Layaou Landscaping Inc.

Review: I contracted this company to install a sub-drain on my property and the work resulted in damage to my 1 yr old chain link fence and they cut my cable, internet and phone line. The crew at my house never said anything about either issue when they occurred. I had to find out my fence was damaged by walking my yard and we found out about our cable when my wife tried to use the phone at our home. I attempted to have work halted at my house until I could be home but the company would never provide me with a schedule when they would be out to do work they would just show up. When I paid for this work to be done I said this was a stipulation of getting this done and was assured by their general manager that they would communicate when they would be out to work. I had to send several emails to the company to try to get this rectified and I was told that it was fixed and I had to send additional pictures to show them that in fact my fence was still damaged. The owner's father came to my house today (9/8) to complete the final part of our contract and when my wife saw them outside our house she went out to ask if anyone was going to let her know they were here to finish up and she was told by the owners father that "he was not here to talk" At that point my wife asked about the fence and showed him that the fence was still damaged and the owners father proceeded to say to her " is that what all the hollering is about" and then proceeded to walk away from her while she was talking mid-sentence trying to find out what they were going to do. When they went to grind out the stump per the contract they said there was more ground then stump and did not even level the area so now I will have to go back and level out the area. they sprayed an area where they were going to dig and grind and only did about 2/3's of the sprayed area. At this point I have requested that a new section of chain link fence be purchased from the same place where I purchased the fence last year and I will install it myself. The fact that this company felt the fence still being bent was fixed from their perspective is awful. For these people to be sexist towards my wife and not listen to her concerns about this project is despicable! She is the paying customer and to pay almost 3000.00 dollars for a project to get done and then have to fix something they damaged themselves is deplorable. This by far is the absolute worst contractor I have ever dealt with. I hope anyone that reads this complaint will learn what they are getting into when dealing with this contractor.Desired Settlement: I would like to see the accreditation for this business to be pulled or put in a review status. To be a better business you should demonstrate fair and just business. The way that the owner as well as all his male employees made my wife feel that she was not existent or had no say in what was going on was a blatant sexist act. There was so much mis-communication and the only apology I got was for the frustration, never for the damages to my property of the time I had to miss from work to deal with the aftermath. Customer service goes a long way and the owner was all smiles while giving me the estimate not 1 time has reached out to me to apologize for the issues that his crew caused. In good faith to have this business associated with the Revdex.com would definitely make me feel that this organization is making questionable judgement about it's members and would be wary of using the Revdex.com as a resource to help me find a reputable contractor in the future.

Consumer

Response:

To provide clarity I have included the email chain that I have had with this company to attempt to get this work completed and damage issues resolved.

Here is what we would like to see happen

1. The company needs to provide an exact date and time that they will delivering the new section of fence that was damaged per our agreement on 9/9. Based on that email the new fence was supposed to be delivered 9/10 but as of today 9/11 this still has not been done and no communication was received from the business to advise when this would happen.

2. We would like the complete section that was marked for stump removal to be completed fully. There is still a section that was not completed and we were told that was not done because they were hitting more dirt than stump. Someone from the company marked a bigger section in white paint so it would completely take the stump section out so water would freely flow down our yard. since this was incomplete there is still a ridge where water is being impeded from flowing. I don't have faith that this will ever get done I fully expect to have to do this myself even though this was agreed upon that they would level out this area.

3. The staff should invest some time in business etiquette and customer service courses. This may help this from happening to anyone else in the future.

4. The Revdex.com needs to review the accreditation for this business. I used the Revdex.com site to find this contractor and I am sure that this is not an isolated incident. I can imagine based on my experience that this has happened to other people that just did not report this issue. I used an accredited business to try to avoid experiences like this and this has been by far the WORST contractor I have ever dealt with. We hope that the Revdex.com will hold this business accountable for being a representative of the Revdex.com

Business

Response:

I am writing in response to the Revdex.com complaint from this customer. This customer went from being very nice and appreciative of our time and our help with their desired projects in the beginning, to totally a different personality by the end of the job. We even hired [redacted] to come in and do a little computer work in our office.

Later, when they decided to do some of the work, there was some confusion when they came in to sign their contract because the customer did not make us aware that they only wanted to do certain items on the first proposal – we had given proposals for two phases of work. This sort of flustered one of our new girls, but she got it straightened out so that the customer could sign the contract for only the items that Mr. and Mrs. [redacted] wanted to do. There were a few minor errors on the contract and invoice by the new girl in our office– nothing that affected the price but there was some paver verbage and plant verbage left on the contract that I promptly removed when I saw it soon after, and I emailed the customers corrected copies and apologized. These words just did not belong on a contract that was not getting any pavers or landsaping.

[redacted] had stopped in the office when [redacted] was in to sign his contract, and [redacted] told [redacted] that we would probably be out to start the job the following day and [redacted] said that was fine.

The next day when [redacted] and the crew arrived, [redacted] was not home, and Mrs. [redacted] was not nearly as nice as when she had been in our office. [redacted] painted out where the drain pipe was going to go, and Mrs. [redacted] started saying “That is not where I want the drainpipe – I want it out on the property border”. [redacted] showed up soon after, and [redacted] went over with him where [redacted]’s design placement of the pipes was going and how it would work, and [redacted] was fine.

Right before signing the contract, [redacted] asked if we would do something extra – there was a tree removed on the neighbor’s property that was very close to the property border and [redacted] said that part of the stump was on his property and still in the ground and that it needed removed – We agreed to see what we could do with it at no charge. [redacted] did not remember from any previous conversations exactly what [redacted] was talking about but we added to the contract that we would remove or grind the stump, seed and straw the area where the grinding was done, at no charge. When we to to the job, [redacted] saw that the ground in this area is heaved up from the tree that used to be there, and the area where it was heaved up and at a higher elevation is mostly on the neighbor’s property. [redacted] spoke to the neighbor to discuss what the neighbor had done in regards to his tree and stump so that we had an idea what would have been left on the [redacted]’s side in regards to a stump, and so that we had an agreement with the neighbor where the property boundaries were, and out of courtesy to the neighbor to let him know what we planned to do at the property border. The [redacted]s immediately seemed to be upset over the fact that [redacted] spoke to the neighbor at all, which we did not understand. The neighbor was very nice and had nothing negative to say in regards to the [redacted] or the work that we were going to do. He was very cooperative. The neighbors said that he had had the stump ground out, so he was not sure if any of it was left in the ground on the [redacted] side or not, but said go ahead and check it out, etc. Mrs. [redacted] said to [redacted] “Why did you talk to our neighbor?!” in a very angry voice.

We installed the drainpipe and still needed to return with a stump grinder to check out the stump area. [redacted] and one employee stopped out the morning of Sept, 8th and [redacted] painted out the general area where the stump should be, not knowing exactly where it was. Later that day, [redacted]’s father and a couple of employees stopped out with a stump grinder, and they were not even barely out of the truck when Mrs. [redacted] came out and yelled at them for not knocking on the door, and [redacted] Sr said “I just got out of the truck”. Then she asked us why we had people coming to their house in the middle of the night and she accused us of coming out and painting out the stump area in the middle of the night which they assured her was not done in the middle of the night, but earlier that morning. Our guys used the stump grinder in the area but found very little to grind – The stump grinder found a little of a stump that we ground and then the grinder started hitting dirt which meant there was no stump remaining after they did some grinding. We cleaned up the area and put down some seed and straw as we agreed to do. We did not have on our contract to grade down this area, and and the whole yard would need to be rototilled and raked out to properly grade it down. The neighbor’s ajoining property is still going to be higher from the heaved up area where the tree was. The [redacted]s had talked about re-grading and sodding their yard, but had decided not to do this work at this time. The [redacted]s are confused about the paint lines that [redacted] put in the area of the stump – like I said, it was just to mark the vicinity, as [redacted] could not see under the grass where exactly any remaining stump could be, and the grass was very tall that day. Our guys had to locate the exact area of any remaining stump to do the grinding, but at no time did [redacted] think that the stump would be in this entire area. We did not agree to dig up the area and remove all of the roots or anything like that. Tammy in our office emailed [redacted] and said that the area where there was remaining stump ended up “not being as large as [redacted] first thought”, which was wrong information, and she did not relay to [redacted] exactly what [redacted] said which was that the grass was very tall and [redacted] just marked out the vicinity of where the stump could be within that area, so that our guys knew the general area where to dig and look for a stump in the ground.

The chain link fence was buried in the ground and on a slope and our guys had to move some of the fence to install the drain pipe and put it back, and one section of the fence had gotten stretched out a little, but our guys were able to fix it pretty good – you could not even tell really, and in fact the day that [redacted] Sr was there, he asked Mrs. [redacted] to show him where the fence was messed up, and she was not able to find it – it looked so good, you could not even tell, but [redacted] wanted a new piece of fence and we agreed to drop off some new fence as the customer requested. The fence was dropped off on Sept 11th, the same day that [redacted] initiated the complaint with the Revdex.com. When we went to drop it off, Mrs. [redacted] was very hostile with our employee again, and this time she accused us of dropping off a piece of used fence, when in fact we had just purchased it new for them. Just within the last week, [redacted] was in the development and saw the brand new roll of fence still laying outside.

[redacted] says we are unprofessional and that we were not respectful to his wife. Our guys did fail to give a courtesy phone call before stopping out to do the last few minor things, like paint out the stump area, drop off the fence, grind the stump, etc. and we apologize that phone calls were not made. [redacted] was just trying to accommodate them and get their job done, and usually customers are just happy to get the job done, and do not require us to call ahead for every little thing we have to come out for, and our office staff did not call (they are new and still learning), so we do apologize for that, but our guys have all worked for us a long time, and they are very respectful and nice. [redacted] Sr is older and felt he was being attacked by Mrs. [redacted], and so yes, it is difficult to appear nice and respectful when a customer is accusing you of things that are not true, or when a customer appears hostile for no reason that seems appropriate to the situation. [redacted] who went out to the job several times – including with [redacted] Sr, with the stump grinder, and then to drop off the new piece of fence is the most courteous and friendliest young man you could ever meet, and is never condescending to women whatsoever – He is always very respectful.

It still baffles us how this couple that came in to our office to go over the estimate a few months earlier who were so complimentary and happy could be the same people that we did the job for. It seems that [redacted] talking to the neighbor upset them from day one, and everything was different after that. If the [redacted]s want [redacted] to stop out and look at the area again where the stump was ground, we could do that, but the hostility coming from the [redacted]s makes that possibility not likely. It seems that they do not want us back on their property. We have a lot of happy customers, but once in a while you have one that no matter what you do, they are not happy, and they do not appreciate everything that goes into providing the services that we offer, whereas most customers are very appreciative. We would rather resolve any issues that any customer feels are unresolved, and all a customer has to do is remain reasonable and communicate. There is no reason for this extreme hostility, and we just do not understand it. We all work very hard, from the office staff, to the guys on the field, and including [redacted], and his father, [redacted] Sr, who helps out here and there. Please let us know if anything else needs to be done in regards to this customer.

Review: On 4/11/15 I ordered 10 yards of vegetable garden soil to be delivered on 4/13. After receiving the dirt, I discovered a tarp that was saturated with an oil substance with a strong petroleum smell. I contacted the company and they sent out the general manager for the business to look into my complaint. He told me that the tarp came from their mechanic shop from a repair of a transmission and was mixed into the soil at some point. He was going to work on correcting the issue. After speaking to the owner, he states that he will not correct the contaminated soil because he didn't feel that much of the soil was affected. I spoke to his wife who felt that they should replace the soil but stated that she needed to wait until her husband was working downstate before doing anything. I waited patiently until 4/27/15 and went back to the company, in person, and she stated that she spoke to her husband and he is still adamant on not doing anything about it. This soil was purchase so I could plant a vegetable garden and I feel that any contaminted soil could be harmful to myself and my family (including my dogs). Thanks for your help.Desired Settlement: Remove contaminated soil and give full refund

Business

Response:

I am responding to the complaint referenced above. We tried to tell the customer that just because a cloth or rag somehow ended up in his soil delivery that had some kind of oil substance on it, that this would not contaminate his load of soil. The customer told us that his relative works for [redacted] – 3 on Your Side, but in fact his uncle works for another local TV station in another state. His uncle called [redacted] from [redacted], who got in touch with us, and I told him our side of the story. The customer claims that he had DNRC test his soil and that they said that his soil is contaminated. He dropped off an email from an [redacted] from DNRC stating that “the soil in the white garbage bag that also had the cloth rag in it was on contaminated with a petroleum product”. The email did not talk about the soil spread in the customer’s garden. [redacted] of KWY TV thought it was odd that a report would only refer to “the soil and rag in the plastic bag”, as well as did we think it was odd. [redacted] contacted [redacted] of DNRC and was informed that he also took samples of the soil from several places in the garden which were tested and showed no contamination at all. [redacted] said that he would notify Mr. Lassor that his soil is fine, and that he has no basis for a complaint against Layaou Landscaping. The customer also had instructed our driver upon delivery to help take down his fence, and had our driver back the truck into the back yard and dump the soil in his garden, even though we had told the customer that the price for delivery is to dump it in the driveway. He later said “Well, I got it dumped where I wanted it”. He also accused us of shorting him on the number of yards that we delivered, but later took that accusation back. Our driver should not have let the customer instruct him to help take down a fence or to drive off of the pavement – he should have called us at the office. Our truck could have got stuck, could have made ruts in the yard, and it also cost us extra labor time to do this. The customer purposely hid from us and from [redacted] the report that said that the soil in the garden has no contamination. If you want to verify, [redacted]’s phone number is [redacted] Sincerely, [redacted]

Review: I ordered fire wood from them and after stacking up the wood I measured it and found it was short, I ordered a half cord which is 64 cubic feet and after measuring it I found it was about 56 cubic feet. I called and told Fred Layau, who delivered it about the problem and told him I just finished stacking it up and he could come and look for himself, but he said he would drop off a little more wood to compsate for the short fall even though he though I was wrong. Well it been about a week and I have never seen any wood. So it appears I not only got short changed but also lied to. The wood he delivered was very good so my complaint is not with the product, just being short changed.Desired Settlement: I would like him to at least make up what he short changed me.

Business

Response:

Hi [redacted] In regard to the above noted ID # for [redacted], we have now taken the extra wood to him and he is now satisfied. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at any time. Thank you! [redacted]