Services Provided
the slow drain issue
Experience and Good Comments
Day 0;
I had slow drain issue in my Kitchen and I asked Bob Oates to do the estimation. A guy came and gave me a quote for $300. He told me that the pipes under my sink were glued together and he had to cut them and redo the pipes under my sink in order to put the plumbing snake into the main pipe.
Day 1:
I asked Bob Oates to do the job, The guy who did the estimation came (estimation guy), cut my old pipes and tried to install new pipes. But the estimation guy seemed to have little experience and the new pipes leaked at every joint point.
The estimation guy made a phone call to ask another guy for help. The 2nd guy came and installed the pipes(from the business card, he is a plumber apprentice). Because the estimation guy over cut my original pipes, the second guy needed to open the wall to connect the pipes together. Also he told me that he needed to replace the gasket in my sink or he couldn't warranty his work.
The apprentice had a little more experience but still not enough.
After he finished the new pipes under my sink, he left. The estimation guy continued the work and used plumbing snake to unclog my kitchen pipes for 4 times, finally connected everything together. It took about 5 hours in Day 1 and I paid $440 totally
However, after the estimation guy connected everything together and did the test, the issue became even worse. The results for Day 1 were as following
1. Instead of slow drain, my kitchen was totally clogged
2. Leaking pipes under my kitchen sink
3. A big hole in the wall
4. The new gasket was not as good as my original gasket which came with the sink
Day 2
I called Bob Oates and they sent the apprentice to my house to continue the work. (the estimation guy refused to come as he told me he is not qualified to do the job). The apprentice fix the some of the leaking points and told me that hydro jetting would be needed to make the pipe open, which would cost $550 + tax. After he left, I found that the new pipes under my sink still leaked. I lost my trust for Bob Oates and I though I would need to find another company to do the work.
Day 3
I spent more time to do research and asked other companies for their solutions. Based on what I learnt, it looks like indoor hydro jetting would product lots of wasted waters and make a big mess. For my case, plumber snake should be able to open the pipe.
Day 4
Another company (Meraza’s Sewer Services) came and gave me $280+tax quote. After about 1.5 hour, they opened the pipe using plumbing snake inserted from the check point in crawl space. The re-piping work did by Bob Oates turned out to be totally unnecessary.
The only good thing for Bob Oates is that they agreed to send their guy back to fix the leak of the new pipe under my sink.
The Bob Oates may be a big company and they may have very good plumbers, but you won't know who would actually do the work for you. Maybe a guy with lots of experience or a guy with a little experience or even a beginner.
Not-So-Good Comments
Chinese version
重要的事情必须中英双语！！
第0天
我的厨房水槽是双水池。一开始的问题是水槽的排水很慢，水多的时候有时还会从另一边水池出来。我在网上找了好几家要quote. Bob Oates给了我一个$300的quote。但是因为我水槽下面的管道原来安装时候是用胶水粘上的。所以他们需要把原来再水池下面的管道给锯断，把plumbing snake伸进去，再重新安装管道。因为Bob Oates是大公司而且之前看review都不错。所以选了他
第1天
给我报价的那个小哥 （称为报价小哥）过来尝试做水槽。但是他似乎非常没有经验并且动作很慢。倒腾了2个小时后，新的管道在每一个连接处都漏水。报价小哥只好打电话求助！！。 第二个过来的人看起来还有一些经验 (事后从名片上看第二个人也只是 plumber apprentice，接下来称呼为Apprentice小哥)，动作麻利了一些, 因为报价小哥在切管道时候切多了，Apprentice小哥不得不把水槽下面的drywall打开去才可以把管道和墙里面的排污管连起来。而且Apprentice小哥还要求我把水池的gasket也换掉否则他不能warrenty他的工作(当然需要多花钱)
Apprentice小哥花了一个小时把水槽下的管道接好后就走了。报价小哥接着用plumbing snake来通管道，一共整了4次后再把新管道全部连起来。 但是悲剧来的，水池完全堵住了，而且新管道还漏水（有至少3个连接处漏水）
第一天一共花费了5个多小时，还支付了$440, (一开始说是$700多，argu了一下变成了$440) 而结果是
1. 水槽完全堵住了
2. 新管道在漏水
3. 墙壁上开了一个大洞
4. 新的gasket不如原装的gasket好用，之前原装的一个过滤的小漏桶在新的gasket不能用。
临走的时候,第一个小哥说让我和公司前台schedule第二天接着来搞
第2天
报价小哥打电话告我我他不来了，说他搞不定。那个Apprentice小哥接着过来搞, 他尝试把漏水的地方不上了。 检查一番后告诉我我需要用hydro jetting才可以把管道疏通，报价是$550 + tax。(就是这样他还用了一个套路，首先告诉我我很可能要把整个厨房到卫生间的排污管重新做了，然后告诉我good news,我其实可以用hydro jetting来通我的管道)。 我发现橱柜下方还有一些水，Apprentice小哥告诉我是之前残留的水，干了就好。 但是他离开后，我发现其实新安装的管道还有一个连接处漏水。 这个时候我对Bob Oates已经完全失去信任。所以决定自己做一些调查和换一家公司
第3天
通过调查和打电话询问，发现hydro jetting会有一些问题
1. 贵
2. 会很脏，因为是用水去冲洗管道，脏水会从管道里面流出来。所以很少有人用在室内或者crawl space做。一般这个方案是用在户外排污管
第4天
联系了另外一家公司 (Meraza’s Sewer Services )，从crawl space里面用plumbing snake搞了1个半小时后厨房水槽彻底通了，排水慢的问题也解决了。收费只需要$280+tax. 而且根据第二家公司的解决方案，厨房水槽下的管道完全不需要重新做，因为从crawl space里的管道检查口放入plumbing snake就可以了。
目前水槽下面新管道漏水的问题还没有解决，我打电话给bob oates投诉，他们告诉我会派人来修好
Bob Oates可能是一个大公司而且可能有一些很有经验的员工。 但是你不能知道他会派一个什么样的人来干活，有可能是一个老手，有可能是一个plumber apprentice也可能是一个报价员。
