# Who do you trust when it comes to drain cleaning



## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

One of my customers that had the sewer backup, the outside footer drains clogged as well?



This woman got impatient 2 days ago and "went on her own" in orchestrating the situation she has with her drain problems. Between her blowing my phone off the hook all these days with her worry and "you touched it, you own it" mentality, she's confiding in me for direction since I was the smart one in the bunch to run, run away from this issue she was having. 

In total 4 companies have been at this home, which includes me initially that set the wheels in motion to bail. So glad I did.

I took a stab at both the sanitary and sewer, knew it was more than I was willing to task, turned it over to another. 

The 2nd guy only worked on the outside storm drain, he hasn't been paid yet. $100 I have to collect for him when the time comes when all of this resolves itself.

3rd guy looks real bad in this equation because he pulled the toilet, rodded the drain and didn't get it open. Hell I managed getting it open temporarily with an undersized cable to get through the floor drain..!!! Not good.

4th guy though did something I couldn't control:

Agreed with the customer over the phone to charge $175 to camera the drain. Of course, they didn't know they was going to have to pull a wall hung toilet to manage access to the piping system either. That always denotes a higher charge, I agree with that.

When they got there though, they instantly put this homeowner in the situation where they automatically cabled the drain before they used the camera. Equipment (camera) wasn't even down in the basement when I arrived to see what was going on after a complaint call came to me, I was inbetween calls so I figured I would scope out what was happening.

No way these guys knew it was backed up "first" because the floor drain, the lowest part of the system hadn't been backing up recently, and her not using the plumbing 24 hours was a good reason to believe that the instant drain cleaning method was intended to stack charges.

Here's where it gets ugly:


The run the camera 37 feet, and they won't take that camera out to the main. I call them out on this and they say that, "we only ran this cable to locate a cleanout." WTF? 

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, wasn't going to get ugly in front of the customer but I knew what was up, and I knew damn right well why they didn't take this camera all the way out...


That first 37' was clear, no problems other than a belly leading up to 32'. At 32' there's a tee underground laying on its back and when the second floor plumbing is used, it enters the main line pushing waste in both directions, so anything from the lower level, meaning basement washes whatever makes it the reverse direction.

What I "didn't" see in that 37 foot run is any indication of roots, which I pulled back through the floor drain when I went into that system, along with wipes, something she denied she put in the drain.

No evidence of buildup on the piping that would show a backup at all, with no toilet paper or anything on the piping above the normal small stream in the piping.


This woman STILL does not want to pay for a cleanout in her floor for proper access.

She's talking to every other senior citizen neighbor/friend of hers and everyone is saying "when I get that black water up from the drains we just pour chemicals down it" and solves the problem. ??? 

For $300 though, she has an open drain right now and at least knows 37' into the drain, and they actually used a camera to find one break on the storm drain line, couldn't get the camera beyond that point due to corrugated piping.

It's marked, same as the exit of the main line leaving the house.

The only positive thing about this a family member who works at a hospital has access to another sewer camera right now to inspect these lines again, the same fellow is going to dig and repair the one break at 30" deep in the storm water line and he can keep inspecting to see how bad the problem is heading to the drains at the outside steps.


To camera 37' and see absolutely no indication of waste on the rough walls of this cast iron tells me the problem is further out.

Too many indians in this pow wow when there needs to be one chief. I "thought" I started that wheel in motion when I tossed this call to make this all go away.

2 out of 4 drain cleaning companies have provided short term resolution to a bigger problem that still has not been resolved. 


This all started with an undersized laundry washerbox with limited access to larger piping to see the "actual" happenings inside this drain. 


If this system backs up again I'm bowing out completely, might hurt her feelings but I didn't bring that last guy in who switched the game plan and didn't do a full camera inspection. That's her doing, not mine. 


This is more a rant than anything, but it just shows how a

bad piping system

plus a senior citizen not wanting to spend

plus numerous drain cleaning companies operating differently

equals unresolved issues with customer spending excessively


Someone should be putting in a correct cleanout and reworking that laundry piping configuration. <<< Will never happen


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## ChrisConnor (Dec 31, 2009)

:blink:

I don't get it.


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## Plumber Jim (Jun 19, 2008)

When a person brings in another company I move on. If they call me back in, they do as I recommend or I walk. No point in wasting my time on someone who refuses to take my advice.


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

ChrisConnor said:


> :blink:
> 
> I don't get it.


 
It's complicated.

All I know is I need to collect for another plumbing job there (garbage disposal) and $100 for drain cleaner #2 and I'm outta there permanently. 


I opened a kitchen sink/laundry tub drain yesterday with such ease it was scary. 

Things are back to normal here in dunbar land. :laughing:


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## ChrisConnor (Dec 31, 2009)

So, you are collecting for the other guys too? Why? That's too much responsibility on something that you walked away from.It might come back to bite you.


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

Plumber Jim said:


> When a person brings in another company I move on. If they call me back in, they do as I recommend or I walk. No point in wasting my time on someone who refuses to take my advice.


 
This broke my bond of trust with this woman yesterday. Especially with the nonsense that transpired. 

She blew off my digging crew because of 4 hour delay in response. :furious:


She didn't seem to care that others "do" work during the day.


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## Ron (Jun 12, 2008)

I don't get the poll questions.


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

ChrisConnor said:


> So, you are collecting for the other guys too? Why? That's too much responsibility on something that you walked away from.It might come back to bite you.


 
Just drain cleaner #2 because he thought with reasonable thinking on her part, she was going to commit to digging that piping up and fix it. She may still do this through having a bad drain, just not with that specific company.

He did the best he could given it's corrugated piping, and pulled back mud indicating a screwed up pipe. 

His cable could of ripped through it for all we know though; last 10' is cast iron out to the curb. Didn't know it was corrugated till the camera showed it. 


This is a clear cut case of contractors (most of us) being more than fair and reasonable to help with a serious problem, and her attitude and "minimizing" is costing her more money in the long run.

The 3rd guy though doesn't look good with not getting past 23'. There's nothing at 23' other than that tee laying on its back, but he should of been able to get past it and head upstairs.


Too many different things going on here on this job. If I knew the scenario how it was going to unfold, I would of skipped the job instantly.


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

Ron said:


> I don't get the poll questions.


 
I wrote the poll before I wrote out the situation. Go ahead and delete the poll as it's not following what I was after in gathering opinions.


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## ILPlumber (Jun 17, 2008)

What's deceptive?

Sounds to me like you are all incompetent. Have her call someone capable of fixing her plumbing system.

"Sorry Mam, I can't seem to get it open. You might want to call another contractor."

Buh bye.


If she doesn't want to spend the dough for a proper CO and the sewer repair, I guess she can **** in a bucket....


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## para1 (Jun 17, 2008)

Her pipes look good from here.............................ease up on some of that cash. You can't take it with you.:whistling2:


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## service guy (Jun 26, 2008)

Matt said:


> What's deceptive?
> 
> Sounds to me like you are all incompetent. Have her call someone capable of fixing her plumbing system.
> 
> ...


You have a poetic way with words, Matt.:laughing: Blunt. Maybe even harsh. But I guess there is no need to sugarcoat it, especially with Dunbar. I like straight-talk. :thumbsup:


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

I'm just glad it's over with. She wanted my guidance on the situation so I was stuck. 

Been doing work for 3 branches of this family tree so I couldn't dump and run, like I sorta did. :blink:


I don't have time for trouble drains, and I avoid pulling toilets, especially wall hung toilets.

If it don't open in the first hour I don't want the saga or the drama. Still though, I feel good about ditching this one after seeing what everyone else (3 others) encountered.

Got another drain job lined up for tomorrow but I can't do it till the pm. I hope they call someone else between now and tomorrow. I need a day off.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

*Dunbar...take The Day Off*

you need to go fishing or something, go mellow out with freinds

take the day off and tell them to go **** in a bucket...:thumbup:


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

Master Mark said:


> you need to go fishing or something, go mellow out with freinds
> 
> take the day off and tell them to go **** in a bucket...:thumbup:


 

Sounds great, but I got a house with 6" full of wastewater in a basement waiting for me on sunday, another job I have to tear open walls and keep digging till I get to 2 good water lines and turn out new risers for a lav.

M-T-W are already booked, not counting calls that will come in. Lots of repeat customers from years ago are calling me back, like 4-7 years ago.

My business magnets work on the fridge. I'm getting new ones here soon.


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

*Called this lady today, about getting paid*

And I know for a fact this woman doesn't have caller ID.


She sounded really down when I spoke to her, confused about her latest statements given by even another plumbing company that walked into the house, mentioned what we mentioned all along, get a cleanout so the drain system can be accessed properly.


The plumber mentioning didn't go for the floor, right before it goes past the building wall, but at the base of a stack on a back wall that she first did not want any destruction done to her walls. 


I went ahead and cancelled 2 charges on my end coming to her, amounting to $300.00 which she had every intention of paying. 


It literally made her day, and I'm covering plumber #2's inability to open that drain with the correct equipment. #3's I'm covering because he didn't charge, anticipating he was going to dig after he pulled mud back. 


We talked for a bit, she gave me a slice of chocolate pudding pie and I rode off into sunset, 

told me she was going to commit to getting a cleanout in her plumbing system if the quote came back at a reasonable price. 


The money means nothing, it's the partial removal of a situation that went haywire with a series of events I could not control. 

She never asked for a discount through this, and this way it starts a clean slate for the next time she has plumbing problems. I work for the entire family tree at this point so it's a good judgement call on my part.


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