I recently had to deal with a backed up main drain in my basement. I called the city as I was sure that the problem was on their end as we had replaced our drain only 5 years ago with New Canadian Drain & Plumbing. The city came by and checked things out and said the problem was on our property so they couldn’t do anything. I called New Canadian Drain & Plumbing and they sent out their technician Shendon who tells me that he has to do a camera inspection to locate the blockage. After putting the camera down into the main stack, he confirms the location of the blockage but also tells me that I need to repair a broken pipe which is causing the blockage. I told him that his company already replaced the drain in the front of the house 5 years ago. He says no, he read the previous work order and they only replaced "approx. 5 feet". To be honest we didn’t read the work order from 2012. The guy we dealt with then (who no longer works there) was recommended by a friend, he seemed genuinely straight forward and we were stressed, but lesson learned….always read your work order ESPECIALLY if dealing with this company! So Shendon then snakes and clears the drain. I’m watching all of this and wondering why he had to do a camera inspection ($280) before snaking (an additional $260) the drain, so I ask, he says it was necessary to find the blockage. And now he tells me that I owe him $610 but if I agree to this further repair at a cost of $3700 he won’t charge me the $610.
Because his company’s “technician” (I don’t think they use licensed plumbers??) mislead us in 2012 and Shendon is now telling me he has to remove my front steps AGAIN and dig a hole in the SAME spot that they dug 5 years ago to replace another 5 feet of drain, I told Shendon that I had to talk to my boyfriend first. He owns the house with me and he's in Ireland for a funeral so I couldn't give him the go ahead straight away and Shendon tells me he'll have to charge me the $610 "service fee" if I didn't sign a work order with him.
I called the office after Shendon left and asked to speak to the manager, a man named Iman I was told. I explained the situation and why I needed some time to sign a new work order and all Iman, the MANAGER, would say was "you should have read the contract"! Iman isn't big on customer service!
As we'd already paid $610 and Shendon is telling me that we won't be able to flush the toilet until he does this repair, we did go back to them the next day to get a written work order and to ask again that they credit us the $610 already paid and guess what? They will only credit us with $270 of that money because we took too long to agree to use them again!
New Canadian Drain & Plumbing are dishonest and provide no customer service and my guess is their “technicians” are all working on commission which would explain why the customer is told one thing but a totally different service is printed on the work order. And as for being licensed plumbers…at one point Shendon asked me to flush the toilet so he can check to see if the water is running through the pipes. My nephew went upstairs and flushed and all the water came running out of the stack!! Shendon didn’t realize he had to remove the camera and put the cap back on to avoid spillage into the basement!! I would have thought they taught that sort of stuff at “plumber’s school”!!
I am sure someone from New Canadian Drain & Plumbing will come on here to respond to this review. And when they do they must answer this one question. There is only 10 feet of drain from the exterior of my home to the city drain. 5 years ago you removed my front steps and a portion of the interlock brick walkway, dug an 8 foot hole and only replaced 5 feet of the drain with pvc. Why didn't you replace all 10 feet knowing that the old clay pipe will eventually break down and we would have to go through the whole process again? It makes perfect sense to replace it all. Your "tech" told us VERBALLY that you WERE replacing it all. AND any REPUTABLE company would have replaced it all.....so why didn't you? We paid $2000 plus HST in 2012 and now you want another $3700 plus HST to dig the same hole!
Iman, the MANAGER, wouldn't answer that question privately over the phone so I invite him to do so here, publicly, so anyone reading this can decide for themselves if they should trust New Canadian Drain & Plumbing!! And let me guess...he's going to say "it wasn't in the contract"!!
- Approximate cost of services:
- $3,700.00
- Company Response
Hi Debbie,
First of all, the work and contract for work performed at your property in 2012 was agreed upon between our technician and your boyfriend. You were not present for the conversation that transpired between the two parties. As per our previous contract with him, we replaced approximately 5 ft of the drain. At the time, our technician advised your boyfriend (as we always do with our customers) to replace your remaining 8 ft of old clay pipe under the porch for an additional cost. Your boyfriend declined to do the additional 8 ft and so we proceeded with the 5 ft drain replacement. We provided your boyfriend with multiple options and our team did the work that was asked and authorized by your boyfriend and your drain problem was resolved at that time. Now, 5 years later, you contacted our office saying that you were having problems with your drain. Our Licensed Master Plumber came to your site and addressed your drain issue. He provided you with up-front pricing for the snake and camera inspection. He dealt with your basement sewage by snaking the drain and doing a camera inspection which other companies would charge as well. Which company would come to your site and do a snake and camera inspection for free? Our Company has done everything honestly and accordingly. You cannot blame our company because you have drains that are 100 years old and your false accusations are very unwarranted.