When I asked Max to show me how to set the new controller up he said there was no need because he had already programmed it (using a cheat sheet I had gotten from a previous sprinkler co) and that any changes would be automatic as the year went on. Well, he programmed it wrong, in several different ways, causing excessive watering on a daily basis. The sprinklers would run from 4 am to well past 11:00, run on days it wasn't set to run, and odd times throughout the day and night. I was in the process of moving, and my tenant didn't move in until a month later, so the excessive watering wasn't noticed right away. When I started digging around in the app I found reports showing the sprinklers ran every day, anywhere from 22-24 hours a week. Ft. Worth water department sent me a violation, and looking at their usage reports it shows I was up over 332% from this time last year. The first time I called Max I asked him to look at the programming, which he refused to do, instead making me wait 2 weeks for a tech to come out. They replaced the controller, but it didn't fix anything. I called again, and again had to wait 2 weeks for a tech that didn't even show up this time. Lee's Sprinklers tried to blame the app for malfunctioning, and told me I would have to be the one to deal with them, as Max refused to call himself to trouble shoot the issues. The problem is I'm the middle man, I couldn't answer their questions, and I live 45 min away from the house now; plus, I hired and paid Lee's Sprinklers, they chose the app, installed the app, and programmed the app, so Max acting like this had nothing to do with him was bewildering. I told Max to meet me at the house and we can talk to the app people together, which he did, making it clear I was putting him out by being rude, condescending, and talking down to me as if I hadn't been watering my yard for the past 17 years. He made it very clear he did not think this was his problem what-so-ever. While I'm on the phone with the app people I asked Max for my "cheat sheet" back (showing watering times per section and the % changes I should make over the months), which he texted me, and I immediately saw that he had doubled up the running times for the cycle and soaks, on every single station. I said that accounts for most of the problem right there, and when I looked up he was already walking out of my garage said "yep", and just left. He left the second he realized he had made a mistake, and now refuses to call me back. Talking to a supervisor at Hunter he figured out a few mistakes Max had made with the programming, one where he had entered it to water 20% more (then the already doubled up times he had inputted) if the temps were above 85, and this is summer in Texas y'all. Other settings were also entered incorrectly, which was causing the sprinklers to go off at weird times, 2 am, 8pm, 4 pm, etc. So, for the little over 2 months, since they installed the controller, I've had to pay $450 more in water charges than last year at this time, and they have waisted 10's of thousands of gallons of water during the hottest months of the year. Now, since Max won't return my calls, my next few days will be spent filing complaints with the appropriate agencies, just making this whole thing that much more tedious than it has to be. The supervisor at Hunter emailed Max a run down of what the problems were, and Max didn't reply to him either, so when issues arise don't expect Lee's to stand behind their work.
Also, right after they did the work my values in my front yard started to pour water. I called Max out, he said they didn't cause it, and I, believing their 4.8 google reviews, paid Lee's to fix them. Turns out it is absolutely caused from irrigation work, from the friction moving and breaking parts. Instead of being honest, Max took advantage of me and charged me another $550 to fix the values Lee's broke. Total loss - $1000
The last two screenshots show the minute Max walked out of my garage and frantically started changing the sprinkler settings, thinking he was covering something up. read more