As American Service Industries LLC we have two DBA’s which include [redacted] an established septic company originally purchased in and A-Sewer & Drain an established plumbing company originally purchased in We are proud and thankful to state that together these companies have thousands of satisfied customers which have led to the continuing success of both We have of course always made it a priority to take good care of our customers and obviously would not still be around if we didn’t do exactly that I have always taken a serious look at the extremely rare and miniscule handful of complaints we have actually received from the Revdex.com and have considered them a lesson in learning new ways to improve as a businessI have always considered every aspect of a customer’s complaint and of course, as every successful business does, followed the motto “the customer is always right.” However for the first time ever in fifteen years, I am not going to do thisGiven the ridiculous tactics this customer has stooped to, I believe this may be the rare occasion where that motto would not apply and I am happy to provide mounting evidence to prove this I would like to address the most obvious complaints: The customer complained that they did not call us out to the job and had never heard of our companyFACT: The Husband called us and requested serviceBoth companies have been to this property several timesI have provided copies of the past three A-invoices for proof The customer stated that A-is not a licensed business and our construction license is not validFACT we are absolutely licensed and legal in every possible aspect please see the provided business license, construction license and tax paperwork that proves thisThe construction industry DEFINITELY DID NOT tell her our license was invalid it is notI invite anyone who looks at the copy to verify this through the CID The customer complained that we charge $ an hourFACT we DO NOT charge $we charge $per hour for our plumbing service We are located in Albuquerque, so for jobs in Santa Fe (where the customer’s property is located) we charge a hour minimum which includes hour trip charge there, hour return trip charge, and hour minimum labor chargeEach additional hour of labor is added at the same rate $The customer lives in Santa Fe, She was charged for trip charge there and back plus hours laborHer husband was informed of this and they have been charged this exact same way on every occasion A-has been to their homeAgain, refer to the copies of passed invoices as well as the invoice from this current job provided The customer complained that our tech was sloppy, and milked the clock and did not inform her of the chargesFACT: The customer followed our tech around the entire time he was working She knows that there was a diagnosis of the systems functions as well as the discovery of an electrical issueHe even gave her a choice of just cleaning the nonfunctioning valves which would extend their life temporarily or replacing the part that was broken which would give her a more permanent resultSHE CHOSE THE LATTER and was aware of the price of the valve which was quoted $Now this part I cannot prove with physical evidence so anyone judging this would have to take into account the character of both partiesOur tech has been with our company for more than years he does an average of about jobs per a week that’s around 12,jobs during the time he has been employed with us and has never had another complaint with the Revdex.comThe customer however has made several claims in her statement and they have been disproven with physical evidenceThe question of whose integrity we should trust seems fairly simple to me The customer claims that the job was not completeFACT the job was completed; her septic system is functioning properlyIf it wasn’t then sewage would probably be backing up in her home at this point and I am sure she would have called us for that! We honestly did try to work with this customerWe tried to explain how our companies were divided and how we send which ever one is going to be the most beneficial for the customer, how we have been to her home several times, and verified that the system was in working orderWe spoke with the tech who says that he did everything he could to make sure this customer was happy, save her as much money as possible, and explain what he was doingAfter several phone calls and a lot of patience with her, the customer claimed that the only way she would ever pay is “If a judge ordered her to.” At this point we felt we had no other choice to than to place a lien on her property We feel we have fixed the issue with the customers system efficiently and at a reasonable rate We have definitely been to her home before and we have always charged for our work in the same wayWe do not understand why she has gone to these lengths We are not going to bend on this one because we are absolutely in the right and have plenty of evidence to back us up Thank You Cammie B [redacted] Managing Member American Service Industries LLC DBA A-Sewer & Drain DBA [redacted]
Even
though I find this customers response redundant I have to admit that I
appreciate her second submission to the Revdex.com because I
believe it will give anyone who takes the time to read through this a clear
idea of the extreme behavior we have experienced with this customer over the
past several monthsUnfortunately we have taken several phone calls from this
customer to our office staff making many more preposterous claims than have
been represented in this complaint and we are proud of our patience, however
because the claims are and border on slander we are defending ourselves
and unlike the customer backing every word with tangible evidence
I would
like to briefly address several of her claims, most of which are repetitive and
have already been addressed in my first response so I will refer to information
from my first response on several occasions:
1.
Customer complains that we never performed a
sludge test and that she didn’t know what that wasFACT The customer asked our
tech how she would know if she needed her septic tank pumped when he first arrived
and he explained that this could be determined by performing a sludge test
which measures the amount of solids in a tankHe also explained to her that he
does do this regularly whenever he visits customers who have maintenance contracts
with usOur tech was there to fix her system and not to perform standard
maintenanceThis customer does not have a maintenance contract with us, however
our tech did perform a sludge test anyway after he had stopped charging her for
his labor time AND THIS WAS FREE OF CHARGE!
2.
Customer complains that she is confused as to
why we “operate under different names” and states “If you
are a legal company in good standing why would you dream up new names for
different companies, not obtain a license and send them where ever you like,
without informing the customer? I was informed by the construction industries
division that none of these companies in question exist“
FACT we are a legal company (see original documentation) we have TWO names
that belonged to the companies when we originally purchased them, we have a
license (see original documentation) She was never informed by the construction
industry that our company does not exist because they have all of our valid
license information on record and it is easily attainable if you type in the
correct informationAs we explained previously; we are American Service
Industries LLC doing business as *** *** and A-We are under the
same owner regardless of what our invoice saysWe have kept the company’s invoices
and names separate for several reasons including accounting purposes and to
honor the customer base that was already in place when we originally purchased
the businessesSimply put if we are providing maintenance/pumping or
installing a septic system we invoice that job under *** ***If we
are providing a plumbing service of any kind we invoice that under A-This is for our
accounting and record keeping purposesThe exact same license number and address is
provided on both company invoicesThis has NEVER been an issue with any customer until
now and we are still confused as to why it would be an issue regardlessMORE IMPORTANTLY please note that the copies the customer provides
showing her attempts to find our license are unsuccessful either because she
put in a different zip code than the one on her invoice, or a different license
number, or she misspelled the owners last nameHOWEVER if you put in the
correct information you will see that everything is in place (Please see the document
named “CID LICENSE PROOF”, we provided from the same website that validates
this)
3.
Customer AGAIN complains that she was charged
$per an hour FACT as stated in our original response “we charge $per hour for our plumbing service We are
located in Albuquerque, so for jobs in Santa Fe (where the customer’s property
is located) we charge a hour minimum which includes hour trip charge there,
hour return trip charge, and hour minimum labor chargeEach additional
hour of labor is added at the same rate $The customer lives in Santa Fe,
She was charged for trip charge there and back plus hours laborHer
husband was informed of this and they have been charged this exact same way on every
occasion A-has been to their homeAgain, refer to the copies of passed
invoices as well as the invoice from this current job provided.”
4.
Customer states that “I am sure
my husband has contacted *** *** in the past but he doesn't save receipts
and I noticed that there is no documentation where my husband should of
signed his name This is why I have never heard of A-Sewer & Drain
“ FACT
we have provided several documents that refute this, AND THE DOCUMENTS INCLUDE
THE HUSBANDS SIGNATURE!!! (please refer to copies of invoices provided in the
original response)
I
could easily point out several other misrepresentations of the truth in this
customers complaint and provide plenty more physical evidence to back this up, including
copies of the checks made out to A-Sewer & Drain, that we cashed from
when her husband did pay us for our previous service, but I think we have
provided a sufficient amount of evidence to prove our pointI am sorry that
this customer and her husband do not communicate or keep their receipts however
that still does not excuse her from paying for the services we providedThe
gist of all of this is the problem with HER SYSTEM WAS REPAIRED at a reasonable
rate, in a reasonable amount of timeThe rest of this complaint is seriously
insane on so many levelsWe would love to just excuse her for the little
amount she owes and be done with her but we are refusing because we are not in
the wrong and she is NOT BEING TRUTHFULSo we are enduring this torture
because we are an honest, legitimate company and are continuing to defend our
honor because it is the right thing to do
First we are very sorry that this customer is dissatisfied with our serviceWe were called out to clear a line that was causing her washing machine to back upDespite her initial reluctance to trust our techs expertise, we are sure we remedied her original issue and that is all that she has
been charged forHowever due to the extreme difference in our account of what happened, and some obviously negative claims against our company we believe it is important to recall the events according to our records: Here are the following discrepancies in our customer’s account; The first tech on the job was Ernest (not Beto) we are not sure why the customer felt threatened by himWe have never had this complaint before and Ernest does about jobs a weekErnest did however disagree with the customer’s suggestion to try and clear the main line because her problem was with her washing machine drain lineHe did upon the customers insistence use our Kmachine to run the main line and found it to be clearWhen this did not fix the customers problem she accused our tech of not knowing what he was doing and had him removed from the jobRobert was the second tech we sent outThankfully the customer was willing to let Robert attempt to clear hear washing machine lineThe customer has a barbed wire fence that is falling over and when the tech crawled underneath it to get to the proper drain line he cut his ear very severely and did use profanity which he and our company apologize forThe area around this drain was extremely saturated and our tech had a hard time propping the machine up out of the deep mud and running it at the same time so he got the homeowners permission to come back with another tech to finish the jobWe then sent Beto to help with finishing the jobThe line was cleared and several roots were pulled from the lineThe total time taken to finish the job was three hoursThat is exactly what the customer was charged forOn August the customer called because she thought her lines were backing up againThe tech filled her washing machine with water and it drained it and there was not a backup problemThe tech pointed out that the customers ground was extremely saturated from day one and now that it was obvious that this was not being caused due to a backup it was more than likely due to a water leak somewhere underground or possibly under the houseThe tech gave her an estimate to repair her water leak We are having a very hard time understanding how this customer could feel that she should be refundedHer drain was backed up due to roots in in her drain lineUnder difficult circumstances we pulled the roots from her line and verified that it workedShe was charged for our timeThere is nothing misrepresented or excessive in our request for paymentThe separate issue of a water leak is not something that we causedThe fact that her ground was extremely saturated from day one proves that this is a problem that was in existence previous to our arrivalHer claim that one of our employees would go out of their wat to sabotage her plumbing is not only preposterous but impossibleThe leak is undergroundThey would not have had access to do thisSo in conclusion, although we make every effort to make our customers happy we are not willing to refund our charges because we fixed her initial problemWe are also not willing to pay her water bill or for the repairs to her possible broken water line, because we did not and could not have caused the underground leak
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:To the Revdex.com of ABQ, NM I wish to respond to the statements made by A-Sewer & Drain on 3-09-2016. It is clear to me that this company is never going to owe up to bad, dishonest, unprofessional behavior. They continue to bring up pasttransactions that I know nothing about because I was not here. I am sorry they are unable to stick with the issue at hand, the problem Iwitnessed in Oct of 2015.I would like to say that I would have never known what a sludge test is had Keith, not brought the issue upWe have never been concernedabout our septic system backing up into our home or anywhere else for that matter We have the gallon tank pumped out once everytwo to three yearsI have attached the most recent receipt dated May 19, 2015. Keith told me that he does a sludge test on all service calls. When he failed to do this during his service call, I brought it to his attention becauseas a home owner, I have no idea if this is important or notHe never said one thing about maintenance contracts or the issues addressed forcustomers with maintenance contractsI would like to point out that a sludge test is nothing more than sticking a stick down in the holdingtank and then raising it outWOW!! How hard is that?? You have raise your arm down then raise your arm upThat's it. The proceduretakes a whole seconds at most! Let me guess, A-Sewer & Drain will charge you $264.00/ hour to do that! I believe the reason Keith didn't do the sludge test is because I informed him that we just had our septic system pumped out in May Keithdidn't want to do anything when he was here. He moved at a slow, sluggish, lethargic pace. He refused to work in an honest, efficient, professional manner. He flat out told me he didn't want to go to his next job either that was located in Tierras. Isn't it interesting that not once has A-Sewer & Drain discussed how long it should take to unscrew bolts with an electric drill or how long it shouldtake to replace a tiny fuse. I still want to know what Keith was doing out here for the hour and a half he claims he was working. He was milking the clock because he didn't want to be here, he didn't want to work and he didn't want to go to his next job. He was strolling around like one of the SevenDwarfs at ***....most likely Sleepy or Dopey. I was here to witness this disgusting, unprofessional behavior. The people defending him werenot here. If they saw what I witnessed they should be as disgusted as I am. I have attached the claim of lien that was placed on our property. The name of their company and location with zip code is on the lienThis zipcode and name of business matches what the construction industries division reported to me that no such company exists. Keith needs to quit his job and go find something to do, in life, that makes him happyUntil that day comes he will continue to leave a trail ofdisgust and conflict where ever he goes. He will continue to waste peoples time and energy and moneyHis company will be constantly moppingup his mess and trying desperately to defend his bad behavior. What I want everyone to know is that when faced with a dishonest, unprofessional, fake company, stand up for your rights. It is not fun, but it isthe right thing to doIt is the right thing to do for yourself and for any other person who may be inflicted by that same dishonest group. When this whole conflict began, I searched the Revdex.com for info concerning the characters in this circus act. I read how they destroyed a landscape ata home in Placitas, cracked a home owner's driveway, and cost a home owner $in landscaping repair due to their careless, thoughtless performance. I hope this information is still available to all. It is important that we know what we are up against. I tried my best to resolve this issue in a reasonable manner. I am simply a home owner that is fed up with bad behavior. I have been informed thata so called company without a license cannot put a lien on your home. If a lien is placed on your home during a conflict, it must be removed afterone year if no action is taken. If A-Sewer & Drain wants to sue me for $500.00, that is fine. I will counter sue and be confident in front of any judge, anywhere, anytime. Iknow God is watching over me and my husband. We are hard working people that just want to be treated with honesty and respect. UnfortunatelyA-Sewer & Drain lets their ego run their life and their company lacks common sense, and courtesy. I am asking the Revdex.com to keep record on their website of conflicts such as this and others so that we can all be the judge of the ridiculous behaviorthat goes on day in and day out. Thank you. *** *** To Revdex.com, ABQ, NM I would like to address the lack of licensing I was informed of by the construction industries division. I already sent you documentationwith supporting information about lack of license for A-Sewer & Drain and American Service Industries, LLC. As you can see by the invoicedated 10-13-the license listed matches the document indicated as no records found. A-Sewer & Drain claims I can't spell or write or list correct address. This is not true as indicated by the documents made available to me byNew Mexico E-Services for contractor licensing. It is not the customers fault that your company fails to provide a valid license. As you can see by the address listed on the claim of lien and on the invoice that you already have on hand there is nothing wrong with myspelling. The fake license you list on your invoice matches the number on the company search resultsIt says, NO RECORDS FOUND! The search results for American Service Industries, LLC which is the name on the claim of lien match and clearly state....NO RECORDSFOUND! Why are you so dishonest??????????????????????????? Were you dropped on your head as a child? I hope one day you learn how to treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. If you are going to charge people a hour minimum charge you need to inform people of that and acquire consent. Your advertisement states free estimates not three hour minimum. *** ***[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, the consumer must give a reason why they are rejecting the responseIf the consumer does not provide a reason the complaint will be closed Answered]
A-1 was called out to repair a shower valve only, for this customer. When the tech examined the valve he explained in detail that this valve in particular would probably need the cartridge replaced which was an expensive part however many times by replacing the springs and washers (which are very...
inexpensive parts) the problem can usually be resolved and asked if the customer would like to try this less expensive solution first. The customer agreed and watched our tech complete this procedure. She also asked very detailed questions on what would need to done if the cartridge needed to be replaced and our tech gave her those details. The shower valve was tested for leaks and it worked fine. The tech had only used up 45 minutes of the minimum hour the customer was being charged for so she insisted that she take advantage of the 15 minutes left in her hour and asked him to look at her furnace. Because this was not anything mentioned originally our tech was not prepared for repairing the furnace, however he happily explained what could be done if the customer chose to have him come back out for the furnace repair. The customer is upset that the original solution did not last and that she had to change the filter herself, however had she called and let us know that the original solution only lasted temporarily we would have sent our tech out free of charge and replaced the cartridge and only charged for the part, not the labor. Also it is important that the customer realize that the fee we charge is not just for labor but also the knowledge and skill of our licensed plumber. Had our tech not explained in detail to the customer what the next step in her solution was or given her the part information, how would she have completed it herself?Regardless we are more than happy to refund the $50 the customer has requested. We wish she would have called us back out so that we could have taken care of her properly, but our main concern is her level of satisfaction. So if a refund does the trick she is welcome to it.
[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. We have sent a cashier's check via registered mail which should arrive in a few days.
Regards,
[redacted]
First of all our
foremost goal is to come to a positive and fair resolution. Although we
disagree with much of the customer’s account of what happened we will admit
that we did not handle this perfectly. First of all our tech was more concerned
with pleasing the customer than he was with...
finishing the job the way he
thought it should be finished. The customer stressed from the beginning that
they were trying to spend as little as possible on this job and so many things
were not completed the way our tech would have, had he been given the time or
opportunity. Our tech recommended that the inner shelf of the vanity be notched
out so that the pipes did not sit too close to the shelf because he was
concerned that if the vanity was moved it could knock the pipes loose. The
customer refused. The tech highly recommended that he attach the vanity to the
wall so that it wouldn’t move. The customer insisted on doing that on her own
to save money. Once the tech set the vanity in place he warned the customer to
make sure that the vanity was not moved again or it could knock the pipes
loose. With this concern in mind he checked the pipes thoroughly, made sure that
they were fitted tightly. He ran water for 15-20 minutes to make sure that
there was no possible way they could leak. The tech left understanding that he
did what the customer insisted but felt uneasy about what was asked of him, he
should have trusted his instincts because when the pipe came loose as predicted
the customer of course was not happy with the tech.
When the customer
denied the credit card charges, we did not trust the integrity of the customer’s
claims against our tech for several reasons.
1.
We knew that the vanity had to have been moved
against the instruction of the tech because there would be no other possible
explanation for the well fitted and tested pipe to come loose.
2.
We fully trust the account of the install given
to us by our Tech. He has been with our company for over ten years has a
reputation for being meticulous and until now has never received one customer
complaint in all of that time.
3.
The biggest problem we had with the customer’s
account was that she claimed that “After
the plumber left, I went into the bathroom once to run the water for just a few
seconds to see that the new faucet worked.” She then claimed she did not use
the sink for the rest of the day. The only way water could leak from that pipe
is if water was running through it. If she only turned on the water for a few
seconds just after the tech had tested its integrity, it would be impossible
for there to be enough water to leak from the pipe for any amount of time.
We admittedly did not handle this
well. Our tech should have gone back out immediately and then the movement of
the vanity would have been obvious to him and we could have addressed that with
the customer. Our biggest blunder was not realizing that our manager had not
returned the call to the customer. He had recently been in an accident during
this incident and had missed several days of work due to his severe injury. So this problem was never addressed properly.
We realize that from the beginning
the customer was trying to save money but in the end a few extra dollars spent
would have resulted in the vanity being attached properly to the wall and a
notch cut in the interior shelf to give the pipe room in case of movement.
Even though we have been in
business for over fifteen years there are always lessons to be learned and room
for improvement. When things like this happen we adjust our policies. We have a
new policy for making sure customers concerns are always addressed especially
if a manager is ever requested and a way to check this. We of course have had
to add in a disclaimer policy if a customer refuses to follow techs
recommendations.
We are sorry that this lesson
caused this customer to be dissatisfied in any way and are willing to remove
the lien as soon as a fair resolution is agreed upon.
Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:Regards,[redacted][To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, the consumer must give a reason why they are rejecting the response. If the consumer does not provide a reason the complaint will be closed Answered]I do not accept the response made by A -1 Sewer & Drain. First of all, I had never heard of A-1 Sewer & Drain before getting that outrageous bill from them in Nov 2015. Our septic system was installed by [redacted] in 2002. The complaint I have occurred on 10-13-2015 with A-1 Sewer & Drain. What ever service that occurred in the past with our septic system I am not aware of it because I was not home at the time and my husband handled those issues. Yes, my husband did call [redacted] to have our system evaluated. He did not call A-1 Sewer & Drain. This is not the issue. This issue is between Keith of A-1 Sewer & Drain and [redacted] the home owner. My husband was not home to witness what I witnessed on 10-13-15. My complaint is that we were never informed that a fake company was arriving at our house without a license on record and we were never given informed consent to any diagnoses or fees. I called Keith, after getting the bill from A-1. He was defensive, would not let me get a question out or word in without cutting me off and he was angry about my concerns. He then refused to talk with me about my concerns and told me to contact the office manager, which I did. I am confused as to why a company would operate under ten different names. If you are a legal company in good standing why would you dream up new names for different companies, not obtain a license and send them where ever you like, without informing the customer? I was informed by the construction industries division that none of these companies in question exist. I have better things to do with my time then deal with issues such as this and have no reason to make this stuff up. My complaint was and still is concerning work that was done by a fake company, without informed consent, by a sloppy technician that had no interest in working that day and milked the clock. He did not offer me any alternatives to his diagnoses. I was the one that asked him why the parts could not just be cleaned and replaced NOT HIM! He left brand new parts behind that we were billed for but he was too lazy to complete the job. This is why I believe these parts did not need to be replaced in the first place. I discussed my concerns with Sandra the office manager in length. She was a good listener and very polite. Sadly she was not able to reason with who ever is in charge. I believe this matter could have been resolved if Keith and the owner did not let their ego run their life. Keith needs to owe up to his unprofessional, bad behavior. I would have paid in full any bill that was warranted, honest, fair, and acquired with informed consent. A-1 Sewer & Drain did none of this. Were any of the so called documents they attached signed by me? No. I was the one that was home on 10-13-15. I was the one that witnessed unprofessional, unwarranted, sloppy, disinterested, slow, milk the clock behavior by Keith. You should be ashamed of yourself. I am attaching advertisement showing their claim for free estimates. We were never given an estimate, never informed of fees. None of this would have happened if [redacted] had been honest and upfront in the first place. I have received notification from the construction industries division that they are looking into this matter with A-1 Sewer & Drain. I have also contacted the Attorney General's Office. To Revdex.com I would like to further respond to the response from A-1 Sewer & Drain. I looked at the invoices they attached and I do nothave record of those in my file. I am sure my husband has contacted [redacted] in the past but he doesn't save receipts and I noticedthat there is no documentation where my husband should of signed his name. This is why I have never heard of A-1 Sewer & Drain. I did notmake this up. I asked my husband who A-1 Sewer & Drain was when I got their bill and he didn't know either. He told me he had called[redacted] for an estimate. I hope you can see why we were confused with getting a bill from a company we don't know. This leaves me to wonder why you attach name after name after name to your company? Have you behaved so badly time and time againthat you open and close businesses every other day? All of this activity stinks of bad behavior. I wish to explain further that the $264.00 hour fee is not a made up number either. That fee was given to me by Keith, over the phone, after thefact, when I called to discuss the bill! My husband was never informed of trip charges or hourly rates and neither was I. As I discussed with youearlier, I am not aware of what took place out here in the past. I was not here. I can only discuss the bad, unprofessional behavior that I witnessedin Oct of 2015 when Keith was here. So for that reason why don't we stick to the problem at hand. I informed Keith that we appeared to have a stuck valve. This is what my husband suspected and told me to tell [redacted] when they came out.My husband had manually turned our system off after I had alerted him that the system seemed to be running all the time. We didn't have an electricalproblem. We had a stuck sprinkler valve. The diagnosis was accurately done by my husband and Keith confirmed it in 1-2 minutes tops. I stood at the control panel and flipped the switches whileKeith listened for the water. This job should have been accomplished in 15 minutes providing that the valves needed to be replaced. I don't believe that the valves needed to be replaced at all and I already explained this to you in my initial complaint. I already told you that he left a brand new part behind and that he told me the sylinoids were perfectly good on our existing valves. This informationconfirms that the work done was unwarranted. He was clearly padding the bill and wasting my time and money. Keith never gave me any options concerning his diagnosis. I was the one that asked him why the valves couldn't just be cleaned and replaced. Hetold me that the parts may fail at any time and it would be best to just replace them. Keith told me that he performs a sludge test at every job. He never did this and I as a home owner don't even know what this means or of its value.I walked up to our mailbox to find Keith sitting on the road side yapping on his phone. I asked him about the sludge test that he said was part of the service call. He said he forgot. This whole situation is insane. Why is it so hard for [redacted] to be honest and upfront? Why can't Keith owe up to bad, bad, bad, behavior?Are their ego's running their lives? What a shame. Bad behavior wastes time and energy for all those involved.I am waiting to hear back from the construction industries division and the attorney general's office concerning this matter. I have also contacted the local news stations in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Thank you for your concern. [redacted]
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: The vendor said that they are willing to resolve the matter but made no offer to resolve the complaint. I would like to respond again to the vendor and offer a resolution. I have attached our response and proposed resolution.
Regards,
[redacted] [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, the consumer must give a reason why they are rejecting the response. If the consumer does not provide a reason if he complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
As American Service Industries LLC
we have two DBA’s which include [redacted] an established septic
company originally purchased in 1996 and A-1 Sewer & Drain an established
plumbing company originally purchased in 1999. We are proud and thankful to
state that together these...
companies have thousands of satisfied customers which
have led to the continuing success of both.
We have of course always made it a priority to take good care of our
customers and obviously would not still be around if we didn’t do exactly that.
I have always taken a serious look at the extremely rare and miniscule handful
of complaints we have actually received from the Revdex.com and have considered them a
lesson in learning new ways to improve as a business. I have always considered
every aspect of a customer’s complaint and of course, as every successful
business does, followed the motto “the customer is always right.” However for
the first time ever in fifteen years, I am not going to do this. Given the
ridiculous tactics this customer has stooped to, I believe this may be the rare
occasion where that motto would not apply and I am happy to provide mounting
evidence to prove this.
I would like to address the most
obvious complaints:
1.
The customer complained that they did not call
us out to the job and had never heard of our company. FACT: The Husband called
us and requested service. Both companies have been to this property several
times. I have provided copies of the past three A-1 invoices for proof.
2.
The customer stated that A-1 is not a licensed
business and our construction license is not valid. FACT we are absolutely
licensed and legal in every possible aspect please see the provided business license,
construction license and tax paperwork that proves this. The construction
industry DEFINITELY DID NOT tell her our license was invalid it is not. I
invite anyone who looks at the copy to verify this through the CID.
3.
The customer complained that we charge $264.00
an hour. FACT we DO NOT charge $264.00 we charge $89.50 per hour for our
plumbing service. We are located in
Albuquerque, so for jobs in Santa Fe (where the customer’s property is located)
we charge a 3 hour minimum which includes 1 hour trip charge there, 1 hour
return trip charge, and 1 hour minimum labor charge. Each additional hour of
labor is added at the same rate $89.50. The customer lives in Santa Fe, She was
charged for trip charge there and back plus 1.5 hours labor. Her husband was
informed of this and they have been charged this exact same way on every
occasion A-1 has been to their home. Again, refer to the copies of passed
invoices as well as the invoice from this current job provided.
4.
The customer complained that our tech was
sloppy, and milked the clock and did not inform her of the charges. FACT: The
customer followed our tech around the entire time he was working. She knows that there was a diagnosis of the
systems functions as well as the discovery of an electrical issue. He even gave
her a choice of just cleaning the nonfunctioning valves which would extend
their life temporarily or replacing the part that was broken which would give
her a more permanent result. SHE CHOSE THE LATTER and was aware of the price of
the valve which was quoted $69.05. Now this part I cannot prove with physical
evidence so anyone judging this would have to take into account the character
of both parties. Our tech has been with our company for more than 9 years he
does an average of about 25 jobs per a week that’s around 12,000 jobs during
the time he has been employed with us and has never had another complaint with
the Revdex.com. The customer however has made several false claims in her statement
and they have been disproven with physical evidence. The question of whose
integrity we should trust seems fairly simple to me.
5.
The customer claims that the job was not
complete. FACT the job was completed; her septic system is functioning
properly. If it wasn’t then sewage would probably be backing up in her home at
this point and I am sure she would have called us for that!
We honestly did
try to work with this customer. We tried to explain how our companies were
divided and how we send which ever one is going to be the most beneficial for
the customer, how we have been to her home several times, and verified that the
system was in working order. We spoke with the tech who says that he did everything he could to make sure this customer was happy, save her as much money as possible, and explain what he was doing. After several phone calls and a lot of patience with
her, the customer claimed that the only way she would ever pay is “If a judge
ordered her to.” At this point we felt we had no other choice to than to place
a lien on her property.
We feel we have
fixed the issue with the customers system efficiently and at a reasonable rate.
We have definitely been to her home before and we have always charged for our
work in the same way. We do not understand why she has gone to these lengths.
We are not going to bend on this one because we are absolutely in the right and
have plenty of evidence to back us up.
Thank You
Cammie
B[redacted]
Managing
Member
American
Service Industries LLC
DBA
A-1 Sewer & Drain
DBA
[redacted]
As American Service Industries LLC we have two DBA’s which include [redacted] an established septic company originally purchased in and A-Sewer & Drain an established plumbing company originally purchased in We are proud and thankful to state that together these companies have thousands of satisfied customers which have led to the continuing success of both We have of course always made it a priority to take good care of our customers and obviously would not still be around if we didn’t do exactly that I have always taken a serious look at the extremely rare and miniscule handful of complaints we have actually received from the Revdex.com and have considered them a lesson in learning new ways to improve as a businessI have always considered every aspect of a customer’s complaint and of course, as every successful business does, followed the motto “the customer is always right.” However for the first time ever in fifteen years, I am not going to do thisGiven the ridiculous tactics this customer has stooped to, I believe this may be the rare occasion where that motto would not apply and I am happy to provide mounting evidence to prove this I would like to address the most obvious complaints: The customer complained that they did not call us out to the job and had never heard of our companyFACT: The Husband called us and requested serviceBoth companies have been to this property several timesI have provided copies of the past three A-invoices for proof The customer stated that A-is not a licensed business and our construction license is not validFACT we are absolutely licensed and legal in every possible aspect please see the provided business license, construction license and tax paperwork that proves thisThe construction industry DEFINITELY DID NOT tell her our license was invalid it is notI invite anyone who looks at the copy to verify this through the CID The customer complained that we charge $ an hourFACT we DO NOT charge $we charge $per hour for our plumbing service We are located in Albuquerque, so for jobs in Santa Fe (where the customer’s property is located) we charge a hour minimum which includes hour trip charge there, hour return trip charge, and hour minimum labor chargeEach additional hour of labor is added at the same rate $The customer lives in Santa Fe, She was charged for trip charge there and back plus hours laborHer husband was informed of this and they have been charged this exact same way on every occasion A-has been to their homeAgain, refer to the copies of passed invoices as well as the invoice from this current job provided The customer complained that our tech was sloppy, and milked the clock and did not inform her of the chargesFACT: The customer followed our tech around the entire time he was working She knows that there was a diagnosis of the systems functions as well as the discovery of an electrical issueHe even gave her a choice of just cleaning the nonfunctioning valves which would extend their life temporarily or replacing the part that was broken which would give her a more permanent resultSHE CHOSE THE LATTER and was aware of the price of the valve which was quoted $Now this part I cannot prove with physical evidence so anyone judging this would have to take into account the character of both partiesOur tech has been with our company for more than years he does an average of about jobs per a week that’s around 12,jobs during the time he has been employed with us and has never had another complaint with the Revdex.comThe customer however has made several claims in her statement and they have been disproven with physical evidenceThe question of whose integrity we should trust seems fairly simple to me The customer claims that the job was not completeFACT the job was completed; her septic system is functioning properlyIf it wasn’t then sewage would probably be backing up in her home at this point and I am sure she would have called us for that! We honestly did try to work with this customerWe tried to explain how our companies were divided and how we send which ever one is going to be the most beneficial for the customer, how we have been to her home several times, and verified that the system was in working orderWe spoke with the tech who says that he did everything he could to make sure this customer was happy, save her as much money as possible, and explain what he was doingAfter several phone calls and a lot of patience with her, the customer claimed that the only way she would ever pay is “If a judge ordered her to.” At this point we felt we had no other choice to than to place a lien on her property We feel we have fixed the issue with the customers system efficiently and at a reasonable rate We have definitely been to her home before and we have always charged for our work in the same wayWe do not understand why she has gone to these lengths We are not going to bend on this one because we are absolutely in the right and have plenty of evidence to back us up Thank You Cammie B [redacted] Managing Member American Service Industries LLC DBA A-Sewer & Drain DBA [redacted]
Even
though I find this customers response redundant I have to admit that I
appreciate her second submission to the Revdex.com because I
believe it will give anyone who takes the time to read through this a clear
idea of the extreme behavior we have experienced with this customer over the
past several monthsUnfortunately we have taken several phone calls from this
customer to our office staff making many more preposterous claims than have
been represented in this complaint and we are proud of our patience, however
because the claims are and border on slander we are defending ourselves
and unlike the customer backing every word with tangible evidence
I would
like to briefly address several of her claims, most of which are repetitive and
have already been addressed in my first response so I will refer to information
from my first response on several occasions:
1.
Customer complains that we never performed a
sludge test and that she didn’t know what that wasFACT The customer asked our
tech how she would know if she needed her septic tank pumped when he first arrived
and he explained that this could be determined by performing a sludge test
which measures the amount of solids in a tankHe also explained to her that he
does do this regularly whenever he visits customers who have maintenance contracts
with usOur tech was there to fix her system and not to perform standard
maintenanceThis customer does not have a maintenance contract with us, however
our tech did perform a sludge test anyway after he had stopped charging her for
his labor time AND THIS WAS FREE OF CHARGE!
2.
Customer complains that she is confused as to
why we “operate under different names” and states “If you
are a legal company in good standing why would you dream up new names for
different companies, not obtain a license and send them where ever you like,
without informing the customer? I was informed by the construction industries
division that none of these companies in question exist“
FACT we are a legal company (see original documentation) we have TWO names
that belonged to the companies when we originally purchased them, we have a
license (see original documentation) She was never informed by the construction
industry that our company does not exist because they have all of our valid
license information on record and it is easily attainable if you type in the
correct informationAs we explained previously; we are American Service
Industries LLC doing business as *** *** and A-We are under the
same owner regardless of what our invoice saysWe have kept the company’s invoices
and names separate for several reasons including accounting purposes and to
honor the customer base that was already in place when we originally purchased
the businessesSimply put if we are providing maintenance/pumping or
installing a septic system we invoice that job under *** ***If we
are providing a plumbing service of any kind we invoice that under A-This is for our
accounting and record keeping purposesThe exact same license number and address is
provided on both company invoicesThis has NEVER been an issue with any customer until
now and we are still confused as to why it would be an issue regardlessMORE IMPORTANTLY please note that the copies the customer provides
showing her attempts to find our license are unsuccessful either because she
put in a different zip code than the one on her invoice, or a different license
number, or she misspelled the owners last nameHOWEVER if you put in the
correct information you will see that everything is in place (Please see the document
named “CID LICENSE PROOF”, we provided from the same website that validates
this)
3.
Customer AGAIN complains that she was charged
$per an hour FACT as stated in our original response “we charge $per hour for our plumbing service We are
located in Albuquerque, so for jobs in Santa Fe (where the customer’s property
is located) we charge a hour minimum which includes hour trip charge there,
hour return trip charge, and hour minimum labor chargeEach additional
hour of labor is added at the same rate $The customer lives in Santa Fe,
She was charged for trip charge there and back plus hours laborHer
husband was informed of this and they have been charged this exact same way on every
occasion A-has been to their homeAgain, refer to the copies of passed
invoices as well as the invoice from this current job provided.”
4.
Customer states that “I am sure
my husband has contacted *** *** in the past but he doesn't save receipts
and I noticed that there is no documentation where my husband should of
signed his name This is why I have never heard of A-Sewer & Drain
“ FACT
we have provided several documents that refute this, AND THE DOCUMENTS INCLUDE
THE HUSBANDS SIGNATURE!!! (please refer to copies of invoices provided in the
original response)
I
could easily point out several other misrepresentations of the truth in this
customers complaint and provide plenty more physical evidence to back this up, including
copies of the checks made out to A-Sewer & Drain, that we cashed from
when her husband did pay us for our previous service, but I think we have
provided a sufficient amount of evidence to prove our pointI am sorry that
this customer and her husband do not communicate or keep their receipts however
that still does not excuse her from paying for the services we providedThe
gist of all of this is the problem with HER SYSTEM WAS REPAIRED at a reasonable
rate, in a reasonable amount of timeThe rest of this complaint is seriously
insane on so many levelsWe would love to just excuse her for the little
amount she owes and be done with her but we are refusing because we are not in
the wrong and she is NOT BEING TRUTHFULSo we are enduring this torture
because we are an honest, legitimate company and are continuing to defend our
honor because it is the right thing to do
First we are very sorry that this customer is dissatisfied with our serviceWe were called out to clear a line that was causing her washing machine to back upDespite her initial reluctance to trust our techs expertise, we are sure we remedied her original issue and that is all that she has
been charged forHowever due to the extreme difference in our account of what happened, and some obviously negative claims against our company we believe it is important to recall the events according to our records: Here are the following discrepancies in our customer’s account; The first tech on the job was Ernest (not Beto) we are not sure why the customer felt threatened by himWe have never had this complaint before and Ernest does about jobs a weekErnest did however disagree with the customer’s suggestion to try and clear the main line because her problem was with her washing machine drain lineHe did upon the customers insistence use our Kmachine to run the main line and found it to be clearWhen this did not fix the customers problem she accused our tech of not knowing what he was doing and had him removed from the jobRobert was the second tech we sent outThankfully the customer was willing to let Robert attempt to clear hear washing machine lineThe customer has a barbed wire fence that is falling over and when the tech crawled underneath it to get to the proper drain line he cut his ear very severely and did use profanity which he and our company apologize forThe area around this drain was extremely saturated and our tech had a hard time propping the machine up out of the deep mud and running it at the same time so he got the homeowners permission to come back with another tech to finish the jobWe then sent Beto to help with finishing the jobThe line was cleared and several roots were pulled from the lineThe total time taken to finish the job was three hoursThat is exactly what the customer was charged forOn August the customer called because she thought her lines were backing up againThe tech filled her washing machine with water and it drained it and there was not a backup problemThe tech pointed out that the customers ground was extremely saturated from day one and now that it was obvious that this was not being caused due to a backup it was more than likely due to a water leak somewhere underground or possibly under the houseThe tech gave her an estimate to repair her water leak We are having a very hard time understanding how this customer could feel that she should be refundedHer drain was backed up due to roots in in her drain lineUnder difficult circumstances we pulled the roots from her line and verified that it workedShe was charged for our timeThere is nothing misrepresented or excessive in our request for paymentThe separate issue of a water leak is not something that we causedThe fact that her ground was extremely saturated from day one proves that this is a problem that was in existence previous to our arrivalHer claim that one of our employees would go out of their wat to sabotage her plumbing is not only preposterous but impossibleThe leak is undergroundThey would not have had access to do thisSo in conclusion, although we make every effort to make our customers happy we are not willing to refund our charges because we fixed her initial problemWe are also not willing to pay her water bill or for the repairs to her possible broken water line, because we did not and could not have caused the underground leak
We are agree to the terms of resolution offered by our customer and will move forward to get this taken care of immediately
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:To the Revdex.com of ABQ, NM I wish to respond to the statements made by A-Sewer & Drain on 3-09-2016. It is clear to me that this company is never going to owe up to bad, dishonest, unprofessional behavior. They continue to bring up pasttransactions that I know nothing about because I was not here. I am sorry they are unable to stick with the issue at hand, the problem Iwitnessed in Oct of 2015.I would like to say that I would have never known what a sludge test is had Keith, not brought the issue upWe have never been concernedabout our septic system backing up into our home or anywhere else for that matter We have the gallon tank pumped out once everytwo to three yearsI have attached the most recent receipt dated May 19, 2015. Keith told me that he does a sludge test on all service calls. When he failed to do this during his service call, I brought it to his attention becauseas a home owner, I have no idea if this is important or notHe never said one thing about maintenance contracts or the issues addressed forcustomers with maintenance contractsI would like to point out that a sludge test is nothing more than sticking a stick down in the holdingtank and then raising it outWOW!! How hard is that?? You have raise your arm down then raise your arm upThat's it. The proceduretakes a whole seconds at most! Let me guess, A-Sewer & Drain will charge you $264.00/ hour to do that! I believe the reason Keith didn't do the sludge test is because I informed him that we just had our septic system pumped out in May Keithdidn't want to do anything when he was here. He moved at a slow, sluggish, lethargic pace. He refused to work in an honest, efficient, professional manner. He flat out told me he didn't want to go to his next job either that was located in Tierras. Isn't it interesting that not once has A-Sewer & Drain discussed how long it should take to unscrew bolts with an electric drill or how long it shouldtake to replace a tiny fuse. I still want to know what Keith was doing out here for the hour and a half he claims he was working. He was milking the clock because he didn't want to be here, he didn't want to work and he didn't want to go to his next job. He was strolling around like one of the SevenDwarfs at ***....most likely Sleepy or Dopey. I was here to witness this disgusting, unprofessional behavior. The people defending him werenot here. If they saw what I witnessed they should be as disgusted as I am. I have attached the claim of lien that was placed on our property. The name of their company and location with zip code is on the lienThis zipcode and name of business matches what the construction industries division reported to me that no such company exists. Keith needs to quit his job and go find something to do, in life, that makes him happyUntil that day comes he will continue to leave a trail ofdisgust and conflict where ever he goes. He will continue to waste peoples time and energy and moneyHis company will be constantly moppingup his mess and trying desperately to defend his bad behavior. What I want everyone to know is that when faced with a dishonest, unprofessional, fake company, stand up for your rights. It is not fun, but it isthe right thing to doIt is the right thing to do for yourself and for any other person who may be inflicted by that same dishonest group. When this whole conflict began, I searched the Revdex.com for info concerning the characters in this circus act. I read how they destroyed a landscape ata home in Placitas, cracked a home owner's driveway, and cost a home owner $in landscaping repair due to their careless, thoughtless performance. I hope this information is still available to all. It is important that we know what we are up against. I tried my best to resolve this issue in a reasonable manner. I am simply a home owner that is fed up with bad behavior. I have been informed thata so called company without a license cannot put a lien on your home. If a lien is placed on your home during a conflict, it must be removed afterone year if no action is taken. If A-Sewer & Drain wants to sue me for $500.00, that is fine. I will counter sue and be confident in front of any judge, anywhere, anytime. Iknow God is watching over me and my husband. We are hard working people that just want to be treated with honesty and respect. UnfortunatelyA-Sewer & Drain lets their ego run their life and their company lacks common sense, and courtesy. I am asking the Revdex.com to keep record on their website of conflicts such as this and others so that we can all be the judge of the ridiculous behaviorthat goes on day in and day out. Thank you. *** *** To Revdex.com, ABQ, NM I would like to address the lack of licensing I was informed of by the construction industries division. I already sent you documentationwith supporting information about lack of license for A-Sewer & Drain and American Service Industries, LLC. As you can see by the invoicedated 10-13-the license listed matches the document indicated as no records found. A-Sewer & Drain claims I can't spell or write or list correct address. This is not true as indicated by the documents made available to me byNew Mexico E-Services for contractor licensing. It is not the customers fault that your company fails to provide a valid license. As you can see by the address listed on the claim of lien and on the invoice that you already have on hand there is nothing wrong with myspelling. The fake license you list on your invoice matches the number on the company search resultsIt says, NO RECORDS FOUND! The search results for American Service Industries, LLC which is the name on the claim of lien match and clearly state....NO RECORDSFOUND! Why are you so dishonest??????????????????????????? Were you dropped on your head as a child? I hope one day you learn how to treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. If you are going to charge people a hour minimum charge you need to inform people of that and acquire consent. Your advertisement states free estimates not three hour minimum. *** ***[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, the consumer must give a reason why they are rejecting the responseIf the consumer does not provide a reason the complaint will be closed Answered]
A-1 was called out to repair a shower valve only, for this customer. When the tech examined the valve he explained in detail that this valve in particular would probably need the cartridge replaced which was an expensive part however many times by replacing the springs and washers (which are very...
inexpensive parts) the problem can usually be resolved and asked if the customer would like to try this less expensive solution first. The customer agreed and watched our tech complete this procedure. She also asked very detailed questions on what would need to done if the cartridge needed to be replaced and our tech gave her those details. The shower valve was tested for leaks and it worked fine. The tech had only used up 45 minutes of the minimum hour the customer was being charged for so she insisted that she take advantage of the 15 minutes left in her hour and asked him to look at her furnace. Because this was not anything mentioned originally our tech was not prepared for repairing the furnace, however he happily explained what could be done if the customer chose to have him come back out for the furnace repair. The customer is upset that the original solution did not last and that she had to change the filter herself, however had she called and let us know that the original solution only lasted temporarily we would have sent our tech out free of charge and replaced the cartridge and only charged for the part, not the labor. Also it is important that the customer realize that the fee we charge is not just for labor but also the knowledge and skill of our licensed plumber. Had our tech not explained in detail to the customer what the next step in her solution was or given her the part information, how would she have completed it herself?Regardless we are more than happy to refund the $50 the customer has requested. We wish she would have called us back out so that we could have taken care of her properly, but our main concern is her level of satisfaction. So if a refund does the trick she is welcome to it.
[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. We have sent a cashier's check via registered mail which should arrive in a few days.
Regards,
[redacted]
First of all our
foremost goal is to come to a positive and fair resolution. Although we
disagree with much of the customer’s account of what happened we will admit
that we did not handle this perfectly. First of all our tech was more concerned
with pleasing the customer than he was with...
finishing the job the way he
thought it should be finished. The customer stressed from the beginning that
they were trying to spend as little as possible on this job and so many things
were not completed the way our tech would have, had he been given the time or
opportunity. Our tech recommended that the inner shelf of the vanity be notched
out so that the pipes did not sit too close to the shelf because he was
concerned that if the vanity was moved it could knock the pipes loose. The
customer refused. The tech highly recommended that he attach the vanity to the
wall so that it wouldn’t move. The customer insisted on doing that on her own
to save money. Once the tech set the vanity in place he warned the customer to
make sure that the vanity was not moved again or it could knock the pipes
loose. With this concern in mind he checked the pipes thoroughly, made sure that
they were fitted tightly. He ran water for 15-20 minutes to make sure that
there was no possible way they could leak. The tech left understanding that he
did what the customer insisted but felt uneasy about what was asked of him, he
should have trusted his instincts because when the pipe came loose as predicted
the customer of course was not happy with the tech.
When the customer
denied the credit card charges, we did not trust the integrity of the customer’s
claims against our tech for several reasons.
1.
We knew that the vanity had to have been moved
against the instruction of the tech because there would be no other possible
explanation for the well fitted and tested pipe to come loose.
2.
We fully trust the account of the install given
to us by our Tech. He has been with our company for over ten years has a
reputation for being meticulous and until now has never received one customer
complaint in all of that time.
3.
The biggest problem we had with the customer’s
account was that she claimed that “After
the plumber left, I went into the bathroom once to run the water for just a few
seconds to see that the new faucet worked.” She then claimed she did not use
the sink for the rest of the day. The only way water could leak from that pipe
is if water was running through it. If she only turned on the water for a few
seconds just after the tech had tested its integrity, it would be impossible
for there to be enough water to leak from the pipe for any amount of time.
We admittedly did not handle this
well. Our tech should have gone back out immediately and then the movement of
the vanity would have been obvious to him and we could have addressed that with
the customer. Our biggest blunder was not realizing that our manager had not
returned the call to the customer. He had recently been in an accident during
this incident and had missed several days of work due to his severe injury. So this problem was never addressed properly.
We realize that from the beginning
the customer was trying to save money but in the end a few extra dollars spent
would have resulted in the vanity being attached properly to the wall and a
notch cut in the interior shelf to give the pipe room in case of movement.
Even though we have been in
business for over fifteen years there are always lessons to be learned and room
for improvement. When things like this happen we adjust our policies. We have a
new policy for making sure customers concerns are always addressed especially
if a manager is ever requested and a way to check this. We of course have had
to add in a disclaimer policy if a customer refuses to follow techs
recommendations.
We are sorry that this lesson
caused this customer to be dissatisfied in any way and are willing to remove
the lien as soon as a fair resolution is agreed upon.
Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:Regards,[redacted][To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, the consumer must give a reason why they are rejecting the response. If the consumer does not provide a reason the complaint will be closed Answered]I do not accept the response made by A -1 Sewer & Drain. First of all, I had never heard of A-1 Sewer & Drain before getting that outrageous bill from them in Nov 2015. Our septic system was installed by [redacted] in 2002. The complaint I have occurred on 10-13-2015 with A-1 Sewer & Drain. What ever service that occurred in the past with our septic system I am not aware of it because I was not home at the time and my husband handled those issues. Yes, my husband did call [redacted] to have our system evaluated. He did not call A-1 Sewer & Drain. This is not the issue. This issue is between Keith of A-1 Sewer & Drain and [redacted] the home owner. My husband was not home to witness what I witnessed on 10-13-15. My complaint is that we were never informed that a fake company was arriving at our house without a license on record and we were never given informed consent to any diagnoses or fees. I called Keith, after getting the bill from A-1. He was defensive, would not let me get a question out or word in without cutting me off and he was angry about my concerns. He then refused to talk with me about my concerns and told me to contact the office manager, which I did. I am confused as to why a company would operate under ten different names. If you are a legal company in good standing why would you dream up new names for different companies, not obtain a license and send them where ever you like, without informing the customer? I was informed by the construction industries division that none of these companies in question exist. I have better things to do with my time then deal with issues such as this and have no reason to make this stuff up. My complaint was and still is concerning work that was done by a fake company, without informed consent, by a sloppy technician that had no interest in working that day and milked the clock. He did not offer me any alternatives to his diagnoses. I was the one that asked him why the parts could not just be cleaned and replaced NOT HIM! He left brand new parts behind that we were billed for but he was too lazy to complete the job. This is why I believe these parts did not need to be replaced in the first place. I discussed my concerns with Sandra the office manager in length. She was a good listener and very polite. Sadly she was not able to reason with who ever is in charge. I believe this matter could have been resolved if Keith and the owner did not let their ego run their life. Keith needs to owe up to his unprofessional, bad behavior. I would have paid in full any bill that was warranted, honest, fair, and acquired with informed consent. A-1 Sewer & Drain did none of this. Were any of the so called documents they attached signed by me? No. I was the one that was home on 10-13-15. I was the one that witnessed unprofessional, unwarranted, sloppy, disinterested, slow, milk the clock behavior by Keith. You should be ashamed of yourself. I am attaching advertisement showing their claim for free estimates. We were never given an estimate, never informed of fees. None of this would have happened if [redacted] had been honest and upfront in the first place. I have received notification from the construction industries division that they are looking into this matter with A-1 Sewer & Drain. I have also contacted the Attorney General's Office. To Revdex.com I would like to further respond to the response from A-1 Sewer & Drain. I looked at the invoices they attached and I do nothave record of those in my file. I am sure my husband has contacted [redacted] in the past but he doesn't save receipts and I noticedthat there is no documentation where my husband should of signed his name. This is why I have never heard of A-1 Sewer & Drain. I did notmake this up. I asked my husband who A-1 Sewer & Drain was when I got their bill and he didn't know either. He told me he had called[redacted] for an estimate. I hope you can see why we were confused with getting a bill from a company we don't know. This leaves me to wonder why you attach name after name after name to your company? Have you behaved so badly time and time againthat you open and close businesses every other day? All of this activity stinks of bad behavior. I wish to explain further that the $264.00 hour fee is not a made up number either. That fee was given to me by Keith, over the phone, after thefact, when I called to discuss the bill! My husband was never informed of trip charges or hourly rates and neither was I. As I discussed with youearlier, I am not aware of what took place out here in the past. I was not here. I can only discuss the bad, unprofessional behavior that I witnessedin Oct of 2015 when Keith was here. So for that reason why don't we stick to the problem at hand. I informed Keith that we appeared to have a stuck valve. This is what my husband suspected and told me to tell [redacted] when they came out.My husband had manually turned our system off after I had alerted him that the system seemed to be running all the time. We didn't have an electricalproblem. We had a stuck sprinkler valve. The diagnosis was accurately done by my husband and Keith confirmed it in 1-2 minutes tops. I stood at the control panel and flipped the switches whileKeith listened for the water. This job should have been accomplished in 15 minutes providing that the valves needed to be replaced. I don't believe that the valves needed to be replaced at all and I already explained this to you in my initial complaint. I already told you that he left a brand new part behind and that he told me the sylinoids were perfectly good on our existing valves. This informationconfirms that the work done was unwarranted. He was clearly padding the bill and wasting my time and money. Keith never gave me any options concerning his diagnosis. I was the one that asked him why the valves couldn't just be cleaned and replaced. Hetold me that the parts may fail at any time and it would be best to just replace them. Keith told me that he performs a sludge test at every job. He never did this and I as a home owner don't even know what this means or of its value.I walked up to our mailbox to find Keith sitting on the road side yapping on his phone. I asked him about the sludge test that he said was part of the service call. He said he forgot. This whole situation is insane. Why is it so hard for [redacted] to be honest and upfront? Why can't Keith owe up to bad, bad, bad, behavior?Are their ego's running their lives? What a shame. Bad behavior wastes time and energy for all those involved.I am waiting to hear back from the construction industries division and the attorney general's office concerning this matter. I have also contacted the local news stations in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Thank you for your concern. [redacted]
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: The vendor said that they are willing to resolve the matter but made no offer to resolve the complaint. I would like to respond again to the vendor and offer a resolution. I have attached our response and proposed resolution.
Regards,
[redacted] [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, the consumer must give a reason why they are rejecting the response. If the consumer does not provide a reason if he complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
As American Service Industries LLC
we have two DBA’s which include [redacted] an established septic
company originally purchased in 1996 and A-1 Sewer & Drain an established
plumbing company originally purchased in 1999. We are proud and thankful to
state that together these...
companies have thousands of satisfied customers which
have led to the continuing success of both.
We have of course always made it a priority to take good care of our
customers and obviously would not still be around if we didn’t do exactly that.
I have always taken a serious look at the extremely rare and miniscule handful
of complaints we have actually received from the Revdex.com and have considered them a
lesson in learning new ways to improve as a business. I have always considered
every aspect of a customer’s complaint and of course, as every successful
business does, followed the motto “the customer is always right.” However for
the first time ever in fifteen years, I am not going to do this. Given the
ridiculous tactics this customer has stooped to, I believe this may be the rare
occasion where that motto would not apply and I am happy to provide mounting
evidence to prove this.
I would like to address the most
obvious complaints:
1.
The customer complained that they did not call
us out to the job and had never heard of our company. FACT: The Husband called
us and requested service. Both companies have been to this property several
times. I have provided copies of the past three A-1 invoices for proof.
2.
The customer stated that A-1 is not a licensed
business and our construction license is not valid. FACT we are absolutely
licensed and legal in every possible aspect please see the provided business license,
construction license and tax paperwork that proves this. The construction
industry DEFINITELY DID NOT tell her our license was invalid it is not. I
invite anyone who looks at the copy to verify this through the CID.
3.
The customer complained that we charge $264.00
an hour. FACT we DO NOT charge $264.00 we charge $89.50 per hour for our
plumbing service. We are located in
Albuquerque, so for jobs in Santa Fe (where the customer’s property is located)
we charge a 3 hour minimum which includes 1 hour trip charge there, 1 hour
return trip charge, and 1 hour minimum labor charge. Each additional hour of
labor is added at the same rate $89.50. The customer lives in Santa Fe, She was
charged for trip charge there and back plus 1.5 hours labor. Her husband was
informed of this and they have been charged this exact same way on every
occasion A-1 has been to their home. Again, refer to the copies of passed
invoices as well as the invoice from this current job provided.
4.
The customer complained that our tech was
sloppy, and milked the clock and did not inform her of the charges. FACT: The
customer followed our tech around the entire time he was working. She knows that there was a diagnosis of the
systems functions as well as the discovery of an electrical issue. He even gave
her a choice of just cleaning the nonfunctioning valves which would extend
their life temporarily or replacing the part that was broken which would give
her a more permanent result. SHE CHOSE THE LATTER and was aware of the price of
the valve which was quoted $69.05. Now this part I cannot prove with physical
evidence so anyone judging this would have to take into account the character
of both parties. Our tech has been with our company for more than 9 years he
does an average of about 25 jobs per a week that’s around 12,000 jobs during
the time he has been employed with us and has never had another complaint with
the Revdex.com. The customer however has made several false claims in her statement
and they have been disproven with physical evidence. The question of whose
integrity we should trust seems fairly simple to me.
5.
The customer claims that the job was not
complete. FACT the job was completed; her septic system is functioning
properly. If it wasn’t then sewage would probably be backing up in her home at
this point and I am sure she would have called us for that!
We honestly did
try to work with this customer. We tried to explain how our companies were
divided and how we send which ever one is going to be the most beneficial for
the customer, how we have been to her home several times, and verified that the
system was in working order. We spoke with the tech who says that he did everything he could to make sure this customer was happy, save her as much money as possible, and explain what he was doing. After several phone calls and a lot of patience with
her, the customer claimed that the only way she would ever pay is “If a judge
ordered her to.” At this point we felt we had no other choice to than to place
a lien on her property.
We feel we have
fixed the issue with the customers system efficiently and at a reasonable rate.
We have definitely been to her home before and we have always charged for our
work in the same way. We do not understand why she has gone to these lengths.
We are not going to bend on this one because we are absolutely in the right and
have plenty of evidence to back us up.
Thank You
Cammie
B[redacted]
Managing
Member
American
Service Industries LLC
DBA
A-1 Sewer & Drain
DBA
[redacted]