Zero or negative rating is not an option so they get a 1...Dick Ball (owner) cost me $44,000 to replace my septic system that he signed off on during our home inspection. A solid septic inspection was our only real "must have" and we bought our house with significant weight on the inspection report. Of course, I know a lot more now after this ordeal than I did then...He did nothing more than open the lid to the tank and stick the point of a spade in the lawn. We provided him with all the lot plans, original septic designs and maps and original building permits that we got from the town. He did not even put together that the leach field was 40+ years old and had twelve 60+ft trees within 10 feet of the field. He did not tell us that the fact that the seller had the tank pumped right before the inspection meant that they were likely hiding something. He did not notice the evidence of raw sewerage bubbling up from the junction box under the lawn (huge patch of dark green lawn fuller, taller, and thicker than the rest of the lawn) There was no check valve on the system either which ultimately led to a pump burnout due to the junction overflow rolling back into the tank and recycling the pump. He signed off on a "septic alarm" that was just a nightlight plugged into the same, non-dedicated outlet that the pump was powered from (pump needs its own circuit with an audible alarm by code). 1.5 months after we bought the house we found the problems when sewerage started bubbling up through the lawn over the junction box. Our neighbors told us there has been septic smell coming from the yard for at least 10 years. He came back out multiple times and "wasn't sure what was wrong", even after digging up the junction box and inspecting it and seeing standing water and visible roots in the box. Then we made an appointment to have him come jet out the lines (on his recommendation) for $1600 - except he didn't show up, call, or return our calls. When we finally reached him 2 days later, he told us "in this business, the loudest person is going to get our attention. I had someone call up today and tell us 'if you aren't here in an hour we will call someone else' so we went there, you don't complain enough."
We ended up needing an entire new system including taking down 66 trees to get equipment into the yard. Every engineer (3) and installer (5) that looked at the system told us that a 40+ year field should fail at face value just based on age, that the inspection was not done properly, tall trees on the edge of the field will always result in root intrusion after 40 year and none of the alarms or electrical were up to code despite Dick signing off on it...and that DICK OBVIOUSLY HAS NO IDEA HOW TO DO ANYTHING EXCEPT PUMP POOP OUT OF A TANK. Every baffle in the tank was broken despite the inspection saying they were intact (even though they are not visible with the lid open). The junction box/lines were not sealed and had a piece of scrap wood blocking an unused hole. The root intrusion was the worst case that my designer/installer (Micah at Septic Designs of NH), my pumper (Dave's Septic), and the person that we actually had try to jet out the lines prior to replacing the whole system HAD EVER SEEN. I wish I could attach a picture of it... The entire system was so clogged with roots that no light was visible from one one of the pipe to the other, unable to get either a camera or a jet nozzle more than 3 feet into the leach lines. The roots in the system extended over 40 feet. They all also told us that Dick "wasn't sure what was wrong" because he knew he knew he messed up, was legally liable, and it was such a major error that admitting it would be admitting utter incompetence - instead he disappeared and left us in the lurch. I would have sued him except we are now $44,000 in the hole so can't afford a lawyer. AS WE GET BACK ON OUR FEET, IF I CAN, I WILL - BE SURE OF THAT.
I wouldn't let Derry Septic pick up my dogs poop. If you need a system installed - Call Micah at Septic Designs of NH and if you need a pump out call Dave's Septic. Both of these companies were excellent, treated us well, were timely and knowledgeable, and followed through until the end. I think they really all saw how bad Dick screwed us and did what they could to help us out. Dave's Septic really came through on a moments notice and tried everything they could, in conjunction with our other contractors, to try to salvage the system before having to replace it. In addition to the actual septic install, which was done well, Micah really helped us out by pulling stumps for a very reasonable price after the trees were down, redoing our drainage swale, and squaring, regrading, loaming, and hydro seeding our yard.
If you are willing to chance having to spend $44,000 within 2 months of laying out everything you have to make the single biggest purchase of your life, Derry Septic is probably for you! read more
