I was truly appalled at the way some businesses in Bemidji took advantage of people in need during the recent plunging temperatures.
Apparently, several hundred residents had trouble with their septic systems freezing, as we did. We were No. 80 on one company's list and even further down on two others. One local plumbing and heating company offered to come right away in the morning if we were willing to pay them $200 an hour, otherwise they wouldn't be able to come for at least four days.
One septic company we called to thaw out our septic system came out within a couple hours and pumped our tank, then told us the pipe was frozen and we'd need to have it thawed out. We had called them for that service! When we talked to the owner and told him we didn't intend to pay for a service we didn't order, he told us they sometimes need to pump out a tank before they could thaw it. We had two problems with this: 1) they never sent anyone else to thaw the pipe as we requested, nor had they intended to; and, 2) we had a new septic system and tank installed four months ago so we find it hard to believe that the 1,500-gallon tank was completely full as they later claimed.
According to this company, we would need to pump our tank three times a year!
Needless to say, he is demanding that we pay him for pumping our tank. Two other technicians we've talked to since have told us that was a "deceptive business practice" because emptying our tank was a way to ensure they'd be called back when the system froze again due to lack of heat. They both advised us to wash, flush and shower as much as possible in the next couple days to put something back in the tank to generate heat.
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We would, however, like to thank the other business for helping us on a Sunday morning, along with many others, and not charging extra to do it. We appreciate them as well as the other honorable companies we contacted that weekend that were getting to as many people as they could and not trying to price gouge or deceive customers that were caught between a rock and a hard place.
Scott and Dawn Peterson
Bemidji
