The technician that came out was polite and seemed knowledgeable, He recommended a power flush of the drain (basement walkup floor drain) in question, He was the second plumber out with the same suggestion, but I still wasn't convinced this was really the solution. After we turned down the initial cost of $2000, they offered $1500, and left the company's card. Later that day, we called and setup an appointment, On the day of the appointment, nobody showed up. We called them at 4pm, and asked where the plumber was. Apparently, the 3rd party that does the power flush was on vacation, and they shouldn't have scheduled the appointment, then failed to inform us of the mistake. They said they could have him out the following week.
At that point we called a different plumber, as the weekend was coming with predictions of thunderstorms, and with the drain clogged I would have been vacuuming my basement all weekend. The next plumber showed up and looked at the drain, and instantly diagnosed the problem as likely being roots within 30ft of the top of the drain. He retrieved an electric snake from his truck, and had the problem fixed within less than an hour, for a charge of less than $400.
While experience certainly played a part in diagnosing a lower cost solution, it's a poor business practice to instantly jump to the highest cost solution while down playing simpler solutions.
Ultimately, they did refund the $80 fee for the diagnosis, but that is little compensation for the lost day waiting on a plumber that didn't show, and the weekend I could have lost because of their failure to meet the appointment.
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