Hi-tech Irrigation Double and triple charge for the same repair and sometimes purposely breaks things to charge for them again Islandia, New York

I've been using Hi-tech irrigation since I bought my home in '09 to do my sprinkler winterization and spring turn-on as they were the original contractors that installed the sprinkler system for the home.  Every spring during the turn-on they would adjust the heads and replace broken heads for the price of part.  However, every year the same sprinkler head would have the same problem and they would recharge me for the same part again.  Even after multiple attempts and service calls they never really fixed this problem.  In 2010 we purchased a new sprinkler controller from them for the cost of $200.  The controller we had previously was mechanical and had lasted since the sprinkler system was installed by the previous owners.  During the turn-on this year, one of their employees broke the knob off the controller while I was sitting there watching.  He them attempted to repair it with pliers which made it worse which permanently snapped the piece of plastic (this conveniently prevented me from repairing it).  I assumed they would replace it for free because it was done through their own action and instead they called in and told me the controller was out of warranty, the business that made the controller went out of business, and what we purchased from them previously wasn't a good product.  I asked him then why did you sell it to me and he effectively shrugged.  They wanted to charge me $150 for a HydroRain HRC100 which can be found online for $59. 

After a lot back and forth and extensive negotiations and my showing them previous service records where they have done a lot of work for us they agreed to $75 AFTER telling me that I had 6 heads that needed to be replaced one of which looked like it was suspiciously broken off even though it appeared fine a few weeks ago.  In the end a simple visit turned out to cost me $282 and this wasn't the first time I had "surprise" expenses during the spring turn-on.  Almost every single time they have come by to turn on the sprinklers they have tried to find something wrong to fix and I've had to spend a significant amount of time negotiating with them regarding the repair and costs to the point where it would simpler and easier to do this myself or find someone else.  This time they charged me for a controller they broke and 6 heads which is a record.

I find that this company is dishonest and unfair when dealing with its customers especially when we had given them a lot of business.  We've kept all our service records and they show we've used them to service our sprinkler systems throughout the year.  The company does not hold itself or its employees accountable for the mistakes they made and would rather make the customers pay.  There is no customer service and even long time customers are treated without any respect.  This company is a rip-off.  Do not use them unless you want to pay $400 a year for a sprinkler system and inferior product.