S W FRONTIER LANDSCAPING INC

unknown

The installation went just fine. Worker arrived as expected. Work was completed as expected. Steve and I did a walk around to see that the sprinklers were working and a week later they shut off the sprinklers as it was winter time. Steve told me they would start up the system in the spring and AFTER THAT there would be a fee for start up. I paid the bill ($5000). Spring came. And nobody called or showed up to turn up the sprinklers. I had already asked my yard man to replace the dead lawn (due to broken sprinkler system the summer before). Sunny days started and no one had come to turn on the sprinklers. I called Frontier. Let me say their phone system is not user friendly. I called and listened to the options and dialed the code to talk to Steve. I got a message that he is out of town and it did not say who I should call in his place. I had to hang up and look up the phone number again and called again. Then I dialed the code for the next person. She too was out of town...no mention of who was covering for her either. Third time is the charm. I left a message for someone who did not say they were out of town but nothing was returned and so I called later that afternoon and someone answered. I was told they were all in a meeting in the morning. I explained I needed sprinklers as I was concerned that my new lawn would not survive the very sunny days and I am too old to go out and lug hoses around. She said she would get back to me. Then instead of a call back, I received an email from Shaun. His email said he had scheduled me for the following Monday, but there would be a $120 fee to do the work. I emailed back that it was my understanding that the first start up was included in the $5000 I already paid but otherwise I would pay the $120 and probably amend my evaluation on Angie's List. Email back said due to my reply I was off the schedule until Steve returned. What a surprise. I mean I clearly said I would pay the $120 if I had to. But I guess he was just angry that I thought the start up was included in the original payment and considered revising my angies list evaluation. This is why I rated everything as a D. Customer service is extremely poor. Phone system doesn't work well. Messages that say people are out of town do not state who is covering for out of town employees. Phone calls are not returned...rather emails are sent. If elderly people make phone calls, it is probably because they use telephones rather than email. If they were going to respond using email, they should have asked what email I was currently using. If the customer stands up for themselves, even though agreeing to pay more than they believed they had contracted for, they will be taken out of the queue as punishment for standing up for themselves... and work will be done at a later date even though it is spring and the sun is shining like crazy. eeeeeekkk... The reason I selected these guys for the installation is that I had a bad experience with the company who turned on the sprinkler systems last year. I realize I am too old to walk around checking on the work these guys do so I explained to Steve that I need a company that I can depend on to do the maintenance and check their work and not leave broken hoses that result in a $500 water bill from the city. Steve assured me his company was the one. Ratings were very difficult. The bidding and installation process were done professionally. The quality of the new sprinkler system appeared to be excellent. However, as the work was done in November, I had no time to really evaluate the system as it was not used yet. All their ratings would have been in the good/excellent range if it were not for this last episode. A professional company would have come out on Monday and turned on the sprinklers and let the billing wait until Steve returned and had a chance to talk with me and review his November bid. I had already stated I would pay the additional $120 if necessary. Taking me out of the queue was mean spirited, vindictive and highly unprofessional. And it may have cost me the expense of a new lawn. I truly should have forgotten about a sprinkler system and put gravel instead of lawn.