Fedewa Plumbing, LLC Failure to honor written 20 year warranty or 100% satisfaction money back guarantee. Lansing Michigan

This issue is basically that I contracted the licensed Plumber to replace all the plumbing in our house.  They “completed” the job four months later, however that plumbing job had from the start and still has an on-going issue surrounding the water pressure since August 2011.   We have a PEX plumbing hand-built manifold system which I was not aware is NOT mentioned in the Plumbing Code until conferring with a different plumbing company in Feb-Mar 2013.

The company has confused the issue of the plumbing at 362 N. Canal Rd since their initial estimate by providing multiple estimates for the same item(s) and increasing the price each time they do it and have not yet resolved the on-going water pressure problem and now has actually refused to do any more work to attempt to resolve the issue or to refund my money ($4,708)under their advertised 100% customer satisfaction money back guarantee.  Items like: installing a larger 1” water supply line instead of the ¾” line they installed, which is not delivering enough water to meet the demand of household appliances. 

The plumber repeatedly insisted that the manifold system is not the cause of the pressure problem but rather that we have too much rust in our well water.  They have in the past stated that we needed to install a water softener/iron removal system for over $3,500 to resolve the pressure problem, yet they refuse to provide a written quote because they can't even guarantee it will work, and because they fear if it doesn’t work we “won’t ever be happy.” - I agree. That would be a total of over $8,200 for a 2000 sqft 2 1/2 bath home. Yikes.

As of 3/5/2013, Mr. F (via email & phone conversations) is now refusing to install a water treatment / filter system because as he puts it:  “As I have mentioned before, I am unwilling to put in any water treatment device for you, because water quality varies so much.  With the history that we have had, I am certain that you are not going to be 100% satisfied.  Sorry for the inconvenience.”   Me too.

Our water quality does not any more or less extreme than any other Michigan well.  Our well is new as of August 2011 and is over 220 feet deep and has been inspected and passed by the Eaton County Health Dept. and been certified safe to drink by the State’s Dept of Environmental Quality water lab.

In late Feb. 2013, I contacted a competing Plumbing company for a consultation about the water pressure problem.  Their quote to install the 1” supply line which Mr. F refuses to consider is under $400. 

Instead, in March 2012, the Plumber came and installed a spigot onto the manifold system, ran some water into it and then gave me an Invoice (709) stating “Fixed Water Pressure Problems: Found debris in manifold, cleaned out and increased pressure to house” – however this did not resolve the problem, it still remains.  This invoice was for $245.50.

I have continued to ask Mr. F to simply increase the size of the main supply line from ¾” to 1” and initially he stated he would install the 1” supply line for $300.  I resisted accepting that offer thinking that this has been an on-going problem which is the result of a poor initially planned and installed manifold system and it should not cost me anything to resolve under the terms of his installation warranty.  In order to be fair,  I offered to pay the $300 if the 1” line was installed and it did not resolve the problem, however if it was installed and did resolve the problem, I did not want to pay for it.  Mr. F then refused to install it.  Mr. F’s business documentation clearly states that he provides a 100% satisfaction guarantee in addition to a 20 year warranty on all complete residential plumbing re-models.

Additionally, in late Sept 2012, my wife contacted the Plumber via voice mail and informed them that a valve on the manifold was developing a slow leak.  The plumber did not respond.  Then on Dec. 1, 2012 that ball-valve on the Manifold which the Plumber originally installed in Aug 2011 burst and cause a leak during the day while no one was home and ended up flooding the basement with approx. 4” of water.  Since the initial leak, the Plumber has replaced a total of 4 of the 20 valves on the manifold system because they were showing indications of imminent leaks (brand new and less than 14 months old).  

I asked that all 20 valves be replaced based on the failed valve and the percentage of additional valves that the Plumber replaced, but was denied stating he didn't want to absorb the cost".   These are ½” ball-valves, approx. cost is $4-6 each.  Now we are left to worry not if, but rather “when” the next valve will leak when we are not home and cause another basement flood.  This is very stressful, and I have resorted to having to check the basement every day I wake up and when I return home from work to make sure nothing is “leaking” in the basement.  Did I say EVERY DAY? Yeah, EVERY DAY.

Another item related to the basement flooding is the sump pump.  Because of the basement flood, the pump ran continuously for over 14 hours. When it finished, water remained sitting in the exterior piping of the drain system, where it then froze in December 2012.  This then caused a blockage in the line and the sump pump could no longer pump water from the basement or foundation tile drains, which it needs to do every time when the ground warms up.  I did not know the exterior pipe was frozen but believed the pump had failed from working so much during the basement flood, so I contacted the Plumber to add a new pump to the insurance claim.  The Plumber came to the house and determined that the exterior drain line was frozen and they cut the drain pipe in half approx. 12” from the foundation of the house, then left stating that would solve the problem. 

They apparently suspected this because they had previously re-plumbed the sump pump drain piping when they installed a battery backup pump in the spring of 2012.  Now the sump pump is pumping water directly next to the foundation of the house.  It is only a matter of time until that causes another problem with more leaks into the basement or possibly damage to the foundation of the home.  Add to that, now we areleft to re-plumb the sump pump drain - thanks Mr. Plumber...  The Plumber did offer to re-route the drain line after they cut it, so it would no longer freeze – at the cost of $250-$300 (verbal estimate).  

Mr. F's wife even personally called me one evening and stated to me on the phone that she has been withholding the processing of the settlement of the insurance claim because she states every time I inquire, I am adding "something new" to the claim and that they are afraid we will “never be happy”….  Now she wants us to sign a waiver-release before she will complete the insurance claim. 

Here are the issues from the flooding:

• Damaged chest freezer
• Loss of frozen food.
• Damaged entire basement floor (concrete floor paint is now cracking, chipping and peeling
• Increased electric bill (5 industrial fans and 2 dehumidifiers ran continually for over a week) from the (still un-finished) clean up.
• Sump pump drain line damaged by Fedewa Plumbing

there is nothing else to add to the claim except for them to finish processing it.  Oh, did i mention that they paid the cleaning company they hired to suck up all the water and run some fans for a week almost $450 for painting my basement floor?  Only one problem with that - they didn't paint the floor, I DID. 

They graciously offered to settle all this for $500.