Cornell Video Inspection & Pipelining

Cornell relined my sanitary sewer line in an attempt to repair my sewer from backups in my basement. His company videoed my sewer line and determined that the pipe was damaged in multiple locations. He recommended not digging up the line and replacing it but recommended relining the sewer. He said this procedure would fix the pipe back to its original condition without any digging. His company relined the sewer. After the work was complete the problem still existed and continues to get worse. Recently my upper floor bathroom is experiencing backups as well.

My property is experiencing many issues with backups some of which are listed below:
• The lower level toilet continues to backup from any amount of solids and floods my basement making the toilet unusable;
• After he did the work my sewer lateral still has sags, protrusions and has dimension changes in locations which restrict flow.

The work certified by his company are inadequate. I relied upon his expertise to resolve the issues. These issues significantly effects the marketability of my home.

We had a blockage in our weeping tile pipe along the foundation footing of our house. My husband called and spoke with *** at the end of April about the situation and asked him what his rate is for his work. He was informed it was $225/hour. We decided to go forward and book an appointment. On May 3rd two workers came and determined we needed to dig a 4.5 foot hole in along the foundation wall so they could reach another section of the house where the problem area was. They were here for 1 hour and charged me for 1.5, I was informed it was because they had to drive here. I was under the impression I would be paying $225/hour based on the work done during the time at my house. I decided not to dispute the 30 minutes and paid the bill. I did ask the worker how much longer did he think the work would be as it was difficult to budget based on a high hourly rate for their time. He said he figured two hours, but plan on 3 just in case. This was a Friday, the hole needed was dug over the weekend and we arranged with *** for them to return to finish the job on May 6th. Two different guys came and they did some of the work to release the clog and were here 45 minutes before leaving and said they'd give it time to drain and then finish up. I asked how much longer they thought it would take and they said two guys at 4 hours so 8 total. I then called *** and he reassured my they didn't explain correctly that there were two guys but it wouldn't be 225$ per guy it would be 4 hours total at $225 and I said ok that's fine. Tuesday, May 7th the came back for 2.45 hours before leaving saying they'd have to return on Wed May 8th to do the video inspection and they were here 2 hours. I was here for each appointment in the entirety. The total time here was 5.5 hours, I was billed for 7.5 hours (not including first visit) When I questioned the timing I was told there was time added for cleaning their shop Vac used at their company location (which was actually dumped on my property) and for getting the piping equipment they were using for future access to the site without having to dig. I have no problem with paying for parts needed for the job, I have no problem paying the hourly rate incurred for the time they were here doing the work. I have a problem with being billed $225 an hour for them cleaning a shop vac back at the shop and running an errand to pick up a pipe. What I have the most problem with is being charged 2x$200 (400$) for the jetter. At no time did ***, nor any or the 4 guys here on either visit tell me there was a jetter fee for them to do this while they were here working that I was already paying $225/hour for. I was informed that their fee was $225 an hour, not $225 an hour plus possible extra costs depending on the work needed to be done. At no time did anyone hint at extra costs until I was given the final bill to pay. I gave them a cheque and promptly called ***. 2 days later I tried again and we spoke on May 10th. He said he would look into the extra hours billed but he said the jetter fee is a fee they charge, that he didn't know they would be jetting while they were how could he have told us about that fee. I find that extremely unprofessional that a new customer calls to ask about your service and you don't explain, even if you don't go into detail you need to say and possible other fees then we would have realized there may be other costs then we would have asked. This isn't $20 an hour or even 50 this is $225 an hour with additional fees in the hundreds or dollars someone who knows nothing about your service that is hiring you deserves to be told what to expect. I understand the work took longer than originally expected, I realize problems occur that are outside of the workers knowledge until they do the actual work. Again I'm not disputing the costs of the time here not the parts purchased. Aside from being kept in the dark on fees the workers here were professional, nice and knowledgeable. After we spoke May 10th *** said he'd look into my invoice and get back to me. I have not heard back from him since, he cashed both my cheques and has not returned my calls. I called again on 21st letting *** know I was following up on our conversation from the 10th and heard nothing back.