Jack Donovan Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning

Review: I paid Donovan plumbing to come out and replace a faulty spigot. They claim its not there fault , and that the company does not stand behind their warranty claim of 5 years for the spigot. I contacted the manufacture and have attached the conversation from the mechanical engineer of the Legend valve company. "Sir, or to whom it may concern: I am forwarding this email from the manufacturer and technical division of Legend Valves LLC in regards to the replacement of the second spigot within one year, while the valve has a 5 year warranty. As it states below the valve was not installed properly. I found no writing on the valve in its placement, and I have no concern with [redacted] Distributors use of, or reordering status of these valves. I will not be charged twice for a product incorrectly installed, or failed to the same. I also do not understand why my copper water lines ( which run through the entire house) were removed and replaced with plastic. I sought out your company wanting to give my business to one within my community to help support local business. However, I will not accept being taken advantage of. As a matter of record I stated in our phone conversation that the second valve was not even torque ( Screwed) into the house properly. As I stated I am not a plumber, but have worked in Army aviation for 22 yrs, and I understand maintenance. However, I will not remit payment until this matter is taken care, and I am prepared to seek further litigation as to this matter. Please fill free to contact: Myself as to this correspondence, and technical questions to:

Mr. [redacted] ,

Senior Technical Advisor

[redacted]

Direct: [redacted]7439

Fax: [redacted]

1SG [redacted]

First Sergeant

United States Army

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------...⇄ />
From: [redacted]

Sent: 7/3/2014 4:28:20 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time

Subj: RE: Sillcock Information

Mr. [redacted],

I have received your photos. I have noticed evidence that the valve is improperly installed.

The remnants of insulation on the brass transition fitting indicate that the valve was insulated all the way to the CPVC tubing at some point. Maybe the contractor fixed this issue during the second install. Also the hole that the valve is through needs to be sealed. Both sides of this hole need to be sealed, inside and the outside.

I cannot tell from the photo if the valve is properly pitched. Since the valve seems to be pushed up to the top of the hole .

If you seal those holes while maintaining the 5 degree pitch and leave the insulation pulled away from the valve, this valve will perform well for years.

Sincerely,

Senior Technical Advisor

Legend

Direct: 2[redacted]

Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2014 8:18 AM

To: [redacted]

Subject: Re: Sillcock Information

Sir, I sent 4 , but will reduce it to 2. Hope it works.

1SG [redacted]

US Army

In a message dated 7/3/2014 8:13:10 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, bill.[redacted] writes:

Senior Technical Advisor

cid:[email protected]

From: [redacted]]

Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2014 4:26 PM

To: [redacted]

Subject: Re: Sillcock Information

Sir, I forgot to had my cell phone number # [redacted]

V/R,

1SG [redacted]

In a message dated 7/2/2014 4:10:40 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, bill.[redacted] writes:

First Sargent [redacted],

Please send me the two photos we spoke about. I would like to see the date codes on the handle and the installation. Please review the attached installation instructions and confirm that your valve is installed correctly. Most contractor that tell us they have installed them correctly but we find they have installed them into situation that we specifically instruction them not to.

cid:[email protected]

We also need to make sure that if they are installed correctly into heated spaces that they are not covered with insulation. The valve has a sticker on the chrome plated extension tube that warns against covering the inlet side of the valve with insulation.

If these are installed into unoccupied homes and the heat was off or turned way down to save energy that can cause the home to become so cold that there is not enough heat to combat freezing. If these things are not correct the valves can be subject to freezing.

will review the photos and call you back and let you know what we find though them. We will need to get the original part back also. We cannot determine the root cause of a failure without a chance to inspect the part.

Sincerely,

Senior Technical Advisor

Bottom line today I had Donovan's Plumbing at my house to re fix the leaking spigot. After the tech left. I decided to go down into my basement. before I got to the bottom of the stairs, I heard running water, and my entire western wall like like Niagara Falls , water blowing everywhere, insulation ruined , and soaked , basement floor covered I 1/4 1/2 in deep water. I immediately shut off the water vale , and called Donovan's plumbing back . This company is incompetent, when the owner stated "its hard to keep good people on board" "why do you hire them I asked"

Disgraceful work ethic, and I was only so lucky to make the decision to go back down stairs before I left for my Doctors appt. I am glad I did , or it could have been disastrous.

Donovans plumbing does not want to take responsibility and blame it on faulty value manufacture 3 times. I don't think so. This company should not be in business. I am only glad they don't do electrical, or someone could die.

1SG [redacted]ip [redacted]

First Sergeant, US Army

Army Instructor

UH-60 Aviation

Paratrooper.Desired Settlement: I want the item fixed correctly, by a trained licensed ( they say they are) technician. I want all the damaged insulation replaced. I want the job completed to the manufactures specification, sealing the area from cold weather, like the instructions insist. I also, want a mold mitigation consulted to inspect the water soaked band boards, on the outside wall, and foundation inspected to eliminate any possible insects/mold issues from the flooding water. on the surrounding foundation area. Plus contact from the owner as to why they cut my expensive copper water lines , and replaced them with plastic junk, that did not work. Replace my copper water lines that were cut and sold for scrap metal.

1SG [redacted]

First Sergeant

US Army Instructor

UH-60 AVN

Paratrooper

Business

Response:

Please be advised that we received a call from our customer in.July, 2014 for a problem withoutside wall hydrant. We replaced the hydrant with a new Legend hydrant and replaced copper pipe with plastic. After a short period of time, the new hydrant was found to be defective.We returned again and replaced the hydrant with another Legend hydrant. At this time our customer became dissatisfied about his bill, claiming he should not be charged because of a 5 yr.warranty, but our distributor would not honor same.In the meantime, our supplier, [redacted] Distributors, acknowledged that there was a problem and stopped stocking Legend hydrants.We returned a third time and replaced the hydrant with a Prier hydrant, at which time our erred and did not perform the work properly, causing a leak. Customer was home at time and turned Water off to hydrant. He called office and we immediately responded.At this time customer was asked what could be done to appease customer. He responded with a request to replace the plastic pipe with copper and replace the insulation, that became wet because of leak.According to your correspondence, customer has requested a mold and insect inspection.Due to the fact that customer vacuumed up the water immediately, we do not believe that a mold and insect inspection is necessary.We could not perform the work that day because the customer could not be home due to an appointment and to give area time to dry out.Customer stated he would be home the following week and work could be performed at that time. We returned and replaced the plastic pipe with copper and replaced the insulation, as per customer's request.Upon completing this job, customer's wife was asked if there was anything further that needed to be done and her reply was "no".Customer was not charged for this repair.We have been in business for 35 years and regret that this has happened.We have tried to work the customer and if reimbursement for the second call would solve this problem, we are willing to credit his account.