Video: State opens investigation into Beacon Plumbing

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SEATTLE – State regulators have opened an investigation into Beacon Plumbing, looking into issues raised in a recent KING 5 Investigation.

Beacon Plumbing has propelled itself into one of the largest residential plumbing companies in Western Washington, largely due to a advertisements that has included the catch phrase "Stop Freakin'. Call Beacon."

State regulators say they were already watching Beacon Plumbing when the KING 5 Investigators ran a series of stories earlier this year about customer complaints.

The Department of Labor and Industries has now sent a letter to some of the 77 Beacons customers who filed complaints with the state.

"We're asking the people who filed a complaint with the attorney general's office to call us so we can find out more about the work that was done and who did the work," said L and I spokesperson Elaine Fischer.

L and I is trying to confirm what the KING 5 investigation found, that many of the Beacon employees listed in those complaints aren't plumbers at all. They're trainees – a license that almost anyone can get for $37.

Even something as basic as replacing a faucet has to be done under the supervision of a licensed plumber. That's someone who has thousands of hours of on-the-job experience and who has passed a rigorous state test.

Beacon says many of its trainees have years of plumbing experience and disputes most of the customer complaints of overpriced or poor workmanship.

One of the customers we interviewed was Kathy Hansen. We learned that Beacon not only sent a trainee to her door, but a convicted killer named Jason Soler. He's still on active parole.

We found several other felons on Beacon's staff, yet there is no law that allows state regulators to stop them from going into the homes of unsuspecting customers.

When asked if that's something that needs to change, Fischer said "That's something that would have to be considered by the legislature."

So far, no changes to the law have been proposed.