Western Irrigation Management

Company is no longer in business

Exceptionally well no complaints whatsoever. Evaluated my system , showed me what needed to be done and how much it would cost.  I agreed and had the work completed.  My system now works as intended. <br />

This has been a horror story from the start. I have never dealt with a business owner who was as unprofessional as Mike Obreski, who owns Western Irrigation. I purchased an Amazon Local deal for a "Full Sprinkler Tune Up" in OCTOBER 2015. I knew I had some sprinklers that were in need of repair and I was more than willing to pay to have those repaired at an extra cost on top of the coupon. Overall the system was working pretty well, but there was one sprinkler head that had been hit by the lawn mower that I had to disable and a line break to one of the zones that waters some trees in the eastern most field on my property. Of the 17 zones that were hooked up, 15 were working fine, but I wanted all 17 working. I made this coupon purchase in October of 2015. After making numerous calls/emails to Mike, it was December before I ever heard back from Mike, and he said at that point the earliest appointment he had was in January. However, every time it would come time for his appointment, he would call me and tell me he had run into a "major problem" on one of his current jobs and needed to reschedule my appointment. It was APRIL 2016 before he finally showed up to an appointment. Now, between the time I originally started this process in October 2015, and when Mike finally showed up in April 2016, my system had suffered a main line break in the front yard. I communicated this to Mike over the phone before he arrived for the appointment. When he showed up, we discussed it, I showed him where the problem was and he said he would email quotes on repairing both the main line break and the line break for the other zone I originally mentioned at the beginning of this review. A total quote of $415 to which I agreed. Then scheduling delays started again. First April 17th became April 21st. Then April 18th he emails me letting me know that storms have continued to delay his schedule. He sends me an email stating: "At this time I am going to put on hold all appointments until I get caught up." I understand inclement weather can delay outdoor projects. My emails to Mike at this point have all basically been "No problem Mike, just let me know when you can get to it." However what is now becoming frustrating is Mike's inability to communicate his schedule effectively. I have to keep "checking in" to see when he can make it out. After his April 18th email telling me he's suspending all appointments, I wait until April 25th, a full week later, to email him again to check on the scheduling. He asks if Saturday April 30th at 8:30am would work. Saturday rolls around, and before Mike begins work he asks for full payment upfront. (Red Flag?) I write him a check for $450. A few hours later I get an email from Mike telling me that this is going to be a much bigger job that he expected (Should have seen this coming?) and that he's unable to complete the repair work because: === "The issue now is the controller in manual mode is shutting down intermittently. In doing electrical checks, some of the zone circuits are showing valve failures, I have been unable to get the system to operate past Zone 4." ... To move ahead we must due 2 things. 1. A new controller. 2. After the new controller is installed, a walk through with you, then diagnostics on each zone." === The controller had never had any issues prior to this. It's also important to notice that his email originally said he couldn't get the system to operate past zone 4... I put the Controller in "Test" mode and sure enough the system starts working... until it hits zone 5. Zones 5-10 are not working. I patiently wait for it to get through zones 5-10, and when it reaches 11, it starts working again. I did this several times, same behavior each time. Controller working fine, but zones 5-10 simply don't activate. Zones 11+ were fine. I reply to Mike, and let him know that the controller was working before the repair work was performed, and continues to work now. His response: === "I have no idea what was working and what was not working. Example, zone 6 does not have a feed wire installed in the controller. That would have nothing to do with work out in the yard. That type of controller will begin to fail by giving symptoms in the manual mode of not supplying power to the zone circuits. I tested such zones and received 0 voltage. After several cycles of the off selector voltages was provided. I will be happy to stop by Tuesday morning at 8 am and perform continuity tests in ohms and provide the data to you. I am cautious when I am told zones were working on an old system, and there physically not a wire installed in the controller or ohms readings on valves are 5 times beyond their limits. If there are any issues as the result of the main line repair I will correct. Kindly allow for access inTuesday morning to the controller and clear space for working." === Let's take this apart piece by piece: 1.) He claims that because Zone 6 doesn't have a feed wire installed, that's somehow indicative of a bigger problem. ** The problem with this claim is there was a clear map, taped directly above the controller box, which shows that there is no Zone 6. There's not supposed to be a zone #6. It's a 24 zone controller, and we only have 17 zones of sprinklers, so not all numbers are going to be used. You would think someone who OWNS an Irrigation business would understand this? 2.) "I will be happy to stop by Tuesday morning at 8 am and perform continuity tests in ohms and provide the data to you." ** So now he's trying to claim that showing me "continuity tests in ohms" is going to somehow prove that the controller is failing. Continuity tests don't test the controller, they test the wiring to and from the valves as well as the valves themselves. So I'm perplexed why he thinks this is going to convince me that my controller has failed. All this proves is that the underground wiring, which runs along where his repair was performed, is damaged. 3.) "I am cautious when I am told zones were working on an old system, and there physically not a wire installed in the controller or ohms readings on valves are 5 times beyond their limits." ** Again, see point #2, ohms readings have nothing to do with controllers. And see point #1 that just because not all zones on a controller are being used also doesn't indicate the controller has failed or was never working. Ok, NOW I'm frustrated. I've now paid $450 to have my system repaired and now this guy is telling me he can't do it because my controller is failing. I don't think this guy realizes I'm an electrical engineer and I know what "perform continuity tests in ohms" actually means, and that it has nothing to do with the controller. At this point, I go back out and test the controller AGAIN. I put the controller in manual mode, switch it through all of the non-working zones, and check the voltage. I get voltage at each and every zone that's not working, indicating the controller itself is fine. The continuity readings indicate a wire break somewhere under the ground along the main line that was repaired. I reply to Mike and let him know that I tested the voltages and continuity myself, and that I can find no problem with the controller, and that there appears to be an issue with the underground wiring. I expected Mike to be able to diagnose this as an underground wiring issue while he was here, instead of arguing with me over email about needing to purchase a new controller before he can continue working. In fact, no controller is necessary. You can activate these valves using standard 12V DC power from any 12 volt battery. Are you telling me this guy doesn't have a small 12 volt battery in his truck he can use to manually activate zones. Or a 24VAC power adapter that costs $10 at radio Shack? How is it I know how to do this and he doesn't? I respond with a picture of the map above the controller panel that shows there's not supposed to be a zone 6, and pictures of water shooting out of the ground where he was supposed to repair the second leak. I explain to Mike that I don't feel like I need a new controller, especially not based on "ohms readings" since those have nothing to do with the

Great <br />

He checked all my heads and adjusted those that he could.  It took little while to get him on the calendar, but I guess being busy is a sign of having high demand, so that's good.  He also gave estimates to re-do the back and front systems.  Prices were on the high side of bids that I got, but not too far out of the norm. <br />

He did a fine job with the service.

Very quick review and adjustment of heads. Not a great value in that issues that are discovered are an additional charge. I understand that, however it makes the offering only minimally useful. <br />

It went alright.

There were no additional charges.  I don’t remember any bad service by them.  I don’t live there anymore, but if needed I would use them again.

They did a good job. They were punctual and knowledgeable. Scheduling an appointment was good.

He did a fairly decent job--still need to program the Sprinkler system--I am currently doing it manually. Maybe a power outage might have thrown it out of whack--in all fairness to this firm. <br />

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Very well, pleased with service . <br />

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Came on time, worked on his own. No repair necessary. <br />

The vendor rescheduled many times saying that he couldn't fulfill the coupon offer at the price advertised. When he finally agreed to take a look at our system he said that we would have to pay him by check because Angie's List didn't pay him. We cancelled our payment to AL and explained to them what this vendor said. Angie's List gave us a refund and then the vendor finally agreed to give us a visit. The vendor was abrasive in his dealings and didn't actually perform a tune up but did give us his estimate of what he would charge to do an actual tune up. His estimate was over $900 and he was upset when we said we'd like to get a second opinion first. We do pay the $49.99 for the estimate, called another vendor to do a tune up and got the same work done by someone else for $130.00. Too big a difference and now the system is just fine. Felt this vendor was in a bait and switch operation, or at least a case of sour grapes and regret. I like to work with local small business owners but not when I as a customer feel like I'm being taken advantage of. I would not recommend this company unfortunately. He advertised in San Antonio but I think he is now in the Austin area. <br />

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It worked out great.

Lots of trouble doing the initial schedule, lots of trouble getting together on the timing for the second appointment. Finally did show up do what turns out to have been an bid for the cost of work, then lots of trouble getting the work actually completed. When we DID finally get the work 'completed' about half of the work was finished off (I guess in fairness more like 3/4) and I was asked to pay for the work completed and then he would come back in a few days and complete the remaining work. That was of course the last contact I had.  <br />     Over all I was not at all impressed. I do have to say that I have not had any trouble with any of the repair work that was actually completed, so the quality of work from this company may be OK. The rest of the business relationship was poor. Poor enough that if I had known I was gaining no real value from the 'deal' I got from Angies list I would have abandoned this company and gone hunting on google for another sprinkler company.   <br />

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