Augustus Miles Miles Ahead Plumbing Overcharged for service performed incorrectly, and needed replacement 20 months later Alexandria Virginia
We hired Augustus Miles to address a problem with a blocked tub drain. After surveying the problem, Augustus informed us that the work would require two days of work and the help of an assistant, and would cost $1,300.
After two days, Augustus informed us that the work was complete - and asked for more money to cover some unspecified additional supplies that he claimed to have needed and purchased, without even mentioning it during the job. When I declined and wrote a check for $1,300, he and his assistant left our house - at which point we discovered a pile of our towels that they had used to wipe up and left in a pile, and dirty hand prints all over our walls - they had tracked gunk all the way between a bathroom, a hallway, the stairs, and the basement.
The problem with the tub began recurring less than a year later. Eventually (20 months after the initial work), we hired a different plumber, who took one look at the work that Augustus had done, and informed us that it was completely wrong. Augustus had installed a sanitary tee connector incorrectly, in a way that prevented snaking from the bathroom. He had also replaced a section of cast-iron pipe with PVC without addressing an issue with the grade of the pipe, which guaranteed the rapid recurrence that we had experienced.
The second plumber tore out all of Miles's work, and replaced it with a properly graded pipe and connector - for $750, nearly half of the cost of the original work. (He also did not leave us with a house full of dirty towels or hand prints on the walls.)