Kim C.
04/02/2019 12:00:00 SA
Do not call Certified Plumbers. Yes, they will show up at night, and on weekends, etc. Very convenient, in an emergency. Be aware that, in my opinion and experience, that they are specifically trained to come in and try to frighten you into buying more (un-necessary) services.
I have a re-occurring issue with tree roots in my sewer, so I go through this process every couple of years. I know the routine... I have been in my house for 25 years and have a good knowledge of the plumbing and sewer details.
So when my regular plumber could not come out on a Sunday evening, I called Certified Plumbing in the early evening and they showed up 2 hours later.
I explained the situation and sewer backup history. I also explained the current condition. The sewer was clogged and the sewer water had filled up the sewer stack pipe from the basement level and sewer water was backing up into my upstairs bathroom through the bathtub and toilet. It was clear that all running water (and flushing toilets) were not draining away, but sitting in the clogged sewer and stack pipe.
Neither technician paid any attention to what I told them about the history. At first they suggested that the clog was at the upstairs toilet. A clog at the toilet doesn't make sense, since the whole pipe had been filled up with sewer water. After slowly draining some water out of the stack through a clean-out, they attempt to send a camera in the drain. They were unable to get the camera in more than a couple feet. Not that a camera was required to determine that the sewer was plugged - that was obvious, and also a waste of time. Next they bring in a toy snake, the diameter of the snake was about the size of my pinkie finger. When I mentioned the size of the snake, they assured me that this is a state of the art unit. While the unit may have been expensive , it was definitely undersized. So, when the fancy/expensive, state of the art little toy snake did not clear the blockage, the technicians started a hardsell campaign to upsell for more services. While they did offer (for an additional $485) to use the larger standard size snake that, in my previous experiences, they should have used from the start (without an upcharge). But mostly they really kept hardsell pushing for extra services to pay an additional $1200 for a waterjet snake.
They made a big play about calling the supervisor to try to get better pricing on the water jet. It was clear to me that this whole thing was just typical hard sell tactic. However, I did not buy it. So, ultimately, they left my home with the sewer line still clogged. Sewer water still in the sewer stack. In the end, I had written a check for $422 for them to do this work and it was NOT fixed when they left.
Monday morning, I called my regular (licensed) plumber and they came out and completely cleared the sewer clog within 20 minutes, using a standard sized sewer snake, with absolutely no trouble. No $1200 water jets. No $485 upcharges for a larger (really standard size) snake.
Clearly the Certified plumbing technicians are trained to upsell more services. These guys are apparently unscrupulous and willing to do substandard and incomplete work in order to attempt to scare the home owner into spending extra hundreds or thousands of dollars to fix something. that any reputable plumber can fix with standard equipment for a couple hundred dollars. If I were gullible, I probably could have spent the proposed $1400 or more for an unnecessary water jet snake, to fix the clog.
Shame on them. If you do decide to call them, beware...