Troubleshooters help Northeast Philadelphia woman fix damaged driveway

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- You've probably heard of the company American Water Resources, or perhaps you're one of its customers.

It offers water and sewer line protection for a fee. The company sends out crews to fix leaks and other problems.

In this case, the leak was fixed, but the homeowner was left with another problem -- a big one.

"I can't use my driveway. I have to park on the street," said Nicole Fisher, of Northeast Philadelphia.

Fisher says a crew sent by American Water Resources left her a mess after digging up her driveway to access a water leak.

"It's awful and disgusting because I consider myself a clean person. And I'm embarrassed. Like I have neighbors, they don't want to look at that either."

"I'm being told my driveway is starting to sink. Someone's gonna get hurt," Fisher added. "I'm scared to walk out there and and I'm gonna have nothing."

She said she talked to the crew and called American Water Resources but couldn't get her driveway fixed.

"The worst case scenario is we're going to have to take out a loan, we're going to pay for it ourselves."

Fisher told the Troubleshooters the lowest bid she received for out-of-pocket repairs was $5,000.

So finally Fisher contacted the Action News Troubleshooters who, in turn, reached out to American Water Resources.

"When we contacted Channel 6, it took them a day to get back to us," she said.

The company sent a new crew to Fisher's house and they got to work giving Fisher a brand new driveway.

"Channel 6 really did help us. If it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't be parking in my driveway," she said. "It wouldn't have gotten done if we didn't contact Channel 6."

American Water Resources released this statement to the Troubleshooters:

"At American Water Resources (AWR), our team is dedicated to providing superior service and places great emphasis on addressing issues that customers bring to our attention. The service that the Fishers received does not meet the high standards we expect from our employees and service providers. We have apologized to the Fishers and have been in close contact with them throughout their resolution process. As a result, the Fishers have since renewed their services with AWR for an additional year and their issue has been resolved as of Tuesday, March 26, 2024. Moving forward, our team will reinforce our quality and customer service expectations to all employees and service providers."

American Water Resources also told the Troubleshooters its team will reinforce the company's quality and customer service expectations to all of its employees and service providers.