Sprinklers by Rich

We had a great experience with Sprinklers by Rich. He installed a new sprinkler system for us in the front and back. The prices were very reasonable, and the project was done when promised. When the city finally got us hooked up with reclaimed water, he came back quickly and rerouted the pipes, no charge.

BEWARE of his false claims about the unit he installs being “worth” a certain amount, its a complete and total lie. Retail prices from the manufacturer are typically on the higher end of the spectrum for cost, but Rich feels he needs to exceed that by 60% to “make a profit”. My story... I asked Rich to give me a quote on changing out my irrigation controller. He told me the 7 valves also needed replaced...so for a really nice commercial timer with wifi that I could control with my phone worth $300, and the valves, it would be a total of $900. I proceeded to check the local home improvement stores and the internet for pricing so I could make an educated decision on whether to DIY it, or pay to have it done. I didn’t know what timer he was wanting to put in, but there are some really nice ones out there for $300, plus he said it was a commercial one, so I wasn’t concerned about whether or not it would fill my needs. The valves and everything I would need to replace those would cost me about $200. I watched YouTube videos on how to replace them. It’s not difficult to do, or too terribly time consuming, but with my work schedule time isn’t on my side. I decided that although it was more than I wanted to spend, paying about $400 for their labor was worth having it done right the first time. On Friday, about a week after the quote, I contacted Rich and asked him to do the work, which he actually had done the same day. When I got off work I found the manual at my front door, but it was too dark to see the work done. Saturday morning I went out back and it looked great, a huge improvement from what I had before. But...as I was reading the manual, it said I needed a wifi module to make wifi work. The unit didn’t have one in it. I went online and entered that model to see if it came standard with it, or what, and found that the “$300 commercial unit” was NOT what I got. The RainBird ESP-TM2 8-station timer retails for $172.52 on the RainBird website, and is currently on sale for $110.41. The wifi module retails for $139.13 and is currently on sale for $89.04. When I added up the unit and wifi module at retail value it comes to about $300, so I figured Rich’s employee forgot to leave the module. I texted Rich on Monday morning to ask for it, but was rudely told he can’t make money unless he marks up the prices WAAAAAY over retail. He said I need to get my own wifi module. I tried to plead my case that $300 retail includes a module, and wifi is irrelevant without it, but he said under no uncertain terms that he can charge whatever he wants. And yes, that is true, but don’t tell me a product is valued at $300 when the manufacturer feels its only worth close to half that at $172...and I can buy it today from the manufacturer for $110!!!!!