Elite Sewer & Drain

I called this company to come and rod out my main sewer line. We have had some problems with root intrusion in the past, and getting the line cleared out has solved the problem. The following is the timeline of what happened - 1/8 - Sewer backs up. Called company to come out, no answer. Left a message to call me back. 1/9 - Company calls back in the morning, stating that they will come by late morning. I take the day off of work, waiting for them to show up. They do not show up all day. 1/10 - Company finally sends someone over about 6:30pm. Employee states that he is the owner's brother, and has not done sewer work for approximately 6 months. He states that he is doing this job because the owner has too many jobs going on, and does not have enough people to handle all the work. I assist the employee with bringing the sewer rod equipment down to the basement level. After several minutes of attempting to clear the line, he states that the rod has become stuck in the line. After attempting to pull the rod out of the line for approximately 15 minutes, he gets a pair of gloves for me so that we can both pull on the line to attempt to get it unstuck. Our efforts are unsuccessful. He says that he suspects the line has sheared off due to ground settling, and that the rod has become stuck in the soil. He attempts to put a camera down the line to see what has happened, but due to the standing water in the line the camera is unusable. He uses the locator function on the camera to locate the approximate location of where the line is stuck. He approximates the location is underneath the front porch. He states that the ground will need to be excavated to determine the cause of the stuck equipment. He leaves the sewer rod in the basement and states the owner will contact me with more information. 1/11 - I contacted the company in the morning to see when they would be coming by. They stated they would be coming by that afternoon. I took the day off of work anticipating their arrival. Despite several unanswered phone calls, they never showed up. 1/12 - The owner along with 2 other workers show up in the morning to excavate the pipe. The workers dig (by hand) down to the site of the blockage in the line. When they reach the line, they find that it is not sheared off. They break a hole in the line, and discover that the rod has become caught in tree roots that are present in the line. They clear the tree roots and free their equipment. At this point, I speak with the owner about the situation and the projected cost of the work. I did not feel responsible for the stuck equipment and resulting work, but I felt it would be best to see if we could work something out to our mutual benefit. I ask for an estimate to install a backflow prevention valve in the line (due to the periodic flooding in my area). The owner states that altogether, the work will cost $2500 to $3000. I agree to this proposal. The workers then place a temporary patch on the line so we can use the sewer, and then leave for the day. 1/14 - The workers return to finish the job. They unload the backhoe to dig out the rest of the area for the backflow prevention valve installation. They reroute the line and install the backflow valve. In the process of this, I was reading the specifications for the valve they were installing, and noticed that the manufacturer does not recommend using the valve as a cleanout for sewer rods. I noticed that the owner had not installed a cleanout in addition to the valve, and I asked him about it. He stated that he has done several installations of this type of valve and does not install an additional cleanout. I also indicated to him that I wanted to have him pull a permit for the work, which he agreed to do. At the end of the day, the workers left the hole (for the inspector to examine the work). The actual valve portion of the backflow preventer was not installed. 1/16 - The workers showed up (without the owner). They said that the owner was at the Des Plaines permit office registering the work. After about an hour, the workers left because the city was closed for the holiday. 1/17 - The city inspector signs off on the final inspection, and the company sends a worker to backfill the hole. The worker backfills the hole (destroying a large portion of the landscaping in the process, including a $500 bush). When he left, the backflow valve was still not installed. 1/18 - Kathy sends invoice via email for $4365.60 ( $1300+ over the initial estimate). I was not informed of any additional overages during the course of the job (even though I was present on the jobsite). 1/19 - Dan comes to the house to discuss the job. He states that they accidently used a thick wall pipe for the "riser" on the assembly, and that due to this the valve assembly will not fit down the pipe. The hole has already been backfilled, so he states that he will modify the valve assembly so that it will fit. He assures me that he will install the modified valve the next day. We negotiate the price, and he agrees to accept $3000 as full payment, so long as he received it immediately. I write him a check for $3000 and he leaves. ------ From this point on, the company stonewalled me. I attempted to contact them every day for approximately 30 days, and was unsuccessful. They would not answer my calls, and when I did get them to answer they would give me the run around about being "too busy", or that "the owner will contact me as soon as possible". The company never came back to attempt to finish the job. Eventually, I contacted several sewer contractors to get estimates on fixing the issues left by this contractor. It turns out, the valve he was attempting to install does need an additional cleanout (as I had attempted to explain during the course of the job). In addition, the "modifications" he was planning to make to the valve would have made it inoperable. On top of that, it turns out that the permit which was pulled for the work done did not include the flood control portion (only the installation of new sections of pipe). I eventually had another contractor clean up this mess, but not before I was taken for $3000. Stay away from this contractor at all costs.