Ray Steven Plumbing Service Inc

Write a Review217-793-0200

I called for a hot water heater that I could not turn on. They came out in 3 hours and were at the house for 5 minutes .
It turns out that I did not see the pilot light was on and literally there was nothing wrong with the unit.
The charge was $135 -- I asked for a price break and they called and said if I paid cashier would cost $125
Needless to say I had to charge it since I did not have the $$.
On top of that charge they also charged me 4% for using a credit card- which is 1% over customary charge.
So, to summarize--service was great but was very expensive.
I understand that they had to drive out here but $135/ hour is a lot of money. I literally paid $135/5 minutes.

Let me start off by saying that I applaud any son who looks after his mothers well being. seeing her taken advantage of is heartbreaking and upsetting.

If I thought my mother was taken advantage of, I would have picked up the phone and contacted this contractor myself and straightened it out.

This is what I wish this son would have done.

I sometimes feel the only reviews that get posted are negative and that is a shame.

My name is Steve Ray , I own and operate Steve Ray Plumbing Service Inc. I have been in business for 13 years and this is the second bad review I had gotten since then. the other one I replied to and it got dismissed by the website. I thought I had already gotten this one replied through, but I have had problems with my posting .

I want you other readers to know that I have never taken advantage of or overcharged a customer in my life. This review that this person had posted is incorrect and unwarranted.

I will explain: His mother had called our business and we dispatched one of my employees , a very knowledgeable technician to got to her home. He arrived to replace her garbage disposal. He wore booties upon entering her residence as we always do. She asked him to look at her drainage situation under her sink. She requested that she would like to have the garbage disposal installed on the other side of the sink. My Technician obliged her request and explained to her it would take longer. She agreed to have us do the work. My tech went out got tarps and put down everywhere that was necessary from the front door to the kitchen and placed all his tools on the tarps. All the drainage had to be replaced, due to none of it being able to fit as a switch. She watched my tech the whole time he was there and when it was complete, we had fixed one code violation and improved the drain capabilities by removing a baffle obstruction. She was very pleased with the work and asked my tech to check her shower for a problem there with the doors. My tech obliged and took photos and explained to her the problem. This took longer than 1 hour to complete all this. Had we just replaced the garbage disposal and been done, yes, that would have only taken one hour.

When my technician gave her the bill, she was not expecting our hourly rate to be that high. Our hourly rate is cheaper than most competitors that offer professional service. She called me after my technician had left and we talked about how she could not afford my rate due to her income. She was pleased to say the service was great and the technician was great. She commented on how clean the work was done and very happy over all. I explained to her that having a shop, several - 80,000.00 box vans, digging equipment , employees , insurance, etc... that I could not come out for a lesser rate then we charge. She had no hard feelings as toward me or my business. I think her son did not understand the extent of what services were provided. Had he called me to ask , this could have all been avoided. I think the premature emotion here is overwhelming and costly to businesses like mine. I want this customer to know that I thank her for her years of service in the special education field. As far as her son goes, I cant believe he has a masters degree in business and could not pick up a phone. Once he is in business, I'm sure he will run across an unwarranted act against him or his business.

At Steve Ray Plumbing Service Inc. we provide a professional service with fully stocked box vans that carry everything for residential repair and or replacement for all plumbing needs.

Thank you for reading.



Sincerely,



Steve Ray

Steve Ray Plumbing Service Inc.

Replaced a garbage disposal for my mother's home. Her home is approx. 12 yrs old. Would you want someone treating your mother this way? Well, today was Mother's day, and I my mother informed me of an appalling experience regarding Steve Ray Plumbing Service in Springfield, IL. My mother is in her 60's, she is a retired special education teacher (It takes a special person to teach young individuals with disabilities, and even more so...dedicated 35 yrs of her life doing so), my mom lives alone, and my mom is on a fixed income. I work two jobs and I am finishing my graduate degree in business, I am extremely busy to say the least. She understands my hectic schedule and did not want to burden me (it would not have been a burden to me because I will do anything for mom) by asking me to install her new garbage disposal. So, she called Steve Ray Plumbing in Springfield, IL to handle the removal and replacement of her garbage disposal (she was referred this company's name by some friends). -My mother purchased the new disposal herself for $97.00 at Lowe's. -Steve Ray Plumbing Service charged my mother $355.00 to install her disposal. (install included minor plumbing reroute of the dishwasher hose). This routine service call should take an hour tops. This was not an after hours service call. As I stated before, my mother bought the new disposal herself, she was charged $355.00 for a garbage disposal replacement (with reroute of dishwasher hose) on a 12 yr old home. This is truly despicable in my opinion, and if the owner of Steve Ray Plumbing was aware of this, he should be ashamed. As I expressed my utter disgust to my mother regarding this experience with Steve Ray Plumbing and the amount of money which she was charged, she asked that I do NOT tell anyone because she is embarrassed (broke my heart). I could not let this go without doing everything I can to share this story. To conclude, I thought this story is worth sharing and everyone needs to read it. I work two jobs, I am also a business owner myself, I am also an entrepreneur, and I am finishing a Master's Degree in Business...I will never condemn a company for striving to earn an honest profit...but I refuse to endorse this company. So I ask you again, would you want someone treating your mother this way? If you would like to contact me please do. If you wanna contact my mother, DON'T! "A happy customer tells one friend, an unhappy customer tells everybody." -Unknown "Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." -Bill Gates

Replaced a garbage disposal for my mother's home. Her home is approx. 12 yrs old. Would you want someone treating your mother this way? Well, today was Mother's day, and I my mother informed me of an appalling experience regarding Steve Ray Plumbing Service in Springfield, IL. My mother is in her 60's, she is a retired special education teacher (It takes a special person to teach young individuals with disabilities, and even more so...dedicated 35 yrs of her life doing so), my mom lives alone, and my mom is on a fixed income. I work two jobs and I am finishing my graduate degree in business, I am extremely busy to say the least. She understands my hectic schedule and did not want to burden me (it would not have been a burden to me because I will do anything for mom) by asking me to install her new garbage disposal. So, she called Steve Ray Plumbing in Springfield, IL to handle the removal and replacement of her garbage disposal (she was referred this company's name by some friends). -My mother purchased the new disposal herself for $97.00 at Lowe's. -Steve Ray Plumbing Service charged my mother $355.00 to install her disposal. (install included minor plumbing reroute of the dishwasher hose). This routine service call should take an hour tops. This was not an after hours service call. As I stated before, my mother bought the new disposal herself, she was charged $355.00 for a garbage disposal replacement (with reroute of dishwasher hose) on a 12 yr old home. This is truly despicable in my opinion, and if the owner of Steve Ray Plumbing was aware of this, he should be ashamed. As I expressed my utter disgust to my mother regarding this experience with Steve Ray Plumbing and the amount of money which she was charged, she asked that I do NOT tell anyone because she is embarrassed (broke my heart). I could not let this go without doing everything I can to share this story. To conclude, I thought this story is worth sharing and everyone needs to read it. I work two jobs, I am also a business owner myself, I am also an entrepreneur, and I am finishing a Master's Degree in Business...I will never condemn a company for striving to earn an honest profit...but I refuse to endorse this company. This is second hand information from my mother, but I believe the statements/amounts/descriptions to be closely accurate. So I ask you again, would you want someone treating your mother this way? If you would like to contact me please do. If you wanna contact my mother, don't. "A happy customer tells one friend, an unhappy customer tells everybody." -Unknown "Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." -Bill Gates

Replaced a garbage disposal for my mother's home. Her home is approx. 12 yrs old.Would you want someone treating your mother this way?Well, today was Mother's day, and I my mother informed me of an appalling experience regarding Steve Ray Plumbing Service in Springfield, IL. My mother is in her 60's, she is a retired special education teacher (It takes a special person to teach young individuals with disabilities, and even more so...dedicated 35 yrs of her life doing so), my mom lives alone, and my mom is on a fixed income. I work two jobs and I am finishing my graduate degree in business, I am extremely busy to say the least. She understands my hectic schedule and did not want to burden me (it would not have been a burden to me because I will do anything for mom) by asking me to install her new garbage disposal. So, she called Steve Ray Plumbing in Springfield, IL to handle the removal and replacement of her garbage disposal (she was referred this company's name by some friends).-My mother purchased the new disposal herself for $97.00 at Lowe's. -Steve Ray Plumbing Service charged my mother $355.00 to install her disposal. (install included minor plumbing reroute of the dishwasher hose).This routine service call should take an hour tops. This was not an after hours service call. As I stated before, my mother bought the new disposal herself, she was charged $355.00 for a garbage disposal replacement (with reroute of dishwasher hose) on a 12 yr old home. This is truly despicable in my opinion, and if the owner of Steve Ray Plumbing was aware of this, he should be ashamed. As I expressed my utter disgust to my mother regarding this experience with Steve Ray Plumbing and the amount of money which she was charged, she asked that I do NOT tell anyone because she is embarrassed (broke my heart). I could not let this go without doing everything I can to share this story.To conclude, I thought this story is worth sharing and everyone needs to read it. I work two jobs, I am also a business owner myself, I am also an entreprenuer, and I am finishing a Master's Degree in Business...I will never condemn a company for striving to earn an honest profit...but I refuse to endorse this companySo I ask you again, would you want someone treating your mother this way?If you would like to contact me please do. If you wanna contact my mother, don't."A happy customer tells one friend, an unhappy customer tells everybody." -Unknown"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." -Bill Gates

This is in response to Rip Off's review of the service that she recieved from Steve Ray Plumbing Service Inc.The water heater had been previosly installed incorrectly and completely against code. The flue piping was installed incorrectly which would have proved fatal as tenants suffered from headaches and vomiting(quoted from tenant). This flue pipe was just partially sitting on exhaust. Carbon monoxide was blowing directly into the house. If not corrected this would have been life threatening. This was corrected immediately. The reason we were called to this job was due to the leaks from the previous installer. We were instructed by the customer to get it done right. The gas line for the water heater had been disconnected by a different contractor due to the fact that there had been gas leaks found by Ameren. Therefore, we replaced gas line. In order to install the water heater correctly it had to be fully drained down and moved over a small amount. We were at the house for an acceptable amount of time to uninstall and properly reinstall a water heater. We sent a licensed plumber and the install is now correct. We take pride in doing the job right and to code. Had the customer had a licensed plumber do the job originally, she would not have had to suffer this second expense. Small price to pay for what could have been fatal for her tenants.

I called for service and they did go promptly I will give them that. All I needed was a hot water heater replumbed correctly as it was leaking. They ended up being there over 3 hours & apparently redoing everything including the gas line which I did not request. I am not sure what else cannot understand or read the billing. Anyhow I received a bill for $650.25. Absolute highway robbery. I did not ask for the work they did nor did anyone call to see if they should do it.

We found Steve's business in the yellow pages when we were looking to remodel a bathroom. He completed that job and we called him back to do another bathroom. We could not have been more happy with the outcome. We have since had a few minor jobs and were thrilled with the responsiveness of Steve and his crew. I am normally leary about calling a business I do not know but would recommend Steve to anyone, they are knowledgeable, prompt and get the job done.

I would recommend this business. They are very meticulous in their appearance and they treat there customers with the upmost respect.

Their work is outstanding..