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Bell Plumbing has been a household name in Tauranga for over 80 years. This fourth-generation, family-owned business serves Tauranga, Mount Maunganui, and the wider Western Bay of Plenty, with a big focus on residential maintenance.
If you live in the area, you’ve probably heard their radio jingles and iconic slogan, "They come when you call".
They’ve always had a strong reputation, but until recently, that reputation wasn’t showing up online.
Before betterbunch
Despite decades of loyal service and thousands of happy customers, their Google reviews didn’t reflect that success. As more customers turned to Google to choose who to call, it was time their online presence caught up and started reflecting the quality they're known for.
Bell Plumbings' Google Business Profile had been open for 7 years, but they’d only collected 165 reviews. That’s an average of fewer than 24 reviews a year.
Like many businesses, they were delivering great service, but had no system to consistently ask for reviews. Happy customers would smile, say thanks, and get on with their day, with no review left behind.
So what's the solution?
Bell Plumbing connected their job management system, Simpro, with betterbunch, automating the entire review request process.
Now, once a job is completed and paid in full, betterbunch sends an automatic SMS asking the customer for feedback. And thanks to the cool-off period, regulars don’t get bombarded—no invites are sent if they’ve already received one in the last 90 days.
Everything runs quietly in the background, meaning no extra admin time for the office team.
The results
In less than a year since introducing betterbunch:
- They now rank as Google's #1 Plumber in the region
- Their Google rating climbed from 4.6 to 4.8 stars
- Reviews jumped from 165 to 428, more than tripling their total
- No extra admin time was needed—everything runs automatically via Simpro + betterbunch
- They now get helpful, private feedback without risking public backlash
Most impressively, they haven’t had a single negative Google review since starting with betterbunch. The built-in 👍🏼 👎🏼 system gives customers a simple, respectful way to raise concerns directly, so the Bell team can resolve issues early and keep their public reputation strong.
Bell Plumbing has always been known for showing up when it counts. With betterbunch ticking away in the background, they’re now getting the online recognition to match the offline loyalty they’ve built over generations.
