Eco Irrigation and Landscaping Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:My collection system had a defect.  Rainwater overflowed at the downpipes every time it rains.  All the downpipes did this.  It was a deluge of waterfall cascade.  It flooded into my neighbors yard and around their slab.  One reason we control runoff from roofs is that soil shifts as it wets/dries which can distort and crack our slabs.  A runoff condition like that would need to be listed in the "existing defects" section of a property sale contract.No, you did not do everything I wanted.  You did not stop the downpipes from overflowing.  You made modifications over 2 months of the summer; no improvement.  In mid September you want to add another 4" pipe which would distribute the runoff coming from the eleven downpipes off our home into two 4" collector pipes. You observe that this additional pipe won't solve the problem; it will help a little.  I am retired from twenty years U.S. Army and I pay attention to plans.  I would never consider tearing up our yard in some token manuver.  That is nonsense.There is a defect in workmanship.  It is in the area of system design.  The defect is connecting ten downpipes each 4" into a single 4" collector pipe.  Realtime operation of that system showed downpipe overflow due to flow backup.  After that mid September meeting I knew I had to find another contractor.  I scheduled a review with Native irrigation and we decided that the ten pipes going into one pipe was the choke point.  We installed three more 4" collector pipes.  So now I have a total of four each 4" collector pipes to conduct rainwater to the tanks.  The downspouts do not now overflow.  So you were mistaken that a single 4" pipe would collect the volume.  You were wrong that 2,4, 6 or 8 additional pipes would not solve my problem.  The answer was four 4" collector pipes.  The price for this modification was $4,225.  I have provided you with an invoice.  I can show cancelled check if you have some doubt.  You lost control of events at that mid September meeting when you said that you didn't know what would improve the overflow.Regards,[redacted]
Regards,
[redacted]

This is the response to the Revdex.com complain [redacted]. Please confirm receipt.   To Whom it May Concern:   I am aware of the install with Mr. [redacted] and know every effort has been made to assist in his satisfaction. Eco has returned to his home multiple times at no charge and has performed...

every request he has made. Additionally, Eco performed a service of producing a professional CAD design for Mr. [redacted] that to date has not been paid. Eco has done everything possible to satisfy the situation which includes offering to install an additional pipe at no charge; which was what his request has always been. In a response below, Mr. [redacted] admitted he didn't want Eco to actually make the changes but rather just wants the money to make the repair. There are a number of factors leading to the issues Mr. [redacted] is presented with, mainly misunderstanding of how the system works, site location (elevation difference), and rain volume. Even though Eco does not believe the additional pipe will fully resolve all the factors, we do believe it will make a small difference and therefore have agreed to install. You will clearly see by the email thread below that we have agreed to install the pipe from the beginning and also have received no evidence that the modifications Mr. [redacted] is asking for have yet been performed by the third party provider. Eco is not willing to pay $4,225.00 but is willing to pay the fair market value of $750.00 or willing to install the pipe ourselves. This is approx. $300.00 in materials and 2 guys for 1/2 - 3/4 days worth of work. Below is the full email thread between Mr. [redacted] and Eco.    On September 10th, Mr. [redacted] sent Eco Irrigation the following email, ‘Good morning [redacted], All the down pipes were overflowing any time it  was raining more than lightly. The tanks are 1/2 full so this is not related to overflow problem. It seems likely that the flow from the eleven 4” downpipes is too much for the single 4" pipe going back. Will you install more 4" pipes so my eves won't overflow?”   On September 10th, Eco sent the following message to Mr. [redacted], “Glad to see you got some good rain yesterday. Before we consider adding an additional 4" pipe lets again make sure it's not a height issue. I'll have Lisa schedule a visit for me at your home.”   Based upon this meeting, an onsite visit occurred with Mr. [redacted] on or around September 19th, 2015. At this meeting we discussed some of the issues and possible resolutions. Although we did not agree on the cause of the issue, Mr. [redacted] requested for 1 or even possibly 2 additional 4” pipe to be installed by his house to the tanks at the rear of the property. At this meeting, Mr. [redacted] indicated he would be willing to pay for the additional pipe but wouldn't do so happily.    On September 21st, I sent this email to Mr. [redacted], “I appreciate our meeting the other day. I understand your frustrations and apologize for any hard words or feelings. If you will agree to install the second pipe I will install the third pipe. To segregate all the pipes is a lot of work and materials BUT I’m committed in helping you get this exactly the way you want it. You agree to pay $975.00 which is one pipe installed and I will segregate all the other pipes and run the third pipe for you. This will also have to include bulk head fittings for the tanks and overflows.”   On September 24th, Mr. [redacted] sent a certified letter with pictures to Eco showing the downspouts overflowing during heavy rain events. No new information was provided with this letter.    On September 24th, Eco sent this email to Mr. [redacted], “[redacted], I'm confused by your certified letter. You are correct that we meet on 09-19-2015 and you are correct we have been to your property multiple times. Eco has done everything you asked for. In our last visit we requested 2 additional pipes installed to increase water flow. You said that you would pay for it but not happily. I sent you an email on the 21st meeting you in the middle on the price. To date you have not responded. Consider this email a correction of your characterization that I have given up. What you are asking for is over and above the design of the original system purchased and as such asked to simply be compensated for the materials and partial labor. I have went through great effort to ensure the system was permitted, inspected, and certified. We know the system works because it collects water and re-pressurizes that water for the irrigation. It's also note worthy that I produced a $950.00 CAD design for your landscaping that I have never been compensated for. I agree 2 more pipes will increase the flow of water but so also will 3, 4, 5, 6. During significant rain events any number of pipes can or will overflow. Last, one of these issues additionally was the location you chose for the tank location. Originally we spoke about installing on the side of your house or possibly behind the shed. You ended up wanting in the very rear of the yard which reduced head pressure and increased friction. Also made the install more costly for the electrical and piping. When we discussed you said you would compensate me a little extra for it which never occurred. Mr. [redacted]... I have no reason to argue or fight with you. I want your system to work the way you want it too. I have meet you more than in the middle and feel if you are not willing to meet me there too than that's shows a lot. I want to help you but you have to want to help me.   On September 25th, Eco sent this letter to Mr. [redacted], “[redacted], I have a small group that has time to get this done next week. Are you wanting us to perform the work? I have the parts in stock and the labor ready?”   On October 4th, Eco sent this letter to Mr. [redacted], “[redacted], I've sent several emails that have went with no response from you. I have made clear from the beginning that I have a desire for you to be satisfied with your system and with my company.I am willing to install a second pipe for you at no additional charge. Essentially I will cut the tee out of the ground where the 4" pipe runs away from your house and install a secondary pipe along side of it. This pipe will then be routed to the first tank on the right. If you would like me to perform this service for you I need to hear from you. I sincerely wish you the best and appreciate your business up to this point. I have shown in every way possible my desire to assist you from raises the pipes on the downspouts to adjusting the overflow.“   On November 23rd, 2015, Mr. [redacted] mailed a certified letter indicating he “made arrangements” for another company to install the pipe at a price of $4,225.00 and requested Eco to pay this. The justification was that on October 4th, Mr. [redacted] accepted the offer Eco made to replace the pipe but to date no installation or communication had transpired. Mr. [redacted] included in this certified letter a time stamped email with [redacted] as a copied recipient. Unfortunately, Mr. [redacted] never sent this email to anyone on the Eco team. You can clearly see on the email thread Mr. [redacted] provided that no one from Eco was ever notified of his acceptance. We simply had no knowledge. Eco received this letter on the 30th of November.    On November 30th, Eco sent this email to Mr. [redacted], ”Here is a picture of your acceptance response for the additional pipe to be added. You will clearly see that I was not copied on this email. I'm sure this is because you forwarded my email to [redacted] on Oct. 4th at 8:45 pm and then you responded to that forward which obviously didn't have me attached.”   On November 30th, Eco sent the following response to Mr. [redacted], “Mr. [redacted], I received your certified letter in the mail today. There are a few inaccuracies you should understand: 1) I emailed you multiple times indicating my willingness to install an additional pipe at no charge. I provided you a follow-up email on Oct. 4th, 2015 indicating that I had not heard from you but expressed my continued commitment to assist you. To date... I have received no acknowledgment from you that this was your desire. 2) In your certified letter you provided an email thread. In that email thread it shows the email I sent you on Oct. 4th expressing my willingness to install the additional pipe. If you look closely, you will see that your response was not sent to me on Oct. 5th. It was only sent to [redacted] 3) You mention in your letter that I have not scheduled your install of the additional pipe for seven weeks. How could I have scheduled had you never asked for this work to be completed? 4) You mention in your letter that I committed to "fix problem." That is simply not true either. I agreed to install an additional pipe for you but the examples of over flowing pipes have occurred in major rain events. These rain events have been classified as 1 in 2300 year floods. Even with the addition of the additional pipe, there will be times that the input exceeds the output which will result in overflow. 5) In the entire time you've had the system; even during peak usage, your tanks have never went empty. This is strong proof that the system is working and is capturing water as designed. 6) You provided a copy of Eco's warranty, underlining that piping, labor, fittings, etc are covered under a one year warranty. I am not aware of the pipe currently installed being broken, is it in need of repair? The only issue you have brought up to me is that your down spouts overflow during heavy rain. This does not mean the current pipes are failing but rather you have a desire for a greater volume of water to be collected. 7) Eco, the company you purchased from went out of business on July 1st, 2015. After that dba went out of business, A small group started a new corporation called Eco Irrigation and Landscaping. This company is different from the company you purchased from which was a simple dba sole proprietor. 8) On all previous communication, from the sales process to October 4th I have always responded within a very short period of time. At what point within the 7 weeks you were waiting for a response did you perhaps consider, "maybe he didn't get the email and a follow up communication was in order?” Let me make four things very clear: A) Your system is working. The addition of additional pipes will simply allow a greater volume of water to be processed before it overflows. I did not install a system that doesn't work. The system works exactly as promised. Your complaint is that the gutters overflow during major rain events. During these major rain events, the tanks are also full and those tanks are overflowing as well.  What's the difference between the tanks overflowing and the downspouts overflowing? Even with the additional pipes there will be times these pipes will still overflow. The other thing compounding the issue is the very slight height difference between the gutter downspouts and the tips of the tanks. This makes the water flow reduced as well but it does work. B) Eco came out several times at no charged and raised the pipes on the downspouts to the highest possible spots and modified the drains on the tanks. No doubt these modifications assisted with higher volume concerns. C) I have expressed my willingness to install the additional pipe at no expense to you. I still hold that same position and will install at no charge. I reject your claim to compensate you $4,225.00 on work that I have been willing to perform. Of course this modifications certainly will not cost me even close to that amount. D) Should you desire to not have me install the additional pipe, I will add up the cost of my labor and parts and will write you a check for that amount, probably somewhere in the $750.00 range. I look forward to your response but you have to be sure to include me on the email for me to be able to respond.    On December 3rd, Mr. [redacted] sent the following email to Eco, “[redacted], After not hearing from you for 7 weeks I was glad.  I don't want you doing any more work for us, even for free.  One of the things you have said is that you don't know what to do to fix this.  For me, that is quitting.  You also explain that this is not a problem but you would put in another pipe and that we are not to expect another pipe to fix the overflow problem.  So I don't want you to do anything because you don't accept that anything is wrong and you are willing to install another pipe that won't make it better.  This is nonsense.   For us this is a huge and obvious problem.  I don't want to go through the motions of a task you don't believe will work to fix a thing you don't accept as a problem. I have shown those photos to lots of people in the profession like, other landscapers, my plumber, landscape designers, the local irrigation and rainwater parts supply people and staff at our local nurseries.  They all say the overflow is not right.  They look at me like is this a trick question?  The answer is so clear, why do you even need to ask? If I was to sell this property, I would need to include pictures of the problem in the defects section of a sale contract and buyers would want to negociate an adjustment.  If I didn't, buyers would be angry to discover this when it rains and the sale is closed, they would hunt me down.  #1 storms, 2300 ? as in years? 2300 years? [redacted] and I have lived in Austin for only 15 years and have seen plenty storms of these intensities. Look at all the different dates on the photos. I paid you retail price, promptly and in full:  $20,000.00   I want you to do the same for us. Please send me a check for the $4,225.00.”   On December 4th, Eco sent the following email to Mr. [redacted],[redacted], The payment you are requesting for $4,225.00 is to install an additional 4" pipe. Regardless if I believe that will fix the problem or not that's what you say you are using the money for. I have been willing and continue to be willing to install this pipe at no charge. If I'm capable and willing to install that pipe for free why would I pay you to pay someone else to do it? To date... None of my work has been faulty. To date none of my work was been sub par. In fact, all of my work has been performed exactly as specified. The only point of contention you have is that you want more water flow which the additional pipe will make a difference but won't completely resolve during heavy storms. I have given you no reason to not trust my workmanship and I have given you no reason to not trust my word.I can install this pipe and willing to do so. If you don't want me to than I will issue you a check for $750.00 which is the approx cost it would cost me to install. As far as waiting 7 weeks for a reply, that was your fault. I sent several unanswered messages. I have honored my commitment to you and anything above this is going over and beyond.    December 4th, Eco sent the following email to Mr. [redacted], “By the way, I didn't quit nor said I didn't know how to fix. What I said was, "it didn't matter how many pipes were installed, with a heavy enough rain ANY piping system would flood. Even if we installed another pipe that would not be a guarantee that the system wouldn't overflow again.”   In conclusion, Mr. [redacted] only paid $16,500.00 for the system and of that money much of it went towards the irrigation install and other components not being contested. Such as the tanks, pumps, controls, permits, back flows, etc… Mr. [redacted] did pay a little extra for the cleaning up of the plants and weeds in the front yard but that was not apart of this install. Also, Mr. [redacted] received a $5,000.00 rebate for the rain harvesting system. Once you remove the irrigation system from the quote and rebate, Mr. [redacted] is requesting approx. 80% of the entire cost of the project for one pipe to be installed which is not fair market value for the work. Eco has and continues to be willing to install the additional pipe even though this was not part of the original scope hired to do.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
My collection system had a defect.  Rainwater overflowed at the downpipes every time it rains.  All the downpipes did this.  It was a deluge of waterfall cascade.  It flooded into my neighbors yard and around their slab.  One reason we control runoff from roofs is that soil shifts as it wets/dries which can distort and crack our slabs.  A runoff condition like that would need to be listed in the "existing defects" section of a property sale contract.No, you did not do everything I wanted.  You did not stop the downpipes from overflowing.  You made modifications over 2 months of the summer; no improvement.  In mid September you want to add another 4" pipe which would distribute the runoff coming from the eleven downpipes off our home into two 4" collector pipes. You observe that this additional pipe won't solve the problem; it will help a little.  I am retired from twenty years U.S. Army and I pay attention to plans.  I would never consider tearing up our yard in some token manuver.  That is nonsense.There is a defect in workmanship.  It is in the area of system design.  The defect is connecting ten downpipes each 4" into a single 4" collector pipe.  Realtime operation of that system showed downpipe overflow due to flow backup.  After that mid September meeting I knew I had to find another contractor.  I scheduled a review with Native irrigation and we decided that the ten pipes going into one pipe was the choke point.  We installed three more 4" collector pipes.  So now I have a total of four each 4" collector pipes to conduct rainwater to the tanks.  The downspouts do not now overflow.  So you were mistaken that a single 4" pipe would collect the volume.  You were wrong that 2,4, 6 or 8 additional pipes would not solve my problem.  The answer was four 4" collector pipes.  The price for this modification was $4,225.  I have provided you with an invoice.  I can show cancelled check if you have some doubt.  You lost control of events at that mid September meeting when you said that you didn't know what would improve the overflow.
Regards,
[redacted]

Eco and its employees have done everything beyond reason to satisfy the customer. We have returned several times to the customers home and have addressed all the concerns the customer has asked for. The only outstanding action item is paint for the repair. On several different occasions the client...

has instructed it wasn't important and they would take care of it. Then they would call back asking for Eco to take care of it. All the homeowner has been asked to do is either supply us with a little paint or provide the manufacturer and color so Eco can purchase. To date, the customer still has not provided after 4 attempts.  Last time I spoke to the customer a few days ago, he committed to get this product info to us. Still have not received. As soon as we do, we will proceed with the repair accordingly.

To Whom It May Concern,We have responded to Mr. [redacted] directly through email, telephone, multiple visits at his house in person, other web based sites like Angie's List, and the Revdex.com.The contract never included multiple pipes and therefore multiple pipes were not installed. Despite this, Eco previously agreed to install this pipe at no charge even though there was no liability to do so.Mr. [redacted] ignored these offers and instead found a very expensive and over priced company to install a very basic pipe for a huge amount of money. If it was his intention to truly his intention to simply have an additional pipe added than Eco's multiple offers would have been accepted. Additionally, while in person with Mr. [redacted] he said he was even willing to pay for the pipe if necessary.