Video: Customers complain about Beacon's furnace repair

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SEATTLE - The owner of Beacon Plumbing says he founded his company with $6 in his pocket and built it up with an irresistible slogan he dreamed up on the job: "Quit freakin, call Beacon."

Now Bill Cahill's business has grown to the largest residential plumbing company in Western Washington.

"'Stop freaking call Beacon' is a story all on its own," he said.

But there's another side to his story. With more than 100 customer complaints on file with the Better Business Bureau, Beacon has an "unsatisfactory" rating for not resolving consumer complains.

The state has fined Beacon eight times since 2003 for unlicensed work.

Besides plumbing work , the KING 5 Investigators found problems in another area in which Beacon is branching out -- furnace repair.

A Tacoma homeowner complained when Beacon told him his 5-year-old furnace needed to be replaced.

"Something doesn't sound right so I called another company and they came out and fixed it … I think it was 85 bucks," said Stephen Maglione.

Kent resident Greg White believes Beacon didn't change parts for which it charged for on his broken furnace, a claim Beacon denies.

Both these jobs were done by the same Beacon employee who is licensed only as a plumbing trainee.

KING 5 reporter Chris Ingalls asked Cahill: "Can we agree that he's not licensed to do the work on these furnaces?"

Cahill said: "I'd have to check his file."

Ingalls asked: "If he's only a trainee that's not adequate for working on a furnace -- correct?"

And Cahill said: "If he's a trainee that's probably true."

The company says only a small fraction of its customers file complaints, but they acknowledge that with its ad budgets and 24/7 emergency response, it may be more expensive than other plumbers.

While researching plumbing complaints filed with the Attorney General's Office, the KING 5 Investigators found almost all of the Beacon employees we could identify were plumber trainees -- a license almost anyone can get for $37.

Trainees can do some work on their own, but in some complaints, employees we identified as Beacon trainees were doing work state regulations say should only be handled by fully licensed plumbers.

Cahill says while his trainees don't always have the proper licenses, most of them do have many years of experience.

KING

Kent resident Greg White believes Beacon didn't change parts for which it charged for on his broken furnace.

Since our first story on Beacon aired Thursday night, several dozen viewers have called KING 5 or sent e-mails.

One plumber agreed that Beacon is just doing what everybody else does.

Other plumbers were offended by that defense. We heard from customers who say they're very happy with Beacon's work  and felt we were smearing the company.

Overwhelmingly, though, most of those who responded felt they did more freakin' because of Beacon. They either paid a high price, got bad service - or both.