Expert: Morgan Smith - 11/18/2011

Question
Last year our well pump needed to be replaced. The plumbers put in a new pump but neglected to replace an o-ring on the pitless adapter. About 6 months later the pump started showing signs of a leak. The plumbers came back and once again pulled the well pump. They then showed us an o-ring from ½ of the pitless adapter. It was extremely corroded. That ½ of the adapter (that had come out with the pump) had corrosion as well. The plumbers said they could try to find a replacement for that ½ of the adapter, but if they couldn’t find one they would have to dig down 6’ to the other half of the adapter and replace the whole adapter which would have been pretty expensive.

After supposedly searching, they said that they couldn’t find a replacement part and thus would have to replace the whole adapter. We wondered if just replacing the o-ring might be good enough. They said they would try to find an o-ring to replace the worn out one. They came back to us and said they couldn’t find a replacement for the o-ring. They then handed us back an o-ring which they claimed was the original. We were shocked to see that it wasn’t the completely corroded one we had seen originally, but looked practically new. There was a slight cut on it, but otherwise it looked new. The plumber insisted that this was the one they had originally taken out.

Needless to say, our suspicions were raised. We went out on our own to look for a replacement o-ring and found out that Home Depot has them – IT’S THEIR STANDARD O-RING for their pitless adapters!!!

We decided to not continue with this plumber even though they had pulled the well pump and not reinstalled it. We assumed that this labor should have been covered under the warranty.

We hired another plumber who was amazed that the worn out o-ring had not been replaced and said that that was standard practice even if it wasn’t in bad shape. He replaced the pump and installed the new o-ring that we had bought from home depot.

After not calling them for a week, the original plumber started calling us over and over. We didn’t answer or call back.

He stopped calling after awhile and we didn’t hear from him for a few months. Then, we got a letter from him with a bill. He wanted to charge us for pulling the well pump. The bill states that after 30 days they are going to charge interest if the bill isn’t paid.

We called him and left a message that we weren’t going to pay the bill and that it should have been covered under the warranty since they should have replaced the o-ring after seeing what bad shape it was in.

A month later we got another bill.

Would appreciate help with what to do about this. We already have contacted NY consumer complaints for this area and are going to file with them.

Thanks

Answer
Dear ben,

Before I respond further to your question, I must make clear that I do not represent you, and cannot give you individual particularized legal advice. No attorney client relationship is created by this email. For legal advice, you should hire your own attorney, and follow their advice. My role with AllExperts is limited to providing general information and suggestions for educational or general knowledge purposes.

Before you take any action, consult with your own attorney. Speak to an attorney licensed to practice law in your state about the strengths, weaknesses, and likely outcomes of any contemplated cause of action or defense.

Your question is about defective workmanship, breach of warranty and breach of contract.

I recommend that you bring your information to an attorney licensed to practice in your state right away.  You may do well to search for an attorney who handles construction defects, and civil litigation generally to find an effective, experienced practitioner.

Your opponents claim for payment seems to me to be barred by his prior breach of your agreement, breach of any express warranty, and breach of implied warranties.

I would sue first for any money you are out of pocket rather than wait to defend yourselves when you get sued for not paying that bill.

I hope this helps, good luck to you.

Morgan Smith
SMITH & RAVER LLP
Minneapolis, Minnesota
smith-and-raver-llp.biz
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