4000 characters is just not enough to explain 3+ months of runaround!\r
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I was into a kitchen remodel & upstairs floor refinish. ALL my possessions were in the basement & I was living in a small space in the basement. Days of rain resulted in the sump pit filling with water & the pump coming on to control it. The pump outflow was plumbed into a basement drain when the house was built in 1962. When the pump came on, the drain overflowed. I hand manipulated it to keep water from flooding the basement until I could reach the recommended ARS Rescue Rooter.\r
9 May 2015, Set appt with ARS, Ben P showed up, evaluated the drain, said it was obviously damaged, but snaked it to open it up some. Gave me an estimate of $1600 to move water heater, replace drain & fill hole with concrete; $5500 if estimated 10? of pipe to main drain needed replaced which would also require removing the furnace for access. Said would need camera to check pipe, set appt for Mon 11 May. My son called Ben P. to tell him he didn?t want them to take out the water heater & he would do it which brought cost down to $1150. Ben took my credit card info for half down of $575.\r
10 May My son removed water heater & rerouted the sump outflow to the back yard.\r
11May Evan came to run a camera & replace the drain. He said I needed a camera guy, he?s just a dig guy. He removed the concrete from around the drain & took out the old drain. He showed me the connecting pipe was rusty & breaking apart. He took out bucket of mucky dirt & the drain pieces, tracking muck through the house. When he came back in, he dribbled purple pipe primer on the sidewalk, porch, front threshold, through the upstairs, down the stairs, through the carpeted basement & into the pantry! Since my granite was to be installed that day, the granite people said to cover my hardwood with cardboard & tarps so the cart wouldn?t mar the new floor; therefore, the blotches upstairs were on protected floor. There were 5 steps & the stair landing with blotches, 5 spots on the carpet, 1 on the threshold, & 1 in the pantry. When I brought the purple blotches to Evan?s attention, he tried to scrape it up from the newly installed hardwood steps with his key. I stopped him because he was causing more damage to the wood than just the primer penetration! He called his boss & told him what he?d done. He told me to call John Custis, gave me his number, & said their insurance would cover the damages. I called the number immediately but John was ?busy with a client?. Michelle asked what the problem was, I told her. She put me on hold, came back, said they would send someone out to take up the stains from the wood & clean the carpet. I told her it was new wood, hadn?t had the final seal coat on yet & only my hardwood guy was going to repair it. Back on hold 2x more before came back & said contact my hardwood guy to fix it then send them the bill & they would take care of it & they would contact their carpet people to handle the carpet damage. Meanwhile, Evan put in a temporary drain, said to call for camera guy before he could put in permanent drain. He left behind muddy handprints on the stairwell wall, basement living room wall & the door to the pantry, muddy tracks all through the basement, mud & muddy water on the pantry floor, & a bucket of stinky mud, in addition to the purple stains.\r
It's now 3+ months later, of which 7 weeks were without hot water, many phone calls, excuses & runaround, no reimbursement, nothing has been resolved & I am very angry. I have 7 pages of detailed notes on this issue, way more than 4000 characters cover but BEWARE, this is NOT a company you want to do business with! They will do shoddy work when they do any, have no care of your home, take no responsibility for their errors. I feel very strongly that I am one among many other seniors/ widows/women who are bullied & taken advantage of by ARS.\r
written 12 Aug 2015
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