Minton Water Treatment

The following is my review of Jonathan W Minton aka Minton Water Treatment: To say it did not go well would be an understatement. I called and scheduled an appointment for Friday 4/25/2015 at 3:30pm to get a quote on replacing my aging water treatment system. Johnathan Minton showed but was about an hour late. When Jonathan did arrive he seemed to be knowledgeable about my water treatment needs and provided what I thought was a reasonable quote to replace my old water treatment system. He quoted $3200 to replace my existing system. This was to include some additional work at the well head and to remove all the old equipment. I said okay and he said they would get started on it Monday morning 4/27/2015. I told him I would need it in writing before he started the work. He assured me his secretary would email me the quote that evening. I received a call Monday morning 4/27/2015 from Jonathan, claiming he had someone come back out and test my water on the previous Saturday and he felt I didn't need all the equipment he quoted. His original quote was based on the replacement of my older equipment. He explained the changes and it was agreed that he would install a two stage system. First would be a Manganese Greensand filter with Potassium permanganate tank to remove the iron and bacteria. Second would be a water softener with salt tank. The revised quote was for $2500 and was to include the installation and setup of the above equipment, to replace the pipe from well head to the pressure tank, replace pressure switch, water spigot, cutoff valve and wood post on which power disconnect was installed. It also included the removal of the old equipment. He said he was going to have to push the starting time back to 1:00pm. But he assured me that would be plenty of time to complete the job. He didn't arrive until 3:45pm?I received no courtesy phone call indicating he would be late. At this point I still didn't have a written quote, but because of the last minute changes to the system design I decided to let the work begin based on his word. He came unprepared and had to make a run to Home Depot for some PVC fittings. He installed the two stage system but had brought no salt or potassium permanganate to fill the tanks. It was getting late and we had been without water for most of the day so he set both controllers to regenerate and said he would return the next morning and complete the outside work and bring the salt and potassium permanganate. He also said someone would be by shortly to pick up the old equipment. He insisted on being paid even though he had not finished the job and promised someone would email me an invoice that evening. Against my better judgment I wrote him a check for the entire amount as most of the remaining job was mainly labor and should only take about an hour to complete, and he once again assured me someone would be by shortly to pick up the old equipment and that he would be out first thing the next morning to finish up.. The next morning Tuesday 4/28/2015 it was lightly raining and I called him to see if he was still coming out and he said yes, the rain didn't bother him and that he would be right out. I informed him at that time of the importance of him showing up promptly because some of his plumbing had sprung a leak in my garage. The garage is where my water treatment system is installed. The rained passed by noon yet he never showed and never initiated any contact with me. I finally called around 3:00pm and left a message on his voice mail and he texted me back indicating he was finishing up a job and would see me shortly. Two and a half hours later he still hadn?t arrived so I texted him asking where he was?he responded with a feeble apology and said the job was taking longer than he anticipated. He never showed up or called. I called and texted him several times, trying to find out when I could expect him to come out and finish the job. My inquiries went unanswered. So to reiterate up to this point, he did part of the job, collected full payment and promised to return the next day to finish the job. The next morning after confirming on the phone with me that he would be right out, he instead went to the bank and cashed my check, then went to another job instead coming to mine as promised. The next morning Wednesday 4/29/2015 at around 8:15 I received a text saying he ?would be by after court at 9:00am?. When he didn?t show by 2:30 pm I called him and he said he was on his way and that someone else was also their way and would be bringing the parts he needed to finish the job. He would also be bringing the salt and potassium permanganate to get my treatment system up and running. He would also be hauling away the old equipment. He assured me the job would be completed that day. Jonathan showed up but the mystery man with the necessary parts and supplies to finish the job?you know, the one that was going to haul away the old equipment never did. So repairs were never completed, but he did make an unsuccessful attempt at repairing the leak in his plumbing work in my garage and made an absolute mess of the plumbing out at the well head. Tried to call him several times that evening to find out why the job was not done and he refused to answer the phone or return my calls. Now we come to Thursday morning 4/30/2015?knowing he would recognize my phone number, I used my wife?s phone to call him and he sounded surprised to hear my voice when I asked why my job was not completed and why he had left my house before it was done? His response was he left because the mystery man was supposed to be on his way to finish the job. So he told me he would be over in an hour. By now I am sure you can guess that he never showed, never called and refused to respond to my repeated attempts to contact him. At most the remaining work should only take about an hour to do and 4 days later it still was not done. The last message I left him was if he didn?t show up and finish the job today, then not to bother as I was tired of his lies. I would get someone else to finish the job and get my water treatment system up and running. Since I had already paid him for that work, I would take him to small claims court and seek a judgement for reimbursement of these costs. He never showed or called back so here I am typing this review in hopes of preventing someone else of making the mistake of using this company. As a side note...I called the county and the state today Thursday (4/30/2015) and according to their records Minton Water has no plumbing license license and didn?t pull the required permit to do my job. They have opened an investigation case # W513916. Angie?s list points out licensing is self-reported and that we should always check for ourselves. I wish I had. I might also suggest you check arrest records for the owner of any potential company in the surrounding counties. I wish I had. Having done either one would have prevented me from calling Jonathan W Minton at Minton Water for my water treatment needs. 5/15/2015 Update: In my previous statements I pointed out that Jonathan Minton is not a licensed plumber. I now notice that since my review he has removed "plumbing" from his services provided and has now states his business doesn't require him to have one. When I hired Jonathan Minton aka Minton Water Treatment he clearly stated in his listing that he provided plumbing services and that he had all the appropriate licenses. He is correct that Water Treatment System installations does not require a plumbers license but the plumbing mess he made out a the well head certainly does. He also indicated in his listing at the time I hired him the service area he covered spanned approximately 5 or 6 counties. In order to provide plumbing services in such a regional manner typically requires a plumbing contractor's license issued by the state and he the state says he is not a licensed plumbing contractor. I have several hard copies of his original listing at the time I hired him to back up my claims that he has since changed his listing after he read my review exposing him for falsely claiming to be a licensed plumber.