LITTLETON, Colo. (CBS4)– A homeowner thought repairing a clogged sewer line under her Littleton home would cost a few hundred dollars. Instead, it would cost tens of thousands of dollars.
“It cost me $26,000 to have this done,” Aileen Gaumond said.
Roto-Rooter handled the call through a contractor. The company's general manager, John Williams, released a video to show CBS4 what the clogged sewer line looked like before the work was completed.
“We can clear it with a cable and stop the blockage, but what if it comes back two days later and floods your house again,” he said.
So Williams said they offered Aileen a permanent solution. The proposal clearly calls for a new pipe. Video taken after the work was completed shows that Gaumond mainly provided a lining for the old pipe.
“A liner is actually a more sought-after option because we don’t have to dig up the yard,” Williams said.
He said a liner is essentially a new pipe and the homeowner has a fully functioning sewer line.
Gaumond's nephew, Michael Sullivan, who also lives in the house, is not pleased.
“The only work they've done since they've been here is 15 feet of pipe. She paid for 75 feet of pipe,” Sullivan said.
Roto Rooter spokesman Paul Abrams says this is “inaccurate and misleading.”
In an email to CBS4, Abrams explained, “The entire length of the inner pipe was excavated and replaced with new PVC pipe (approximately 20 feet).” He added, “The plan specified in the contract was to remove the outer underground pipe length to be replaced by trenchless pipe replacement technology (pipe relining/pipe bursting).”
Roto-Rooter's emailed statement goes on to say, “A trench would have destroyed their lawn and anything in the path of the pipe, including trees, walkways, etc.,” adding that the new liner would be within the shell of the old pipe becomes a brand new, fully solid pipe and lasts 50 to 70 years.
Sullivan responded, claiming that Roto-Rooter should have told his aunt the prices and differences between the liner and the new PVC pipe.
And the kitchen sink wasn't connected to the sewer line, so water may have compromised the foundation.
Roto-Rooter is not sure if this was a result of his work. The company admits it did not receive a permit from the city of Littleton for the original work.
Sullivan doesn't let the matter of his aunt's house rest: “They planned to charge her for all the money and steal it from her. This is ridiculous.”
Roto-Rooter denies this and has referred the matter to its insurance company, which will let experts decide whether there was fault.
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