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:08/16/2022

  Type:Product 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.

  My husband and I were talking about drilling a well in our backyard. A neighbor told us about American Water Surveyors after he had a great experience with them. They came out to our home December 11, 2021. The official report from their survey was delivered to us on January 21, 2022 (42 days later). We were super excited to find out that they found a site 350ft deep that yielded 12-25 gallons per minute. At this point we called well companies in our area and immediately got on their waiting lists to have our well drilled. The waiting lists were 3-6 months long for all of the well companies in our area. Much to our dismay when the company made it out to drill our well, they went 680 feet without every hitting water that flowed more than 1 gallon per minute. After all of this, we ended up with a dry well. I contacted the owner of American Water Surveyors who informed me that they only guaranteed their results for 90 days. I was shocked as we did not even get our results until 42 days later. And there is no way we were going to be able to find a company that would drill within 48 days. When asked why there was such a huge difference in what their survey found and what our well company found, we were told that a neighbor may have drained the reservoir. We were also told that if we drilled 15 ft away from that site, we would likely hit water. 15 feet in what direction?? Their survey which we spent $2000 on to ensure that we would find water before we went ahead with a well was supposed to pinpoint exactly where our well drilling company should go. I felt like we would have had better luck shooting darts at the backyard and telling them to drill where the dart landed. I caution anyone considering using this company to consider whether it is truly worth the added expense. We could have saved the $2000 and had our well company drill where they thought was best and may have actually hit water successfully.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/02/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/08/30) */
  Contact Name and Title: Jim *******- Owner
  Contact Phone: XXXXXXXXXX
  Contact Email: ***@wefindwater.com
  Survey was conducted in winter during peak aquifer levels. Customer drilled in mid-summer, during lowest aquifer levels, with peak offtake from neighboring properties. Recommendation was to drill within 90 days of survey. Well report shows 2 GPM water was recovered during drilling, well was not "dry" according to report. Aquifer gravel and sand was encountered at 75ft and 85ft. Maximum drilling depth was recommended to 350 ft. Customer drilled in solid granite to 580ft against recommendation. This action will often damage the aquifer. Recommended drilling location was at 35.02369, -80.75195. Well report shows client drilled at 35.14.250, -80.43.118. It appears that the client may have drilled the wrong location.
  
  
  Consumer Response /* (3000, 12, 2022/09/26) */
  Our survey report was due January 6 after having the survey performed December 11. The owner of the company contacted me to let me know it would be later than the due date of January 6 and it actually did not come until January 22. If there was an *expiration* on these results then I feel like they should have been delivered in a more timely fashion. Again, our driller drilled right where the flag and hole was left by American water surveyors. He did hit 1gpm about 20 ft from where we should have hit approximately 22gpm per the survey. Several neighbors were going to use this business but after our experience with them, they have decided not too. I caution anyone else looking to use them to avoid as well. It was a huge expense and we clearly didn't gain anything useful from our survey.
  
  
  Business Response /* (4000, 14, 2022/09/28) */
  I am Jim *******. I own American Water Surveyors company. I am a licensed professional engineer, #XXXXXX. I have a BS degree in petroleum engineering, with 24 years' experience globally, in providing consultation for 3 major oil companies, in subsurface log interpretation. Our company uses seismic technology, combined with electrical resistivity logging, and we go to client locations to serve a basic human need, that being finding fresh groundwater. I have attached the report I provided to this client. Please review. I have reported facts, neither "feelings, nor "drama".
  
  This client is blaming me for an undesirable outcome, subsequent to my survey, from a drilling contractor, to which I have no relationship. I list below a number of inconsistencies from the drilling report. I personally have over 150 testimonials of successfully finding groundwater in 26 US states, including the client's subdivision.
  
  I am highly passionate about my work and strive for the highest quality in professionalism. Please see the attached report I provided to this client.
  I do not drill water wells, rather, our company uses state of the art technology to find groundwater signals.
  
  On December 11, 2021, I personally drove from Dallas, TX to the client location in Weddington, NC, to conduct the subject groundwater survey.
  I have attached two reports, one I wrote personally (13 pages) and one I received from the client drilling company (1 page) that the client chose to hire.
  
  The drilling company report is riddled with errors:
  
  -Recommended drilling lat/long location was at 35.02369, -80.75195. The well report shows driller drilled at 35.14.250, -80.43.118. It appears that the driller drilled the wrong location according to the attached report.
  
  -Driller drilled to 580ft against our recommendation. See attached report. The recommendation was to stop drilling at maximum depth of 350 ft. The driller kept drilling to 580 ft in solid granite, thereby damaging the shallow aquifer encountered.
  
  -In Section 3, the driller reported the subject well incorrectly as an irrigation well, yet the location is clearly residential.
  
  - In section 14 of the report, the driller reported a water interval at 130-140 ft, then later reported the interval at 75-85 ft, at 2GPM. Not at all related to the client complaint. Inconsistency abounds.
  
  - The client called me on the phone and called me a "scammer", then verbally threatened to ruin my business based on bad results after hiring a contractor after my work. I am a highly skilled professional. The client seems confused in this regard.
  
  Feel free to contact me directly with any questions:
  Jim C *******, ****
  ***@wefindwater.com
  cell:XXX-XXX-XXXX
  
  
  Consumer Response /* (4200, 16, 2022/09/29) */
  (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
  I just wish we had saved our $2000 and threw a dart at our yard and drilled there. We may have had better luck finding water there and not been out of pocket so much. We have fortunately been able to save several of our friends and neighbors the cost.