# Who pays???



## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

So , I get a call form someone today who has a 4 plex apartment building... 

they had someone go out and attempt to clean out their main sewer and the company got their cable totally stuck in the main line....:laughing:

never had it happen to me but I would guess that its not one of your happier moments......

she claimes that they are gonna charge her 650 for clenaning out the sewer line and another 2500 for digging up the yard and retrieveing their sewer cable:no::no:


she called me for free advice and I told her to get some prices from places in town that would just install a new sewer line for her and tell those folks to go pound rocks up their asses...

so what does happen when you get a cable totally stuck??

Whose falut is it and how do you proceed from that point???


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## AKdaplumba (Jan 12, 2010)

I would think this is a risk you take with rodding a drain. I would say the company pays.

If it happened to you how would you go about it?


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## tims007 (Aug 31, 2013)

Split the difference ... you can't be sure or tell what is going to happen .. this is why there are sertian writings on invoices that cover this situation .. get payed for clearing the drain and eather leave the cable or split the cost to retrieve it


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## mytxplumber (Jul 28, 2013)

*Who pays*

It is a case by case situation. What if the last guy broke his cable in there and you snag it? I had one the line collapsed because a maintenance man poured 4 gallons of acid down the line and the PVC fell in on itself. We had to jet it and see what we had. After jetting and digging it up we found (2) more cables in the line no one bothered to say anything about. The PVC looked like a house shoe. We use a drain cleaning disclosure which protects us from customers like this one if things go bad. The apartment paid for the cable and the jetter hose along with the repairs...


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## sierra2000 (Sep 19, 2011)

If it's caught up on heavily infested roots or a broken sewer, it's their sewer they neglected to have maintenance done on yearly so it's their problem.


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## sierra2000 (Sep 19, 2011)

Master Mark said:


> they had someone go out and attempt to clean out their main sewer and the company got their cable totally stuck in the main line.


They must have used a K-750 machine.


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## Hoosier Plumber (Nov 28, 2013)

Depends on a number of factors. 

It would be best not to offer any kind of advice which could me misconstrued as legal advice, not to mention its not good business karma to throw another company under the bus when the situation is not fully understood.


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## wallingford (Nov 16, 2013)

Hoosier Plumber said:


> Depends on a number of factors.
> 
> It would be best not to offer any kind of advice which could me misconstrued as legal advice, not to mention its not good business karma to throw another company under the bus when the situation is not fully understood.


I second this great advice, I try not to judge situations before getting everyone's version. The same story from 10 different people is 10 stories!


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## mytxplumber (Jul 28, 2013)

If you throw them under the bus they will be waiting for you the next time something happens. The plumbing world is a small world. Again good paperwork will save you and the other guy can worry about his own problems. I am asked things by customers all the time when it comes to other plumbers I just say I don't know because I am just getting there side of the story. Until I look and can have a educated answer I just don't know.


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## Shoot'N'Plumber (Apr 27, 2013)

Well if I were called out for a second opinion, I would run the camera (if I had one of course) then depending on what was found I would just give an honest unbiased opinion...Mrs. Jones, it appears you have old orangburg piping that has deteriorated beyond use and the cable simply punched through the side, the condition of your pipe could have caused even me to get stuck, if you would like I can give you a quote to fix your problem.
Or, Mrs. Jones, You have a major root problem and the cutter simply got stuck in the heavy roots, it could have happened to anybody, I may be able too jet and remove the cable and here is a quote. But I don't see anything wrong the previous plumber did!
Or Mrs. Jones, unfortunately the last gentleman who was here used an undersized machine and ran into a bigger problem than his equipment can handle. I can extract the cable for you and here is my quote. I believe that operator error may have played a factor in grtting this cable stuck, however, the chances of you successfully back charging or getting that plumber to remove it at his expense may prove unsuccessful. I can give you a quote to fix this mess, how would you like to proceed. 
This is how I approached these situations at my last shop, mostly because I did not want to bad mouth another plumber who I may actually know!


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

thanks for the advice...


I just passed on the whole thing and got her hooked up with someone else to look at the whole situation...

yes , there could also be another cable stuck down there for all i know and its best to stay outof the whole mess...


but its gonna need fixing with 4 apartments soon...

not my problem


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## SewerRatz (Apr 25, 2009)

The times my cable did get stuck and was not able to get it out was due to broke sewer lines. People are paying you to stick your rod in their drain in an attempt to clear it and diagnose what the issue is. Many times you cannot clear a line due to broken pipes or other unforeseen issues. So then the next step is to locate the problem spot and dig to see what the issue is. 

Notice I did not mention to camera the line? If the line is holding the camera will not be of any use. Now if you did happen to get the line draining, then defiantly run a camera through the line. If you do not own a camera system yet, go rent one.

Lets use another example of a service call that can escalate beyond what the customer expected the job to be. You get a call for a water heater with an out pilot, and they want you to come and lite the heater. You get there attempt to lite the heater and it will not stay lit. Since you couldn't lite the heater who pays to troubleshoot it further and make the repair? Should they pay you for attempting to lite the heater without success? I have had a customer feel I was trying to build the job up and didn't want to pay since I couldn't get it lit.


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## Drain Pro (Nov 3, 2013)

I inform a customer every step of the way where they're at price wise. For instance,I did a video inspection on Tuesday for x amount of dollars. Bad root intrusions, underwater at about 50', can't push any further. I then explain that as of now you owe me x. The line needs a proper cleaning. I can get most of the roots out with an electric snake for x for one hour. Or I can remove 98% of the roots with a water jet. The jet is x for the first two hours, x amount for each additional hour. I can't promise you what I'll find beyond 50' because I can't see it. But no matter what you'll owe me at lest x. So we scheduled the jet for today. At the two hour mark I explain the line needs further cleaning and now we are on a hourly rate. Customer says great, do what you gotta do. Took 4 hours total. So by informing the customer every step of the way there's no surprises in the end. If my cable gets stuck then I charge hourly until I free it. The way I see it is I'm not doing my job wrong because someone has a damaged line. I'm not married to it just because you paid me to snake it.


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## Plumbtastic1 (Jul 5, 2014)

sierra2000 said:


> They must have used a K-750 machine.


Ouch! Don't worry I know you didn't mean to hurt my machines feelings. She hasn't been stuck (this week).


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## sierra2000 (Sep 19, 2011)

Plumbtastic1 said:


> Ouch! Don't worry I know you didn't mean to hurt my machines feelings. She hasn't been stuck (this week).


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## Coolcanuck (Jan 30, 2012)

I've been on that job once. Young guy that ran the drain cleaning truck broke a cable on the k1500 in a 4" sewer. Commercial property and one of the tenants ran a concrete finishing company that choked off the drains. Was over 10k to install a manhole and retrieve the cable. Pretty cool. Customer could have bought the couple sections that were down there though. Not many options to be had when its commercial. HO can shop around when it goes south. I referred someone this spring to another company for a dig, after I fought with the sewer for 3 hrs and finally pulled some rocks out. Charged for my time and move on, kept them up to date and let them know something was wrong early and the risks. I'm never afraid to pull back often change bits and inspect my cable but "stuff" happens.


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