Excel Plumbing Supply Showroom — Local services in San Francisco

Excel Plumbing offers good prices and selection, but we had a mixed and initially frustrating experience with their customer service when purchasing two toilets. We had issues with Alex but had a better experience with Vanessa.

From the start, it felt like Alex put in minimal effort with communication and service. We said multiple times over phone, and while visiting in person before finalizing, that we wanted the Toto Drake II elongated in standard height. We later discovered this particular model only came in the higher "chair" height (also known as universal, comfort, or ADA height). From research online it was at least clear that the term "standard" height is never used to describe the higher height toilets. Verifying the details of the different models was difficult online. Alex responded affirmatively when we said multiple times "Toto Drake II in standard height" and she never offered to clarify anything. There was clearly a misunderstanding with that term, but a specialty plumbing shop like this should be able to provide good customer service to educate the customer on such details. The shop, not the customer, should be expected to be the expert on each model's specifications.

The toilets were installed with other work and so we didn't notice the mistake until the toilets were in. When we called back, Alex denied that we ever specified standard height. This was especially frustrating after the extra care we tried to take to verify. It felt like poor customer service to immediately deny what the customer is saying. Another example is that when we told Alex our contractor would pick up the toilets, we had to be the ones to mention to take down the name of the person picking it up (she was ready to let us walk away without verifying who was picking it up!).

Vanessa stepped in to handle the misunderstanding and we felt much more heard with her. We greatly appreciated that she advocated for us and did her best to work with management to come up with a reasonable solution, even if not ideal for us. We bought two replacement toilets from them. Overall, it was a mixed experience and we may just go to Lowe's or Home Depot in the future. We felt 3 stars was a fair rating since we went through a lot of trouble and extra cost but they did work with us to somewhat rectify things, and their prices did still beat the...

I recently had a "small" renovation that included two bathrooms, I've been to several bathroom and plumping stores in the City and my favorite was definitely Excel for it's great service and prices.

This was the first time I'd had to deal with contractors and renovation and I was woefully unprepared. Vanessa helped me through almost all of it and just made me feel a lot better about my choices. She understood the vibe I wanted and was never, ever pushy about anything. She gave me realistic timelines and never over promised me things just to make a sale, I really appreciated that.

Yes, they aren't the CHEAPEST place you can find in the city, but they offer more choice and better service and guidance than those cheaper places. And they aren't expensive either, the service more than makes up for the small difference in price. And they make time for you, even if you don't know how anything works or what's what. Again, I appreciate that. Some places don't seem to want to give you the time of day unless you're a contractor an interior designer that already understands the ins and outs of everything.

Anyway if a project is looming and you are a total newbie, definitely hit them up. It'll be a lot better than wandering long aisles alone and confused at some other places just to save a couple dollars. Love our bathroom, and if we ever need to change it again (due to the contractors, not excel!) I will be heading...

Walked in a year ago for a full house remodel. Ran into Vanessa T., and although she was busy and helping a client, she asked me to hang around for a bit so she could help me. She's the most knowledgeable, patient, and hard working person I've met throughout my remodel process. Was never pushy and helped me pick between different price points and was very honest about products that were not the greatest cost vs quality. When I had some issues with some hardware she went above and beyond to rectify the situation, and when I had to return a few things due to my own change of scope, she tried her best to minimize costs of returns. My contractor also said great things about her when they had to find out some technical details about plumbing for the shower. Can't recommend Vanessa highly enough. Making an appointment for all my subsequent visits helped a lot, and the showroom has a large variety of things to look at. I somehow dropped my ID card far behind this huge display of sinks and two additional staff rushed over to help get it out. Parking sucks, as it does anywhere, but I was lucky and never had to park outside of the lot since the contractor trucks seem to move in and out pretty quick. Five...