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Complaint Details
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Initial Complaint
02/16/2023
- Complaint Type:
- Service or Repair Issues
- Status:
- Answered
On November 8, 2022, as we did every year, we had A & J Drain come to our home to clean out our sewer line. They were aware that we had a buried trap, and knew there was no cleanout in our yard. This time, the technician made an error and got his cable stuck in the sewer line. I wrote him a check for $235.00 (Invoice #*****), assuming someone would come and get the cable out and finish the job. Two people did come a few days later. They couldn't remove the cable, which went the length of the sewer line. They cut it off from the machine to which it was attached, and left it --running the length of the line. As a result, we cannot flush paper down our toilets. This is not only a problem for us, but we cannot have company with our toilets in this condition. In addition to that, and because of other complications, we now have to have a major rerouting of our sewer system, which has been estimated to cost as much as $38,000. The A & J Drain company refuses to pay for any part of that even though they claim to be insured, or even to return the $235 we paid for a job they didn't complete, but in fact, made worse. We believe they should return this payment to us.
Business response
02/17/2023
A&J Drain has cabled this line several times from the basement stack because there was no cleanout found in the yard, and customer also had told our technician there was no cleanout. We have cabled at this property 6 times between 11/2016-11/2022. It is by the grace of God that we didn’t get stuck the first 5 times because of the unknown buried trap. Our invoice on 11/15/17 recommended a yard cleanout to be installed for proper maintenance. There is no possible way to know there is a buried trap, without running a camera in the line. On 11/8/22, we cabled the line, and the cutter got stuck. We ran a camera to find the issue, and found that there was a buried trap. There is some confusion in understanding this, because we cannot make an error to get our cable/cutter stuck. This is a hidden plumbing issue that we were not aware of until our cable got stuck. Our disclaimer on our invoice states that A&J is not responsible for broken or stuck cables. Please see attached invoice with disclaimer. Tell us why here...
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Customer Complaints Summary
1 total complaints in the last 3 years.
0 complaints closed in the last 12 months.