Roto-Rooter accused of billing for unneeded work

Article by: NICOLE NORFLEET | Updated: November 14, 2011 – 9:34 PM

Suit comes amid scrutiny of plumbing giant’s practices.

A Crystal woman and a Minneapolis couple are suing plumbing giant Roto-Rooter, accusing the company of pressuring customers into paying for unnecessary repairs.

In the complaint, filed Monday in Hennepin County, the plaintiffs ask to be reimbursed for repair work that they argue was not needed, and for Roto-Rooter to stop its alleged “deceptive and misleading practices.”

Said Roto-Rooter spokesman Paul Omodt: “We do not comment on pending litigation other than through official statements filed as part of the legal process,” he said. “We do, however, reiterate our ongoing commitment to address any service inquiries customers may have.”

The company and its sales practices have come under scrutiny in Minneapolis, first by licensing officials and now police fraud investigators.

Last month, police searched the Plymouth office of Roto-Rooter and seized DVDs of drain lines, customer files, a personnel file of a Roto-Rooter employee and correspondence between the company and a subcontractor.

The company has said it stands by its work.

Plaintiff Dawn Mills, of Crystal, called Roto-Rooter last December after her sewer backed up, leaving her without water service. According to the lawsuit, a company representative said it couldn’t completely unclog her line. After a camera was used to assess the problem, she was told her line was broken and would need $8,750 worth of repairs.

When a city inspector reviewed the repair, Mills was told that she overpaid. After watching the DVD of the camera inspection, another professional drain cleaner was unable to find any indication that the pipe was broken, the lawsuit said.

In February, plaintiff LuAnn Cosgrove of Minneapolis had a similar experience, according to the complaint. She and her husband, Michael, were charged $5,235 for a repair that a city inspector later said wasn’t needed, the suit said.

“The case is about getting people the money back that they paid for repairs that were unnecessary,” said Gordon Rudd, the attorney representing the homeowners.

Plaintiffs have asked for class-action status for the suit.

Nicole Norfleet • 612-673-4495
http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/133851313.html

Ofwat Transfers Ownership of All Public & Private Sewer Laterals to Water Companies of England & Wales

SACRAMENTO, Calif., October 1, 2011 – Beginning today ownership of all UK private sewers and lateral drains were transferred to water companies pursuant to the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) 2011 Water Industry Regulations, Schemes for Adoption of Private Sewers, which came into effect on July 1, 2011.  Ofwat is the body responsible for economic regulation of the privatized water and sewerage industry in England and Wales, and for setting limits on the prices charged for water and sewerage services, taking into account proposed capital investment schemes (such as building new wastewater treatment works) and expected operational efficiency gains.

The transfer of ownership of private laterals, effective October, 1 2011, represents the government’s aim to improve the sewerage system in England and Wales. The regulations seek to address two concerns: first, the perceived unfairness to private sewer owners who pay sewerage charges, but yet are also responsible, often without realising, for the maintenance of private sewers, and second, the financial burden and uncertainty or inability to maintain private pipelines underneath or below third-party owned property.

The regulations apply to all private sewers and lateral drains which drain to the public sewerage system of England and Wales.

Sewers are those which drain sanitary effluent and surface water from more than one building, or buildings within the same service area or curtilage. A lateral drain is that part of a drain which takes sanitary effluent and surface water away from an individual property and which lies outside the curtilage of that property.

From today, all private sewers and lateral drains which drain to a public sewer before July 1, 2011 will be transferred to the regulated sewerage companies. Water companies now own and are responsible for sewers and lateral drains, including those which may not been constructed or maintained to an adoptable standard. The sewerage companies will have no bond or other security to call upon to pay the costs of bringing the sewers and drains up to standard.

It is considered that the change in responsibility will impact on about half of all properties in England and Wales. There are also concerns that water companies will increase bills in response as the transfer of private sewers into company ownership will see the companies take on new responsibilities and costs. There is a fear that there will be an increase in customers’ bills to pay for this extra work.

Harbinder Babra, a spokeswoman from Ofwat is reported as stating that “from 1 October, the companies will have work to assess the state of the sewers. We will not allow any [price] increases until companies are able to provide us with robust evidence on the cost impacts. We will then challenge and scrutinize a company’s proposal to ensure customers get a fair deal and bill increases are kept as low as possible for customers.”

However, Babra also stated that “Companies need to have robust evidence if they are seeking bill increases. They need to plan and understand both the costs and the impact that any change to bills will have on their customers.”

According to information on the website for Consumer Council for Water, the exact effect on bills will be uncertain until the sewerage companies have assessed how many private sewers and lateral drains they are taking on. They will then be able to calculate exact costs and inform their customers of the increases that may be applied to bills.

U.S. EPA Publishes Landmark Benchmark Report Comparing CCTV to Electro Scanning

 SACRAMENTO, Calif., August 15, 2011 – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released a landmark benchmark comparison of CCTV v. Electro Scanning showing that the electro scan process found more than twice as many leaks in sanitary sewer mains, than CCTV.  Hosted by the Kansas City, MO Water Services Department, the study was part of a comprehensive field demonstration that compared inspection results using CCTV, electro-scanning, zoom camera, digital scanning, laser profiling and sonar.  Electro scan was proven to be the most reliable method for detecting leaks.

Part of a multi-year study, this EPA study was conducted by the EPA’s Office of Research and Development, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Water Supply and Water Resources Division.

Widely-acknowledged as the primary source of inflow & infiltration, the connection of service laterals to sewer mains has never been more important to assessing the condition of a sewer system.  In the past, utilities would oftentimes use air or water to pressure test a pipe.  Able to ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ a service lateral, the use of pressure testing has been found unable to indicate specific leak locations or their severity to recommend to property owners how to fix the problem.  Given the inability of CCTV cameras to visually detect leaks at joints or service connections, especially those located below a water line, electro scanning represents a breakthrough in pipe condition assessment that solves a long-standing industry problem.

In the United States, there are over 700,000 miles of service connections and laterals, with ownership shared between utility and homeowner, separated at a property line, while in England and Wales, the ownership of all private sewers and laterals were transferred to private water companies on October 1^st, 2011. “Electro Scan will change how utilities and contractors evaluate sewers,” stated Chuck Hansen. “Although the world’s leading utilities have inventoried and mapped a vast majority of their sewer mains and laterals, utilities still require reliable information on the condition of their sewers for capital improvement decision making.  Electro Scan is well positioned to become the cornerstone of any utility’s condition assessment program.  More importantly, utilities should consider using electro scan on all pipe lining projects, before accepting a contractor’s project.