Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  01/09/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I paid them $453.00 January 3 for snaking a stopped up drain. Drain snaked supposedly 60ft. Technician ran water and it went thru. That evening after doing normal kitchen things the downstairs was flooded from ceiling leaking. My husband and I realized it was the sink upstairs. I contacted them the next morning and they came back out. Toeveryone's surprise he had busted pipes apart and fittings were broken in their process with the beating of the snake apparatus. He continued to work to try and fix my issue. Another pipe broken and corner fitting. He called in help and they went on the roof to go thru the vent pipe. Broke it also. Then they tell me the main drain is stopped completely up with grease, needs to be changed out and it will be $1500.00. Only 1/2 of the $453 was coming off the total. My husband went to speak to the owner and provided pictures and he said the plumbing was not done to code in 1978.that's just business he said. I still have a clogged drain and now busted pipes and shouldn't have to pay additional money. If anything I should be refunded. Cannot use my sink upstairs and have to drain water in a bucket and dump outside!!

  Business response

  01/12/2023

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2023/01/09) */ when we arrived on Jan 3 to unclog the drain, we did so and assumed it was good. We had no reason to believe otherwise. This task usually takes about 2 hours from start to finish. When we were called about the leak the next day, we went back out and was at the customers house from about 1:30 pm to about 8 :pm. We had to cut into sheetrock to find the problem. There is an assumption that the customers plumbing system was installed correctly originally. This system was not. who ever installed this piping barely inserted the pipes into the fittings, There was in some places less than 1/4" in the fitting with very little glue on them. Also the drain in question was installed with too small of a pipe. The original installer used illegal fittings through out the entire system. Because of this, the drain cable that normally does no damage to the pipes and is designed to work with out breaking anything, rattled the whole system loose. Through more investigation, we found that we would have to reroute and redo the entire portion of this piping because none of it was right and we cannot put back the piping in an illegal way. We are not legally allowed to do so. So we devised a plan on how to properly correct the situation, we gave a heavily discounted price to do so and even offered half of what they had already paid as a refund. Keeping in mind that we already had several hours of labor into this job. I have gps time reports to back this up. Also we took several pictures showing the improper installation done by some one else. When we walk into a house, we have no way of knowing what was done before us or the quality of work done previously. We cannot be responsible for what we cant see. When the home owners husband came into my shop, I tried to explain that to him. We showed him pictures of what we found and I offered an explanation for what we were going to have to do to fix it. I also have some of the parts that we cut out that I can show if anyone wants to see them . Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2023/01/11) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) The house was built in 1978 and I did not build it. It has withstood time all these years until the beating of your equipment. The plumbing was probably code at that time . We are aware of the time involved, but that time should not be re-cooped from me. The fact is the pipe was not opened to drain water and while the technician did repair the pipes he busted, he had a straight shot thru the drain pipe and could've cleaned it out then. He never used a camera to see what he had done. Had he done so he would've seen the damage in the first visit and could've prevented a wet basement and a lot of extra time and work from a second visit. I had the work done and the pipe is open and draining freely and did not need to be unnecessarily replaced and did not cost me $1500.00! I have pictures of the busted places and your GPS time is irrelevant. Fact is your company made a mess from flooding my downstairs to tearing out sheetrock. You even busted a hole in the vent pipe and that had to be repaired. Your work was not satisfactory according to your advertisement and I should be refunded. but rest assured I will not use your business again. Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2023/01/11) */ we did not build the house either. had we done so, we would have taken responsibility for this issue but it would not have happened because we would have installed it correctly. We cannot run our cameras in a 1 1/2" pipe the cameras are too big. Even if we could, you cant see anything in a pipe full of grease and water. If the damage was " fixed" without replacing the line which was installed in too small of a pipe, then it was installed incorrectly and against code. Your piping system was installed with too small of pipe which even at the time of installation was a code violation. your plumbing was installed with short radious tee fittings on their back which at the time of installation was a code violation. You piping was installed with trap 90 degree fittings which are extremely short radious , dumping into a short radious tee on its back which at he time was a code violation and still is. The glue joints were barely together and barely holding on. We kept some of the fittings that we cut out in order to prove what we are talking about. The reason the plumbing code regulates what type of fittings can be used and to what depth the fittings have to be glued is exactly because of this situation. Proper fittings installed properly are designed to take the " beatings" of a drain cable. by law and by code, we are not allowed to do plumbing work that is illegal in nature. Once we start repairing the system we are bound to fix it correctly . if we dont it puts our license in jeaperdy and makes us legally and financially responsible for any problems that may arise in the future. As professionals we have strict legal guidelines that we must follow. if we patched or "repaired this pipe like you said someone did, then next month or next year when it clogged again, which it will because it was not fixed correctly, then you will be in the same exact mess that you were in with us. The pipes will come apart somewhere else in the system and then we would be responsible because we didnt do it right in the first place. Our position is this, we want to fix things the right way. We want to fix the cause of the problem and not band aide or treat the symptom. Yes that cost more money than just rigging something up but you will pay for it once and not several more times down the road. As far as our advertisement, That is if we are allowed to do what needs to be done . You did not allow us to complete the job so we did not have the opportunity to satisfy you. The only reason I listed how much time was spent on the job is because when you came into my office,you told me that my people where only there for 20 minutes. That was certainly not true. I understand if you choose not to work with my company again. But you will have a plumber come to your house again to deal with this same issue and who ever that may be will run into the same issues because it was not repaired correctly. If whoever did your repairs did not replace the pipes like we had proposed to do, then he did not correctly repair the system. A lot of people call themselves " plumbers" but dont have the professional integrity to do things right. They just want to patch things and know that you will call them back eventually. I am a licensed Master plumber since 1989 in the city of knoxville. I have my oak ridge and Farragut masters license I have my State of tennessee mechanical license and I pay more in insurance each month than a lot of people earn. We are a completely legitimate company. We do things the right way or not at all. I hope your new plumber has the same credentials.

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