The amount of destruction done to our property by Gotta Go Septic is still mind boggling. We were out of town when they were able to schedule our job, but we were assured that this would be no problem as all the work was external. Big mistake; lesson learned. They dug the trench straight through our electric line to the shop as well as through our propane line--despite the 1,000 gallon tank some 60 feet on the other side of the trench they needed to dig, not to mention the visible propane regulator on the side of the house mere feet from where they were to dig.
They assured us that they would fix their mistake (which was framed to me when Marylynn called as 'our guys made a booboo and knocked the propane regulator off the side of your house'), asked us who our gas people were, and said they would schedule and pay for them to come in an fix the problem. I returned to the house at the end of the week to find a GIANT trench (I'm still shocked and confused why they dug an 11-15 foot wide path of destruction to replace a maybe 8 inch pipe?!?!) and no propane connected to my house. I called Marylynn and she says that they were supposed to come but the guy called in sick. Meanwhile I had six people coming for the week and a hungry 9 month old with diaper rash. We had to go buy a grill so we could cook for the weekend. Kevin offered to pay whatever it cost to have our propane people come out over the weekend, but no one was available. We spoke to Marylynn on Sunday afternoon and asked to be kept in the loop on Monday when the propane guy could come.
The next contact was Monday afternoon from the propane guy who needed to get in our house to check that everything was working properly. He offhandedly mentioned something about how it wouldn't have taken so long except that they had to 'dig the trench.' Huh? I asked him what he was talking about, and he was like "they never called you?" Nope. Instead of calling me, Gotta Go dug another 11-15 foot trench perpendicular to the original trench, going from our house to the propane tank. I couldn't believe what I was hearing--that Gotta Go would dig up my property without talk to me when Marylynn specifically told my husband and I the prior day that we would be kept in the loop. When Kevin called me back, he assured me that it was a tiny trench (that the bucket was only a foot wide), stressed that i was imagining something much worse than it actually was, and assured me that he had not touched any additional landscaping. When I got back to our house, I saw that my worst fears had been realized. Giant trench, a bunch of landscaping was missing, and we now have a clear view of a 1,000 gallon propane tank. I don't get how he possibly thinks we wouldn't have noticed (and he assured me that he had been to the house and had seen it in person, so this was not an issue of him also being out of the loop).
It will take us a while to know whether his guys killed the 60-80 foot chestnut oak tree. I have given him sufficient time to live up to his promise to make us whole and replace the landscaping which in our last conversation he agreed to replace. I took him at his word when he said that he would do whatever was necessary to rectify the situation. I asked him multiple times to come talk to my husband and I in person at our house so we could review everything in person. He refused. The only positive I can offer is that Kevin quickly came to his senses and did not charge us for the original septic pipe work, after initially being taken aback that I would even suggest such a thing.
We have before, during, and after photographs, phone records, etc and are torn between creating a website so others can see the damage for themselves, taking Gotta Go to small claims court, or just moving on. The frustrating thing is that if he had just lived up to his word and made us whole, I would have been willing to forgive him (not to mention sign the agreement that he and his daughter-in-law wanted me to sign once we were made whole). He never followed through with one promise that he made on the phone (e.g., emailing me pictures, emailing me documentation from the propane work, emailing me an agreement to sign, replacing the landscaping, etc).