My story is embarrassing yet must be told because of the improbable ending! On Friday night my husband and I returned home from a friend’s party. I was feeling nauseous from eating too much Halloween candy. I was sick and spent the evening in our guest bedroom close to the bathroom.
The next day as I was preparing to leave my house I was looking for my two rings that I wear every day. I looked in the guest bathroom and noticed one in the trash can between the countertop and the toilet. I felt more nauseous than the previous night as I realized the likelihood that my ring had either fallen in the sink or the toilet. My husband dismantled both and did not find my ring. Depression and anxiety set in quickly. I contacted a local plumber and was told the ring could not be recovered if it had been flushed. It was likely in the county sewer system and gone forever. Read more here...
Several hours later I saw a local plumbing van with 24 hour emergency response marketed on the side of the van. The truck also indicated they offered a plumbing video surveillance service. I called the company and left a detailed message. That was two days ago and I never heard back from them.
I began researching possible solutions on Saturday night, approximately 24 hours after the fateful flush. I came across a local phone number for Tampa Bay Plumbers offering a similar service to the one I had read about earlier on the van. The local owner of Tampa Bay Plumbers, Ryan, answered on the first ring. I told him my dilemma and he optimistically said he thought the ring could be recovered because the toilet had not been flushed too many times since the ring went missing. He said he could have someone at my home in an hour. At 11pm Tim arrived.
From the moment Tim arrived at my door I knew I was in excellent hands. His polite and sincere manner was very reassuring. Tim did indeed have a video device which he extended through my plumbing system. In less than an hour he had video evidence that my precious ring had made it 23 feet through my plumbing system. He tried for several hours to creatively retrieve my ring. He tried hooks, magnets, and gentle prodding. He left my home at 2 am disappointed that he might have to hammer through my tile floor and concrete to get below the slab to retrieve the ring.
He returned at 10:00 am on Sunday morning with renewed optimism that the ring could be retrieved without ripping apart my concrete slab. He dug holes and kept working at a solution in the very hot sun. His partner, Dan, arrived and the two men set up a search and rescue mission like no other. One man was in my bathroom while the other was outside. They had video equipment set up in each location and with cell phones in hand they communicated with each other until the ring was eventually pulled from the pipes beneath my home.
I thought I had witnessed a miracle. But what I had really witnessed was two tenacious, professional men who went way above and beyond the call of duty to recover something so precious to me. The ring was an expensive one but the value to me went way beyond the money. My husband had saved for years to purchase this ring for me and with our 20th anniversary approaching it symbolized to me a very special marriage. There are no words strong enough to describe the level of gratitude I feel for Tampa Bay Plumbers. In these difficult economic times the best companies rise to the top and Tampa Bay Plumbers certainly deserves to be acknowledged as one of the finest companies I have ever encountered!
Sincerely,
Janelle Vann |
