JRL Lawn Sprinkling Systems

I called JRL because our neighbors recommended them. As a first-time customer, I scheduled a service for 1 PM. By 1:45 PM, I hadn't heard from anyone, so I called the office to check if there was a miscommunication. They informed me the service was delayed and would arrive in 30 minutes, making it 2:15 PM. However, the technician finally showed up at 2:40 PM. Although the serviceman was cordial and showed us a simple fix, the repair took only five minutes, yet we were invoiced $150. I reached out to the owner to discuss the delay and consideration for the high charge for such a brief service. Mark Robertson, the owner, sent a fragmented email that was difficult to understand. When I asked for clarification, he called me and, without apologizing for the delay, accused me of trying to avoid payment. He judged my home as "cheap" just by driving by and insulted me personally. He said I was just looking to not pay, which was never my intention. An apology and $25 off would have gone a long way for a first time customer. I found this extremely unprofessional and insulting. While our home in Hinsdale may not be Versailles, it is a home we built for our family and, in my opinion, does not in any word warrant his unprofessional behavior or direct insults. We were treated with a lack of respect and courtesy. JRL's astonishingly poor management and ownership only suggest that their work quality is equally poor. JRL stands for "Just Really Late."

I have now used JRL 5 or so times this summer. From the easier, 'let's adjust some of the sprinkler heads, replace damaged ones', to the bigger challenge of 'is there a leak' and if so, 'where the heck is it?'. I've come to understand that determining where a leak may be is not ALWAYS straightforward. PLUS, you may have several leaks and not even realize it. This is still a relatively new house for us (but not new as built in the '40's, sprinklers put in around '88) and with that comes lots of learning curves. Last summer my lawn guys replaced some leaking valves, and then this year I found out some of those were leaking. Grrrr, frustrating. The JRL team worked with me to find numerous leaks (in then end, some was valves and some were cracked lines) and then help me understand why there were problems with my one season old valves. My lawn guys didn't do a bad job BUT they didn't understand the fine points of best material to use to prevent leaks in the joins AND that if they used different types of valves - any future work would be faster and easier (translate, less costly) to do. My experience is that the JRL team works hard to do a good job, use quality materials, and explain (if you take the time to talk to them, not just point at the problem and not take any interest) what the challenge is and why they feel it would be best to . . . . 'fill in the blank' for your yard/system. The gal in their office is prompt about responding to messages (texting is the speediest) and trying to work out any challenges that may occur. Glad that my friend referred them to me and amusingly, it turns out they were the original installation company 30 years ago!

I think they are relativly new to the generator instal business but all in all it went pretty smoothly. I had to give the installer some tips for the pouring the concrete pad and how to finish the edges of the pad, providing the edging trowel as he wasn't going to slope the finished edge. After that everything went well and I found the electricians to be quick and cleaned up the jobsite very nicely after providing a quality installation. Mark communicated well and kept to the planned schedule.