MaryDar
New Member
I am in need of advice on our plumbing experience that took place the day before yesterday. We arranged for a plumber to come to our home to clear a blockage in our main floor drain. We had clear water coming to the top of the pipe and a bit spilling out onto our cement laundry room floor. He and his partner arrived and went to task with the electric eel. The smell was horrid upstairs, so I opened all windows/door screens, turned on our furnace fan and provided a free standing fan for the area the men were working in. I noticed water with feces all over the floor in the area where they were working and it was already to the edge of our carpeting in the adjoining family room. The men couldn't clear the blockage called it crud and said they would need to come back to put through high pressure water spray for $450. plus tax and sooner is better. The owner, walked through our family room, up 13 carpeted stairs in his feces and wet boots and then said as he stepped onto our kitchen floor at the top of the stairs "oh oh, I forgot to take my boots off". He took them off there, then walked to our front door. After they left, I wiped up spots of watery feces off our kitchen floor that dripped off their equipment on the way out. We discovered yesterday that feces had been splattered onto walls, laundry tub, javex bottle near the eel holder...as it was being wound up and unwound it was obviously splattering. We had to cut away a portion of the carpet that when turned over, was soaked with brown water. We noticed this morning that there were two brown spots of dried liquid on our front door mat (that obviously dripped from the machinery as it was removed. We have stopped payment in order to devote the money to cleaning our carpets in basement, stairs and living room (where they walked with their equipment to the front door). We have been married nearly 40 years and fortunately for us, this is our first experience with such disrespect and unprofessionalism. We called him this morning to discuss the issue, prior to stopping payment. He first denied that he walked in his boots through the house, then he said they were dry, which they were not. In a nutshell, is there an expected level of care and concern that most plumbers follow? Is it customary for them to not protect the home from further damage or extra costs for steam cleaning etc. I am just so disappointed. Are we right in our thoughts about this experience?
Thank you for your advice.
Thank you for your advice.