John H Morgal Plumbing

John Morgal gave me a verbal estimate of $3,500, based on what he charged my next door neighbor. The job ended up costing three times the original estimate -- total cost $10,500. (This work was performed on my rental home, which is about 2 miles from where I live. With my commute, I work a 12 hour-day.) On the day before John Morgal was scheduled to do the work, he stopped by and asked my next door neighbor for a copy of his land plot so he could see where my county sewer line was. John Morgal previously did a sewer connect for my next door neighbor. At this time, John Morgal first observed that the county line was at the front of the house by the road and not in the back yard, like my neighbor's. John Morgal called me and told me that this would cost more money. He explained that he would have to dig a longer trench and have to cut across my driveway. I agreed to a price increase, total cost of $6,000. B/c I had already paid Fairfax county $4,300 for the fee to hook up to the county sewer line -- I could not walk away from the investment at this point. (If the sewer was not hooked up by the fast-approaching county deadline, the county fee for a hook-up to the county sewer line was going to skyrocket -- I recall about 3 times.) John Morgal dug the trench with his machines. He cut across the driveway, he cut across the flagstone path in the frontyard w/o moving any of the stones, he removed an approximately 20 foot length of chain link fence, he removed a recently planted dogwood tree, and he dug the trench to the back of the house where the sewer line had been hooked up to the dual septic. Once the trench was dug, he did measurements and said that the slope was not great enough to allow for gravity to move waste water to the county sewer line. He told me now I would have to install a pump. Now, the final cost for John Morgal's plumbing work was $11,000. I had no option at this point to finish up the project. I cannot express my disappointment in John Morgal's services enough. I felt that he was unprepared b/c he did not properly evaluate the job and that he used the situation to get over three times the original estimate from me. Here are the details of John Morgal's failures. 1. When I objected to the $11.000 price, his wife told me I misled John Morgal into believing that the sewer project was going to be like the next door neighbor's project who had the county sewer line hook-up in the back yard. How am I supposed to know where the county hook-up line is, I am not a plumber and know nothing about sewer connections. I thought John Morgal was the professional and considered all relevant factors in making his estimate. 2. John Morgal never bothered to go to the county to get measurements to determine the location of the county hook-up line, nor the slope to determine a proper estimate, which apparently impacted my need for a pump. Had I known that I was going to go from a septic pump (no cost to me) to a pump for county sewer (costing me $11,000 plus $4,300 in county fees, plus a monthly county sewer fee) I would not have done this project AT ALL. Moreover, when I talked to county officials, they said that the slope was great enough to allow for natural flow. When I told this to John Morgal, he told me he has been a plumber for 20-30 years and his measurements did not reflect that. He was not going to complete the job without a pump. With all this investment and a looming county deadline, what options did I have? 3. John plowed under my flagstone path and never replaced the path. I had to replace these expensive stones on my own -- cost and labor. 4. John Morgal never put my chain link fence back up. It is still down, I have to get a reputable contractor to put the fence back up. 5. While John Morgal did level the front yard, he left the backyard bumpy. While that has leveled off a little over the past winter, it just seems unprofessional to leave a homeowner's property in that condition. He did throw grass seed around, and told me that was a favor. 6. I saw my dogwood tree that John Morgal's crew had dug up and placed by the side of the house during the project.. The ball of the tree was still in tact, as I had planted the tree about a month earlier. When the work was completed -- the tree was gone. The tree cost me $150.00. Either John Morgal's crew plowed the tree into the trench because they had eventually damaged it and thus buried it or one of his employees walked off with it. 7. I had some mature, beautiful Azaleas on the edge of my property. John Morgal's crew carelessly destroyed those Azaleas and never replaced them or expressed regret. 8. The trench has sunk in and has required me to back-fill -- my cost, my labor. Also, the path to the now unused septic has begun to cave in. John Morgal should have caved in the septic and back filled that, that is what he did for my neighbor and that I was my expectation. 9. John Morgal and his crew left the old alarm box for my septic trashed in the back yard, instead of disposing of it properly -- not a big thing, but just an indicator of professionalism or lack thereof. 10. To top it all off, the project was not done timely. Additionally, when they put in the $3,500.00 pump, they did not provide me with the manufacture's guide or specs. I had to specifically ask for this. Further, the alarm went off randomly a couple of times, and when I inquired of John Morgal, my inquiries were ignored. Concerning John Morgal's efforts to collect payment, I originally provided my credit card to pay $5,000, when I was still waiting for a final price on the project. When John Morgal told me it was going to be $11,000, and started to harass me for payment, I contacted my card to ensure that no additional payment would be taken from my credit card by John Morgal. Predictably, John Morgal and/or his wife requested payment of the $6,000 balance from my credit card without my authorization, and then complained when it was denied. John Morgal's wife accused me of taking services without an intent to pay. She threatened to file a mechanics lien within 72 hours. I asked her what was I supposed to do when my entire front yard was dug up and then John Morgal ups the ante another $5,000 to put in a pump. I told her that I did not plan for an $11,000 plumbing job. I had planned for a $3,500 job, and pleaded for some time to collect the additional funds. She reduced the bill by $500 and agreed to give me additional time. I paid the balance in full in September 2012. When I was filing my taxes for 2012, I asked for a final paid-in-full bill. My two emails were totally ignored, that is, not answered. This is kind of ironic, b/c when I was out of town and did not "promptly" answer John Morgal's emails, they responded by berating me and threatened the lien. I would not recommend this plumber to anyone. Admittedly, I was too trusting because I should have gotten a written estimate. I foolishly agree to this service based on the recommendation of my next door neighbor and basically on old-fashioned hand-shake, so to speak. Never again. I believe that John Morgal took on more sewer connection projects than he could accomplish in proper fashion before the county deadline. He wanted all that money, when my project did not go accordingly to his assumptions, I was the one who paid for that. Ultimately, the project met the county deadline, and the pump and sewer has worked the past year, but I have no confidence that this project will not be a problem in the future and I am going to get insurance to protect me for that future problem that I know is coming down the pipeline, so to speak. Two lessons. 1. Never agree to a project without a written and signed estimate, no matter who recommends the contractor. 2. Exercise extreme caution when using John Morgal Plumbing in Manassas.