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:08/03/2023

  Type:Service or Repair 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.

  Date of Transaction: 5/9/2023 Amount: $6,000 Invoice no: **** Installed new storm drain to handle rainwater and prevent future sinkholes.We had ********************* DBA Reputable Cesspool & Drain install a new storm drain in our driveway to replace an existing one. The storm drain was installed but the surrounding area was not properly backfilled with the correct material and the drain rings were not wrapped with a material to prevent soil movement or settlement. We paid another contractor to remove and replace all of the existing blacktop in the driveway at the end of July. We returned from a trip never having driven on our new driveway to a sinkhole surrounding the storm drain installed by *********************. The paving company reached out to try and reach a resolution, but *********************. has refused to cover the cost of repaving and wants to tear up the surrounding area to try and backfill again but take no responsibility for the improper installation of the storm drain. Please note: When they originally installed the new drain ******* Blocks were removed and a portion was damaged by their equipment. We have already paid to repaired/replaced these once ourselves when we repaved the driveway and fear if they come back to dig up everything once again they will leave us with a huge mess and further damage things that have already been replaced.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/03/2023

  To whom it may concern,
  In response of this complaint please consider our perspective of this situation:, On April 17th 2023 ******************* owner and operator of ***************** ** LLC contacted me via phone call which he stated that he had a customer- family friend that needed a drywell installed due to them having sink holes in the driveway and ****** couldn't perform his task of paving the driveway until the drywell was installed so he referred me to ***************** (homeowner)  who then reached out to me to hire me for installing the drywell. From start to finish ************** was a pleasure to do business for as during the duration of the Job he was engaged and evolved to make sure the work that was being done on his property was sufficient. At the time of job completion ************** signed our invoice & contract that is attached &labeled " Paid Invoice & Signed Acknowledgement - 5-9-23 - *****************. " If you review the contract, it stated that in section (2) we are not responsible for the following: Cave-ins due to any service provided. In addition, we had verbally mentioned that the driveway should not be paved for at least **** Months as the ground would need to settle due to his area which has the ground component that does require that time frame to settle or else sinkholes would continue to occur. Per the 2nd attachment you can see that ****** even stated that your driveway should settle for a minimum length of 6-months prior to paving. Per the 3rd attachment you can see ******************* owner and operator of ***************** NY LLC started paving the driveway on July 10th which was only 2 months from the time that the drywell was installed which is 4 months earlier than our requested time frame before paving. Please note that I have also included the photo that ************** included in his complaint which shows ***************** NY LLC starting to prep the driveway to be paved & RCA was laid down with no signs of a sinkhole & showing an even surface. When the homeowners contractor ******************* owner and operator of ***************** NY LLC reached out to us to resolve ****************** issue, he was not taking responsibility for paving the driveway to early and not giving the driveway enough time to settle. Per the attached photo of our conversation we did offer to come back and pack in the soil around the drywell where the hole originated as a one time curtsey because we would never want to have a dissatisfied customer even though the sink hole was packed down properly the first time we were there we offered this because the ground didn't have enough time to settle and wanted to help the customer out. They acknowledged that they would accept that however at this moment we don't feel comfortable returning to the property as this complaint was unfairly filed when a 2nd agreement was arranged to come back and help him fill in the sinkhole and then have him wait **** months to then re-pave the driveway. At this moment & moving forward i don't believe there is anything for us to do further as our services were completed, paid for & signed off on with the responsibility of the sinkhole being left on ******************* owner and operator of ***************** NY LLC as he didn't allow the correct amount of time for the driveway to settle before paving. I wish for ************** to have this resolved between him and ****** and i wish him nothing but the best and working with customers like ************** is why we love what we do.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/09/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  Reputable Cesspool & Drain refused to acknowledge that they improperly backfilled the drywell and failed to wrap the rings to prevent a loss of material. Attachments 1, 2, and 3 show the loss of material around the storm drain. Attachments 4 and 5 show the soil moving into the drywell which would have been prevented if the rings of the drywell were wrapped. The sinkhole that Reputable Cesspool & Drain was hired to help fix was located in a different area of my property closer to the main road. We have never had an issue with a sinkhole in that section of our driveway. *** originally recommended removing the old well, but did not have the necessary equipment to do so and instead recommended filling it in and abandoning it. The Original invoice from *** at Reputable Cesspool & Drain describes the job as "Storm Drain Installation - Installed new drain for rainwater" the pictures attached to this complaint show that the storm drain does not properly handle rainwater and I disagree with ***** assessment that Reputable Cesspool & Drain is not responsible for help correcting that. The Belgium block and blacktop damaged during the initial installation was replaced by us and I understood that they were not liable during the initial job, but I do not believe we should be responsible for that cost because Reputable Cesspool & Drain has to come back for a do-over.

  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************