\n<\/p>\n
Dear Scott,<\/em><\/p>\n Three days ago my husband rang to say sewage was pouring out of our basic 70s suburban Melbourne house. A plumber quoted $48,000 plus GST to dig 2.5 metres down under our old cubbyhouse to fix the blockage.<\/em><\/p>\n By the time I got home, my hubby had paid a small deposit. Sewage was flooding the neighbour\u2019s place and the street gutter. We pissed on the lawn that night. Next morning our youngest had a baby wipe shower and pooed into a plastic bag-lined bucket before his school production.<\/p>\n The plumber returned and pressured my husband into a payment plan, and then cornered me. He literally grabbed my phone when his \u2018interest free\u2019 app wouldn\u2019t load. I saw the finance company \u2018Humm\u2019 and remembered your warnings, but I had major surgery booked at work (I\u2019m a vet) and had to leave.<\/p>\n After performing the surgery and euthanising a dog with an inoperable tumour, I came home to find a Portaloo being delivered. No digger had arrived, just a bloke with a shovel.<\/p>\n Thursday morning I noticed water still flowing despite no taps running. I was convinced it was coming from neighbours uphill. The plumber dismissed me. I rang Yarra Valley Water. The blockage was in the communal sewer over our fence, not our property. Yet the plumber kept digging.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n