ComplaintsforAurora Plumbing Supply Co., Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  08/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My neighbor had work done on their side sewer. We share the same line. The next day my tub had about 4 inches of black smelly gunk in it. The neighbor said they had used Aurora Plumbing. A plumber came the next day from Aurora Plumbing and my neighbor and I talked about the issue by the area where the work was done on my neighbors property. At first the plumber denied that the work could have anything to do with my plumbing, but I refused to believe that it was just a coincidence. I told my neighbor and the plumber that Aurora plumbing had done a job for me in which I had to have them come back. The plumber agreed to work on getting the gunk out of the bath tub and fix whatever was caused by the side sewer work he had done the previous day. He came into my house with a large snaking machine and worked on my toilet and said it would be a approximately $500 cost. Then, he said actually it had to be fixed from the kitchen sink and worked on getting it done from there. The bill for the 20 minutes he was in the house was approximately $300. No parts were used for this work. Since, I thought it impossible that my plumbing problems were a coincidence I refused to pay the bill.Aurora Plumbing agreed via telephone that it wasnt a coincidence and wrote off the bill.I started noticing a sewer smell in the next few days and believed it was coming from the neighbors work done by Aurora Plumbing. Since the neighbors property has had serious problems with irrigation from the hill above their house, I thought they were having some serious issues. I continued to smell this smell for months to come. I saw that the kitchen plumbing had been damaged by the snaking as I left the kitchen water running and looked into the crawl space and saw it was flowing right into the earth below. I contacted Aurora Plumbing about this but received no response. I have never got a response from Aurora Plumbing except the day they said I would not be charged for the bill

  Business response

  08/18/2023

  This is an unfortunate situation where the customer has a ************* that handles things related to his house, and we only deal with the ************* who has, in the past, scheduled and paid for services at this location (we have documented proof).  However this customer called ********************** directly in January of 2023, and we had not noticed that he was handled by a Trust, nor did he tell us.  So we handled this as we would handle any homeowner calling in for service.
  Aurora Plumbing was out to ********************* neighbor to perform a repair of a broken section of sewer.  This broken section was well upstream of where ********************** line ties in.  So there's extremely little chance our work at the neighbor's house affected ********************** sewer in any way.  The neighbor has had no issues.
  However, when ****************** called and said his sewer was backed up, we put him on the schedule to come see what could be done.  Upon arrival, because ****************** had said his main sewer was clogged, the technician brought his mainline cable machine into the bathroom to remove the toilet and cable/clear the sewer (there is no mainline cleanout accessible, so we go through the closest toilet).  ****************** was advised that he would be charged for a mainline cabling via removal and replacement of a toilet IF we find that the blockage is on his side of the neighbor's tie-in point.  He agreed, and signed the request for work for $448.55 plus Tax.  
  After bringing in the mainline cable machine, the technician flushed the toilet multiple times to find nothing backing up.  He then went to secondary drain lines and found that the kitchen line which apparently ties into other secondary lines was plugged, creating what looked like a main line backup.  He advised ****************** that he did not require a full sewer service, but only the kitchen line, which is cheaper at $299 plus Tax.  ****************** appeared happy it was less expensive, and gave the OK to perform that task.  The technician cabled the entire kitchen line and got everything cleared.  
  Upon being presented the invoice for payment, ****************** refused to pay because "you caused this, so I'm not paying".  The line that was backing up was inside his home, so our work at the neighbor's house could not have caused anything in ********************** house.
  Management called ****************** to discuss why the work performed needed to be paid.  It was clear that it was a moot conversation.  He continued to say it was 'your fault'.  After many attempts, we gave up.  At NO point in time did Aurora Plumbing say "that it wasn't a coincidence and (wrote) off the bill".  ************ has not been paid as of this writing.
  Regarding the sewer smell issue.  Aurora Plumbing has documented proof dating back to 2019 of ****************** complaining of a "sewer smell", as well as sewage dumping into his crawlspace.  This is 4 years before we did work for the neighbor, which he claims caused the sewer smell.  These calls and subsequent appointments were made by the *************, who also paid for these services.  The first technician to address this issue was actually called out to address leaking drain piping under the kitchen sink.  The technician found plastic drain fittings that are supposed to be glued, just pushed on with no glue.  He glued everything that was accessible, and replaced the ptrap assembly.  ****************** then asked him to address the sewer smell and the leak in the crawlspace.  The technician noticed no sewer smell inside, outside, or under the house.  He also looked at the crawlspace via the opening and found no evidence of leakage or smell.  This is all documented and on file.  The claim "Aurora Plumbing had done a job for me in the past in which I had to have them come back" is simply not true.  We never received any call about the work being performed leaking, etc.. 
  Because this customer and residence has been handled by, and paid by, a ************* in the past, we asked ****************** to contact them directly about his issues, and if the ************* calls us, we will respond in kind.   However, the ************* has changed-hands, and it appears that things are different.  We were not aware of this.  
  At this point, Aurora Plumbing has tried all things possible to work out a mutually beneficial resolution to no avail.  Due to the fact that ****************** refuses to pay after work is completed, Aurora Plumbing respectfully asks ****************** to find another plumbing company with which he can do business. 

  Customer response

  08/18/2023

   
  Complaint: 20484072
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  This is no longer the case.  From ******************************-founder of GSS:

  "No repairs are paid for anymore by GSS.  ******** is too small for that and is only used for taxes."

  I've enclosed a attachment letter saying I have no caseworker there.

  The business was supposed to be told this on 8/16/2023 by GSS, the company that handles the trust.

  See attached.

  Sincerely,

  ***************************
  

   

   

   

   

  Customer response

  08/22/2023

  I checked the area of the leak and there is a large hole in the pipe that could not in any way be considered average wear.  In fact, I do remember when snaking a sound like the pipe was being destroyed, but I put it out of my mind at the time because having four inches of sewage in my bathtub was bad enough.

  All during this time, Aurora Plumbing had no honesty about my problems being caused by their work, except for the woman who told me via telelphone that I did not have to pay the bill.   I realize to get things in writing but a verbal contract is binding. 

  I and my plumbing were going about life nicely until the day they worked on ***** and ****'s plumbing.  Nothing in my plumbing system by itself would have caused these problems.  

  This is an estimate of some of the work that needs to be done:

  "The repair of 1.5 inch galvanized drain line located in crawlspace. Homeowner has plumbing snake drain and caused a crack in 1.5 kitchen drain line.  Estimate would include connecting to newly repaired abs drain line and replacing around 4-5 feet of galvanized drain pipe."

  Furthermore, I had at first left a negative comment on previous work by Aurora Plumbing and although I tried to correct it, it still comes up negative.  They may have done this in retaliation as my address is in their system.  

   

   

   

  Customer response

  08/23/2023

  I have a plumber on the job and he has shown me the pipe for the kitchen drain, that it did have considerable natural rotting to it.   At this time, I want to wait to see if there are any other problems since Aurora Plumbing was in the bathroom area working on the toilet for some time.  

  Customer response

  08/31/2023

  The four inches of sewage was shocking enough, but I was also shocked to see the bill they wanted to charge and lack of all responsibility. This is reason enough for this complaint.  To top this off, they denied someone from the office told me the bill was written off.   

  I will close the complaint if Aurora Plumbing admits that they wrote off the bill via a communication to me on the phone with a woman from their company.

  It seems some businesses might seem they are too big to fail and so they do not make mistakes.   That is never true.

  I do not like the way they train their employees when it comes to admitting a problem in a neighbor's system is possible when side sewer work is done.  This is just common knowledge, whatever caused it, it doesn't matter if it makes sense in the way they explain things to customers.  Anyone can find facts online these days on Google.  

   

   

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