Sunday, July 20, 2008

Misery with our sprinkler service company

We have quite a bit of land - it can only be watered effectively with a sprinkler system.
We paid about $325 - $390 for de-winterization and start-up. The process was stopped half-way through when the team declared our timing system dead and in need of replacement.
The replacement cost $1300 in labor.
Unfortunately the team did a shoddy job.
They charge $65 per hour, but provide cheap labor.

I asked the sprinkler company to return:
1. set the timers and show me how to do it
2. confirm that all sprinkler heads were properly programmed
3. confirm that all sprinkler heads were working

The cheap labor claimed to have manually tested each head, but our actual field test showed 1/3 of the sprinklers to be disfunctional. The servicor then recommended we replace all of them with new heads.

We asked for an estimate. Grandpa had a strong inclination that the heads were not broken. While I was at work, he spent the next two days digging up the grass around each head and cleaning out dirk and blockage. By the time he was done, all but 1 of the heads were working.

This kind of service is unacceptable.

Quite frankly, I question if the original timing unit was truely broken.

We did have the come back twice:

1. fix obvious leaks
2. fix a stuck valve

While they were here the second time, I had the fix the positioning of the timer box. They did such a poor job installing it, it could not be opened properly.

If i'm going to be subject to cheap labor, i might as well pay cheap rates.

This company will be fired.

I am wondering if i'm due back more of my money! Thanks the stars we didn't accept their diagnosis that 1/3 of the sprinklers should be replaced at $50 per head for the big ones plus labor.

Regards,
makingourway

1 comment:

Wayne said...

Wow, that is outrageous. Are these the same folks who do your landscaping?

I too have sprinklers (5 zones) and the cost of winterizing is just $50.
What is their definition of winterizing? It should just be blowing out the excess in the water in the pipes for each zone and shutting down the water line to the sprinklers. Startup is just turning on the water and testing each zone to make sure it is working which is something you can do yourself.