Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  06/12/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The Village of ******************************************************************* to complete a road project on our street. On Friday, April 12, 2024, when digging, they cut the water line to our home. We were without water for approximately three hours. When the contractor turned the water back on, we had problems with all our faucets and toilets. We had black sediment in our toilet tanks and faucet water filters. We eventually were able to get the toilets functional, but the water in the kitchen was just trickling. Toward the end of the day, one of the engineers (******) working with **** Construction came in to see if things were better and saw our kitchen faucet wasnt working properly. He said they have money set aside to pay for things like this.We contacted the **** company we have used for years, asking if they could recommend someone, as we do not have a regular plumber. We did what we could, cleaning all faucet filters, etc., trying to make things. The plumber came out to check the damage and said he would return to do the repairs. We live in an older home but had no water problems or plumbing issues prior to them cutting the water line. On Monday morning, April 15, we saw *********************** on the job site and told him we had a plumber and would be done today. ******* said no problem give us the bill and well take care of it. On May 6, 2024, around 9 am, they cut the power line to our house when digging. We had to use our backup generator until the contractor finished for the day and ComEd could come back to repair it around 5:30pm. Based on what ******* and ****** said, we paid the bill in good faith, expecting to be reimbursed. We paid the plumber and submitted the bill the next day (4/17/24) via email to ******* at **** Construction. Tuesday (6/10/24) we were told their insurance company denied the claim, and they would not be reimbursing us. We asked if they would agree to pay half and they said no. They offered $500. The Village had told us **** was responsible.

  Business response

  07/15/2024

  Please see attached. 

  Customer response

  07/15/2024

   
  Complaint: 21838884
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  **** Construction is not being totally straitforward. They did cut the outside water line to our home. We were without water for 3 1/2 hours. My husband saw one of the workers tring to turn on our outside garden hose and asked what he was doing. My husband said that won't work, because it is turned off inside. They said we turned on the water so my husband came in to check. They did NOT ask if it was working properly, only said it was on and to check. When we saw there were issues, my husband went to get them and they were gone. He got in the car and tried to find any of the **** people and could only locate ******, one of the outside firm engineers. He came in and saw there was no water pressure and that the kitchen sink was just trickling. We got the toilets to work somwhat and the showers but nothing else. None of the faucets in the house were operable.

  The village water department did come but only checked the meter. **** did not contact the village to report the cut to our knowledge.

  We only had necessary repairs done to repair the damage they caused when they cut the line and turned it back on improperly. We were told twice they had money set aside and would take care of it. Just send them the bill. My husband specifically made it clear to the plumber that we only wanted the damage repaired rom the incident.

  Once again, need to reiterate we had NO water issues prior to the damage cause by their negligence.

  Sincerely,
  

  
  ***** And *********************

  Business response

  07/24/2024

  The purpose of this message is to deliver a response to ***** & ********************* per their response which my company received by postal mail on July 22nd 2024. I (*************************) on behalf of John Neri Construction Company do not appreciate being insinuated as a liar as what was suggested in the previous complaint from the Galtos. JNC does not deny that we caused damage to their mis****ed water line. A locator, to the best of his or her ability, is assigned to a project and their job is to try and **** out where existing underground utilities are buried. Sometimes it is accurate and sometimes it is not. This is just the nature of the business and no ones fault as only ******** had x-ray vision. The Galto's water line was ****ed out, but unfortunately, existed several feet away from the locating ****s which is what caused the damage. It is never in JNC's best interest to go around damaging water services as it is only an added cost to our company to have to absorb the labor and material costs ourselves. Nonetheless, we know we needed to fix it, which is exactly what we did. I, as a member of my family's business, have a significant role in having to complete many day to day tasks to maintain staying in business. I have now spent a large amount of time conversing with the Galtos about this matter and submitting all information to our insurance company to try and help them out to which I as well will not receive any compensation. Around the time of the incident, the Galtos called my office countless times including stopping members of my family/business to discuss this matter. I completely understand that they are frustrated and unhappy with the outcome, as most people would be, but it is becoming tiresome and unreasonable. They have ruffled many feathers within the village in which they live and the agencies I am working with on the project, which has created a lot more work and headache for us all. As I have previously mentioned, it would not be in my best interest as a business owner to mistreat someone or treat someone unfairly. You just don't stay in business that long by doing that. That being said, if the Galtos were to put themselves in JNC's shoes, would they go and pay over $6,000.00 to a couple when their insurance company (which is a highly rated company) thoroughly reviewed the situation and did not find them at fault? To clear up the Galto's previous complaint, and to help shed some light on the process of underground construction which we have been doing for over 40 years, the reason a JNC employee went to use their garden hose was to flush out the water line of any possible natural occurring sediment before the water travels into the home and through their piping which was explained to ********************* in a face to face conversation by a JNC employee the day of the incident. ************** stated that their hose was off on the inside, but that his wife was inside the home. A JNC employee asked ************** if his wife could turn on something like a bathtub or a slop sink (a water fixture within the home without a screen or filter within it) to flush the line and check the pressure. ************** responded "yes". A few minutes later he returned outside and said that everything was working fine and it was good and even thanked our crew. At this point, not only a JNC employee witnessed his statement, but also the other gentleman (******) from an outside engineering firm witnessed it as well. Since it was the end of the day on Good Friday before the Easter weekend, JNC started to pack up their tools and equipment and leave for the weekend. We did not flee the scene similar to a thief who had stolen something like the Galtos had inferred. The Galtos live in an older style home (which there is absolutely nothing wrong with that) however, the piping and plumbing is also old as well. Their piping inside their home was made of old galvanized piping which is no longer used when building homes and hasn't been in about 30 or more years. Galvanized piping is very prone to having deterioration over time which can cause sediment or particles to accumulate over time, especially if the water line is depressurized for whatever reason. What is thought to have happened is that when their water line was damaged and their service line was turned off and depressurized temporarily, all of that sediment that has been building up for about 50 years settled to the bottom of the pipe. When the water line was re-pressurized, all of that loose sediment *** got flushed to the next exit point which can be a toilet, sink, bathtub, garden hose, etc. This is why JNC first tried to use the garden hose which the Galtos directed us not to use. Doing underground construction is not easy and you often come across a lot of unknowns. This causes the work to take some time and is often never a quick procedure. It is also not JNC's responsibility to notify the village in instances like these. Especially when we are doing a much larger project which included replacing dozens of sanitary and water lines along the street. The village would have done nothing different than what we did. Once again, it is an unfortunate situation for the Galtos, but it is sad to say that because their indoor piping is so old, this issue was bound to happen at some point or another. Part of our task on the project was to replace their water line with a new one. This process would have caused their water line to be depressurized at some point anyway to which we believe they would still have had this same issue even without us causing accidental damage prior to. The damage only encountered their problem sooner. *** never said we would take care of any bill of any amount. That is just illogical for anyone to say let a lone a business or company. I think the Galtos misunderstood the statement that once they had a bill from their plumber that it would be reviewed and possibly considered. That was not an open invitation to have 3 days of plumbing work done which included replacing 50' of pipe (which i might add was new copper material and not the galvanized material they had) along with countless fixtures and many other things amounting to over $6000.00. That is even more money than it costs to install a whole new water line. It doesn't seem like the Galtos and JNC will be able to come to an agreement unfortunately, but we would appreciate not having a stain on our name as a company by posting this complaint to the BBB for an unfortunate incident that occurred that wasn't the fault of JNC. JNC offered the Galtos $500.00 out of the kindness of our hearts, but they refused. $500.00 would have more than covered any filters or screens that *** have needed to be changed out as a result of the sediment that flushed through their piping from their old pipes. The fact that the plumber replaced a lot of piping leads us to believe that he too saw the issue with having old galvanized piping which can have a significant amount of sediment build up after all this time.

  Customer response

  07/28/2024

   
  Complaint: 21838884
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  First, we did not insinuate they lied about cutting the water line. There is no way they could.
  ***************************** was not present on either occasion when we were told *** would take care of the bill or when we were told there are funds set aside for such instances, so does not know firsthand what we were told.

  We made calls to JNC and to the Village of ************** to determine the status of reimbursement for damage due to JNC cutting our water line. We do not deny making multiple calls, as the $6,172.51 was a large,unexpected expense and we did not receive return calls. We attempted several different calls to various village departments and were politely told to quit calling. They did tell us that the contract with *** said they were responsible for damage incurred while doing the road construction.

  Whether is bothersome or ruffles feathers, it is the responsibility of companies/agencies performing services to accept and respond to calls from residents affected by their errors in such matters.

  The line was not cut on Good Friday (3/29/24). It was two weeks later Friday, April 12, 2024, when digging, JNC cut the water line to our home. We were without water for approximately three hours.  They asked us to check if the water was on,to which we said yes. But while we were running through the house checking to see if everything was working properly, being the end of their day, they left. My husband tried to find anyone from ***, but they were gone.

  He could only find (******) from the outside engineering firm. He saw our kitchen faucet wasnt working properly. He asked if we were ok until we could get a plumber. He said not to worry, they have money set aside to pay for things like this.

  On Tuesday 6/10/24 we were told JNCs insurance company denied the claim, and they would not be reimbursing us. We asked if they would agree to pay half and they said no, our insurance company denied it, so we dont have to pay you anything. Then they said they would give us $500 out of the goodness of their heart.

  We asked the plumber to repair what was needed to fix the issues caused by JNC. We did not ask for reimbursement to repair drywall removed to gain access to pipes to repair the damage or an additional faucet we ended up replacing after submitting the bill.

  Shortly after cutting the water line, they cut lines to our outdoor landscape lights twice. We re-dug and repaired those ourselves.

  We have had large tree branches damaged in our front yard where the semi dump body hit the tree and cracked them. The first time, one large branch fell, but the last time, two bigger ones fell across our driveway and broke our driveway pole light which we had to replace. We cut the limbs and replaced and repaired the light ourselves.  We did not ask reimbursement.

  On May 6, 2024, around 9 am, JNC cut the power line to our house when digging. We had to use our backup generator (approx. 8 1/2hrs.) until ComEd could return to repair it after JNC was done for the day. They did the repair around 5:30pm.

  Beginning the week of July 15, 2024, our backup generator began starting sporadically. On Friday, July 18, 2024, we called ComEd. They tagged the line and said we were only on power. Something was wrong in the street again.  They brought a temporary transformer to get us up to full power until they could determine the cause,but they thought it was in the street again.

  July 23, 2024, we had to call ComEd again because the generator kicked on around 11:50 pm. They arrived around 1 am and worked until about 3:30 am. They told us the line was nicked in the street and would have to come back and run a new line. Our generator ran for 24 hours. It was repaired July 25, 2024. We have not sought reimbursement for the natural gas charges from NiCor for running the generator.

  We are very happy in our home, as it holds a special meaning for my wife and family.  Our home is older, but we maintain it and our property well. We do not let things go undone if in need of repair or replacement. We had NO water problems or plumbing issues prior to them cutting the water line.

  We are a hardworking, middle-class family, only seeking reimbursement for the significant expense incurred by us due to the negligence of the contractor hired by the Village to complete this project. 

  Whether our home is older or to assume we will have problems in the future because of that is not the point.

  The point is, they cut the line, they caused damage and should be held accountable.

  Sincerely,

  ***** and *********************

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