DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. THEY DID NOT PUT THE SEWAGE CAP BACK ON, IT FLOODED MY BASEMENT WITH RAW SEWAGE, AND 5 MONTHS LATER THEY ARE STILL REFUSING TO PAY. WE HAVE BLACK MOLD, PERSONAL BELONGINGS INCLUDING OUR KIDS BABY CLOTHES RUINED, CARPET RUINED, WALLS RUINED - EVERYTHING!
Summary? They say they "asked their technician and he put it back on, it must have just fallen back off later". It's a threaded cap and is designed to not "just fall off". This all happened the week my mom passed away. Read below for the full story!
On Wednesday, June 10, Roto Rooter came to our home for a service call. They had been to our home previously to remove a blockage from our toilet, and our toilet was acting as if that problem was happening again. They removed the main floor toilet and used cameras to see if they could find anything, but nothing was there. They then went in the basement to the back water sewage pipe and used the cameras there, but again nothing was found. I paid them for their time looking for the issue.
Five days later, Monday, June 15, I went into the basement and saw 2 inches of raw sewage throughout our our basement and storage area. It had even leaked under the walls, into carpet area, and around the basement bathroom! I found the backwater pipe cap sitting on the floor next to the opening of the pipe--the technician forgot to put the cap back on when his work was complete.
I called Roto Rooter to let them know what happened. They spoke with their technician who said he put the cap on. I told them the cap and cover of the opening were on the floor right next to the pipe that had been worked on. They told me flooding must have caused the cap to pop off because their technician said he put the cap on. There wasn't any flooding or heavy rain at that time--we were having a heat wave with 90 degree weather. Also, if the cap had popped off, sewage would have sprayed everywhere (which it did not, as can be seen in the photos) and the cap would not have been laying neatly next to the opening. In addition, I have spoken to many other professionals in the industry and they all stated it isn't possible for the cap to pop off (I can provide statements by other professionals) because it is a threaded cap, specifically designed to keep the cap in place unless manually removed.
I continued to follow up with Roto Rooter, asking them to call their insurance company to pay for remediation costs as well as damages to walls and floors. A few weeks later a representative from their insurance company, United Fire group Great Lakes Division, came out and concluded there was no evidence of negligence--in spite of the almost 20 pictures they were given showing raw sewage everywhere and the picture of the cap laying on the floor next to the pipe opening. Now, 5 months later, Roto Rooter still has not paid for damages and my family is still at risk for black mold.
It is crucial that Roto Rooter pay for the costs to fix my basement back to its state before the sewage damage, including the drywall/tile floor/bathroom cabinet/labor of repairs. This issue has persisted far too long. We will not request payment for all the personal items that were destroyed by the sewage - we just want our home to be safe again. read more