Acme Plumbing & Sewer Service

Napleswalt M.

I am writing this review on behalf of my 87 year old sister. She called Acme in mid-May when the main sewer in my two flat was totally clogged. she had used them before, but even though they were very pricey, she regrettably called them again. They came out the next day and tried to power-rod the main sewer out to the street. They claimed the 90 degree elbow was broken by ""tree roots"" and they would need to break up the side walk next to the house to replace the elbow. This elbow is located between her house and the neighbor and is halfway between the front and back yards. There are no trees anywhere near this elbow -- so you have to wonder where did the roots come from. Acme insisted that the power-rodding could not have broken the elbow. Acme claims that they power-rodded the line all the way to the street, and they did pull out some roots from the sewer because there are trees in the parkway. Acme charged nearly $4,000 for less than two full days work.
In August, she started getting water in the basement. She couldn't tell right away where it was coming from, but finally realized the water was coming in around the sewer pipe where Acme had worked. There was a substantial gap in the foundation around that sewer pipe that should have been patched. Anytime it rained, the ejector pump would kick on, but, because the sewer line was clogged, it blew the water back into the house through the gap left around the pipe.
Now it's late August and she called Acme to tell them about the problem. They came out and said that it would cost $495 to rod out the sewer again. When we asked them why they don't stand behind the work they did in May, they claimed that during the summer, the roots grew back and they wouldn't work for free.
In my opinion, anyone that doesn't do a thorough enough job in the first place, should not get paid again make it right. Based on my sister's experience, my advice is for everyone to stay away from Acme Plumbing and Sewer.