Septic company scam - Illegal practices - out $$$

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Chickenpancakes

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Hi there, our home is almost 6 years old, its a new build 3 tank system with "turkey mound"

we had water backing up into the yard before the mound in the back yard.

Called local septic guy.

He comes and says you need a new pump.
The Alarm was dead, (we assume lighting, etc)

Septic guy quotes out to do the following.

R&R Pump.
new alarm
Add riser to tank
and pump out the tanks. ($500)

Septic guy opens the solid tank lid and shows my father the contents.
apparently lots of solids, including flushable wipes. (Yes I know.. it took 6 years to fill the tank,)


Septic guy apparently came in a pickup truck,
Pumped out to the tank to get to the pump with a small pump and hose
way out into the back yard, there are neighbors behind us too!

Isnt this type of practice a huge health hazard and highly illegal with the risk of huge fines?

Check was left with disabled mother who thought all work was completed,
he then says he has to come back to add the riser and finish pumping.

3 weeks roll by he finally shows up to pump and add riser.
no riser. all he does is call us over and show us the contents of the solids tank. he says "see all this? this is hard and has to be broken up"

yea AND? we paid $500 to you already.

He tells us the homeowner to open the tank and get a pole or rake and break up the solids, scoop them out into bags and throw it in the regular garbage!

That or pay MORE money for HIM to do it..


Any suggestions on what to do here in this situation?
 
Is he licensed? It is illegal in all areas I know of to toss human waste on the ground. A pumper truck needs to come out and pump it, there will be no issues with hard waste. Around here it costs about $175 to do that. I would not give him another dime. Anyone who pumps your septic to the back corner of your property is not a professional. You are likey not going to see any money back from hom and it is up to you if you want him to continue any work. In CA he can legally do a $500 job with no license but at $501 he is breaking the law.
 
First six years is way too long to not have the tank pumped. Second he should have had the tank pumped by a septic company with a tank truck before he did the repairs that were needed. Pumping the contents of the tank into the yard was highly illegal. At this point you need to have the tank pumped or you could burn up another pump.
 
This guy has a full pump truck rig, is licensed, does full installs,etc..

but when he came to change the pump itself, he came in a pickup. He Used a small pump to pump out the liquid side into the backyard to get to and change the pump.

The solids side, he saw and noted that wipes aren't good
That it's pretty hard and needs to be broken up.


Price was agreed to pump everything in the deal for $500

3 weeks later he comes, pops the lid and tells us we have to get a rake or long pole and break up the solids, remove the wipes and hardened waste and put it in garbage bags and throw in the trash!

"I won't be very happy if I burn up my pump" he now says and it will be another $375.

How outrageous. he is using this "stick poles in there and break it up" thing as a leverage to try and scam more money.


He saw all this,quoted it, didnt finish now wants to scam for more money..


Typically from what I have read and heard is that he should back pump water into the solids side to break things up and then suck..

This guy literally does suck..lol.

He is also using the "hey I live right down the street, I know everyone in the community, and stands in the yard and bs for an hour and act like a good guy"

I guess I will have to call him, tell him I'm on it him. Call another guy and then hit the review sites.. What else can I do? I didn't videotape him pumping into the yard......


Thanks guys for the speedy replies!
 
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Is there a pile of poo in your yard? If so ask him if that is legal.
 
Chickenpancakes, call the department of health immediately and report his ass. Then tell them you want him to pay for safe removal of the waste from your yard because it was illegal for him to dump it there and he likely did not have your permission to do so. I've never heard of someone charging $500 to drain a tank (unless you have a huge tank). It costs around $240 here-- but I've been told my tank guy charges high and I need to find a new one because he doesn't completely drain it and he leaves solid waste.

Generally if the job required draining the tank and having the stuff installed it should be done in one shot. It is not your fault if he did not have all of the materials to do the full job at the time. If he had to come back to drain it again because he didn't bring the stuff the first time, I think that is his problem.

You can request a list of people who are licensed to drain septic tanks from the Health Department and sometimes you can ask if any of them have any violations on their records for not draining things properly. They are not allowed to recommend any particular person, but they can help you narrow it down by letting you know who has violated the rules and who is licensed and such.

Your yard will likely have to have the yard dug up and contaminated soil removed. I think you may want to start consulting a lawyer about the possibility of suing for property damage.

I'm always wary of the ones who stand in the yard and BS with people. I know a guy down the street like that and he's a violent criminal who tried to murder one of my friends.
Also, if they are standing around BSing they aren't getting the work done.

I could be wrong on this, and I'm sure one of the pros here will correct me if I am.

But that just does not seem legit at all and that guy needs to be reported so he can be fined and dealt with by authorities.

Edit: It sounds to me like the guy needs to have his license revoked if he just dumped raw sewage water on top of land out in the yard-- assuming he is even licensed. If he is not licensed and misled you, then he is also guilty of fraud and he can be prosecuted.
 
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We do installs all the time and
Sometimes need the old tanks pumped out.
The way your guy did things is highly illegal.

This below about sums it up.

Edit: It sounds to me like the guy needs to have his license revoked if he just dumped raw sewage water on top of land out in the yard-- assuming he is even licensed. If he is not licensed and misled you, then he is also guilty of fraud and he can be prosecuted.
 
Guys I believe he pumped effluent water to yard not from solids tank which is still illegal but wouldn't put solids in yard. The water he pumped on top is the same water that was standing on top of ground so I don't believe yard needs dug up. As for 500.00 for all that is to cheap , 350.00 for pump and 150.00 to r&r pump is 500.00 no money to pump. Lots of times it's not even the pump its the 45.00 float switch. REPORT HIM
 
Guys I believe he pumped effluent water to yard not from solids tank which is still illegal but wouldn't put solids in yard. The water he pumped on top is the same water that was standing on top of ground so I don't believe yard needs dug up. As for 500.00 for all that is to cheap , 350.00 for pump and 150.00 to r&r pump is 500.00 no money to pump. Lots of times it's not even the pump its the 45.00 float switch. REPORT HIM

Ohh! I thought he was saying that the guy charged him $500 JUST to pump the tank out-- not for the other stuff. I must have misread it.

Chickenpancakes (your name makes me hungry), if you have trouble finding the contact info for Department of Health, try asking a local licensed plumber. Sometimes they can even tell you the name of someone to get in touch with and they might have more express numbers for it. I had trouble finding numbers where I live and a plumber told me who to contact, what the number was, and what I needed to ask/tell him to get the ball rolling on my septic tank replacement. Sometimes they can even give you e-mail addresses.

Your state may also have a database of licensed septic tank/sewage draining people online. You can ask to view that or ask them to e-mail you the file (usually in something like .pdf but sometimes in a spreadsheet format).

Please let us know what the Health Department people say when you report this jerk.
 

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