I recently moved into a house several months ago, and was disgusted to wake up one morning to discover that the main sewer pipe in the crawl space had come apart at the joint. It appeared to me that the joint sealant had simply failed over the years, so I called plumbers to come and fix it.instead of just fixing the joint myself, I decided to call a plumber to check and see if there was a blockage or another problem which may have caused this in the first place.
I called several plumbing businesses and was told that it would be a couple of days before they got there. Now since, this is the main sewer pipe that exits the house, any and all water used in the house would end up rushing into my crawl space. This means no use of bathroom, no showers, no laundry, no dishes, etc until it's fixed. I needed someone THAT day to fix this problem. I had the misfortune of stumbling across Mr. Rooter. The ad in the phonebook made it seem to be a reputable company, nice big ad detailing all of their services. I called them around 8:45 and was told that I would be first on their list and someone would be out soon. I retreated to the crawl space to begin cleaning up this mess. I called them back at 10:00 to see where they were, and was told, they were waiting on their drivers to show up, but rest assured someone would be there soon. A call at 11:00 yeilded the same response. At 11:45 2 workers finally showed up. One guy went to the crawl space to assess the situation. He first tried to auger the pipe to see if there was a blockage and ultimately decided it was blocked at the tank. He reassembled the pipe, sealing it with an inadequate amount of plumber's dope. They stated that they would need to get the "big" truck to pump out the septic tank and would be "right back" and to try not to flush any toilets or use any water.
They left at 12:15pm for what I thought was to be a quick return. I called at 1:00,2:00,3:00,4:00 and 5:00 each time speaking to a "dispatcher" who assured me that someone was on their way but alas, no one ever returned or even called back. It was probably fortunate that they didn't return at this point becuase I was livid about the "service" I was receiving.
That night I called around to other plumbers, and found another service who assured me that I would be second the following morning and that they would fix it that day. Sure enough these guys from another service called at 8:30 to confirm their schedule. They called back at 11 to say they were on the way and at 11:15 they were there at work. They had pumped the tank, cleaned up the yard, and were gone by 1:00 ($180). I didn't ask them to check the work of the "fixed" pipe by the first crew, so later that night I went back to the crawl space to make sure that it was sealed before I began using it again. Despite the work of Mr. Rooter, the pipe still had a leak as they didn't seal it all the way around. I re-applied sealant myself until it was water tight.
6 weeks later, I received a bill from Mr. Rooter for $125. Fortunately, I had not paid them 1 cent as they were supposed to return but never did. I called the business office and after explaining to the business manager the experience I had she agreed to void the charge. I fear that others out there might not be as lucky as having the charges voided and be stuck with an outlandish bill for services not received.
Beware of mr rooter
0 comments