Wind River Environmental

Don't ever use Wind River Environmental for your septic services again. They robbed me of money and took advantage of me. My septic system had drainage issues and I called Wind River Environmental in Marlborough, MA to come and review the problem. I had used Wind River every two years to come and do an assessment on my system so I called them to evaluate the drainage issue. They came and said that they could clean out the system to see if that would resolve the issue and that I would only know this after a few weeks. So I agreed to pay the $1,200 on this treatment. After they finished, one of the workers said to me that he did Title V inspections and if an inspection was to take place if I had needed one to sell the house, that the inspection would fail. I was told this AFTER the work was done. I said to the guy that he said we would wait a few weeks to see if the drainage issued cleared up and now he is telling me that the system would fail after the work was completed. Of course if he told me this before the cleaning, and being the expert that he claimed he was, he knew the system would fail after he dug up and looked at the distribution box, then I would not have agreed to a $1200 cleaning and review my next options. I was obviously taken advantage of. I called the office the day after and the manager said that he tells his workers to be honest with their customers about the problems they have with their system. I said that if he told me about the system fail before the cleaning, then I wouldn't have agreed to the cleaning-why would I? Of course weeks later the drainage issue was still there. I did have another septic service company come in to give me a second opinion and after digging up in the distribution area, they agreed that the system would be fail and that the Cleaning of the system should never have been done based on the failure. Just as I thought! Wind River just lost a customer for life and the next steps will be civil court.

Excellent, Roberto and his team are very professional, the team work was impressive. The process is very precise and They did everyting to make it work. My broken pipe was lined and now my 80 years old cast iron pipe looks like new and have 10 years warrany. They didn't have to break my bathroom floor, great advantage!. I was reluctant at first to hire them because of bad reviews that I read online. They really exceed my expectations in every way and I am very happy with the end results.

Horrible. They held our credit card prior to first appointment, then charged for unnecessary fees. About a hundred over what they quoted. I’ve called customer service and billing twice and both times they said they would reverse it, but still have not seen a revised bill or credit to my credit card. I would label this company as a scam and would not recommend to anyone.

Something has changed with this company. I have used them twice before and scheduled with them a third time. They never called to let me know when they would be out. I called at 8am and was told they would be here between 10-12. Called them back at 1pm, was put on hold for 13 minutes and then was told they could not reach the driver and would call me back. Called them at 2:10pm, was put on hold briefly and was told the tech was in my area finishing up a job and would be at my home within the hour. The tech showed up at 4:37pm. If I was last on the schedule they simply should have said it would be later in the day permitting me to take care of other business during the day. Their inability to coordinate a schedule and communicate with the customer is a joke.

They did a fine job. They came on time and did it. They did not disrupt my yard. Quick and easy.

unknown

This company has always said words to the effect of "They say that pumping your septic tank every year is important".
This turns out to be complete nonsense unless your septic system is in disrepair.  After looking online at several places, I discovered that when our house was built in 1997 (Massachusetts Title-V compliant) that the septic tank easily falls within the general guidelines set forth by Mass websites and other sources.
Over pumping it turns out is a continual scam.
Further, the serviceman shows up (I don't believe he was late), and then proceeds to lecture me on what enzymes are.  From his mistaken point of view, enzymes are somehow these living creatures that can grow up to a quarter inch long.  In fact he said this:
"In a healthy tank you should see them wriggling on the surface."  (Good grief).
I have an engineering degree and tried to carefully and politely explain to him that an enzyme is little more than a protein catalyst and is not a living creature at all.  They're actually usually simple globular proteins.  I showed him a molecular diagram of an enzyme on my cell phone.  He was referring to bacterial additives.
He then switched gears to bacteria, he was completely convinced that there was no controversy surrounding their effectiveness, which there certainly is.  Further he was also convinced that septic systems should always be pumped out yearly.
I've been using these guys for years and following their guidance, and when I did the research from properly vetted sources  (university research white papers, etc.) it turns out that 1. every year is simply not necessary, especially not for a family of two adults and two kids, and 2. enzymes aren't at all what he said they were, and 3. bacterial treatments are by themselves yielding suspect results because of the confirmation bias associated with the companies selling this stuff.
So as you can expect, they called me up a year later and asked when I should schedule the service.  I said "why?  It's only been a year."  I got words to the effect of "They suggest yearly pumping for a healthy system", and then I responded with "Who suggests that?"  The women then responded with "Well some customers like to be reminded every two years instead."
It of course is up to you, but this was my experience, and is more than enough reason to stay FAR away.  I will obviously never use these guys again for septic services.

routine
I always do my best to avoid them when they do the service as they always try to sell me on their monthly treatments to add to my system

very well mannered gentleman who dug my tank that I had uncovered.  Thoughtful, thorough, pleasant.  courteous.  i have used Windriver for 5 times now, and am always impressed.

They did a good job. We used them for a few years until we realized that every time they came, they told us we had a problem with our leaching field. We purchased chemicals from them for our tank every time it was pumped. No difference! The cost was the highest of all estimates we received. They are all pleasant, professional and do a good job, but we were always reluctant to have to hear we needed service on our leaching field. We had a company come out to take a look, there is no leaching field problem. We now use a new company with peace of mind

My issue this time was with the worker's attitude toward us. Instead of just explaining that things like "bum" wipes cannot be put into the septic system, he held one up and asked "who uses these?"  I could only figure that my niece used some while visiting. He then he asked very strongly about "what, does she have a medical condition?"  I am not a child and I was really taken aback by his attitude.  I treat my dogs better than he was treating me. He was extremely patronizing and critical toward us.

All went well
Showed up on time, took care of everything.

Straightforward. No problems. Made a couple of recommendations for improvement.

Called wind river out to pump distribution box and field, scope, and jet the lines, as I am having a backup issue. The sales rep said they will send out a crew,and will do an evaluation, including scoping out the lines. The evaluation is a mandatory to just have them show up. The salesrep said the crew will do the inspection first. then decide if jetting is the right thing to do, perform the work, and then do a final inspection. Sounds good: crew will show up, evaluate, the decide wthat to do. The crew showed up, started to work on the dbox. First stuck a scope down the line, and of course, it's full of black water, and not going to see anything. This is what you get when paying for the $350 for the mandatory evaluation. They pumped and jetted the lines. After about 45 mins, they packed up and left. No scoping the lines afterword to look for damage, roots, etc. I expected them to give me a report of how my field looks in order to decide what to do (repair vs replace), instead just a big bill, and still don't know the condition of my lines. Don't use this company as they don't bother to listen to the customer, and are looking to charge big bucks to solve problems they aren't willing to take the time to investigate and understand.

This is the first time we used them and they did good. We had used a different person in the past and these guys were much more professional. Everything was just taken care of.

It was easy to schedule an appointment and they arrived as planned. There was a little confusion about where the septic system is but the person was able to make an educated guess and he was correct. The person who came was polite and respectful and knew what he was doing. It was a clean and odorless operation and I will have them come yearly to pump the septic.

Fine. Punctual. Figured out where the tank was. Cleaned up dirt afterwards. I will say their truck is very heavy and not great for my driveway.

Great.

Very good.

We noticed our leaching field was very wet and called Wind River to pump our septic tank. They pumped it and added some boost, but suspected more serious issues than a full tank and scheduled a follow up system check after 2 weeks. System check revealed still not functioning properly. Dug up Distribution Box and replaced and discovered one of the leach lines was not functioning. Repaired and replaced the line which had been crushed by boulders. Gave us a case of treatment to use in 6 months. Everything appears to be fine now.

THEY DID NOT SHOW UP ON TIME, THEY WERE TWO HOURS LATE. WHEN I CALLED THE OFFICE, THERE WAS NO RESPONSE. OVER THE PHONE I WAS QUOTED $150 AND IT ENDED UP BEING $197. THEY ALSO REQUIRE PAYMENT UPON COMPLETION. I WOULD CONSIDER OTHER COMPANY IN THE FUTURE.