ComplaintsforPackard Well Drilling Ltd.

• Initial Complaint

  21/04/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The owner of Packard Well Drilling Ltd. Visited our property in August 2021. **** **** (purchaser) and ***** ******* discussed location and cost of well. We were given a quote of between $10,000.-$12,000.00. At this time, a date was set to come and drill the well for the first week of October 2021, when **** **** would be on property. We were asked to pay half the total amount. We paid $5,000.00 as agreed by Packard Well Drilling Ltd. This can be shown on the attached file in ******* *****. We have other documents that show this amount was specifically given as a deposit for the total amount in both an email to confirm payment as well as on another invoice copy we received. Please advise if you would like these documents forwarded also. We were contacted early in October 2021 that the company would not be able to come during the first week of October to drill the well. We agreed, at that time, to allow Packard Well Drilling Ltd. To come and drill the well with our neighbor giving them access to our property in order to help accommodate their schedule. We received two text communications from the owner during the drilling. (i) He sent a couple of photos of the rig working on property. We asked for updates on how deep they were drilling. (ii) We only received a response on the total number of feet dug once they were finished drilling. **** **** sent a text asking how much money it would cost for a pump. We did not get a response to this message. There was no further communication until we received our invoice from Packard Well Drilling Ltd. We received an invoice dated December 7th, 2021 in the mail for $23,673.50, plus another invoice for an installed pump for $5,260.47. The total owing on both Invoices is $28,933.97. This is drastically different than the quoted $10,000.-$12,000. Initially quoted with zero communication to us on any increased costs. Desired Resolution: First, we are shocked at the final total for the well drilling when we were not informed at any point of the process that it would be more than initially quoted. We are responsible people who pay our bills on time and budget for large projects carefully. This is a DRASTIC financial hardship for us! We feel we should have been contacted when the full amount quoted $10,000-$12,000.00 was reached in order to decide how to proceed. A company should not be allowed to spend undetermined of our money without our permission. We also feel we should have been contacted when the drilling depth was beyond the expected depth to discuss options. We are very concerned that the well did not need to be drilled as deep as it was, 420 feet. This seems excessive and we have further concerns that this company is not competent with drilling procedures. We have plans to have a third party come in to inspect the well. We can fully understand that sometimes things do not go as planned, but we feel that Packard Well Drilling Ltd. Choose to not inform us of increased costs and has left us financially strained.

  Business response

  22/04/2022

  -We were approached by cusomers while we were out in a secluded cottage area riding ATVs with family and friends during a weekend outing. During a conversation a verbal estimate was given along with some other information about drilling and wells being billed by the foot.

  -We require a $5000.00 deposit from all our customers on well jobs prior to our arrival. 

  -There was never a quote given as we never have and never will quote wells in our district. Our district varies greatly with well depths, and possibly even between two neighbors. When looking on the Ministry well map, there are no other wells in that area of the customers cottage so we are unable to give the customer that information as well.

  -We do agree that we were unable to come in October when agreed upon when approached that weekend. However we kept in contact with the customer who lives hours away from their cottage. Once we knew for sure when we could get there, the customer was contacted and and told of the date. The customer was unable to make it for the date but we were told it was still ok to come and drill there well on the updated date.

  -As the customer could not be on site for the drilling we thought it would be a nice gesture to send some photos of the drill rig drilling their well. Which the customer was appreciative of.

  -I'm sure you can imagine when having the drill rig running and drilling the well, there is extreme noise and noise reduction ear muffs must be worn. It is also a safety concern being on your phone while drilling and can only be done away from the drill rig. It is not uncommon for calls and texts to not be returned until the end of the drillers day of after the well is complete.

  We do have an office and can be reached by the phone number that is attached to every email that was sent to the customers if they have any questions or concerns.

  Which brings me to the pump. Yes, we absolutely take responsibility for invoicing a pump that the customer did not agree to. The driller was busy and read the text wrong then billed the pump and install. The customer contacted Packard Well Drilling Ltd. in January 2022 stating they only wanted an estimate, they were then credited that invoice and an updated statement was sent showing the credit was applied. We do apologize for that. We have contacted the customer to allow us access to the property to remove the pump and have not been given the ok as of yet.

  Packard Well Drilling Ltd. are responsible well drillers, I do understand that not everyone know how and why we do what we do. There has to be trust between customer and company. We follow all Ministry guidelines and licenses.

  As I said above the depths of well in our district can be extreme, 420' is a deep well but we have had plenty that are deeper. We do not drill more that we need too, it wastes our time and money and the customers time and money. We are drilling to get the customer clear, sand free water that is sufficient enough.

  We have sent statement showing the amount owing and we could never get a conversation started with the customer until an interest charge finally in March. We are patient with payments from all our customers and at times make payment plans with no interest. We are not wanting more than what is owed for the job done.

  We do not agree to this desired settlement. 

  We also received a payment today for portion of the pump invoice *****. If the customer wants to keep the pump that is ok, we will reverse the credit.

  We do not agree to $12,000.00 on ******* *****.

  Attached is the credit memo for the pump, email and snapshot of customers reply to pictures.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩