I detest writing this about a small, local business but unfortunately we had a bad experience with Drain Guys LLC. There was significant unprofessionalism and honestly we were taken advantage of. My wife and I own multiple properties and thus have interacted with many contractors including plumbers over the years to know this interaction was unusual. Here is a brief summary of what occurred:
My wife and I purchased a home this summer, had the sewer line cleaned and inspected by Drain Guys. Felix recommended having the sewer line repaired since there were multiple visible cracks/ roots. This was brought up to the seller of the property and Felix told the seller directly that he recommends lining the sewer pipe in only two spots instead of lining the entire pipe. The seller agreed to pay Drain Guys $12,000 directly via check to conduct these repairs after closing. Of which $2,200 was returned to us in advance since only $9,800 was required for the repair.
Fast forward, we move into the property and schedule a time for Drain Guys LLC to line the sewer pipe in those two spots. To gain access to the pipe, Felix came out to cut open the basement concrete floor and insert a PVC junction. He then said he had to come back another day to re-clean the line to clear any remaining roots. When he came back, he informed us that he no longer recommends only doing those two spots but rather lining the whole pipe. Essentially his recommendation changed within weeks and minimal use of the pipe since we had just moved in. Further, he states he is unable to use the materials ($4,800 for 8ft of pipe liner) he already purchased if we lined the entire pipe. According to him he can line the entire pipe if we pay him out of pocket an additional $14,000, so $23,800 if you add it all together. We are supposed to absorb the cost of the materials ($4,800), even though he made the mistake of identifying that the entire pipe needed to be repaired from the beginning on. If the entire pipe should be lined, he should have informed us during the pre-buy inspection so we could have negotiated a better deal with the seller.
At this point, we looked for quotes from other companies since $23,800 seemed high and found one reputable plumbing company was able to line the entire pipe of 60ft for $11,000. To recap, Felix quoted us $9,800 for 8ft (two spots of 4ft) compared to 60ft for $11,000. That is almost 7 times as expensive. When I brought it up to him he just dismissed it and said that is "unheard of".
I then proceeded to request a refund of the remaining funds. He not only refused to return any money to us but also had his lawyer contact us and stopped returning my calls. According to his lawyer, only $1,700 of the $9,800 could be returned due to the labor cost to this point. Essentially, Drain Guys charged us $8,100 to dig a 4ft x 4ft hole in our basement. Eventually, after weeks of back and forth and with the help of our real estate agent we were able to retrieve the remaining $1,700 from Drain Guys.
We ended up cutting our losses and hired the other plumbing company, which had to remove the PVC fitting that Felix installed because it was installed incorrectly. They lined the entire pipe in 2 days and as quoted for $11,000.
I don't think Felix had ill-intentions from the start but it became unnecessarily messy. It is frustrating to pay a licensed plumber that takes advantage of the situation, keeps most of the money, does the repair incorrectly, ghosts you, and contacts a lawyer. I would advise anyone considering hiring Drain Guys to look for a different company for better quality of work, more competitive pricing, and better customer interaction. read more