Poor communication and lack of attention to detail.
TL;DR: Bad communication. Unprepared techs. Poor customer service.
Sat 11am - Called for a quote for a water heater replacement. After some back and forth on details, Yamel (the owner) says he'll send me over a quote, but since there was a specific GE WH I was looking at, it would be monday before we could get the work done, but that it could definitely be done on Monday. I'm fine with that.
Sat 11:05am - I realize after measuring the space that the GE WH that I originally wanted wouldn't fit comfortably in the space and communicate that to Yamel and tell him to choose whatever he thinks will work best in the space.
Sunday 11am - No quote. Reach out to Yamel, get told that I'll have a quote by 9pm.
Sunday 9:30pm - Finally get an update, he's having technical difficulties and the quote will have to be on Monday morning.
Monday 8:20am - A different person reaches out for information that I already provided to Yamel, because he didn't bother to forward it to them (pics, dimensions of the space, etc).
Monday 9:30am - Quote. Significantly more expensive than I expected ($3175 for a base model 50 gal AO Smith WH install). Speak to Yamel about it and he agrees to do the work (WH, expansion tank, drain pan, shutoff valve) for $2300. Ok fine, as long as it's done by 5pm because I need to be somewhere.
Monday 1:20pm - Guys show up. Remove the old WH and damage the trim and sheetrock on the front of the space it is in. Realize that they don't have the correct size drain pan or WH and don't have an expansion tank at all. Also no equipment to braze with. They can't be back in time to meet my 5pm requirement, but can be back "first thing in the morning." Before leaving, they attempt to tie the hot and cold lines with a small piece of threaded pipe because of residual backflow? from the hot side.
Monday 1:32pm - Call Yamel because the tie is leaking. He sends them back out to correct it.
Monday 6:26am - Let Yamel know that I don't want to move forward with the service because of their lack of attention to detail and I just don't trust them to do the job in general. Back and forth about whether I owe him $150 for a "service call" where they didn't bring anything they were supposed to bring, didn't do what they were supposed to do and damaged the trim and sheetrock while they were there. I reply that between the wasted time and the damage to the trim and sheetrock he should quit while he's ahead and call it even. At which point he threatens legal action.
I attempted to use Mech-One based on the large number of very good reviews I saw and also because they were one of the only suppliers for GE water heaters on the GE site. If the other reviewers are to be believed, my experience is out of the ordinary for this company, but I would warn potential customers that an experience like mine is definitely in the realm of possibility when trying to work with Mech-One.