Emerald Plumbing Company

This is a horrible company The took weeks to do a job that should have taken 3-days The damaged my sheetrock walls by piling up concrete debris they jack hammered up from my floors to put in a bathroom drain line They stepped thru my ceiling creating a large hole used my jack hammer because they didn't have one Never showed up when they said they would If they show up run for the hills

Review: We contracted Emerald Plumbing (manager [redacted]) in October of 2012 to replace our broken sewer line. The job was completed ( i.e. new sewer line in place) in November of 2012. Emerald Plumbing was still supposed (as per contract) to repair the lawn in the spring. In February of 2013 we got a notice from Fairfax Water saying that our water consumption is unusually high (1,000 gallons of water a day) and we might have a leak. Emerald Plumbing came back and determined that the leak in the water line was caused by their mole machine which they used to put the new sewer line underground. The water line and the sewer line run parallel and very close to each other, the fact Emerald Plumbing ignored in October/November of 2012. Emerald Plumbing chose not to repair the existing water line, but to replace it completely and suggested we pay $1,900 for it. We refused, because we think Emerald Plumbing is responsible for the leak and need to fix it properly and at their expense. Emerald Plumbing agreed. It's been over two months since the leak was detected and Emerald Plumbing has not resolved the issue. The water line has been replaced, however the repair needs to be modified (the new pipe that runs inside needs to be hidden above the sheetrock ceiling, not left exposed), the lawn needs to be repaired properly (throwing two handfuls of grass seed over clay and rocks is not acceptable) and our winter quarter water bill ($256) needs to be reimbursed. [redacted] is always full of promises, but nothing ever gets done as scheduled. He regularly misses the appointments, ignores our phone calls and requests. We feel like without an intervention Emerald Plumbing will keep us hanging indefinitely.Desired Settlement: All areas of the lawn need to be repaired properly: areas that were affected in October/November of 2012 and the newest areas from March of 2013. Proper repair includes putting a layer of topsoil down, grass seed and covering the grass seed with straw. Sod is also acceptable.

The water line inside the house in the basement needs to be hidden above the sheetrock ceiling. The ceiling needs to be properly repaired by a sheetrock subcontractor.

The abnormally high water bill needs to be reimbursed.

Business

Response:

[redacted]:

We have received your complaint submitted to the Revdex.com. I have also spoken to [redacted] in order to have a detailed understanding as to the work performed at your home. From what I understand, the water line has been replaced completely for Free (normally a $5,600 job that was done free of charge due to the water line being extremely old); instead of repairing the spot repair for the one area that was damaged by our techs, all done as a courtesy. I understand that your current complaint is that a repair needs to be modified (the new pipe that runs inside needs to be hidden above the sheetrock ceiling, not left exposed), and the lawn needs to be repaired properly. I can have our technicians come out to you first thing in the morning to adjust the pipe location, as well as lay sod down for your yard. In regards to the winter quarter water bill, I was informed that the agreed price that was discussed between you and [redacted] was the adjusted about that your water company settled with you on, which was $84, not $256. As agreed, we will provide you with a $84.00 check tomorrow as well. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please contact me personally. I hope that this will satisfy your needs and I apologize for the inconvenience.

Assistant Manager

Emerald Plumbing Company

7525 Old Alexandria Ferry Rd.

Clinton, MD 20735

[redacted] phone

[redacted] fax

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

Emerald Plumbing is responsible for creating the leak in the water line, so it is their responsibility to properly fix it. It is a little bit strange to hear from the manager such statements as "complementary service" and "free of charge". [redacted] has confirmed on numerous occasions that it was their mole machine that put wrinkles and holes in the water line. Regardless of the actual cost of the repair, Emerald Plumbing should have properly and in timely manner corrected the issue.

This is a horrible company. The took 5 weeks to do a job that should have taken 3-4 days. The damaged my sheetrock walls by piling up concrete debris they jack hammered up from my floors to put in a bathroom drain line. They stepped thru my ceiling creating a large hole. used my jack hammer because they didn't have one. Never showed up when they said they would. If they show up run for the hills.

Review: EPC changed my kitchen faucet and removed an old bath faucet on July 26, 2013. I paid for the service with a debit card. About 2-3 hours later, someone from EPC called to say my card had been declined, and to provide another card number. I complied, and contacted my financial institution to find out what the problem was with my card. I was told that the amount had been charged to the card. I proceeded to check my 2 accounts, and found that I was double billed. I have contacted EPC several times, including a discussion with the so called "Owner." I keep getting the run around, and nothing get's done. It's been almost 3 weeks!! How long does it take to facilitate a simple refund?Desired Settlement: Refund the amount deducted from one of my cards.

Business

Response:

We apologize for any confusion regarding the customer and

the payment process. All credit card

payments are processed through [redacted]'s mobile pay application, and at

the time that the card was run, the card did come back as declined. After the payment showed declined, the

customer was called by the office manager to inform the customer that the

payment showed as declined, and that he could either look into the transaction

and give us a call back, or he could provide another form of payment. The customer elected to provide an alternate

form of payment, which was processed with approval for the full amount of

payment ($326.99). The customer then called later the same day,

stating that both payments did actually

go through from what he shows on his bank activity records. At that time, the office manager stated

again, that the initial transaction showed as declined on our end, thus the

reason for the call informing the customer.

However, we asked that the customer waits a full business day to ensure

that both payments actually posted, and in the event they did both post, if he

could provide us documentation of both transactions posting, that we would

gladly issue a refund for the overcharge transaction. The customer continued to call periodically,

and after the third call, the owner chose to just refund the payment on either

card simply to satisfy the customer, even without the customer providing

documentation to verify that both payments were actually processed. Days later, the customer called again stating

that the refund still had not been issued.

The customer was then informed that one refund was actually issued,

however, again, to appease the customer, the owner attempted to issue a refund

again, which was on Friday, Aug 9th, 2013.

To ensure that the refund actually went through on this occasion, the

owner personally stayed on the phone with the customer as he processed the

refund, as well as e-mailed the customer and the office manager a copy of the

receipt of refund. After this situation

was addressed as far as EPC knew, we then receive this Revdex.com complaint. At this time, we are taking further action with

our bank to provide detailed information for any cards associated with this

customer to ensure that 1) if the card was actually declined as initially

shown, 2) if the 1st refund was issued, 3) if the second refund was issued, and

4) if both refunds were issued, the customer would still have the debt for

services rendered. After further

information is received, EPC will relay any documentation of the findings to

Revdex.com as well as the customer.

Review: We hired Emerald Plumbing to do a straightforward toilet kit install for an upstairs bathroom. After the job was done, we noticed that the toilet was not flushing properly, and that it was making some unusual sounds. My wife followed up with the plumber two days after the job with a call, and he said that it was because our toilet was old, and that we could try putting [redacted] in the tank (which thankfully we did not try).

About 2 weeks later, we woke up to a stream of water coming through the ceiling of our living room, which is located directly under the toilet that was “repaired.” So much water leaked through that the ceiling was sagging, and was soaked through in many places. We decided to hire a different plumber to come take care of the leak, and he told us that the toilet kit install had been done incorrectly in several ways – items installed backwards, incorrectly, etc. But worst of all he said, the tank had not been properly sealed back on the bowl, and was the source of our leak. This new plumber completely re-did the kit install, and the leak stopped. He told us he could not believe that the previous work had been done by a professional plumber. He also let us know we should never put [redacted] or anything similar in our tank.

The living room ceiling below had to be torn out of course. We contacted Emerald about the damage, and a company rep came to our house to inspect. At this point, the living room ceiling had been taken out by a contractor, and the source of the leak was visible (since it was still wet). The Emerald rep tried to flush the toilet in question over and over again, stuffing lots of paper in there, to see if it would cause a problem. The toilet performed as it should however, having been re-worked by the second plumber. My wife explained that we wanted Emerald to reimburse us for the cost to replace the ceiling (and repair affected walls), and the rep agreed to seek approval from the company. A few days later, after calling several times, he let us know that he had received approval to reimburse us for the cost of the contractor that worked on the ceiling and walls, which was $1,150. He claimed he could not reimburse us for the cost for the second plumber. We did not even get around to discussing our living room rug that was ruined.

Within a week, the job was done, and as the Emerald rep requested we sent the contractor invoice to him, as well as electronic copies of the three checks paid to the contractor to complete the ceiling tear-down, replacement, and painting. At this point, we stopped hearing from Emerald all together. We called every day, often twice a day, leaving messages. Our calls were not answered, and our messages were not returned. To this point, we have left probably 6 or 8 separate messages for the rep over the course of a week, and have not received any calls back or any status on our reimbursement. We expect to be paid back the $1,150 for the ceiling replacement work as previously promised by Emerald, since it was directly caused by their inferior work on our toilet.Desired Settlement: Seeking Emerald to reimburse us for the cost ($1,150) to replace/repair the damage caused to the ceiling and walls, as previously agreed