Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/01/2025

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  G&C Septic installed a new septic tank on our property. They made decisions without consulting us on complications mid project. I had to relay messages from manager to crew and crew to manager at least twice because each party was moving forward without updates on needed changes. In the end, our tank has been placed above ground, which is unfortunate. The unresolved situation is that our quoted price for the project included an understanding of the cost of risers that would be required by the county as part of the installation. ******* indicated that the cost of risers are approximately $960. The purchase of or installations of two risers, indicated as an expected step in the installation on the original contract, were not required since the tank sits above ground, but the company wants to keep that portion as unexpected profit. We asked for a refund of $1000, the cost of the unused risers and a small portion of the $250 labor fee, but the company said risers were not an extra charge and are resisting any refund.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 06/09/2025

  We have refunded the customer $500 via money order delivered to their residence.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/09/2025

  I am concerned that this company has very poor business practice and that others should beware. Their $500 is not enough to resolve these problems or improve how we feel about the quality of the work and we told them so before they hastily dropped off the money order on our doormat without knocking on the door. 
  We still cannot use our main bathroom and our 5 person family shares our guest bathroom. Our new tank is sitting way above ground level, requiring a recontouring of our yard that I have to pay someone else to do, and they have kept major unexpected profit. Their lack of communication during the job and delays in getting back to me after the job was (half) complete were avoidant instead of accountable. My overall opinion is that this company is fine for pumping tanks but they are not qualified to install septic systems.
  After the tank was installed above ground  G&C discovered that there were two drains that led to the previous tank. ******* agreed to tie in the other bathroom.
  4/12/2025 I told ******* the one working bathroom has a slow flushing toilet. He said it should flush the same as before and disregarded my concerns. My perception was that the previous tank was much lower so the barely inclined feed to the new tank was immediately inhibiting performance. Every family member (5 of us) independently noticed how hard it was to remove waste from our toilet and we have to flush it multiple times. When we flush the water spins for a long time but often wont go down the pipe and is not clogged with bulky material. 
  4/14/2025 Workers were leaving and still hadnt tied in the second bathroom. I called ******* who admitted he forgot to tell them. ******* contacted me and said that the drain pipe from the unexpected bathroom was 4" lower than the tank and it could not be tied in unless I HIRED a plumber to repipe that bathroom. The tank should have been lowered but they would not.
  4/21/2025 ******* told me he'd pay for half of the plumbing costs, as though he was doing me a great favor. He already had an oversized profit margin from the job because he only dug down a few feet and didnt need to put in $1000 in risers, but he wanted more money from me. He said repiping our main bathroom was the best option instead of lowering the tank but he wanted me to pay for half of the problem. He said he'd find a plumber. 
  4/25/2025 My husband called and asked ******* to see our viewpoint that an unexpected event would be their responsibility. My husband was congenial and cooperative, asking questions like, "Have you ever seen a septic tank placed above ground before?" or "Wouldn't it be the septic company's responsibility to determine the drain pipe locations on a house?" 
  5/1/2025 ******* said a plumber came and charged him a $200 service call fee. All the plumber could have done is stand at the side of my house and look at the pipe in the first attached image, maybe put a flashlight under the house to see the current drain arrangement. I felt like the plumber ***** ******** Plumbing, and G&C Septic were colluding because $200 for a service call to glance at a pipe is ridiculously high. ******* emailed me saying that the contract was to tie in the known line and destroy the old tank. This seems avoidant and not being accountable because any homeowner would say that you hire a company to replace your system with a final result that all bathrooms can be used in a house. ******* said he agreed to share the plumbing cost "because of the situation that you were being put in, not because I believe we did anything wrong. Our bid was to: Destroy and replace a tank, tie it into the known line from the house and then to the drywells." ******* then said that he could have the owner contact me but the owner is out of state and slower to respond. This is confusing because the location of a business owner does not limit time to communicate and I would hope an owner would want to resolve concerns and partner with a client to get the job done right. This seems like ******* was trying to discourage me from trying anymore and just give up. That again feels irresponsible and avoidant. 
  5/1/2025 I responded to the email saying that I at least wanted $1000 back for not needing to install risers and that if he could provide that, we would close the transaction, but if not to give me the owners contact information. 
  5/7/2025 After waiting a week with no contact, I asked AGAIN for the owner's contact information. 
  5/12/2025 I called and asked for the owner's contact information. The female who answered the phone would not give it but promised that the owner would contact me instead. I emailed after the call and stated "I asked to communicate with the owner of the company on April 30. On May 1, you said that you would have the owner contact me. My second request was on May 7 and this is my third request today, May 12."  I then left my phone number and email address. 
  5/19/2025 I emailed "Hello *******. I have not done any reviews yet of our experience. Ive been waiting to hear back from the owner. I think it is appropriate for me to wait about five more days before I make my reviews and then proceed forward. At that point, my husband and I will decide how we feel about the whole situation and let our neighbors know."
  5/21/2025 ******* finally contacted me after 3 weeks of silence and said "Heard back from the Owner. The best we are going to offer is a $500 refund, in addition to which we have already paid the plumber $200 for going out to give the estimate. Again, to be clear, this is due to feeling sorry for your current situation, not because we think that we handled this job incorrectly.
  It is now June. I did receive their money order for $500 but I communicated that we only felt the transaction would be reconciled with $1000, which is only a portion of the extra profit they pocketed while avoiding us and trying to make the problem our doing. 
  My advice to others is to only use G&C Septic ten years from now to install a septic system, with careful itemization to include or not include $1000 risers required by Sacramento County, and that G&C ask for only 50% upfront. They required full payment before they began which is a poor business practice in itself. It is best to just let G&C Septic specialize in tank pumping which theyve done for years. I was excited they would install a tank because a decade ago they would not and I liked using them and their funny super duper pooper scooper trucks but it was a mistake and weve paid a terrible cost. 
  All of this could have been avoided if the company had just returned some of the money they didnt need for the job, but they were anything but cooperative or accountale. For weeks my husband and I have tried to make sure we are being fair to them and to us, that were not just upset without cause. But we feel we have been unfairly treated and that the company could have resolved this better by sending $500 more to honor the request we made on May 1st of $1000 returned, not even asking them to move the tank or tie in our bathroom, at which point we would settle enough on a resolution.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 06/12/2025

  Ultimately, we are sorry that you had a poor experience. Therefore I am not going to go through and correct the points in your narrative. I will make a fewof statements though.

  1. You don't know what our costs are, or what gross margin we make on our projects, nor net margin.

  2. You did accept the $500 Refund, as long as we did it in a timely manner(Same day - Handed to someone at the home, not under the doormat)

  3. We don't "Collude" to increase prices for our customers. We paid $192, and communicated what we were told by the plumber. You were also told that you could choose your own plumber, but you requested that I handle that part.

  4. Finally, we didn't take "Full payment upfront". We took $1000 Deposit to get on the schedule. That doesn't even cover the permit fee. Payment schedule was outlined on the work contract, with the second payment being due when we break ground on the project.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/10/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  G&C got paid from my warranty insurance AHS but continue to send me invoices in the amount of $500 for the service that was completed in June 2023. AHS confirmed they were paid. This is a harassment and needs to stop.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/07/2024

  ****,
  
  I apologize for not responding to your complaint sooner, but we do not show that this invoice has been paid. If you could provide the contact information for the representative that you spoke to with AHS that claimed we had been paid, we can work together to resolve this issue. I am sorry that you feel you have been harassed, but we regularly send invoices that are outstanding and I assure you, there was no malice in our attempts to collect. Please reach out to me personally and I look forward to resolving this issue together.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/07/2024

  I am rejecting this response because: its been over 6 months and I dont remember the name of the rep. ******** you should not be sending me any invoices as I never signed up for any of your services directly with you. AHS assigned you to complete the service. If you feel you didnt get paid you should be contacting AHS. Thank you. 
  

  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/26/2024

  Hi Alla, 

  I am working with AHS to resolve this matter. We have not gotten paid for this service. As a contractor, we have no other recourse than to contact the homeowner. I apologize if you took offense to it. We should be paid in the near future.

  Thank you,

  *******

  G&C Septic