A & B Sanitation Inc^

Excellent service. The Estimated cost was $380.00 for drainage of the 2000 gallon unit and a $25.00 charge for traveling over 25 miles - total: $405.00 Jason and Ed arrived on time and drained the Septic Tank, took about an Hour. They took the time to explain their work and provided me with a great deal of information; my cabin and the septic system -- built in 1978. I will definitely use them in the future -- I will be replacing my Septic tank built in 1978 with one of their current/modern Septic tank systems next summer.

Fine, the part takes a while to order and arrive, but as soon as it arrived Jason contacted me and scheduled an appointment.

A & B sanitation installed my lift station on March 22, 2016 and I paid them in full. Once the dirt settled I noticed the tank had collapsed. I called them on June 9, 2016 and informed the manager, he stated he would fix it in July 2016. July came and went and I never heard from them, so I called them again on August 1, 2016. They came out on August 2, 2016 and stated "yes, your lift station tank is collapsed and beyond repair". I was told they would be coming out to replace it. It is now approaching September, I have called several more times asking when they are coming out to replace the tank, the response "we will call you". To this day, I still have a huge pile of dirt with a non-usable, worthless, lift station tank under it in my yard. I feel that I am getting the run around and I am very upset with the service of this company.

When they inspected my septic tank after pumping it, they discovered that there was a broken tile which is why it filled up so quickly. They were able to come out the next day to perform the repair, which was great. They quoted $3200 which they say is the market rate for this type of repair and we accepted. They came out the next day as agreed and performed the repair - 3 men with an excavator and they completed the job in less than 90 minutes. My only complaint is the cost - that is over $2000 per hour or $711 and hour per person!
It was our fault for accepting the quote without contacting other vendors, but we were desperate to have this resolved quickly, and honestly feel a bit taken advantage of. In hindsight, if I needed this type of repair again, I would do the following:
1. Contact at least 2 other companies
2. Ask how long they expected the repair to take
3. Get an hourly rate from them and structure the agreement so it's based on an hourly rate
4. If they will not do an hourly rate agreement, ask for a breakdown for how they are determining their costs
The only other challenge I've had from them is trying to get a hold of someone to ask why the cost is so high. I emailed them weekly asking for someone to contact me and finally got a response today (and I'm a bit disappointed the owners or supervisors didn't contact me in person). Below is the initial email I sent them:
*** Start of email to A&B ***
Hello,
Please pass this message along to Jeremy. This is in regards to a septic line repair at 123 Main St, Pataskala, OH.
First of all, thank you for completing the repair so quickly last month. I have no complaints about the work or punctuality, but am confused why the price of $3200 was so high when there were 3 guys there for at most 90 minutes which is nearly $2000 per hour or $711 per hour per person. I know that I signed a contract so you don?t have to refund any money, but I am asking that you consider this out of goodwill. If nothing else, can you at least provide a better itemized list of costs to help me understand better because I am feeling a bit taken advantage of. This is what I learned from Jim Foley, but I still don?t understand why so high for 90 minute?s worth of work:
·        Labor costs (I didn?t get an hourly rate. I know you need to make money too, so I suspect that $100/hour per person is fair number to use. Total $450)
·        Equipment and costs (I understand wear and tear on vehicles, but I can rent the biggest excavator at Sunbelt rentals for around $400 per day, and the pumping fee of $300 also includes wear and tear on that equipment. I?m guessing your cost for the excavator is less otherwise you?d rent as needed, but I?m okay with using $400 as a number. In my head $600 is a generous number for all of this.)
·        Paperwork and fees to submitted to board of health ($100?)
·        Materials (Anything besides pipe and concrete? $100?)
·        This is a similar rate to what others offer (I didn?t check with other companies so I can?t comment here)
·        Some cost was built in in case repair was more involved than anticipated. (I suspect this is why so high, but I would prefer to be told what they think the issue is and be warned the cost could go up if another issue is found.)
You also completed the work the next day, and while we didn?t request for this to be
expedited, I think it?s reasonable to pay extra for this. ($250?)
 
I most likely am missing some costs, but the total I came up with is $1500 (including expedite fee). I tried to estimate high, but if I am off on anything, please let me know.
Unless I am missing some significant costs, would you consider refunding $1500 of the cost back? That would still be $1700 for the septic repair and $300 for the septic pumping. As I mentioned before, I appreciate your expediency, but at these costs, I would need to perform more due diligence the next time I need service or for future work I?d like done.
If you prefer to talk in person, you can reach my on me cell at 614-123-4567.
 
Thanks for your consideration
*** End of email to A&B ***
Here is the response I finally received:
*** Start of response ***
Hi,
Jeremy wanted me to let you know, he sat down with the owners last night and discussed the situation with them. At this point, they are in agreement with Jim Farley, he gave you a quote, and you signed the proposal and accepted the price that
was quoted.  With the extra tech that was provided that day, the work was completed in a timely fashion, If they ran into issues and needed more time during the dig job, they would not have changed the price quoted. Therefore, Jeremy?s hands are tied.  
Thank You
Tina
*** End of response ***
As mentioned above, I don't have any problems with their work or punctuality - I just feel taken advantage of with the price.