Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  07/29/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Conserva Irrigation came to repair my irrigation system on May 4th, 2022. ****** tried to turned on irrigation clock to run the sprinkler so that she could find tears/holes on the tubes with no avail. She proceeded to find the valves to turn the sprinkler manually. She fixed several tears and shut off the solenoids manually to turn off sprinkler. On July 5th, I tried to figure out why my water bill was high and also to find out if it was related to the sprinkler system. Several ******* videos, I watched mentioned that I should be able to turn sprinkler manually by easily turning the solenoids counter clock-wise about a quarter turn. I proceeded to open the cover or irrigation valve and and that time the leak wasn't bad and I didn't suspect anything as I have zero knowledge of valve. I tried to turned the solenoids but didn't budge. I texted ****** and mentioned about that. She replied I had to use pliers but on ******* the instructor never mentioned using any tool to turn them on. Since I didn't have pliers, she agreed to come on July 6th. She came and again did something to the valves but then the leaks from one of the valve got worse. She said that I have to replace the valve and told me to ask the quote with estimate of replacing the clock from her office. July 9th, I checked the irrigation valve box and saw water standing quite high in it. I sent Conserva email the same day about it with no reply. A landscaper came on Sunday and shut off the backflow and said the solenoid shouldn't shut off too tight that can damage the unit. ***** and ****** came again on July 22nd to replace wrong diffusers that ****** put back in May 4th. ***** told me I have to pay for the next call even though the work is still under warranty and insisted that I have to pay $335 to fix it. July 25th Blue Whale fixed the valve and while running the sprinkler the drip line ****** fixed broke. I want a $225 refund out of $365 for their shoddy works and cost to fix the valve&drip line .

  Business response

  07/29/2022

  We had an appointment to work on the customers drip irrigation lines. When turning on the system manually it was noted that there was some kind of 'extension' attached to one of the solenoids and a slight leak. The technician was under the impression that customer was not interested in getting a quote for repair (there may have been a communication problem) so no quote was provided.  The customer contacted the technician later and asked that she return to evaluate the leak which had gotten worse. The technician advised that the valve would need to be replaced and we quoted the cost for the work.  The customer did not accept the quote and the technician left. Later the customer decided that she was unhappy with the emitters we had installed on her drip line.  We use only commercial grade product, but she insisted we replace them with residential product that we do not carry.  We came back a third time at no charge and replaced the emitters with the type that she specified and gave her extra emitters as well.  We made it clear that those emitters were not warrantied.  At no time did we say that the repairs to the drip lines were not warrantied.  We are happy to refund the cost of the the repairs to the drip line that Blue Whale charged for, however, we did not damage or do any work to the valve so there is no warranty for the valve.  If the customer can provide us with the invoice showing the cost for repairing the drip line, we will refund her for those repairs. We do not agree that we should provide a refund for the quoted cost of the valve repair since the customer did not accept the quote or have us repair the faulty valve.

  Customer response

  08/01/2022

   

   

   

  I would like to make a small correction on the invoice that Conserva Irrigation of NW Portland. The actual charge of their service that they performed on My 4 th is $460 instead of $365.

  I included a snapshot of their invoice.

   

  Thank you,

  **************************

  Customer response

  08/01/2022

   
  Complaint: 17623299
  
  I am rejecting this response because: Damaged to the valve was done by ******, one of their technician on the first visit dated 05/04/22. I attached water bill history that ************** Service sent me. There were so much rain in the month of April, May and June and on top of that I was on vacation for more than 2 weeks in May. If you compare the water usage with previous year when we had draught, it's clear that it was unusual. The second visit was on July 6th. That was when ****** worked again on the valve but the leaked still happened in which she said that I had to get a quote for fixing the leak that she caused. I also attached flier from ************************ sent to me in mid July for water service repair as they recognized that there was a leak with higher water usage.

  I found the issue with the emitters after a landscaper tried to test the clock and valve and then shut off the backflow on July 10th to prevent further leaks. ****** didn't turn the backflow on July 6th.

  I was able to find the invoice that showed actual charge that was $460 and not $365. I am seeking for $325 refund for their sub-par service with the result of the broken drip line and caused damage to the valve. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  **************************

  Business response

  08/08/2022

  Our technician has many years of experience working with irrigation valves.  Manual activation of valves is common practice when irrigation controllers are not working, which was the case at this residence.  Manual activation of valves does not result in failure unless there is already a problem with the valve.  We are routinely called out to repair and replace valves that fail because they simply do not last forever.  I do not believe anyone broke this valve, I believe it failed and needed to be replaced.  The work we performed and charged for was with regard to the drip lines in both the front and rear of the house and was done with prior approval of the customer.  The technician reworked much of what was in place, removing excess drip line that was not functioning, repaired several leaks, and replaced broken emitters.  We then returned at no charge to consult regarding the valve and returned again at no charge to replace emitters we had installed simply because the homeowner did not like them, not because they were faulty.  Again, we re offering to reimburse the homeowner for any expense they incurred repairing the two drip line leaks perviously repaired by us, but we cannot be held responsible for damage that we did not cause.

  Customer response

  08/19/2022

   
  Complaint: 17623299
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I don't believe that there was problem with valve as the fact shown on history of my water usage sent by ***********************. I talked to ******************** who is a Customer and Billing Specialist at the agency that assured me by reading the history of my water usage that in fact the leak happened right after ****** worked on it and not before May. I'd like to add another proof of high water usage in the attach file as the leak happened thru early July, as shown  on my water bill.

  If your technician has many years of experience, why couldn't she find why the irrigation clock didn't send signal to irrigation valve and how come that the drip lines that she fixed on 05/04/22 broke on 07/25/22? When she came back the second time on 07/06/22, she said that my irrigation clock was too old,  the same way she faulted the irrigation valve. And that time she told me to send email requesting quotes to fix valve and install new clock. When I sent email to her office for the quote that day, they quoted $390 to fix the valve and $507 to install Hunter irrigation timer. Then, after they realized that I am not interested in hiring them to do both, they sent me new quote just to fix the valve for $325 instead.

  The fact was that the wire that connected the clock to the valve was cut and not because the clock is old as stated by ******, in which Blue Whale Irrigation Repair technician was able to find out and reconnected the wire.

  Based on the advise given by ****************** from *********************** for high water bill from the leak caused by irrigation/landscape company who worked on the valve, I request additional refund $32 for water bills from May thru early July and $85 for repairing drip lines done by Blue Whale Irrigation Repair for total of  $442.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  **************************

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