Wind River Environmental

Straightforward. No problems. Made a couple of recommendations for improvement.

The technicians were supposed to arrive between 7:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon to start this job but didn't come until 12:40 p.m. As they had wasted my whole morning, right off the bat I wasn't too happy about this. They determined that my septic tank was located quite deep- around two feet below grade and that the contractor, who had installed the new septic system shortly before we purchased the house two years ago, had covered over the septic tank area with a lot of of boulders. They also said that 2 build ups needed to be done for future septic pumping, instead of the one we originally thought, because our septic tank has 2 compartments. It took these technicians about three hours to dig the area out and remove 12-15 boulders with a small excavator, install a filter in the outlet, install two build ups, and backfill the area. It was probably unavoidable but they tore up a 30 foot X 20 foot area of our lawn, in the process, which we have had to reseed as everything was bare soil when they finished. I was especially irked by the fact that they stopped to talk with a third technician for about 20 minutes at my expense ($90.00/hour), that one technician threw his plastic drink cup/straw into the excavated hole prior to backfilling instead of asking me to dispose of it (he didn't know I was watching) and that one technician backed over our mailbox as he was leaving for the day- all annoyances which made the situation much worse. A site manager from Wind River did eventually return to replace our mailbox but not until 10 days later which caused us considerable inconvenience as the mail man would not deliver our mail for this time period. To top it off, the technician over-billed us by about $350.00 for this work (the bill he left in our mailbox before he backed over it totaled $1,047) which I noticed and contacted the business office staff to correct. The advisers in the business office were excellent in initially responding to my questions prior to scheduling the work and in correcting the original inflated bill/ arranging for mailbox repair afterwards. Overall the whole experience was dismal; I don't expect to need this kind of work done on my septic system again but If I do, I think I will find a different company to do it.

In a nutshell, the first crew doing the excavation work arrived late, spent 15-20 minutes chatting instead of working (at my expense -$90/hr), threw their lunch trash in the excavation hole when they thought I wasn't watching, left me an inflated bill (by $350) in my mailbox which they then backed over and badly damaged. I was not pleased by their unprofessional conduct and I will not hire this company again to do excavation work. The septic pumping technician, arriving later that evening, was efficient, knowledgeable, and helpful in directing us to whom we should speak about our damaged mailbox. I probably will hire this company, in the future, to do septic pumping for us as this was done well. The office staff was helpful and responsive in their advice prior to our scheduling the work and in adjusting the inflated bill left by the excavation crew, and in arranging to have our mailbox repaired. Unfortunately we were left without a mailbox for about 10 days as the site manager could not find the time get out to fix it until then; given the circumstances I believe the company should have dealt with this much sooner.

The service man arrived on time and began to work. He was thorough in doing the job and then showing and explaining to me what he was doing and what he thought was needed. The only small concern I have is that he kind of pushed a little hard and slightly scare tactic to sell me a bacteria and enzyme treatment for an additional $200. After he left and I started doing some research it turns out that the enzyme and bacteria treatments are not as helpful or effective as being touted. I will likely use them again, but buyer beware.

I called on Friday and they scheduled me right away for the following Wednesday. Dave arrived and got to work; he was very professional and even put up with me standing there and asking questions the entire time. He gave me some great advise about what I could be doing to help maintain the system. He even took extra steps to make sure the pipes were clean before he pulled them back through my yard. LOVE THIS COMPANY!! .

Went well. Good estimate. Did work well. Accommodated our needs. Did it in our time frame. No issues.

We had a problem with our septic system. They came out to clean it in conjunction with some people that came out to repair it because they don't do the repairs of the pump. So, they were working hand-in-hand with another group where they gave us that other group's name. They were good about calling back on time. They were good about coming out when they said they were going to. They gave us an upfront price and they stuck to their word. They were pretty knowledgeable and they were nice guys to deal with. So, overall it was a really positive experience. They do things more environmentally friendly than some other companies.

Service person was on time, professional, and polite.

Video inspection took place in the morning. It was tight quarters, we have an interior cleanout in a crawl space, but the tech (Jim) was very accomodating and explained what was happening the whole time. Also successfully located the exterior cleanout well below grade. The price for d*** this was well below other estimates. Other companies wanted extra for location services. Jim was also able to identify the most likely source of an ongoing issue we have had. There are 2 swing check valves behind the wall that are inaccessible and are clogging up. He recommended providing access panels at some point so we can get to them. Other companies recommended replacing the toilet (which we did at an exorbitant price due to it being a wall mounted commercial toilet) and the other drain companies were reluctant to even clean the drain. I wish I knew Wind River provided all these services. I would have gone to them first and saved a bundle. Really knowledgeable guys and will go the extra mile and stick to the price. We paid $375. Awesome. Also had the septic system pumped out and inspected. They were very good about explaining the system and inspecting. We flushed the toilets from inside while tank covers were off so we could determine if we had more than one main, etc. They were willing to work with us so we understood the system and were in no rush to get out of there, but instead answering every question we had and were very helpful. Will definitely use these guys again for these types of services. We paid about $500 which included $150 for the bacteria treatement, which I generally dont do, but was convinced when I saw the state of the drain. Excellent company and crew.

I had a blockage in my septic line and asked that they snake a camera through to see what was happening, which they did ($365). I asked for an estimate. They never gave me one. They indicated that they would need permits which could take months. I never received an estimate, despite requesting one several times. I went to someone else, who came out and did the minor repair without any permits or wait for a written estimate.

They came between the hours they stated, and Dave(driver) stated the tank had a lot of solids in it and it shouldn't. He explained that the laundry ,dish and dishwasher soap that you use and kill the bacteria in the tank, and the tank needs the bacteria. I went to windrivers website and got a list of septic friendly soaps. The price was excellent.

Service was very prompt, courteous, and efficient.

Everything from scheduling to completion was well done. The price for our size system was competitive, but significantly more expensive than in prior years.

The price was very reasonable and the lowest I could find. They arrived right on schedule. The young man was very professional. He worked hard to find the cover to the septic. I had no idea where it was. It turned out to be in a very unexpected place. He was very careful to try and put the grass back so the digging wouldn't be evident. He explained how the system works and how best to keep it in good shape. He recommended pumping it every two years. I will definitely use them again.

As always - punctual, efficient and professional. We tire of their hard sell for bacteria and booster additives. Our local health dept indicates that we don't need this. One last comment. Our septic system alarm went off 4-5 years ago in the middle of the winter in the evening. Wind River is a available around the clock. They came out to pump out the tank and diagnosed that our septic pump had failed. While they couldn't fix that themselves, they direct us to someone great who did it quite efficiently within the next day or two. Based on this amazing service that they gave us then, expensive though it was, we've been going back to them on a yearly - biennial schedule as an additional thank you.

I contacted them through Angie's list (email) and got a response the next business day. I arranged a date for the pump-out a few weeks later at a date that was convenient for me. They gave me a morning (7-12) time window. When I called on the day of the service, they were able to give me a better time estimate.The service went without incident and the driver was very professional and helpful. He answered all my questions and made some recommendations about how I could prolong the life of my septic tank.

Called wind river out to pump distribution box and field, scope, and jet the lines, as I am having a backup issue. The sales rep said they will send out a crew,and will do an evaluation, including scoping out the lines. The evaluation is a mandatory to just have them show up. The salesrep said the crew will do the inspection first. then decide if jetting is the right thing to do, perform the work, and then do a final inspection. Sounds good: crew will show up, evaluate, the decide wthat to do. The crew showed up, started to work on the dbox. First stuck a scope down the line, and of course, it's full of black water, and not going to see anything. This is what you get when paying for the $350 for the mandatory evaluation. They pumped and jetted the lines. After about 45 mins, they packed up and left. No scoping the lines afterword to look for damage, roots, etc. I expected them to give me a report of how my field looks in order to decide what to do (repair vs replace), instead just a big bill, and still don't know the condition of my lines. Don't use this company as they don't bother to listen to the customer, and are looking to charge big bucks to solve problems they aren't willing to take the time to investigate and understand.

There were no services performed. I contacted the company and never received any response. 4/14/12 was the date I contacted them for services that were needed to be performed in May.

This is the first time we used them and they did good. We had used a different person in the past and these guys were much more professional. Everything was just taken care of.

The service we received from Wind River was the most professional of the 3 companies we have used over the years. Their service people are knowledgable, helpful, and courteous.

It was easy to schedule an appointment and they arrived as planned. There was a little confusion about where the septic system is but the person was able to make an educated guess and he was correct. The person who came was polite and respectful and knew what he was doing. It was a clean and odorless operation and I will have them come yearly to pump the septic.

Great. Pumped entire tank, showed me bottom w/flashlight (we have a double tank). Cleaned the filter. And took pictures, before and after.

The service that they provide, is always excellent. I never have to worry about a thing, when I use them.

I spent around $210. They came when they said they would come and did what they were supposed to do. They told me a price and the price didn't change when they got here. They came on time and met my expectations.

When we bought the house, we'd been shown a stake and told the tank cap was below it. To save a little on the cost, I dug for a while the day before but didn't find the cap. The first guy who came (at 7:15 AM) picked up where I left off and finally located the edge of the cap a few feet farther down, right below some beautiful hydrangeas. Since a riser had to be inserted anyway, he arranged for another team to come the next day to dig carefully and install the riser. Two workers arrived the next morning as promised (7:30 AM), expressed some skepticism about the cap being in that hole, but went right to work. The mountain of excess earth they excavated they cheerfully used my cart to dump in a hollow on the far side of the yard. There was a mishap when a heave to lift the 200 pound cover off caused its handle to fall off, the cover to fall back, and the young lifter to fly backwards where he landed upside down in another bush. A little sheepish, he recovered his balance and dignity. The cover finally came off, the tank was pumped, the plants replanted, the walkway swept and re-swept. For all this trouble, instead of jacking up the price, they reduced it by half on the grounds that the pump truck reached capacity before getting the last drops removed. Through it all, they were cheerful, friendly, courteous, and in spite of themselves, amusing. The diggers forcefully refused a tip for the purchase of some vitamin water after work. I can't wait to have them back.