Horizon Landscape Contractors

I am writing in regards to a complaint flied against my company, The Tree DoctorThe ID number of the complaint is ***The complaint was directed to Jeff *** (CEO) but I am responding as the President and co-owner of the business.As our record will show, in the past, when we have made an
error we have assumed responsibility and compensated our client without question or dramaIn this case we have a contract signed by Mrs*** that is enclosedAs you can see, contrary to what she stated there are two items on the contract and one of the items has an either/or clauseThe two items are numbered, identified by tree species and illustrated on a simple map.Mrs*** circled the option she wanted for item and did nothing that would lead us to believe that she wasn't interested in item IWe write and complete thousands of contracts in a year and when there is an itemized list of "work to be performed" and if a client does not want part of that work done, they cross it off and often write "no" or "only option x"- This has never created a problem in the past as our contracts are purposely simple and easy to understand.The crew that showed up to do the work went to knock on the door before work startedThis is standard procedureHowever, there was a sign that said not to knock due to a baby in the houseSo, my foreman called the homeowner and was given verbal permission to start workBy the time Mrs*** came outside the work was nearly completed and that is when she claimed we were performing work that wasn't agreed uponMy sales associate came right over, apologized for any confusion and showed her where, in fact, she did approve the workNonetheless, in the interest of keeping everyone happy, we offered to cancel the bill and plant a replacement tree of her choosing with her only cost being the price of the tree (labor, material and guarantee provided free of charge)By this point the husband, my partner *** and the father-in-law were involved and things deteriorated into a "he said she said" situationOur offer was rejected and both sides became angry with each accusing the other of lying.While l certainly regret that members of my company resorted to anger and name calling, I think it is clear that we were performing contracted work that was approved by the clientPerhaps she didn't mean to have that work done but we had no reason to think that was the case given our documentation.Since receiving notification of this complaint l have received a letter from the client containing a check for item two on the contractI would also like to mention that the letter varied significantly from the complaint that was filed with you, further backing up my sales associate's claim that Mrs*** does not have a consistent or coherent complaint.I intend to handle this matter personally with Mrs*** now that she has contacted me directlyI hope that by reading our contract you will agree that we were only performing work that she had consented to in writing.That she was confused is unfortunate but we did offer to make things rightAnd again, it's unfortunate that she did not accept that offer.Sincerely,Jeremy ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.I did have them come out and perform an estimate in fall of 2016. I hadn't heard from them so I called and asked. They sent me the contract that specifically stated "sign and return"I did not sign and return as I felt their estimate was high. His employee did email me to ask if I'd like to confirm. I took that to mean them asking me to review sign and send back which their contract specifically states. I did not execute the contract. Who shows up to perform a service months later without written consent? There was No Indication that any service was performed, nor was there any Bill left on my door. I din'the believe any service was performed whatsoever. To receive a dunning notice from this business when I never authorized this service was very surprising to me and his employee was accusatory. I am assuming she and now her Boss are trying to cover
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]
Regards,
*** ***

I have enclosed the original contract as well as the email chain with Mr*** confirming thecontract and confirming the time when the work would be performedI have highlighted some relevantparts.Here is a brief time line of eventsIn November of my sales manager, Chris ***, visitedMr
*** property at Mr*** requestChris emailed him a contract proposing $worth of fertilizingfor "all back spruce in the spring"A week later Mr*** emailed us to ask what was wrong with thetrees and when the treatment would be doneWe explained, told him springtimeWe asked if he wanted toconfirm the contract and he replied "sure, thanks"The following spring we did the job, left an invoicehanging on his front door (this is standard operating procedure)Mr*** did not respond to our bill or anoverdue statementHe responded a year later when he received a demand letter by leaving an angrymessage on our answering machineWe tried to call him back but got no answerHe did, however, respondto an emailIn this email we explained that he had confirmed the contract and that the work was performed.His response was accusations and an insistence that he did not approve the work even though we forwardedto him HIS APPROVAL email.This gentleman has been angry and confrontational since day one and no amount of explanation hasproved sufficient in explaining our positionHowever, we do have a legal proof of approval to do work andwe have a receipt showing that we did the work as scheduled last springWe have not been harassing himwith phone calls or letters or emails but we have followed the small claims path available for a smallbusiness trying to recoup payment for services rendered.Thank You,Jeremy ***