Over the past 3 years that I've had a basement sump pump system installed by Foundation Repair of Western Colorado (a subsidiary of Groundworks), they have repeatedly left me in emergency situations where water is actively coming into my basement due to their negligence. Beyond the disrespectful communication I've had with multiple technicians and front office employees, the quality of work is something I've dealt with since 2020, and its cost me thousands of dollars in emergency plumbing and damages, on top of having paid them almost $20k for the initial project.
I've dealt with high pressure sales tactics (money off if you sign a contract right now for this project and give us a $4k deposit), total lack of communication around when I can expect work to be done, no-shows, techs offering to do shady work on the side, multiple service techs attempting to fix backflow issues that they're in no way qualified to handle, and to top it all off, patronizing communication from management. I have extensive details on all these points, but the character limit won't allow for it, so for now I will focus on what's happened the past month, since this is when things have really hit the fan.
Water is (once again) backflowing into the basement. The tech installs a new pump, and the issue of water backflowing is actually made worse, and even more water than before is coming into the basement. Instead of helping resolve the issue that, I must reiterate, is WORSE THAN BEFORE, HE LEAVES to go to another project! He tells me that there's probably tree root damage in the discharge line so I need to have a plumber come clear them out.
I end up having an emergency plumber come out to try and scope the line, and I'm told that there are bellies, gaps, and yes, possibly tree root damage, but he can't reach the end of the line to know for sure. For a quick solution, he cuts the pipe at the freeze guard and attaches a hose to move the water away from the house until we can figure out a long term solution. He also tells me that the system is not installed in a way that is even remotely serviceable, that there should be cleanouts along the discharge pipe so blockages can easily be removed without needing to dig up the pipe, etc. I pay him a pretty $1400 for his service.
Anytime you need to get ahold of Foundation Repair of Western Colorado, you go through a system of automation and call center folks who can't help you, but are happy to take a message for the person who will never call you back. So, pro tip: hold on to any direct phone numbers you manage to get for project managers/management. After a lot of effort/freak outs at these poor call center folks, I was able to get a hold of a manager who could pencil me into his very busy schedule to chat. He let me know, and he is right (it's in the contract that I was given 30 seconds to sign in the beginning), that they are not responsible for discharge lines more than 5ft from the house, and that they've been going above and beyond to "help me out," even though they didn't have to. So, essentially, they are not experts in discharge lines (although I would argue that this is a critical component of the entire water management system), they had techs who were not qualified to install a discharge system come out and do so, and then when it failed, they put it back on me, point to the contract I signed under pressure, and say they've been doing thousands of dollars of work for me for free. If this is not part of your contractual obligation, and you don't mention that to the customer until the system fails, you should not be providing this service.
As it stands today, I still have a temporary discharge system in place thanks to my emergency plumber, and I'm now looking for qualified contractors to get this job done right, which will likely cost me $5-$10k. This situation has led me to spend thousands of dollars on top of a $20k project, spend countless hours on the phone trying to get help, and, for the first time in my life, contact a lawyer for representation. read more