[sandim]

I agree. I always heard the same excuse...busy, travelling, blah blah. WHATEVER! I bet he doesn't tell that to the phone, electric or mortgage company. If they can shut people off, we can too!

[The Sprinkler Dude]

Hi all, I am very new to this site. I provide sprinkler repairs, and Lawn care maintenance for the San Diego County.

I have already spotted a problem client that wants lots of work done, but does not want to pay. I was doing a valve installation on another client's property, and his neighbor asked me what I would charge to mow his lawn. I told him I would have to get an on-site estimate to give him a price. He insisted on describing the property and wanted an estimate. I told him I charge 30-40 for small properties, 40-50 for medium sized, and 50-65 per visit for large sized properties. We are not the regular mow-n-go type guys. However, I told him this price varies due to property size, slopes, inclines, and plant areas.

I went to his house thinking it was going to be a regular scheduled maintenance and turns out this guy has 2500 sq ft or tall weeds over 2 ft high. I told him the prices do not apply because this is considered yard clean-up, weed abatement. He insisted to pay us $65! Right away I apologized and headed towards my truck. He came out and asked how much I would charge. I told him this is a $400 dollar job, one-time service and $100 disposal fee. He accepted and we did the job. He wanted a price for sod. I gave him a proposal but told him his property does not have sprinklers, so I would not perform that job for liability reasons. He insisted. I told him I need to roto-rill the area, install sprinkler system, ammend soil, prep, grade, and then install sod. After I gave him the price, he said he wants seed instead. I gave him the price for that, and said he did not want me to do anything but disperse seed. I told him I will not do that since it does no good to re-seed with bad soil. I need soil, and roto-till area.

Three weeks later he calls, he wants me to take care of his weeds again before they get out of hand. Easy...so I go back and charge him only $80 since this time its easier. He does not pay after we finish and tells me to come back so he can have the cash. I told him I take checks, visa, mc, and I do charge 10.00 for me to come back. I went back the next day and he is not there. I called today, and he tells me "well, if you really need the money that bad come and get it but I'll be gone in a few minutes" OMG! I was so close to telling him off the phone!!!!!!! I still did not go and collect the money!

Sorry...this turned out into a story, its the only time i've vented about a client publicly and it FEELS good. hahaha

[sdcustomer]

Well, this reply is for The Sprinkler Dude, AKA Mario Osornio, and of course the landscaping community about a bad experience from the customer perspective. My back yard had initially been finished prior to me buying the house. The back yard was a large plant sanctuary with individual bubblers for each of the 30 or so plants. The area is about 1200 square feet. I employed a laborer/friend and we removed the plants and subsequent weeds and previously installed irrigation system, leaving the six (6) valves intact. *After clearing much of the previous debris, weeds and irrigation system I rented a medium sized roto-tiller. [I had a previous property with 2500 s/f that I roto-tilled and installed irrigation and sod, so I have done this type of work before] Due to a spinal injury and upcoming surgery I can no longer do heavy labor work. My laborer roto-tilled about one third of the yard before one of the tines bent and that stopped the tilling and changed my mind to hire someone to do the entire job.

I found The Sprinkler Dudes (Mario Osornio) online. I made an appointment with Mario and he came out to my property. He looked over my back yard and gave me a quote for the work to be done. He initially told me that the original vales could be used and he was repair or replace them as necessary to set up the new system. I liked Mario and believed that he would do what he told me. I gave him a check for 20% on the spot and scheduled the job for the following two weeks ahead. Mario started work as planned and the work progressed slowly over the first week. During that week I watched Mario attempting to start a very small roto-tiller that he had brought, but gave up after the thing wouldn't start (it was a small 2 stroke unit commonly used on small planting beds). After that I never saw any roto-tillling being done.

After the new irrigation system was installed I noticed that top soil had been scattered above most of the yard. Mario suppossedly order the sod on one day then kept giving me excuses why it was delayed. He told me that it would be installed on a Saturday but delayed it until the following Friday. All the while I just accepted the delay as normal and patiently waited.

I was abruptly scheduled for surgery the day the sod was to be installed (Friday) so I was not present to observe. I had asked Mario the day before about roto-tilling since I knew it was very important and he told me that he liked to do it just prior to installing the sod, to make the soil loose enough for the sod to take better. The day of the SOD came and I saw it being dropped off in front. I saw one of Mario's worker there and watched as no one showed for another hour. I had to leave for the hospital but Mario assurred me that the job would be done right and even introduced me to his father, Mario Sr.

I spent the day and overnight in the hospital and came home the next day. The lawn looked gorgeous. Mario assurred me again that everything was well and the system was set up. I contracted Mario to trim three trees and he had that done as well as assess my front lawn for efficient watering, since I observe so many homeowner overwatering and wasting so much water. I also contracted him to change out the front sprinkler to more efficient types. Mario changed some of the sprinklers and then did not return for a few days. He came back to check on some dead grass in my new back yard and replaced some sod. Mario was always professional and respectful when he talked to me so I always believed him.

He told me that he needed to pay his guys for the tree trimming ($350) and needed that money. I had already paid the entire contracted price of $3747 previously. i gave him the money (cash) ans some $60 more for the sprinklers needed to complete the job in the front yard. I asked about learning the irrigation control and he told me he would take care of it as well as lay out the pipes on a map of my yard. He left that day (almost five weeks ago) and has not returned. He had told me that he would be back the next day to finish but never showed.

About a week later I noticed the back yard was getting pretty dry. I went to my garage, where my irrigation controller was and started reading the booklet. I began to run each individual zone and map out what was working and what was not. After the job was complete in back I noticed there were seven (7) valves. After testing I found that only three (3) zones were actually watering. Only one in the back yard (about half of the new sod). The other four (4) valves in the back were not working. I dug up the wires and found that the wires had not been properly insulated and buried in the moist ground, where they almost immediately corroded and lost their connections. The last, newest valve was not connected. I called Mario frantically, but no answer, I left a message. There would be no call back.

The only message I received was an email from him two weeks later about the initial no show. I spent the next four hours rewiring and programming the zones. I got all of the valves to work. The last one is suppose to control a long soaker but I do not know if it is working properly. Mario has still not returned but given me more excuses via email. I have lost several plants in a planting area mario installed, I think the soaker is not working.

I'd like to know what anyone else thinks? I paid in full for substandard work. The dried up areas were caused be bad prep work (No roto-tilling) and bad wiring. The sprinklers he owes me are still not installed and he keeps avoiding me. What is the professinal way to deal with this situation. I think he needs to refund some money and repair what he and his company has done improperly. Please let me know what you think. Thanks for reading.