Graton's Custom Landscapes

Subject: Complaint Resolved Thursday, April 13, 2017This is my response letter confirming that my complaint, ID # [redacted] has been resolvedI picked up my refund check, in the amount of $2,today (4-13-17)I had to sign a” Hold Harmless Agreement” agreeing that GCL will be held Harmless & NamelessOur paths shouldn’t be crossing again.Thank You, [redacted] ***

I will do my best to touch on each point as she has brought it out in the lengthy paragraph First of all, Back in Octher pond was not in perfect working order or she would not have called usShe did have a leak and we did not dive into what that leak was, simply to get her pond working again Our bid was supposedly the 2nd (or maybe even the 3rd) number she had received from landscape companies and while she was hoping for a much lower numbers from us she resigned herself (or so it seemed) to the idea that this was going to cost her a bit to get fixed and I doubt seriously that I was higher than another company from what I know of the owner.The Estimates are always a $charge item with our company and is taken out of quoted numbers if a person signs up with our company She was quoted $2,and upon acceptance and the contract being written, we signed at $2, Upon arriving to do the work on November 8th we found this ‘drained’ pond full of water once again I will revisit this ‘refilling of the pond’ because it is what we believe to be the ultimate problem here.I received text messages with 1st of many pics from her while traveling for our Christmas holiday I replied that upon return we would come out and address the concern and see if we couldn’t diagnose the situation and try to resolve We then put our crew back out on site on Dec29th where we relieved a gas bubble and all the water collected ‘under’ the liner We installed a vent pipe to hope to help the gas exit before building The idea is that just ‘water-table’ water will not lift the liner but an air locked bubble with water from underneath will push the bubble up and give rise to the liner above water level (when this bubble happens it displaces the water out of the pond and when the liner is drained and retracted it leaves the pond looking low) After this initial call back, the bubble happened again in early Jan and because of Ice storms and snow (check the historical weather data) and the fact that our company is involved in heavy snow/ice removal for our city we were unable to get out there right away I recommended she shut off the pond til we could assess We came back a couple times to run a couple tests (these simply test one idea one at a time), one of which was that she had a downspout drain draining into the upper edge of pond and I thought maybe it could be finding its way between the old liner and our new one and exaggerating the water infusion under the liner (this was not found to be the case, but test it we had to) During these tests it was noted that her ‘upper’ pond was also low and this just didn’t fit with the overall problem down below We concluded (by way of testing) that she had a ‘check-valve’ on her piping down to her pump in the lower pond (the one with the bubble) that was not holding and when she turned off the pond pump it siphoned the upper pond down to the lower pond making the upper pond look like it had a leak The lower pond could not hold the upper pond water in that it had this large bubble displacing all the available area so it appeared worse than it was We recommended at that time that she would have to pay a bit more to have us replace all the piping and the check valve (which were two items we did not require to be new at the time of the initial quote/install) We found the old piping to have several joint connectors that could well have been leaking and by replacing about 18’ with new we felt confident that the water was not leaking on the way up to the upper pond nor was it siphoning back down if the pump should be turned off She stated her understanding of this additional cost and I was very clear that we would only charge for the hours to dig in the new piping and install the pipe/check valve then cover this area back up, all other items would be on us Our bill for this was the stated $281.65! In our estimation the cause of the bubble which I have seen in numerous situations primarily in newer ponds comes from a very high water table One city block from her house is a State wetland preserve I believe the reason the water was back in the pond (that she said she had drained for us) as we arrived that first day is because of high water table The month of October we were the 3rd wettest October in recorded history! We arrived again on Nov8th We have been in a year drought over the past years so it’s not as likely she has seen this problem (or I’m not being told that she had).Between the time that she wrote her complaint to the time that I got this by mail we had revisited once again to put larger boulders into the bottom of pond in hopes to anchor the pond liner down and hope the water/gas bubbles escape around liner edges without the bubbling Alas, this has not worked yet again and the water table continues to push the liner up If one really thinks about this, there is not any way our company could somehow be causing this problem by poor workmanship or knowledge We are having 1” rainfall days and right after these days she is texting and calling multiple lines to tell us/show us the bubble has returned I have given her no reason to think we would not get back to her, take care of her pond or show her anything but professional care In our years in the Service Sector of American business I have not had a complaint like unto this one nor have we had lawsuits or other grievances we couldn’t just work through We have never done it ALL right in our company but we sure always do our level best to make things right in any way we can I have tried to reason and explain and in my attempts at explaining what I feel are the causes I think it only looks like I/we are grasping for excuses, when this is clearly not the case and not our style at all I cannot agree to the statement of being attentive only up to when we got paid as we have been back in excess of at least times since 11/11/(when she cut the final check) and multiple texts and phone conversations in an effort to build confidence that we have her best interests in mind I have not stopped wanting a great pond/water feature for our customer but I cannot agree to open up our check book to another rival company to go do very similar things that we have done over and over and have us pick up the tab I cannot agree that even a refund is fair given the evidence that I have disclosed above I would be open to retracting the last bill of $that she has not paid (that was a verifiable extra) and giving her even a couple hundred dollars to have us be held harmless I think it would be best to look at the pond dynamics after water tables recede and the pond settles down over a season and it not occur any more I would coach her this way and tell her to be patient because her environment dictates such We would stand behind this warranty to our completion date unless we cancelled her bill and paid her off.Deeply sorry for trouble between us, I don’t like the feeling and would like resolution speedily as wellKen G***!

I found the letter of response from Gratons Landscapinglengthy, full of half truths,exaggerationsHe blames the weathermy downspout, Methane gas, the wetlands , etcfor the problems withmy pondIn reality, It was something done or not done duringthe job that altered the the dynamic which created these hugebubbles in the liner He mentioned digging and installing 18' of pipe; where?There was no mention of billing me almost $I thoughtmaybe $I believe that Gratons does not want to admitthat they can not complete this job, and allow a rival Landscapecoto do itOne of the workers even called a friendof his to ask his advise on how to solvethe problemThey are stumped The size of my pond has been reduced in size alsoapprox.two feet in widthIn their attempts to fix the bubble by addingmore and more boulders to weigh down the liner, the depthwent from 3' to maybe 1'The integrity of the ponds perimeterhas been compromised due to all the activity with liner,causing rocks to dislodge and slide into waterSharp edges andallKens solution to this problem is to wait a few monthsfor weather to changeI guarantee this is no solution andis ridiculous I purchased mny home June The pond was beautiful, wellestablished and in perfect working orderSeven years withno problemsIt was because I found myself adding Water moreoften than usual, assumed there was a leak in the linerAftera little research, I decided to hire Gratons to lay new linerand change the streamcourseI do like the streamcourse.He also said that upon arrival to begin work, there waswater in the pondHe said probably from some kind of seepagebut in fact it was from the rain.I wonder if rolls were reversed, If Ken would find allof thiss acceptable?I am a disabled widow on a fixed incomeI can not affordto pay twice and shouldn't have toI am in great hopes thatGratons will step up and show integrity by doing the rightand fair thing and give me the refund to be used to finallyfix the problemLeaving their name out of it if so desired.Let this be over.Thank You [redacted] ***

I found the letter of response from Gratons Landscapinglengthy, full of half truths,exaggerationsHe blames the weathermy downspout, Methane gas, the wetlands , etcfor the problems withmy pondIn reality, It was something done or not done duringthe job that altered the the dynamic which created these hugebubbles in the liner. He mentioned digging and installing 18' of pipe; where?There was no mention of billing me almost $I thoughtmaybe $I believe that Gratons does not want to admitthat they can not complete this job, and allow a rival Landscapecoto do itOne of the workers even called a friendof his to ask his advise on how to solvethe problemThey are stumped. The size of my pond has been reduced in size alsoapprox.two feet in widthIn their attempts to fix the bubble by addingmore and more boulders to weigh down the liner, the depthwent from 3' to maybe 1'The integrity of the ponds perimeterhas been compromised due to all the activity with liner,causing rocks to dislodge and slide into waterSharp edges andallKens solution to this problem is to wait a few monthsfor weather to changeI guarantee this is no solution andis ridiculous. I purchased mny home June The pond was beautiful, wellestablished and in perfect working orderSeven years withno problemsIt was because I found myself adding Water moreoften than usual, assumed there was a leak in the linerAftera little research, I decided to hire Gratons to lay new linerand change the streamcourseI do like the streamcourse.He also said that upon arrival to begin work, there waswater in the pondHe said probably from some kind of seepagebut in fact it was from the rain.I wonder if rolls were reversed, If Ken would find allof thiss acceptable?I am a disabled widow on a fixed incomeI can not affordto pay twice and shouldn't have toI am in great hopes thatGratons will step up and show integrity by doing the rightand fair thing and give me the refund to be used to finallyfix the problemLeaving their name out of it if so desired.Let this be over.Thank You*** ***

I will do my best to touch on each point as she has brought it out in the lengthy paragraph First of all, Back in Octher pond was not in perfect working order or she would not have called usShe did have a leak and we did not dive into what that leak was, simply to get her pond working
again Our bid was supposedly the 2nd (or maybe even the 3rd) number she had received from landscape companies and while she was hoping for a much lower numbers from us she resigned herself (or so it seemed) to the idea that this was going to cost her a bit to get fixed and I doubt seriously that I was higher than another company from what I know of the owner.The Estimates are always a $charge item with our company and is taken out of quoted numbers if a person signs up with our company She was quoted $2,and upon acceptance and the contract being written, we signed at $2, Upon arriving to do the work on November 8th we found this ‘drained’ pond full of water once again I will revisit this ‘refilling of the pond’ because it is what we believe to be the ultimate problem here.I received text messages with 1st of many pics from her while traveling for our Christmas holiday I replied that upon return we would come out and address the concern and see if we couldn’t diagnose the situation and try to resolve We then put our crew back out on site on Dec29th where we relieved a gas bubble and all the water collected ‘under’ the liner We installed a vent pipe to hope to help the gas exit before building The idea is that just ‘water-table’ water will not lift the liner but an air locked bubble with water from underneath will push the bubble up and give rise to the liner above water level (when this bubble happens it displaces the water out of the pond and when the liner is drained and retracted it leaves the pond looking low) After this initial call back, the bubble happened again in early Jan and because of Ice storms and snow (check the historical weather data) and the fact that our company is involved in heavy snow/ice removal for our city we were unable to get out there right away I recommended she shut off the pond til we could assess We came back a couple times to run a couple tests (these simply test one idea one at a time), one of which was that she had a downspout drain draining into the upper edge of pond and I thought maybe it could be finding its way between the old liner and our new one and exaggerating the water infusion under the liner (this was not found to be the case, but test it we had to) During these tests it was noted that her ‘upper’ pond was also low and this just didn’t fit with the overall problem down below We concluded (by way of testing) that she had a ‘check-valve’ on her piping down to her pump in the lower pond (the one with the bubble) that was not holding and when she turned off the pond pump it siphoned the upper pond down to the lower pond making the upper pond look like it had a leak The lower pond could not hold the upper pond water in that it had this large bubble displacing all the available area so it appeared worse than it was We recommended at that time that she would have to pay a bit more to have us replace all the piping and the check valve (which were two items we did not require to be new at the time of the initial quote/install) We found the old piping to have several joint connectors that could well have been leaking and by replacing about 18’ with new we felt confident that the water was not leaking on the way up to the upper pond nor was it siphoning back down if the pump should be turned off She stated her understanding of this additional cost and I was very clear that we would only charge for the hours to dig in the new piping and install the pipe/check valve then cover this area back up, all other items would be on us Our bill for this was the stated $281.65! In our estimation the cause of the bubble which I have seen in numerous situations primarily in newer ponds comes from a very high water table One city block from her house is a State wetland preserve I believe the reason the water was back in the pond (that she said she had drained for us) as we arrived that first day is because of high water table The month of October we were the 3rd wettest October in recorded history! We arrived again on Nov8th We have been in a year drought over the past years so it’s not as likely she has seen this problem (or I’m not being told that she had).Between the time that she wrote her complaint to the time that I got this by mail we had revisited once again to put larger boulders into the bottom of pond in hopes to anchor the pond liner down and hope the water/gas bubbles escape around liner edges without the bubbling Alas, this has not worked yet again and the water table continues to push the liner up If one really thinks about this, there is not any way our company could somehow be causing this problem by poor workmanship or knowledge We are having 1” rainfall days and right after these days she is texting and calling multiple lines to tell us/show us the bubble has returned I have given her no reason to think we would not get back to her, take care of her pond or show her anything but professional care In our years in the Service Sector of American business I have not had a complaint like unto this one nor have we had lawsuits or other grievances we couldn’t just work through We have never done it ALL right in our company but we sure always do our level best to make things right in any way we can I have tried to reason and explain and in my attempts at explaining what I feel are the causes I think it only looks like I/we are grasping for excuses, when this is clearly not the case and not our style at all I cannot agree to the statement of being attentive only up to when we got paid as we have been back in excess of at least times since 11/11/(when she cut the final check) and multiple texts and phone conversations in an effort to build confidence that we have her best interests in mind I have not stopped wanting a great pond/water feature for our customer but I cannot agree to open up our check book to another rival company to go do very similar things that we have done over and over and have us pick up the tab I cannot agree that even a refund is fair given the evidence that I have disclosed above I would be open to retracting the last bill of $that she has not paid (that was a verifiable extra) and giving her even a couple hundred dollars to have us be held harmless I think it would be best to look at the pond dynamics after water tables recede and the pond settles down over a season and it not occur any more I would coach her this way and tell her to be patient because her environment dictates such We would stand behind this warranty to our completion date unless we cancelled her bill and paid her off.Deeply sorry for trouble between us, I don’t like the feeling and would like resolution speedily as well. Ken G***!

Subject: FW: Complaint ID#*** (***)I have been out of town to my aging folks place for some time and am sitting down to this matter that certainly concerns me greatly.Your last correspondence says the case is unresolved in which case our conversation is over If (like ***’s letter that was late and deemed ‘unresponsive’) we can continue with the discussion and keep case open I would like to suggest a truce.She feels right and we feel right Having never had a lawsuit, Revdex.com claim or really even a major complaint this is new to me/us We will refund her money in full with the understanding that we will be held harmless and nameless as it regards all things *** ***.Thank you,Ken G***

Subject: Complaint Resolved Thursday, April 13, 2017This is my response letter confirming that my complaint, ID # *** has been resolved. I picked up my refund check, in the amount of $2,today (4-13-17)I had to sign a” Hold Harmless Agreement” agreeing that GCL will be held Harmless & Nameless. Our paths shouldn’t be crossing again.Thank You, *** ***