Seattle Drain Plumbers

"
9-1-13
was called on Labor Day/Holiday weekend to unclog a sewer line that was backing up into the tub; the technician attempted to snake main line both thru toilet & outside clean-out valve; he was unable to clear the line. Technician noted on invoice, "snaked main line thru outside clean-out, not draining." ...more ...... in spite of their stated practice of never leaving with the line plugged.....he did. Needless to say, we were billed $765. and it was put on a credit card.
Another service company was called in to remedy the problem & with the correct equipment they were able to do so; their charge was nearly $200. less than Beacon Plumbing. This resulted in two charges/ bills to fix one problem.

And for the next 5 plus weeks the following interactions occurred
:

9-6 & 9-13
Two follow-up calls to

were made to discuss our dissatisfaction & request a refund; we were told

would return our initial call on 9-6; one week later on 9-13 the second call was placed after the initial call was never returned. We requested a full refund for the charge , since they did not fix the problem.

9-17

proposed a "compromise" ....refunding 50% of the bill and he noted "not as an acknowledgement as to the validity of your request for a full refund".

9-20
We accepted his offer of the 50% refund to our credit card & asked for confirmation of this. We never received the credit or confirmation. One week later (9-26) we again inquired about the credit/confirmation we had not yet received; we suggested a check be sent to our mailing address (provided) instead.

confirmed the check would be sent out "in the next week".

10-7
Another week passes; another email to

asking for confirmation of the date the check was mailed or credit was posted to our credit card. Response was "the accounting dept. would be mailing the check out today".

10-10
Another email was sent to

, stating we were having difficulty understanding why 3 weeks had passed since his compromise offer had been made......and yet no check or credit.

10-11
Email from

, stating "if you don't receive the check by Saturday (10-12) he would have the check stopped & re-issued by Mon.10-14, (a

holiday)

10-11
We asked for confirmation of the address to which the check had been "sent".....surprise......it had been sent to the "wrong" address (the rental property & place of service in Seattle, instead of to our mailing/billing address provided to them on 9-26)

10-14
Next....A <em>50 mile drive</em> for us to "pick-up" the check from the tenant @ the rental property; the tenant rec'd the envelope on 10-12; postmark on envelope was dated 10-09; the letter accompanying the check was dated 10-05; It took from 9-20 to 10-14 for us to receive the check; the property is only 14 miles away from

's

business.

10-15
We cashed the "settlement refund" check ( 50% of total bill)

Contrary to the "fully satisfied" wording <em>used</em> by

in his comments on this Angie's List posting, we cashed the "settlement check in the amount of a 50% refund" because we needed to minimize our losses. Customer service is really what it's all about and what encourages customers to<em> choose</em> to return or NOT!! Obviously the "words" from

in "Customer Relations" and the
delayed follow-thru of 5 weeks
were examples of customer service at it's worst!!





"

"provider showed up on time as scheduled and did a complete check of the drain system. He was very knowledgeable and resolved all the clogged drain issues at our triplex. Very affordable and professional. would definately call again!
"

"I called at 8:45 AM, and was out by 9:15 to unclog my sink backup. He was super nice, knowledgeable, and professional. He was even nice to our cat! The job was done quickly and everything seems to be working well. What great service! JD is definitely my go-to plumbing company from now on, and I have already ...more recommended them at work. Awesome!"

" the plumber spent a couple days in our bathroom and basement, replacing the old, stripped-out faucet stems on our bathtub, then pulling out or bypassing old galvanized pipes. He replaced them with new parts and PEX tubing. 's work went smoothly. He always arrived on time, called ahead, and was absolutely ...more congenial and professional. Everything he installed seems to be working great. We finally have water pressure in our dishwasher and kitchen sink!
A few minor issues we had:

<

></

> <

>The front office misplaced our estimates and botched the scheduling of one appointment. I had to call them to confirm that they'd sent the estimate (they hadn't) and that my appointment was on their calendar (it wasn't).</

> <

>The plumber could have paid a little more attention to cleaning up afterward. He left some debris and grime on the floors.</

> <

>The price was high, of course, because it's plumbing.</

> <

></

>

Besides these, it was a very good experience, far better than with previous plumbers. I'd definitely hire them again.
"

"The workers were great. The office staff and project manager were unprofessional and did not follow through on agreed on tasks. The original bid was changed without consultation or a phone call to let me know there had been an error. The project manager did not follow through on agreed on work dates and in fact did not show up for 2 days of work. ...more My neighbor phoned the company for us, I was away, and asked for the company to check the sewer line as they found a rat in their back yard. They left the back hoe sitting on my front lawn for an extra week killing off the grass. They did not send a final bill for 2 weeks and then called looking for the payment.
"

"The office is well organized giving accurate timeframes for service calls. The techs are professional, friendly and get right to work. They are fair and I trust them.
"

"The provider ( ) was flexible and was able to resolve a few issues on the spot. The service was prompt, courteous and friendly.
"

"These guys were absolute professionals. Direct, objective information and options were given. After there assessment, I decided to do the work myself, but I couldn't have done it without there consultation.
"

"During the recent heavy rainfall, we had fairly severe flooding in our basement. We called , described our situation to and he stopped out that same evening to snake our basement drain. This solved the immediate flooding problem and we were very appreciative that he was able to stop out on such short notice ...more to solve our emergency.
I also brought up my concern about a downspout draining right next to our house near where the flooding occurred.

explained that it was contributing to the flooding and should be connected to a drain pipe like the other downspouts near the house.

and his assistant arrived as scheduled on 10/17 to complete the drain pipe connection. It was done very professionally and with attention to detail. Two existing downspouts were connected securely to the drain pipes. They even took care to disturb the lawn as little as possible, one could hardly guess that a 10 foot trench had recently been dug.

was very prompt, helpful and friendly. I will definitely be using them for future plumbing needs.
"

"When we bought our older house 2 1/2 years ago we had this company scope the sewer as part of our inspection process. He was very friendly and straightforward and provided us a DVD of the scope (that's entertainment!). So when our sewer drain backed up on Oct. 16, I dug out their name (which I couldn't remember) and called the morning of Oct. ...more 17. I made an appointment for between 12 & 3 the same day and was told it would probably be closer to noon. At almost exactly noon they showed up. The employee was very polite and got right to work. An hour later he was packing up and leaving, the area around the drain was cleaned up. When we went out to settle the bill the owner was there to meet his employee and was very friendly. I can't judge cost because I have never had this service before.
"