River City Environmental

Naomi W.

We live near PSU and they are conducting some work so the school can replace a roof on the Engineering building. They set up their vacuum across the sidewalk from a resident and directed their noise out into Lovejoy Fountain park which is all stone, no surface to absorb the sound. Meanwhile they could have done this with their truck on 4th Street. They didn't notify anyone till the day before and when asked about it - they could give a crap they adversely impacted 200+ residents with their unprofessional behavior.

The guy ""minding"" the vacuum is wearing ear plugs. Could have been nice for the company to give out ear plugs to all the residents they were assaulting auditorially for a week.

Meagan M.

After an emergency plumbing issue on New Years Day (forced to shut off water to the entire house) and calling many plumbers to no avail, River City said they could get me in the next morning around 9am as the second job of the day following a 7:30am call. They quoted me $445/hour with a 2-hour minimum, which was expensive but seemed necessary to get the issue fixed urgently. I sat around all day waiting for them to arrive or call/text me, and they just simply never showed up. I called for an update midday and was told I was still next in the queue, and then never heard from them again. A day later I called to remove my name from the queue in the event I was still on their list (received service elsewhere) and they seemed neither surprised nor apologetic. Spare yourself the disrespect.

Kari M.

First time user. The service was good. The cost was twice what they quoted. Be aware, the clock is running from the time the hydro vac truck leaves their yard until it returns! I will check other options on future projects.

Diane P.

Responsive, professional, no hidden fees, reasonable price.

Crystal L.

TERRIBLE TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE!!
My husband and I contacted River City the beginning of June 2021. We needed them to and inspect our leech lines for purposes of installing a pool. After some miscommunication and rescheduled appointments on their end, a gentleman named Chris came out to our house and discovered our leech lines need repaired/replaced. Chris gave us a detailed quote to start the process and recommended we start right away due to the severity of the blockages. The contract dated 6.9.21 states that River City would dig two holes 90' apart, fill out necessary paperwork and submit to Clackamas County for the next steps on what type of system they require. Knowing that our options were limited and fear of having our septic system back up, we agreed to the price and requested they start work immediately. After two weeks passed without any communication, my husband reached back out to Chris to find out when we could schedule the test holes. Chris and his crew came back out in August and dug two test holes. River City charged my credit card the full amount on September 22, 2021 without any communication. Again - after weeks with zero communication from River City or Chris, my husband contacted River City and was informed that Chris was no longer with the company and he dropped the ball on lots of projects, our home being one of them. River City informed my husband that a new project manager (Jeremy) would be in contact to discuss our project. It took my husband contacting Jeremy before we ever heard from him. Then when we did hear from him, he knew nothing of our house. He tried to draw up a new contract and recharge us more money. We had to prove to Jeremy that we in-fact already had a contract, and they had already charged my credit card the full amount of the project. That was September and we STILL have had NOTHING completed on our house. We have two large size mud pit holes in our backyard. We have attempted to contact River City multiple times, each time being told Jeremy or one of his crew members would be in contact with us, but that contact has yet to happen, by anyone. We have no idea what River City has submitted to the County, or where we are at in getting our septic system replaced - something River City insisted we do immediately, or our system would likely back up into our home. I took the incentive to look on Clackamas County's website for septic requirements and it looks like the test holes River City dug in July are no longer valid per the code rules of October, test holes have different requirements depending on the season.. I wonder if River City even knows that.

Mike D.

Chad and his crew came through for me with a last minute septic drain field inspection for my impending home purchase. Because of COVID and a difficult seller, we literally had only 2 days notice to get the inspection done, and large parts of the drain field were under 8-foot high blackberries. Chad did not hesitate, he got us on the schedule and sent his team out with the equipment to get to the drain field. They did an excellent job and we now feel comfortable purchasing the house. I took off 1 star because the report Chad generated was pretty lacking/useless. But since I was on site for the inspection, and their were no real issues, I didn't really need the report. Thank you Chad! I would use this team again.

James E.

The only real emergency plumber in the Portland Metro area! I called everyone all the big names like Roto Rooter and all the little names about 30+ plumbers, many stating they had emergency services. All stated 3-30 days until they could fix my emergency that left my home with no water.

I know some of it must of been luck(based on where the truck was at) but they were at my house within 1 hour of me contacting them and fixed my problem and I once again have running water! Thanks!

Emily D.

I called River City to repair my septic system in Tillamook. After a very rainy January, my shower and toilet were backing up due to too much water in the drainfields. Chad with River City recommended proceeding on a ""time and materials"" basis, since the location is a ways out of Portland - he could diagnose the problem and repair in one fell swoop over 2-3 days. River City required a 5000 credit card hold prior to proceeding, and in looking over the rates list I signed, I didn't expect the bill to be much more than that.

Fast forward 3 months: the shower and toilet is backing up again much worse: sewage including feces in the shower. My entire yard is a swampy mess with up to 14"" of standing water in many places, including behind the house where they created a sort of pit through their excavation where surface water can't flow out of. Water is visibly infiltrating into my garage, and could be seeping into the lower level of my house as well which is at the same elevation. My underground rain drain pipe was crushed during construction. Every square inch of my yard was dug up and is too muddy to walk on, and there is Styrofoam ""poly aggregate"" (basically artificial gravel which looks like packing peanuts) mixed in with the soil all over the yard. My renters, who have 2 dogs, have not been able to use the yard since January.

The price tag for this was $17,690.25.

The state of my property is much worse, and everything that was done to divert water needs to be redone likely exceeding that amount. I have hired a local contractor to excavate and replace the crushed rain drain and to clean up the poly aggregate. I hired another septic company to siphon the standing water behind the house that is not draining, and drain excess water from my holding tank. I am getting a bid this week for a landscape architect to remove and replace a defunct ""ground water interceptor"" - this is basically a French Drain to divert excess ground water that was getting into the septic system. The system River City used has a perforated drain pipe that comes bundled with Styrofoam ""poly aggregate"", wrapped in a geo fabric to provide drainage, rather than the traditional gravel-based drainage systems - supposedly it is a proven system that costs less and is fast to install, if installed correctly. Somehow many of these bundles burst all along the trench line, spewing chunks of Styrofoam all over the yard. From what my contractor observed, the pipes are not even connected in places, and in some cases there is no pipe, just Styrofoam in torn fabric a hole with clay soil fusing to the Styrofoam pieces. In some areas the drain pipe is above the ground. The soil is on my property is mostly clay, and the usual precautions you would use with a soil that does not drain, like additional geo filter fabric, backfilling with a pervious soil etc. was not done. Additionally the grading done does not direct surface water away from the house, instead a low point was created behind the house where water is trapped and just ponds. Normally you would channel the water away from - rather than toward the foundation. The crew had 3 days with an excavator at 1200/day, and this was the result.

I had a phone conversation with the Chad and the office manager about the issues and the bill. I acknowledged that the the shower and toilet seemed to be draining and other maintenance to the septic lines were done, and I authorized a 5000 partial payment on my credit card. Chad agreed to return in April to fix some of the issues, and make some adjustments to the bill. Meanwhile I discovered that feces and toilet paper were piling up behind the house through a sewage line that had been broken during construction. River City repaired that broken pipe, but then I got an email from the contracts manager, Mick letting me know that Chad and the foreman were taken off the project, and all communications had to go through him. In trying to figure out how to remedy the problems, I asked Mick what products were used, placement of underground elements, whether my raindrains were altered or combined with this new drain line, and a conversation that was supposedly had with my neighbor to daylight the ground water onto his property. Mick would only reply by saying things like ""the amount owing currently is $13,175.25.  We can put you on a payment plan if you like"".

At about 6 weeks after the invoice that I disputed was received, Mick filed a lien on my property (wrongly naming my neighbor as the owner initially - causing a great deal of anxiety) with the intent to foreclose if I didn't pay them in full, plus the 500 filing fee.

I hired a mediator so we could have a conversation and work things out, River City refused to mediate. Yesterday I received a letter from Mick demanding payment in 10 days, saying that their work was ""per industry standards"" and that their invoice was not overstated.

video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAMN7LQPyUQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6uC0

Nitikorn W.

Be aware this company, I forgot to check out this Yelp first before I had them a job. Like many people to give them a negative feedback. They overcharge amost $1,000 . the price came up without telling me in advance before they had the job done .
I got the inspector come to check the problem before I gave them a job. I try to confirm the quote before and while they were doing a job onsite. Contractor still say the price was the same quote, no worry, not anything surprise until the job was done. They gave me the final bill that over estimate almost $1,000. How professional are they? They will give you a low quote to beat up another to get a job.
I try to talk with the company why that so big difference than your quote, seem like they did not care anything.
The company just hire contractor to do the job and they are not take any resposibility for the customer at all. They also don't care about their reputation. So shame.

Kade R.

Very good business, does not over charge
Jesse and Joey are great guys
Knew what they were doing

We had a toilet issue upstairs and they came in and diagnosed the problem and knew what was wrong

Got me on the schedule quickly

I would highly recommend!