Tropical Home & Garden Accessories

They do irrigation and landscaping.  They were recommended by neighbors.  They came out towards the end of October approximately.  They had to clean up the mess that the first guy made and put in a new pump and then come back and do the irrigation check and you know whatever needed to be done for the irrigation part.  Everything was good except the price.

When they (Matt and Freddy) got there I was only going to get an estimate. I showed them what I wanted done and they gave me the estimate, so imagine my surprise when they said if the price is right we can do it now! Matt and Freddy were very friendly and very professional. They went about the business of getting the job done. The next thing I hear a knock on the door and they were done. Went outside to inspect the job that they had done and everything was done the way that I wanted it and was all cleaned up. Could not believe what a GREAT JOB they had  done. I WOULD highly recommend TROPICAL HOME AND GARDEN to anyone!

Called early Monday for an emergency repair needed fast due to new sod being installed on Wednesday.  They said yes and that they could fit me in, I described the repair in detail so that they would be prepared.  They finally showed up late in the day (understandable considering the short notice and their agreement to fit me in).  They were not prepared and did not fix anything but did charge me $45.  They would be back the next day.  Didn't show they claim due to weather, but I had no issues working outside for 4 hours that afternoon as the weather all day was intermittent.  They didn't call to let me know they wouldn't be there either, I had to call them.  So next day they finally get there, this is the day sod is going in.  Again not prepared for a repair that they have already seen.  Worked on it, couldn't get it to work and charged me $65 with the promise of being back at 7 a.m. to get this fixed for another $200 on top of what I had already paid.  We rearranged our schedule to accommodate the time.  No show.  So at 8:30 a.m. after I am very late to work I canceled them.
When I called them the first time I had one zone not functioning properly but could be manually turned on.  By the end I had two zones not working, with one of the zones not able to be turned off.  All this with new sod in my yard and $110 less in my pocket.  If they would have showed this morning the total repair for what was one zone that became two zones would have been $310.00.  The repair would have involved replacing two valves.  Note that the valves were already uncovered, and identified which were not working so there was no time involved even in the first visit to troubleshoot, find the valve box, uncover, find which valve. I had already done all of that.  I had already replaced the solenoid as well before the first visit and they knew that.  So why would you not show up to the first visit with a new valve, a handful of different kinds of diaphrams and solenoids (the only parts that can even be replaced in a sprinkler valve).  If the valve is obsolete and the parts you have done work then you install a brand new valve.  2 hours, first visit, reasonable charge equals happy customer.  Nope not these guys.

Absolutely horrible experience. Chris promised to charge labor and materials for a simple irrigation job to water some potted plants on our balcony. He did not show up several times. When he finally showed up, he was ill prepared. After 3 separate visits the job was still not completed. Excuses and very poor workmanship on a very simple job. I spoke to Lisa the owner. She was very shady and did not answer straightforward questions. She ended up charging me $90-85 per hour (for unskilled labor) and lied about the hours. This job was very simple and required about 3-4 hours labor tops. They said they were actually losing money because it took them 18 hours! The system was a complete mess and still leaks all over. They refused to pick up the materials and refund my money.

The experience was great, I called them today and asked for an 11 AM appointment, and they arrived right at 11 AM. They quickly fixed the broken pipe, and checked all five zones in my sprinkler system to make sure they were working properly. They even cleaned out the pipes to make sure no debris got trapped in them from the break. I would use them again in a heartbeat.

Start to finish the most negative experience I have ever had with a service provider.

(PLEASE SEE THE ABOVE STATEMENT)

My appointment was set for between 1-3 PM. I had taken the day off of work to get this looked at. John from Tropical Home & Garden called my cell phone at 11:15 on the day of the appointment to say he finished his first job early would I be home in about 30 minutes. So I changed my morning plans and headed straight home. At 1 1/2 hours later, no John. So I called him and he made some excuse about really not being done on the other job? Huh? He seemed somewhat dissheveled when he arrived, Not as professional as I had hoped. Still he seemed to generally know about sprinklers.He looked around the yard for maybe 30 to 45 minutes testing zones and got the pump primed. Then he gave my a very vague statement that two of my valves were broken and showed me one break in the PVC line. OK, so I said "I need a written estimate of how much to repair, or what did he think about replacing the system." (Big dumb mistake on my part. He of course recommended a total replacement.) He said give a few minutes to work up some estimates. I waited about 15- 20 minutes, and he knocked on the door. He asked me to come to the back of his truck and proceeded to show me what kind of sprinkler head they would use and explained how it worked. I said "so I need a written estimate." He said well, to fix the two valves and the break should be around 1200 to 1500. But a new system that is totally "automatic" would be $1500.00. (I didn't know there was anything other than "totally automatic" inground sprinkler systems in the year 2010. I guess he thought that a "dumb woman" would be impressed that something was automatic. Gee, can I get a vanity mirror with that too?) So I asked for the third time for a written estimate. He took out a Service Invoice and wrote "Estamate" (sic on invoice) for new install 5 Zones All Automatic. $2000.00. And when he handed it to me he said "Well I wrote $2000.00" (Wonder what happened to $1500.00???) No details of parts, labor, or anything estimate on repair vs replace. I guess I should call the owner, but honestly I already wasted one day off on this company. So to be fair, please realize I have not called them back and given them a chance to redeem themselves.

Tropical Home and Garden does excellent restoration work on lawn irrigation and decoration. They do excellent work on cement and ceramic's that I have in my yard. They stand behind their products and they are very good at coming up with ideas to restore antique ornaments.

They did everything right, except they used a cheap schedule 10-20 tubing, which should have been at least schedule 40 for it to be up to code and to hold up. About eight months after they did the work, I came home and I heard the pump running, I checked it and found the tubing had melted. I was so ticked off that they would even stock such cheap tubing I didn't call them back. I got lucky and caught it before it burnt the pump up, but it could have been another $600 if the pump had been damaged. I would not use them again.

I took the morning off from work. He was supposed to arrive before noon, but did not call until 12:30. I said it was OK but that I needed to leave at 1:30 and be gone about 20 minutes. He showed up at 1:20 and I had to turn them away. Ridiculous. I never even got a rescheduling call or anything.