B. Jane Gardens

Review: Our agreement with B. Jane Gardens was for yard service, once every two weeks for a fee not to exceed $250 per month. We stated in an email that we would ask our two able-bodied boys to handle any additional work that would be required.

In December/January we paid $592; February/March $432 for an average of $256.50 per month. That was our expressed budget, but we were not going to quibble. After all, B. Jane did say that on occasion that work could take a little longer or a little less time.

We then received a bill for $1,250 for the month of April. In response we expressed in an email to B. Jane and her business manager our shock and concern and asked if perhaps there was mistake. The business manager and B. Jane wrote back to say that there was no mistake, that the $1,250 was for time and materials needed to remedy a "Cedar Elm explosion."

As we were not consulted regarding the extra time and materials, we feel that B. Jane Gardens has failed to honor our service estimate and agreement. It is one thing to spend a little extra time and another to double, or in this case, triple the time. We did not authorize this level of service.

Our first step was to cancel any further service from B. Jane Gardens. We then paid $250, our budgeted amount, for the month of April.

We have asked that B. Jane Gardens please cover the service and materials charges above the $250. That was rejected. We then asked if we could work out an arrangement to pay the remaining balance over a period of months. That too has been rejected.

We are now seeking the help of the Revdex.com to help negotiate a solution.Desired Settlement: We would like for B. Jane Gardens to acknowledge a mistake in failing to consult us about extra time and materials needed to resolve the Cedar Elm exposition. Ideally, we would like for B. Jane Gardens to cover expenses above our expressed budget. That said, we are willing to reach a compromise which would involve paying the $1,000 over a period of months.

We very much look forward to receiving your advice.

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

We are incredibly disappointed that our former client has chosen to make demonstrably false accusations in a public forum. She not only breached the terms of our "time + materials" contract, but now, she is making false public accusations. Given that her "desired settlement" is something we have already offered her, over three months ago, we can only assume that her goal is to somehow damage our reputation.

As to her specific claims:

At no point was there an agreement that her maintenance was not to exceed $250/month. We provided an estimate for maintenance visits every 2 weeks, with a basic visit running around $175/visit - but with the clear understanding that we would be working on a time + materials basis. We have this all in writing. Even at $175/visit, months with 2 visits would be $350 and months with 3 would be $525. When she emailed stating her sons would be taking over the mowing, we stopped mowing. For her to say "Our agreement with B. Jane Gardens was for yard service, once every two weeks for a fee not to exceed $250 per month. We stated in an email that we would ask our two able-bodied boys to handle any additional work that would be required." is absolutely false.

The $1250 she keeps bringing up was for 5 visits during the Spring, while the other invoices mentioned were for 3 visits during the dead of Winter. The longer Spring visits were still only on average $75 over the estimated $175 which is outstanding considering all the extra work we did with the Spring explosion of weeds. Likewise, had she continued with our maintenance services, she would have seen much lower costs per visit as the garden became established and during dormant periods of Summer and Winter.

And finally, we specifically responded to the client's request to spread out the payment with a confirmation that they could do so. To this day (over 3 months later) she still has not made her payment. Her statement of: "We then asked if we could work out an arrangement to pay the remaining balance over a period of months. That too has been rejected." is again, fraudulent.

We have been more than fair with this former client on this matter and greatly resent her attempt to smear our business's name.

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

In an email dated November 27, 2012 we were presented a proposal for basic

maintenance every other week for an average of $175/visit (including tax). It

was explained that the rate would fluctuate up or down depending on the time

and materials needed.

We responded in an email dated November 29, 2012 that the proposed rate was

much higher than we had been paying per visit and that we would need to look carefully

at our budget before committing to a service plan. We discussed the need to keep the budget

at or below $250 per month, but never received anything in writing. Therefore, there was no contract,

as was stated in the company’s response to our complaint.

In our experience with service providers for lawn care and pool care, we have

always received the courtesy of a phone call when work to be performed was

expected to fall outside normal bounds.

The bill being disputed is not a minor deviation from the norm. Please be reminded

that the bill came in at five times our budget expectations.

Nevertheless, we generously offered to pay for the unauthorized work. All that we asked is that

we please be allowed to spread out payments over a period of months.

In response to our complaint, the company said that it honored our request. In an

email dated May 24, 2013 the company stated, “I’m fine with you splitting the

payment in half over the next 30 days.” This is not only a denial of our

request; it is a less than subtle insult to our intelligence.

If it would be helpful, we would be more than happy to provide all correspondence received

from the company to support our claim.

We remain firm in our commitment to resolve this dispute in a civil and professional manner.

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

Ms [redacted]' original request included a compromise of "paying the $1,000 over a period of months" - we accept this compromise. We request she please indicate the number of additional months she requires to pay this overdue bill (it has already been over three months). Thank you.

- B. Jane

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

My husband and I will pay our remaining balance of $1,000 in four monthly installments beginning October 1, 2013 and conluding January 1, 2014.

Sincerely,

Our agreement with B. Jane Gardens was for yard service, once every two weeks for a fee not to exceed $250 per month. We stated in an email that we would ask our two able-bodied boys to handle any additional work that would be required.

In December/January we paid $592; February/March $432 for an average of $256.50 per month. That was our expressed budget, but we were not going to quibble. After all, B. Jane did say that on occasion that work could take a little longer or a little less time.

We then received a bill for $1,250 for the month of April. In response we expressed in an email to B. Jane and her business manager our shock and concern and asked if perhaps there was mistake. The business manager and B. Jane wrote back to say that there was no mistake, that the $1,250 was for time and materials needed to remedy a "Cedar Elm explosion."

As we were not consulted regarding the extra time and materials, we feel that B. Jane Gardens has failed to honor our service estimate and agreement. It is one thing to spend a little extra time and another to double, or in this case, triple the time. We did not authorize this level of service.

Our first step was to cancel any further service from B. Jane Gardens. We then paid $250, our budgeted amount, for the month of April.

We have asked that B. Jane Gardens please cover the service and materials charges above the $250. That was rejected. We then asked if we could work out an arrangement to pay the remaining balance over a period of months. That too has been rejected.

We are now seeking the help of the Revdex.com to help negotiate a solution.