Who's Going to Join Me in the Caribben w/ Rain Bird?

[AI Inc]

Already going to the Bahamas in dec.

[Sprinkus]

Next time I buy an 1804 I'll remember where part of that money really goes.

[DanaMac]

Originally Posted by Sprinkus

Next time I buy an 1804 I'll remember where part of that money really goes.

I'm kind of in the same boat, and it's not just Rainbird, or other companies in our industry. My workers comp insurance company was under fire for sending high execs to Hawaii for all kins of fun and lots of money. All these trips that people get sent to, come out of my pocket and your pocket. Just means that maybe the company doesn't need to charge as much.

At the same time, some of my customers may say "why is my sprinkler guy living so much better than I am, I think he's charging too much".

[koster_irrigation]

Originally Posted by txirrigation
The "ESP" controller is much harder for home owners to program than Hunter Pro-C.

I see the opposite

I agree as well, The ESP Is Easier for homeowners to understand. Call backs are almost non existant with the esp.

The ProC screen is almost unreadable for people with bad eyes and homeowners have trouble with how to manual start. HO's also ALWAYS get confused with the older ProC's that have the up and down buttons for the season adjust. 90% of teh controllers i see have settings at or near 200%

[SoCalLandscapeMgmt]

Originally Posted by Sprinkus

Next time I buy an 1804 I'll remember where part of that money really goes.

What do you care about what Rain Bird does with their money? If you buy their product for a price that you feel is fair and you're happy with the quality and performance then it doesn't really matter!!

[SoCalLandscapeMgmt]

Originally Posted by txirrigation

And the "Smart Controller" sucks unless you program controllers for a living, and tell the home owner not to touch anything.

You know that once you program the thing you can save the settings so that you can instantly recall them should the homeowner mess with the thing. The controller really isn't that difficult to program either! Perhaps you should read the manual??

[Mike Leary]

Originally Posted by SoCalLandscapeMgmt

You know that once you program the thing you can save the settings so that you can instantly recall them should the homeowner mess with the thing.

That's pretty cool idea, Russ was telling me the W*M SL has the same feature.

[JimLewis]

Originally Posted by Sprinkus

Next time I buy an 1804 I'll remember where part of that money really goes.

Well, next time you buy a RB 1804 you should also remember that they've lowered prices on that item and every other item across the board anywhere from 15-30% since the recession hit. RB has done more to help contractors cope with the recession than any other irrigation supplier.

As for the money going to rewards programs, I think companies that have these would tell you that the increased revenues they get from people who buy more of their product because of the rewards programs is really what funds these trips.

[Wet_Boots]

Nothing wrong with rewards programs. They can and will get completely ignored by people who select product based on performance and durability.

[JimLewis]

Right. There are plenty of us who could care less about performance and durability. We just care about the rewards. Nevermind the fact that we're installing dozens of these systems each year with a 5-year warranty attached. It doesn't matter at all if the product fails or doesn't perform well. We will just handle the all the constant call-backs over and over again - as long as I'm getting the rewards. Right? That's you're thinking?

The truth is I have been using RB products long before I was getting rewarded to do so. That's one of the reasons I love rewards programs so much. I get rewarded for doing stuff I was already doing. It's like my US Airways miles card. I was already buying stuff every day anyway. Now I earn miles and a few free flights a year for buying stuff I was already buying with my card.

As for performance and reliability, I'm happy with what we use. We've installed hundreds of systems over the past few years and rarely have call-backs. I can't even remember the last time a RB spray head, valve, or controller failed that we installed. And I can safely say we install more systems each year than most people on this board. 98% of the call-backs we do receive is just human error. Either the installer put the wrong nozzle on or should have used a larger nozzle or didn't open the nozzle up quite far enough or the programming needs to be adjusted slightly on the controller. But in terms of the product failing or not performing - very rare. But I'm sure whatever you're using has like a 0% fail rate, right?