F.H. Swisher Plumbing & Heating

Review: A plumber from the company came to my house to check into a slow draining sink. He took the trap apart and snaked the drain and determined that there is a crack in the pipe under the floor. However, when he put the trap under the sink back together, he used new parts without permission, for which I was charged. The new parts were not the same as the old parts, and since the original parts included a shut off valve, now the sink backs up when it rains. This leads to the sink overflowing which floods my basement. I've had to bail out the water in the sink with a bucket which has aggravated a previous back injury and also caused me to miss work to make sure my house doesn't flood. I've lost wages for missing work. In addition, the plumber was told that the shut off valve was needed prior to not replacing it properly, so he was aware of its purpose but still replaced it with incorrect parts. After calling and expressing my displeasure, no one from the company has returned my phone calls. I've included pictures of the sink filled with water and the parts he replaced without permission.Desired Settlement: I would like a refund for the services performed and a replacement of the parts in question. It should be returned to the original configuration with no charge.

Business

Response:

August 27, 2013

**. [redacted],

I am writing in response to your correspondence date Friday August 16, 2013. ID of [redacted]. Our technician in fact did respond to the residence of **. [redacted] and attempted to clean the drain which in fact was found to be broken under the floor. Customer was advised of this problem and chose not to correct it. The part that was taken off the sink was in fact a shut off valve which is against the code to stop of the flow of gray water or sewage to enter the public sewer system. The technician asked a gentleman who was there at the time why the valve was installed. He reported he did not know and never had touched it. On the day in question 6.25 inches of rain fell in [redacted] causing major flooding issues with many residents. Two streets over from **. [redacted]'s street, a car was completely submerged under water. I have photographs of the water on **. [redacted]'s street as well as an apartment complex that was flooded out. The streets were barricaded off to prevent traffic flow as it was a dangerous situation.

I cannot control mother nature nor the fact that the public sewer system could not handle the storm water flow and will not reconfigure any connection that is not permitted by code thus taking the chance of losing my license. There are approved backflow devices which would require cutting of the concrete and installing the line. It is my recommendation that **. [redacted] look into the installation of such device.

We are one of a few plumbing contractors in our area that have been accredited by the Revdex.com and will not jeopardize that accreditation by performing work either against codes or otherwise.

Regards,