Elizabeth Trice
2 years ago
My husband & I hired Mr. Jenkins on the recommendation of a friend. We had already been burned by another individual who performed plumbing work at the house-- we explained that entire ordeal in detail to Joe. He appeared to empathize with our situation and willing to help. He was hired to inspect the previous work for leaks, install water and drain lines for our new basement bathroom and bar, install a sewage basin and ejector pump, and install and secure a new expansion tank on our water heater.
He quoted us 2 days to complete the job. We are in our 3rd trimester of pregnancy and are trying to get this project done ASAP. We gave him a 50% deposit prior to his 1st day of work as he asked. We were unable to verify his plumbing license through the GA SOS website prior to this because the system was down. We decided to trust him with a 50% deposit without verifying his license because he had already done work for a friend. On his 1st day, the system confirmed he has a Journeyman plumbers license. We told Joe that this job would need a plumbing permit -- something that a Journeyman plumber is not allowed to file under their license alone in GA. He said this would not be a problem. This was concerning, but he showed up on time Monday and he was recommended by a friend. Tuesday, he said another customer had a leak and went there instead. He then made excuses every day following, not coming to our house again until Friday. I informed Joe prior to starting the job, that the basement plumbing needed to be done and checked for leaks on time so we could proceed with installing new fixtures upstairs. I originally planned for that work to start at the end of the week, but Joe was still not finished, so I had to delay.
Joe claims he was at the house on Saturday, but we could not confirm as we were at a wedding. On Sunday evening, my husband and I observed that not much progress had been made since Friday. He had spent 3 days total on the job (if we count Saturday).
So Joe had promised the job would be done in 2 days, then over the weekend, and then again Monday morning. Monday, when I told him a crew would be there to remove the old fixtures, he still did not show up. He didn't even attempt to check the lines as I had asked. The crew was delayed until Tuesday.
On Tuesday, he asked for more money to rent equipment to chip the concrete in the basement. He claimed he ran into foundation footings which prevented him from digging any further to place the sewage basin and now needed to dig elsewhere. He was sent an additional $200 for the equipment as he requested, but did not show up.
Joe continued to promise to show up without coming until Friday, 6/25, when we informed him that he was terminated. From 6/14 - 6/24, Joe showed up for 3 days, but promised to come every day since 6/15. He told us for 6 days (throughout each day) he would come to finish the job and did not show up.
A Master Plumber came to the house to evaluate the plumbing and give us an estimate for what it would cost to finish the job. He informed us that the water and drain lines Joe installed are not to code and would need to be redone prior to inspection.
On 6/25, we requested that Joe return a portion of the 50% deposit & the $200 he received.
After hiring the Master plumber, we also discovered that Joe had not installed our shower fixture correctly. He installed a shower attachment to the cold water line before the mixer. All of the water and drain lines done by Joe had to be redone. The sewage basin was installed into the same spot, negating Joe's claim that there were footings in the way and he needed an additional $200 in order to dig in a new spot for the sewage basin.
As of 7/9, Joe has not paid us back any of our money. He came to our house on 6/28 and retrieved his tools & materials with the understanding that he would be returning the materials & returning our money.
If you pay Joe a deposit he may stop showing up & you may lose your money. I question his experience completing rough-ins for plumbing. He may not adhere to code for installations.
