DALEY SANITATION SVC

They were professional, honest and timely. They helped us navigate what became a very complicated, due to the BOH requirements, septic system installation. They were dedicated to legally helping us resolve our septic issues, all while saving us money every where it was reasonably possible.

I found after calling that former owner Gordon Daley has passed away, and the business is now operated by his wife and younger relatives. This job started out well enough. Daley Sanitation arrived promptly, prepared a quote/proposal to replace a failing tank that was caving in, and started the work as scheduled. Daley told me they couldn't get a concrete tank into my location due to accessibility, and recommended a plastic tank. The written proposal was for a 1000 gallon plastic tank, the size required by NYS Department of Health code. The contractor had me complete a health department application to instll a 1000 gallon tank, which I signed, but I learned later the contractor did not sign. The quote/proposal was for $3600 to 4000 depending on any extras like extra pipe that may be needed. On completion, the total was $4000 due to "extra pipe" (they used a total of maybe 8, maximum 10 feet of pipe to connect the tank inlet and outlet to my existing pipes). The tank actually delivered and installed was a 750 gallon tank (not as specified in the contract or health department application, and not to code). The installer also placed it on fresh undisturbed soil adjacent to where my old tank was removed, and in doing so, installed it closer to my well and house than where the old tank had been, closer to the well than permitted by code (Daley was aware of where my well was because we discussed it, but I was not watching every minute as he worked, and he placed the tank closer to my well even though he should have known better). The tank was placed in wet clay soil, so wet that the lower part of the tank was underwater by the time it was back-filled. The contractor back-filled with the same wet clay that he removed while excavating, soil that was contaminated from the failing tank that was removed. This is also against code and the health department application, and this back-filling with wet clay is also against the tank manufacturers instructions. The tank failed, partially collapsing, causing the outlet pipe, which the contractor had assembled loose with no cement, to separate from the tank. The system worked for a short time, then the first time I did laundry after it was replaced, my septic system backed up and the washing machine overflowed onto the floor. I dug to uncover the tank lid, and found the tank was filled to above the top (the inlet end had a riser installed to bring the lid up near the surface of the ground for service, the water was halfway up inside that). I called the contractor on Saturday, and left a message to call back. The contractor did not call back. I called again on Monday and left another more urgent message. I waited another hour and a half. The contractor had still not called back. I tried calling again, and that time, the answering machine didn't even pick up. Finally they called back. They sent the installer out that evening to hand-dig the outlet end of the tank to inspect. They were unable to reach the tank due to hitting water-saturated soil. That end of the tank did not have a riser installed (which is actually required by code) so it was much deeper. It's not surprising he hit water while trying to expose the outlet lid, since the inlet end of the tank was still filled above the top into the riser, above the level of the lid at the outlet). The contractor said he needed to rent an excavator to find what was wrong (he didn't have his own equipment, and had done the initial installation with rented equipment). He told me he thought the problem was probably with my leach field, and wanted me to pay to rent the equipment to figure out what was wrong, and started discussing options for replacing the leach field at additional cost. I was suspicious, since the leach field had not been a problem before, and the liquid level in the tank was not falling at all, even when I was not putting anything at all into it for days. I couldn't believe my leach field was that bad. At this point I confronted them about the wrong size tank, which I had noticed on the day of installation. We argued about how I was quoted and billed for a 1000 gallon tank but they had only installed a 750 gallon tank which was not working and not to code, and that I wanted these deficiencies corrected. I put a stop payment on my check for the initial job, which I had mailed right before the backup occurred (minus payment for leveling out my lawn, which the contractor did not do on the day of installation because the ground was too wet and had promised to return to do but had not yet). They offered to reduce the price due to the wrong size tank (after initially denying it was the wrong size, then offering excuses that no tanks of the right size were available, even though by this time I had checked their supplier and found they had plenty), but wanted to add additional charges to dig up the tank to find out why it wasn't working. After more arguing they agreed they would not charge me for this if the problem turned out to be with their tank, but would if the problem was with my leach field that was still original. They refused to return to do this until I paid them the reduced price, which I reluctantly did (even though I felt Daley was not being honest with me I still tried to work with them to get a successful outcome). I was left with a completely non-working septic system for an entire week while all this played out, staying away from home most of the time and eating out for access to working plumbing. They agreed to come and pump out the septic tank on Friday, or Saturday morning, so I would at least be able to use my drains and my house again at least until the tank refilled. They finally returned on Saturday, later than promised, and pumped out the tank, and looked in the inlet end and didn't see any damage (the damage was all at the outlet end, on the other side of a tank divider). Daley said they'd call and let me know when they'd return with equipment to excavate, but when I tried to talk with the contractor he cursed at me, climbed in his truck, and drove away. I never heard from them. Knowing I had only a short time before the tank would refill and back up again, I called another contractor. It took 3 visits to sort out, on the first visit with hand-digging we thought the outlet pipe had sagged and "V"ed, and could be replaced to repair the system. On the second visit with an excavator we discovered the problems were not limited to the pipe, but that the whole outlet end of the tank had crushed inward, pushed in by the water-saturated wet clay Daley had back-filled the tank with (against the tank manufacturers instructions and code), and the outlet connector had bent out of alignment, so it was not possible to properly connect a pipe to it. We decided the tank had failed, and needed to be replaced. I called Daley and left a message on their answering machine. They did not return my call. I paid the new contractor to replace Daley's 750 gallon plastic tank (which the new contractor told me was the cheapest plastic tank available) with a 1000 gallon concrete tank. With a crew of 4 and the right equipment (vs. Daley's crew of one), they were able to get a concrete tank in. My system has worked properly since the concrete tank was installed, and there has been no indication of any problem with my leach field. This contractor also found the piping between my house and the tank was almost totally clogged with roots (and the new pipe on that end joining the old pipe from the house to the new tank was also sagging). I had asked Daley to check this because I'd had roots in that line once before that I had to get removed. Daley claimed he checked the line and there were no roots, but the 2nd contractor found the line was almost totally clogged with roots not far in, where Daley should have easily found them had he checked properly. At this point I had paid Daley an agreed on reduced price for the wrong size tank that never worked properly, and paid another contractor to do a complete replacement. I researched the code and Daley's business to try to make a claim. I found Daley had been recently fined for having no workers compensation insurance, possibly explaining why the installation was done by the owner himself, with no crew (possibly he still had no insurance). I filed a complaint with the state Attorney General's office against Daley. Daley initially didn't reply, then claimed to have done nothing wrong. I then filed a case in small claims court, and went and presented my arguments to the judge. The judge listened, and provided instructions for a trial to follow, but told Daley things were not looking good for them, that they appeared to have failed to comply with the terms of the contract that they had written. At that point Daley, seeing that they were likely to have a judgment against them, agreed to an out of court settlement, returning $3000, the limit for small claims court, and most of what I had paid them.

Excellent service at a reasonable cost. I'd refer a friend.

Daley Sanitation arrived on time and pumped my tank. I had uncovered the tank the day before, called Daley's telephone number and was asked when I would like the service call made. I said "today, if possible" and Daley Sanitation was there less than two hours later. They did a thorough job for a competitive price.

I left a voice message for Mr. Daley on Christmas night and didn't expect to hear anything back from him since it was a Holiday. He called me back that night and came out the next day! We had a backup that we thought was the septic and he came out in a snowstorm and helped us locate the tank and cleaned it out. I have used his service before for another property and I think he is great.

At first I thought they did a great job until I realized about 2 weeks after the job our septic system wasn't working and our leach field was clogged. They broke our baffle so solids were clogging leach field. Owner was contacted. Didn't help us fix it.