Competent, just not pleasant to deal with

We chose Stark because of their money-back guarantee if no water was found. Initial contact was smooth, and Ruan identified a promising drilling spot at the bottom of our property, although he didn’t assess the top, where neighbours later told us they found water 20m down. We do live down a panhandle though so that oversight is not a major point of contention, just stings a bit. I must just mention that he did inform us that the drilling starts to become exponentially more expensive after 75m and 150m is as deep as they go (which unfortunately was the case with ours).

The drilling team were all very professional and communicative. I checked in every 10 to 20m to see if we were lucky enough to hit water early on. There was the occasional damp patch but, after almost a full day of drilling, we got all the way down to 150m and still no sign of gushing water. Not a problem though, we would get our money back if the hole was dry. I was then informed that shifting earth could be blocking fractures so we waited overnight to see if the fractures would open and the borehole would fill up. We discovered that the borehole had filled up to 35m from the top. It was a bittersweet moment because we had water but it did feel like the full 150m may not have been 100% necessary. Regardless, there was no real way of them knowing so, again, not a point of contention, just a bit of a sting.

I decided to get on the phone with Ruan to clarify a couple of things before we settled our account and they finished the job. This is where the wheels started coming off with Stark. I don’t believe I was particularly confrontational but I did want to know why we were paying for 150m of drilling when they had found fractures all the way up to 35m. I was very quickly met with defensiveness and aggression. I told Ruan that I wasn’t looking to fight and that I just wanted to clarify a few things. He then continued to shout at me so I said that I would call him back. I then asked my wife, who is an Afrikaans speaker like Ruan, if she wouldn’t mind having a chat with him because the language barrier might be causing frustration. He was very calm and professional with her and explained the situation using jargon and industry talk that neither of us could understand. We ended the call not feeling like we got any clarification on the matter and more like Stark were just trying to cover themselves and milk us. We paid the outstanding balance and decided that we would just let Stark finish the drilling job and get someone else in to handle the pump.

The final issue was during PVC pipe installation. The team left a rope lodged inside the borehole, which later obstructed the pump installation. Stark denied fault until I pointed it out during a camera inspection. They offered no apology and left the pump installer to resolve the issue.

Long story short, we have water (albeit slow) but were very disappointed with Stark’s customer service. It felt like we were being taken for a ride and as soon as we asked any questions, we were immediately shut down. It’s unfortunate because I do believe they are good at what they do, they just aren’t very pleasant to deal with. Hopefully this incentivises them to get someone on board who is better with customer relations but until then I wouldn’t recommend anyone go with this company.