Albany Plumbing & Sewer

Our old, concrete basement sink, which we use primarily as drainage for the washing machine, was completely stopped up. I managed to bail and siphon it out myself, and was about to pour in liquid drain opener when I realized that water from the kitchen sink upstairs was backing up into the basement sink as well. So I knew that this would require a full rodding out to the sewer line. I called Albany Plumbing & Serwers based on their big ad in the yellow pages that said "Sewer Rodding - $125". Jason came out with his assistant, ran some kind of rod with a video camera in from my backyard catchbasin, and gravely told me that an elbow pipe underneath the basement had collapsed, causing my drains to back up. The next thing I knew, he was on the phone with my homeowner's insurance agent, arguing for why I need this work. Before I was done with him, he had me believing that I needed to pay him upwards of $3,500 for excavation to replace the pipe! He insisted the insurance would cover it, though my insurance agent thought otherwise. What really roused my suspicions were his eagerness to bring out heavy equipment and start the job the very next morning. Also, he emailed some kind of form he called a "release", which stated that if my insurer failed to reimburse me, that "All Seasons Plumbing" would not hold me responsible for the charges. Not only was the name of the plumbing different from what was in the ad, but they even got the name of my insurer wrong. The whole form looked very fishy to me. That's when I decided to research this company -- whatever its name was -- on Angie's list. I couldn't find any entries for Albany Plumbing, but there was an entry for All Seasons Plumbing. While there were no recent consumer reports for this plumber, Angie's List gave it an "F", based on reports that were over 3 years old (and therefore not shown on the site). It also mentioned that they were neither licensed nor bonded. (I verified this with the Better Business Bureau's website.) That night I called up Jason and told him the deal was off. Instead, I called a plumber who had an "A" rating on Angie's list, who came out the next day and rodded my sewer line without incident. Angie's List saved me from wasting over $3,000 with this unscrupulous operator.