came inside with my husband, my husband drew another bath that filled only ¹⁄₈ the way full and ran out of hot water in 4 minutes for him to say, «see its working.» My husband and I still not satisfied, he said, «well thats because somebody was running the water while I waited» and I interjected, NO sir, I flushed a toilet in the house, but NO one ran water, that is ridiculous, don’t insult me.” That was enough, we were obviously not going to get anywhere further, we paid the man and he left. His name was Kristo, he was disrespectful, condescending, and unprofessional. He ALSO left without leaving a receipt and he proceeded to tell my husband, by the way… that he had changed both heating elements in the water heater that supposedly had «nothing wrong.» He was gone maybe 20min when I realized he did not leave a receipt, I called him back, asked for it. I also asked him to explain what he did or what parts he replaced and that be written on the receipt. He said he changed the heating elements. I then asked how he was able to do that without getting a single drop of water in my garage. He then stated it was not a problem and that he would email me the receipt. He almost hung up and I asked if he had my email, he said no but then said he would return to my house and drop it off. Upon his return, the receipt states, «replacement of upper and lower thermostat.» NOT heating elements which is what he originally told my husband and my self on the phone. He also added, «I changed them because I wanted you to be satisfied with my work.» Not that there was anything wrong with them according to his initial assessment. I was asked to give it 24 hours by AHS to see if his attempts may have fixed the problem… This morning, I took a 6 minute luke warm shower and my the rest of my family took a cold ones there after. I am thoroughly disgusted with the treatment we received by this supposed ‘Master Plumber-​Kristo.’ No apology for the original no show by the scheduler… I am not impressed by any of these people. Now I am having to pay another provider to come out and fix the job this Plumber was either in over his head, or too arrogant. Do not use them!

Professional. Helpful. Fast.
Highly recommended.