Called ESC to service our elevator when the pump tripped resulting in the elevator bottoming out. The technicians arrived and manually shut the motor contacts which they told me would force reset the pump. The elevator started working again and they explained some of the safety features and told me that since they just inspected it a few months earlier, they would not need to inspect inside the shaft and that the technician would do that during its annual inspection in 9 months. Fast forward 9 months and esc is again out for the annual inspection. 2 minutes into the inspection and the tech points out that one of the cables was wrapped around the hydraulic supply line to the ram. He then informed me that due to the tension normally on the cables, the only way this could have happened was if the elevator bottomed out at some point allowing slack in the cables, at which point I reminded him that esc was out 9 months earlier for that exact situation. He then informed me that due to the friction of the cable, the hydraulic piping was catostophically damaged and required replacement, further he informed me that the elevator was unsafe and locked it in the maintenance position between the 2nd and 3rd story and charged us $188 dollars for "diagnostics." The following day, we received a quote for $923 to replace the hydraulic line, add oil, and perform the annual inspection.
Knowing that this could have and should have been prevented by simply verifying the proper positioning of the cables after the slack cable event 9 months earlier, we called esc to see about discounting the repairs. Mind you, we weren't asking for free repairs or threatening legal action for the improper repair that put our family in the unnecessary danger of an open ended hydraulic shear and rapid hydraulic ram depressurization while the elevator was on the third story with us in it. We just were asking for discounted labor. We were finally able to speak to the owner, Charlie, who told me that the repairman did inspect for proper cable routing 9 months ago when the elevator bottomed, and that we were either lying or ignorant to what we were watching the repairman do when they came out 9 months earlier. Interesting statement considering they were only there for 10 minutes total and definitely did not inspect the elevator shaft at all. This company does not stand by there work, does not demonstrate accountability, lacks integrity, and does not deserve your business..
As a side note, we called another local elevator company who confirmed that this would have been caught during a proper post repair inspection and ended up repairing our elevator and inspecting it for $490. read more