One of the worst things that can happen to a food establishment is a stuck drain. Well, it happened at my bakery over the weekend. After several hours of trying to clear it myself I decided I needed to call in the experts but instead I called in Urgent Rooter. The original call went OK but when their service person called asking for directions that should have been my first clue. They called up asking if we were south of 24th St. Well, we're on 8th Street so 24th St is a parallel road running north and south.
When they showed up the first thing they did was confirm the estimate of $150. Not cheap, but when you need your drains to run... Anyhow, I signed the estimate and they got to work. First they tried snaking out the drain and had no better luck then I did so next they pulled out a hydraulic setup. I had earlier asked about this and was told it was really expensive, like $220. When I confronted the tech it became apparent that they were expecting to ADD the cost of the second device to the original estimate. This would have left me with a $370 bill. I told them I would pay the difference but no more.
And here's your quote of the week. About half way through the process the tech looks at me and says "You got a lot of grease and stuff down there." No kidding?!! Who'da thunk it! Ah! But that was his lead-in into trying to sell me a bottle of bio active compound that's supposed to eat the gunk in the drain. The real kicker was their price. $60 for a bottle of stuff you can get anywhere else for $40.
They managed to clear the clog but then they couldn't get
their equipment back out of the drain! After consulting
with their boss it was decided that their boss would come
over the next day with special equipment to fish their
hardware back out of the drain. My first question ws
whether my drain was usable. They assured me it was. But then they started talking about how expensive the equipment was that they use to retrieve lost hardware. It was obvious they were expecting me to pay *ANOTHER* service charge for them to get their hardware back. I stopped him right there and told them they'd better let their insurance company know about that because I wasn't spending another dime. Oh, and if they try it I have a little surprise for them, a bill for kitchen space rental for the last 24 hours.
OK, THREE updates on this. They never showed for the appointment on Tuesday. When I called up about it the operator said she had no knowledge that someone needed to come back out and she proposed they come out on Thursday. I told them fine, but it couldn't be when I was open. There's just something about pulling a slime covered cable out of a sewer while people are trying to enjoy cheesecake that just tells me it wouldn't be a good idea. Thursday came and about and hour and a half after opening the tech who was here on Monday shows up tracking smelly mud through my lobby to tell me they won't be there that day but he can be here on Friday when we're open. I again explain to them that wouldn't be a good idea because he was already smelling the place up. I again told them they needed to come while the shop was closed. He said they'd be here on Monday.
You guessed it. I called on Monday and was told they were too busy to show up on Monday. We agreed on a Tuesday at 3:00 appointment. Not a suggested time, I was told they would be here at 3:00. I called the office at 3:15, no answer and no voicemail. Same at 3:30 and 3:45. At 3:50 I finally got a voicemail. At 4:05 I got a return call saying their people would be finishing up in 15 minutes and then they would head my way and was that OK? NO! It's the third missed appontment. I have to sit here and wait for these people instead of getting supplies, baking or doing marketing. There feeling was as long as the drain ran it wasn't their problem. WRONG!!! We're a small shop and we don't have a lot of pesonel to have just sit around and wait for them. They finally showed up at 4:54 and are back tearing up my kitchen again.
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