NICHOLSON'S IRRIGATION

Had Nicholsons install system a year ago and they did a terrible job. Then charged me an arm and a leg to install correct plumbing. I now had an appointment to winterize and they did not show or call. I called them and they said they would check and have the guys call me. No call and no show. I honestly don't know how this company stays in business. Avoid if at all possible.

Nicholson?s did an estimate for us a few
years ago. When we were ready to install a system we called them up and asked
what the cost would be now. They said they would honor the estimate. Chris, the
owner said he also had a pump that we could purchase for $650 .The day he was
supposed to come, my husband called and he said he had us down for the
following week.  He told us he no longer had the $650 pump but had a
better one for us that costs a little bit more. The little bit more turned out
to be $240. His team arrived to install the system and while they were working
they cut some electrical lines. These were old lines that were too shallow so
the mistake was understandable. But my husband was then busy trying to figure
out the electrical problems while the team was installing the system. Chris
rushed off while my husband was off getting electrical parts and was
gone. When they finished they then presented my husband with a long
contract to read and sign which they said was just to "ok" them to be
on our property. Then they said he had to pay in full even though in the bid it
said 18 months with 0 interest. His team  finished up and were ready to leave as I was
getting home from work. I got out of my car and looked down the driveway and
thought "Why are all the sprinkler heads in the driveway?"  We
have an  approximately 100 foot long gravel driveway with grass on either
side and  about half the heads were clearly in the driveway where you can
see that our vehicles would travel over them every day. When I pointed this out
to the guys they said the heads are easy to move, that they are great heads
and can handle the vehicles running over them and have a warranty on them. I
said "No but the cars will go over them every day!" I do not
understand how a professional irrigation company can come out and install
sprinkler heads in a gravel driveway and think that isn't a
problem. The valves were also installed in the driveway where we park our
cars. Our next project is to cement the driveway. How do we do this now? What
about the snow plow this winter? When they left, we turned on the system
and the sprinklers were not adjusted at all. They were hitting my neighbor's
window, watering the driveway and sidewalks and missing areas. We called,
explained our issues and asked him to come back out to correct the work by
moving  the valves and heads. We thought
he would respond professionally and want to correct the work to make it right
with the customer. He was argumentative, defensive and blamed us. He said it
would be $300 to move the valves and he would move the heads but it would void
our warranty. The electrician who was installing the pump did some work to fix
the cut electrical lines while he was here. He was here for 6 hours which was
part of the original bid but was charging us for 9 and a half hours.  After
weeks of rude, unprofessional phone conversations Chris said he would come out
to move them on a Friday afternoon. We waited all day. He called us at around
5:45 pm to "make sure we were home." His guys arrived around  7 pm. They said Chris said before we do any
work you have to pay us $816 ($300 to move the valves and  $516 for  the
electrician.  We didn't want to pay for the electrician until we spoke
with him about the overcharge so after another argumentative phone conversation
with Chris, we sent them away. We were very upset, feeling threatened and  feeling like we were dealing with people with
no integrity. We decided we didn't want them on our property again. We have had
5 sprinkler heads break this summer as they were run over by cars. We went to
the distributer in Holland who laughed and knew immediately who installed them
before we told him. He said there is no warranty on them, that Chris just tells
people that and that he wishes he would stop using his product.  Chris was
rude and unprofessional, threatening  and
difficult to work with. This has been a huge hassle which could have and should
have been handled quickly, easily and professionally. In my experience this
contractor does not have any integrity or care about customer satisfaction. He
just wants to get the job done, get paid and move on. Do not use Nicholson
Irrigation! We are not the first complaint. Wish I would have checked Angie's
List first!

After we called to have Mr. Nicholson come and check our system, he said he would not fix it because we did not have a receipt showing they winterized it.  We explained we had the contract letter for the winterization and was not given a receipt.  We told him, surely he had to have had a copy of the receipt or a work order.  They were at our home on October 17th.  He said he would go through his receipts and get back with us.  That was on April 30, 2013.  After many calls ( I have documented all calls and messages)and still no response, on June 10th,  I called one more time to inform them I contacted the Better Business Bureau.  Mr. Nicholson contacted me at 5:20PM and stated it was not their fault and they would not fix it.  I asked him why he never returned our phone calls and he blamed it on his messenger service.   (I should say whenever I called and explained what was going on, they assured me he was indeed getting his messages). This time he said it was because it was after October 3, 2012 and the temperature dropped to 25 degrees.  I said that no one from his company informed us of this when they winterized it.  Also, the ground did not freeze!  He just keep talking and would not let me finish.  I finally told him that he needed to listen!!  He still said he would not fix it.  I informed him his customer service was terrible and he was dishonest.  I also let him know I contacted the BBB and that I would put it on the internet not to deal with him or his company.  He kept talking and finally....frustrated, I told him I hoped he went out of business and that he could not treat his customers this way.  I felt he did not honor his contract, did not keep his word and why would I pay to have something fixed that was obviously their fault.  I informed him we would have no choice but to go to court.  His response......You do whatever you have to.  He then hung up.

Horrible...Never showed up on time.  Never completed the job as promised; Sprinkler head installed on neighbors lawn, Did not install enough sprinkler heads, Broken heads.  Some of the issues were fixed, but took months.  Very poor customer service.  Very poor follow-through.  Sent out a Supervisor drunk and beligerant.  Had to threten to call the police to remove him from my proprty.  Will never use again!

2014-06-29 UPDATE -- I've now repaired the sprinkler system 16 times since it was installed, 7 times this season alone.  It's time to yank it out and start over with another company.

2012-07-31 UPDATE -- Since the initial installation of the sprinkler system, I have had it repaired 6 times due to broken pipes and have replaced 2 faulty valves. None of the repair work was done by Nicholson.  I won't do business with them again.

During installation, I was asked if there were any easements to consider and I said I didn't know. The installer then said, "I know what to do". Less than a week later, I got a letter from our local municipality warning me about installing any type of irrigation in the easement at the back of our property (evidently there is one). I called Nicholson's about this letter and was told by the owner that he would have the installers return to move the 2 sprinkler heads that were in the easement area. His words were, "We'll do whatever it takes to make this right". After repeated calls to Nicholson's to schedule a time for this work, I was contacted by someone else at the company who informed me that they would charge me for the work. Naturally, this call came AFTER my check had cleared. To anyone considering any type of work by this company, be warned.