Our drain unblocking experience

Rachana from Boulcott

W&G Drainage Ltd were contacted by our plumbers when there was a blocked toilet bowl in our property in Central Lower Hutt. They used their equipment and told us that they have cleared any blockages but there is some concrete build-up at one point in the drain which may cause the issue again. No super-urgent action was recommended with further action necessary may be in medium-term i.e. not within days. However, the same problem happened 3 more times within less than 2 weeks. They came two more times, each time to do same work but the drain was not fully cleared. We were very disappointed with their work as their focus was not on resolving the issue fully. It was more limited to just pointing out the likely cause of the problem i.e. concrete/glue lip buildup within the drain. For coming 3 times in 10 days and still not fixing the root cause of the issue, they charged us: $672.75, $531.84 and $404.80 totalling $1,609.39 (incl GST).

Just three days later the toilet was again blocked and water was not flushing down the drain. This time we decided to call Marty Leslie (027-668-7581) of Leslie Drain Clearing Ltd. Marty did his intial investigations and was quick to locate the junction box in the front lawn which W&G Drainage did not locate even after 3 visits and $1600 of work. Marty could then insert the camera and drain clearing pipes from the junction box for closer examination of the part of the drain where stuck concrete/stones were rather than the camera etc coming all the way from the gully traps. He then removed some stuck up wet wipes/paper, identified a spot where most of the concrete pieces were stuck and removed all of the concrete/stones. He spent about two hours in all and made sure that the drains were now clear all the way up to the council drain. There have been no further issues since then. Leslie Drainage charged us $402.50 which is far more reasonable having fixed the root cause of the issue that was causing blocked toilet.