Plum Cool Services

I was traveling on business and my wife called me and said that everything had backup in the house. I told her to get the local plumber "Plum Cool Services". They sent a couple young men out and he looked at the toilet in the bath off the kitchen and ask where the drain line clean out was and my wife told him she didn?t know. They went outside and under the house looking for the drain line and clean out but couldn?t find the clean out. They searched under the pine straw in the flower bed next to the house. After this, they told my wife they would take off the toilet and snake the line to try to find a clog, but had to go get some tools. When they returned they didn?t come back in the house and instead began to dig a hole in the yard to find the drain line to the septic tank. My wife questioned them why they weren?t going to remove the toilet and they said it would make to much of a mess. After finding the drain line, they then began trying to locate the septic tank using a steel rod. Once the tank was located they then dug a hole to find the front of the tank. At some point the manager showed up. They then proceeded to dig up the back of the tank and told my wife that 9 out of 10 times the filter to the drain field is the problem. Once they dug up the tank, they couldn?t get the access cover off and then damaged it in the process, ultimately causing it to be replaced. The filter was not clogged. They then increased the size of the hole in the yard where they had exposed the drain line to hold the water that came out of the line when they made a hole in it. Finally, they snaked the drain line to the septic tank and found the clog. They claimed they couldn?t clear the clog with the snake and then used a water jet to clear the clog. Somewhere in the process of cutting the hole in the drain line and clearing the clog, they discovered the drain line clean out in the flower bed under the pine straw not next to the house, but between the house and the hole they dug in the yard. They then had to repair the drain line they had cut a hole in. Since they found the clean out access, they unscrewed the access cap and screwed in a relief valve in its place. Finally, they changed the wax seal under the toilet. When all was done the bill was $1058.00 and it took them an entire day. I have many years of experience in construction and business management starting from the age of ten, in the late 1950's, working for my father who was a contractor all his life. In the last eight years I have managed $60,000.000.00 in construction projects for the company I work for. So, when I was driving back from the airport and my wife told me what went on and what it costs I was very upset. On my way home I stopped and talked to the manager who was responsible for the work that was done. It appears that he was probably responsible for telling the young man not to snake the line as he told my wife he would and dug up the septic tank to check the filter. I was upset because what the manager decided to do was completely backward from what any plumber would do to trouble shoot a septic back up. Unless you had clear and convincing evidence that the very end of the drain system would be the source of the problem, you would never start at the back and work to the front. As an ethical business, you try to find and resolve the customer's problems as simply and cost effectively as possible to give them the best value for your service. When I confronted the manager with this, his response was to say that 9 out of 10 septic back ups are a result of the filter going to the drain field as being the cause of the problem (same as he told my wife). I questioned this because I know it is false and he could not provide anything to substantiate his claim. He also gave me other questionable responses to other questions I asked him. At no point did he ever back off his decision on how he approached the job. After thinking about this overnight, I decided to speak to the owner the next day. I was concerned that either they took advantage of my wife or they were incompetent. At the beginning of our conversation I was upset and started out insinuating they had taken advantage of my wife. This upset the owner. I later apologized and explained I was really trying to determine if the problem was one of two things, taking advantage of the customer or incompetence. The owner supported the manager?s decisions and would not accept that they were wrong in what they did. He gave no deference to me for potentially having more experience and challenged my assertion they were wrong because I was not a plumber. Also, at no time did the owner ever show concern for an upset customer and seek to understand my concerns or to be lay them. He had no interest in recognizing my experience and challenged my knowledge. When I went to leave, I went to my car and got an article I had printed that morning and returned and gave it to him. It was written by a plumber who had been in the business for 40 years that debunked everything they had said. I cannot professionally recommend this business to anyone. You don't have to take my word for it, just go to the world of the internet and you will find nothing by any professional that will support what they did or the rationale for why they went about it the way they did. You can also check what the average cost is for clearing a clogged drain line to your septic tank is and it is not $1058.00 and having your yard dug up as the result when only your drain line is clogged. If anyone can find a plumber to support the claim that 9 out of 10 septic back ups are caused by the filter to the drain field, please let me know because I would like to speak to them and learn what data they have to base that on. You see, the vast majority of clogs are in the drain line and that is where you start as the young man had told my wife he was going to do, but didn't. He was provided other guidance that resulted in digging up our yard, damaging the septic tank access, making an unnecessary hole in the drain line, taking an entire days work and costing $1058.00 dollars when it could have been solved by doing what the young man wanted to do from the beginning, take off the toilet and snake the drain line to locate a clog and if necessary water jet the clog. Only after that effort would you attempt to investigate the septic tank, unless you had clear convincing evidence that the problem was being caused by the septic tank. Approaching the trouble shooting from the septic tank causes a lot of unnecessary work and damage to get to where the problem is most likely to be and the cheapest to resolve. While I rated this company unprofessional, the personnel were very polite and respectful to my wife and the work they did was done well. The problem is how much work they did that was completely unnecessary.