Grand Strand Water and Sewer… FAIL!

I have a story I have to share. My husband and I have, shall we say, a little situation at our house. We wanted a pool so we went searching for a company. Found a great deal with our friend Murray at Pools Plus of the Carolinas. It took us 6 months but we finally got the money to have the pool installed. We did our due diligence and called Dig-Safe and Grand Strand Water because we were told that the sewer line from our home ran out the back of our house. Dig-Safe came by marked all the gas and water lines going into the house in the front. Great job there. Now I know where my gas line is! A representative from Grand strand came by the first time approximately 3 weeks ago, had a look around marked the main sewer trunk, which oddly runs through the yards of several people, checked his computer found nothing and then went to Marion City Hall to research the issue further. He returned an hour or so later and reported to my husband that in the spot where we wanted the pool place “There shouldn’t be a problem”. Great news. We contacted Murray and said let’s do this. Murray and his phenomenal team arrived and began the arduous task of digging through this dang clay. An hour or so into the job surprise! a huge chunk of the sewer line came flying out of the ground stunning everyone. The guys were proactive and had my husband run out and get some corrugated pipe which they swiftly tried to tie in. Then came surprise number 2 of the day. The pipes were not even glued together. This explained why we had a severe sewer back up earlier in the year that we just chalked up to too much rain and the smell of sulfur which we attributed to the creek that runs one street down. All along the smell was the sewage seeping into the yard. Back to my story… I called Grand Strand when I got home from work last night and the offices were closed for the day so I spoke with the emergency answering service. They swiftly dispatched an employee to come and survey the damage. (side note: Grand Strand equip your people with GPS I was on the phone with your man running up and down the streets trying to find him so he could find the house) The man came in looked at the disaster and agreed we have a problem and called his boss immediately. The boss said he would be here first thing in the morning. True to his word he was here a little before 8am and I spoke with him briefly before heading out to work leaving him in my husbands hands. He got a crew out to the house with the machinery and equipment needed to remedy the issue. Then it all went down hill. Quickly. His superior called the crew off and said that it was not their responsibility and we were totally liable. My husband was then told that they were sending out an Engineer and he would be here in a couple of hours. I spent my entire lunch break on the phone with Jennifer who told me that she was the Customer Service Supervisor. I explained the situation and wanted to now what they were going to do and where was the Engineer. It was now 1:30 pm much beyond the couple of hours mark. Jennifer told me that they were not responsible for anything in the yards and that the were not going to do anything. She told me that no one would ever say that it was okay to dig that we should have hired a plumber to come and figure out where our lines were. I asked her if she was calling my husband a liar as he was the one to report to me that a Grand Strand representative said “there shouldn’t be a problem”. Mind you this same man returned again last week to check on us and remark the main trunk line. She said that no, she wasn’t calling my husband a liar but no one would tell him that it was okay to dig. I said no specifically said go and dig but said “there shouldn’t be a problem” this to me is an implicit go ahead. We bantered back and forth for a bit and then I asked her where the Engineer was. She then said we would never say we would send out an Engineer. She wanted to know specifically who said this. I did not have the mans name. They should know who they are sending and when. She claimed that there were no records of any call or visit 3 weeks ago nor last week. She then put me on hold while she did some research. She came back to say that she had tried to reach the field rep but was not able to reach him and that she would call me back. whereas I had to return to work I gave her my husbands number and said she would need to contact him. About and hour later my husband received a call from the Engineer saying that he was coming tomorrow morning between 9 and 9:30. I got a recommendation for a plumber so I would be all set when the Engineer decided what the best course of action would be. The plumber was at the house within 15 minutes to survey the property and see what had been done and what would need to be done to get us living in sanitary conditions. Oh, I forgot to tell you our sewerage is pouring onto a large open hole in the back yard. I posted a photo so everyone can share in our “glory hole”. This is our second night now with the hole. The pool men buried the first one and dug us a new one for tonight. Is there anyone who can help us with this? Desperate times call for desperate measures. I have no idea what the cost of this is going to be to us but we have to get it done because we can not live with an open sewage hole. After the visit from the Engineer we will call the plumber and have him come and do what is required of us. But having done what was the responsible thing and being told “there shouldn’t be a problem”, having a crew on site to repair the problem and then having them called off leaving the unsanitary predicament I am left at my wits end. I now have to take time off from work to be here to over see the debacle and open my checkbook for what I estimate is going to be at least a 4 digit job.