Jim Brown Supply — Local services in Middlesborough

I called about an issue with a hot water heater. I've installed several hot water heaters in my lifetime. Not much to it. Turn the power off, connect the electric, connect the water, fill it up, bleed the air out of the lines, turn the power back on. When I first installed it, it worked fine for 3-4 days then stopped. I had to do some traveling, so I just dealt with cold showers until I had time to look at it. When I called I was initially told, it must be a problem with my electric, however the previous hot water heater worked fine. Matter of fact it was still working fine for 32 years. It'd been in the home working so long and so well that it finally rusted and needed replacing. So, I bought a new one from these people at Jim Browns. Feeling pretty good about supporting a local business, I was happy to pay a little extra for the customer service and to support to the community rather than going to a big box store for my purchase. I'll just pay taxes to support the community in the future as the customer service I received was garbage. I called before my 30 days were up to see if I could just return/exchange the hot water heater. I was told to call a plumber. What terrible customer service. You lost a customer. I had a brand new water heater that had a bad heating element. It's literally $15 to replace it yourself. My guidance was hire an electrician, hire a plumber. Service calls for both would've been upwards of $50 at least just for the call out. Doesn't include labor etc. Bad advice. Awful customer experience. Good luck keeping your doors open. And good luck getting an electrician or plumber to show up within the next 6 weeks. I'll drive an hour to the box...

Poor customer service / experience. No one ever greets you with a smile, hello, or even a "can I help you". After I gave up on finding it myself I asked someone who looked at me very discussed and pointed in a direction over there somewhere. I knew Jim Brown and he is rolling over in his grave at what his store has become. I am glad he isn't here to witness them drag his name down. I am sure with the new Ace Hardware in town where they greet you with a smile and are helpful; that the name sake store Jim built won't be around long. it's really sad for me to witness and worse to experience this...

We got a hot water heater from here. It has been failing since install. They told us to call a plumber and the manufacture to fix the brand new (less than 30 days old) hot water heater. The manufacture doesn't have a repair service that comes as far as our home. Basically we have been advised to hire someone at our own expense to come repair the brand new hot water heater. They will not take the return. How disappointing to buy from a local business and a brand named US Craftmaster Water Heaters ( out of Johnson City) only to be left boiling water in a kettle to do dishes and...