All Forum Posts by: Rachel Hong

Yes Joe you're absolutely right, they didn't take the responsibility as they should so I had to pay $2800 in total to address this issue.  A lot of stress and time wasted. Moving forward, I'll be more careful on selecting the right company/vendor to work with. 

Thanks for your reply and suggestion @Scott M, in your case, was the hot water defective? Did they replace with a new model? I'm asking because my case is a bit different, the plumbing company claimed it's due to lack of BTU and they're charging me more for the price difference of another model with higher BTU. 

@bill brandt:  the original model (40,000 BTU) I bought through the recommendation of Garden State was this one. It's $1700+ water heater because it's a combo (heating both space and hot water). I asked another contractor to check after this water heater fails to provide enough heat and he thought it's either because of lack of BTU or the piping wasn't done correctly. He can't be 100% sure. That's why I'm calling Garden State back to investigate and fix (replace with a higher BTU model) at $700 tomorrow.

Hi @Scott M, the original model (40,000 BTU) is this one. It's $1700+ water heater because it's a combo (heating both space and hot water).

Thanks for your suggestion, @David Avery. I hired another contractor to go yesterday and he told me he thinks the issue has to do with not enough BTU to power both the heating system and hot water in my unit. The water heater is gas and normally 40K BTU and 50 gallon should suffice, but since it's providing both heat for the unit and hot water, it's maxing out on capacity. But he's not sure if the system was hooked up correctly, that's why he thought it's better to call the original company back to address it.  

Thanks everyone for your reply and advice.  Initially, I wasn't able to get Garden State Water Heaters: NJ Water Heater Company to come back and address the issue. So I called my PM firm and asked them to verify with Garden State owner that my unit is in fact using a combi system as he mentioned after the work was already completed by his team and I found out after tenants complained about lack of hot water.  The owner said he can come back if I pay $700 to replace the water heater with a different model with higher BTU (65,000) than my current one (40,000).  I'll meet with him tomorrow. Hopefully this will get the problem solved so I can move on with my life.  I'll provide the updates.  

Hi everyone, 
I own a rental unit in Hoboken NJ, and encountered an urgent issue with a plumbing company in NJ. Hoping I can get some advice or tips from experienced investors/contracting companies. Thanks a lot for your time and help! The company is called 

The owner of this company is called Carmine. I submitted a quote via Angie List on last Sunday 1/9 because my old water heater (made in 2004) was leaking, and his company has pretty good rating on Angie List.  His quote was the most competitive/cheapest of all plumbing companies. That's why I decided to hire them to install a new Bradford White water heater (I paid them $2100 for both labor and cost) this past Tuesday 1/11. We didn't sign a contract but his workers gave me a receipt that shows 2 year warranty on maintenance and labor and 6 years of warranty on the water heater itself. 

After they left, my tenants found out that the hot water isn't running effectively (runs out of hot water after 10 minutes). I called and messaged the owner multiple times for the past 2 days. First, he blamed my tenants, saying they're lying.  Then he blamed the issue on the hot water heater itself (he claimed that the model I bought through him is not sufficient for my unit) when he was the one who suggested and procured this hot water heater to me. He refused to send his employee to check the hot water heater over the phone and text.

I'm wondering what options do I have to get a refund or for someone on his team to fix this issue. If he continues to refuse my request, what kind of legal actions I can take in NJ? Is it civil court? or should I file a complaint with the plumbing company? 

Thanks again!

Hi Jan, I thought I wrote this post because we share so many similarities!  I'm an investor from Jersey City, NJ but used to live in Brooklyn. I also bought my first rental property in Allentown through an agent affiliated with Steel City Realty. I also worked with Empire Property Management, their sister company, which ripped us off on the PM aspect of the business by frequently and overcharging us on many maintenance requests (they have their in-house contractors). We lost a lot of $$ by working with Empire Property Management. They never sent us work orders and get our permission before fixing things. They just charge us on the monthly statement without advanced notification and communication. Very poor PM management services.  I just switched the property mangement firm off Empire Property Management due to their unprofessional practice.  We also had the sewage backup problem ---- Empire hired Affordable Plumbing who found out that it's due to tenants flushing down baby wipes. I had sleepless nights due to bad PM and tenants. Almost wanted to give up and sell this place. Thanks for sharing this experience --- I don't feel alone anymore.