Metro Turf Outdoor Power Equipment Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:there are many issues with [redacted] response. When my husband called after the first cut to inquire what had been done he was told they needed to verify and call us back, which never happened. Also after the invoice was received and I called to inquire about the charged I never called her men liars or spoke over [redacted]. I simply stated we were both home and noticed they left very shortly. After we received the email cancelling our services I called, said hi [redacted] this is mrs Keller, my husband received an email saying our services were cancelled and I don't know why we received this. She said yes, we decided to end our relationship and hung up on me. That is why I called back, to find out why. I never yelled at [redacted], or said anyone from their company was lying. In fact I commended her for having faith in her employees that she trusts they tell her what was done and that showed good standing with her employees. I was not once irrational or degrading. [redacted] on the other hand assumed we would continuously cause issues, and not pay our bills. Last time I checked that is called slander. She said to me her employees have no reason to lie and I said I didn't either. They are the ones who need to clarify their services, amend their contracts, and not make accusations about their clients. Notchwood was completely in the wrong in this situation and I will not be made out to look like someone who is trying to get free services. I was disrespected multiple times by [redacted] and cannot believe she is making it seem as though I was yelling or disagreeable with her. I was just trying to get down to the bottom of what happened that day. It is completely irrelevant how long they have been in service or what sort of charity work they do. If that is relevant I can show how my husband and I are kind to strangers and pay our bills on time. Their reputation has zero impact on this particular situation. We were mistreated as customers, disrespected, and taken advantage of.
Regards,
[redacted]

On 4/24/17 I received a signed contract from [redacted].  He asked if we could get a "mowing crew" there to cut the grass.  I responded to him and said that we were still doing cleanups, and that our maintenance schedule (and contract) doesn't begin until the first week of...

May.  I told him that property maintenance would begin the following week, and that he would be on Thursdays (5/4) schedule. I asked if he could wait until the scheduled maintenance to begin.  He did not respond, so I thought he was fine with waiting.  on 5/1/17 [redacted] came to my office and said I never responded to her husband for an early cut the previous week (I have the thread of emails showing all of the exchanges) I told her, that I also told her husband, that lawn maintenance begins the first week of May, and that they are on Thursdays schedule. on 5/3/17 I got an email from the [redacted] that they had obviously chosen the wrong landscape company to do their lawn maintenance because they were the only ones without a cut lawn on their street.  I understood that to mean they were unhappy with us and wanted to cancel the contract.  I sent them a reply re-telling them, that I had told both of them BOTH that we were scheduled to be there on Thursday, and because they were unhappy (and as I understood it) they wanted to hire a different landscape company, that I would cancel the contract and they can find another landscape company.  I told them that our contracts are mainly set up in February and our schedule is set then and we follow our schedule.Later (still on 5/3) I got a message from the [redacted] that I cant cancel the contract, that we both have to agree to cancel the contract, that they would be contacting their lawyers. I did not have a chance to respond yet) A couple hours later, one of our employees went to a deli nearby, and [redacted] chased him across the parking lot and began questioning him.  He told her he was off duty, and that I (Cathy) would need to be contacted.  About the same time, I was emailing them to tell them that our contract does not state that we have to agree to cancel.  That no work had been done.  That I understood their initial email for the day was terminating our service, and that now she is going to call attorneys, (and I found out later, chasing employees down in parking lots) that we would not be doing any service for them now, or in the future... And that I would no longer respond to their emails.  I got a reply from them saying "OK"On 5/4/17 I was told that [redacted] is calling other local maintenance companies SLAMMING me and my name.  They thought she was nuts and wanted to hear my side of the story.  We have been in business in this town for 35 years and have a good relationship with other local landscapers.  OF COURSE they called me to find out what was going on.  They wanted to understand if they should get involved with this homeowner. I told them it was up to them, and relayed my experience from my perspective.I then received another email saying that they asked for us to service them the week before.  (I had replied when they asked, but didn't hear back from them to go any further.) I DID NOT RESPOND to this email as I had already told them 2 messages ago, that I would not respond any further.I got another email on 5/4/17 (in the evening) letting me know that they found someone to come cut their lawn at 6pm (after work) and that they paid them cash.AGAIN, I did not respond.  They found another landscaper, they got their grass cut, they paid cash, they are pleased with the new company they found. WE did not do any service, or take any money, or mislead them in any way.  Maybe they wanted a personal gardener at their beck and call.  We have a very busy, tight schedule and stick to it. AGAIN, I have the email threads to show how this whole situation took place and I am more than willing to forward them.

Upon our initial inspection of the property 5/11/15, thegrass was high, there were leaves and minimal debris in the yard.I sent the price quote 5/15/15, which was $250.00 for thebasic cleanup to take care of the above mentioned items.  The price per cut was to be $55.00 perweek.  I...

explained to Mr. Keller what thebasic cleanup would include.  Ispecifically explained that there would be no “Spring Cleanup” which would haveincluded much more time and work to complete and would have been much moreexpensive. We negotiated the weekly cut to $52.00 and made the agreement.  A contract was sent to the client via email.Upon our first visit, my employees did what was requiredof them.  They cut the grass multipletimes, due to its height.  They removedthe leaves and debris.  They blew off thewalkways and driveway.  My recordsindicate that my employees were on site for that visit for 40 minutes.   Mr. Keller called and asked if that was thecleanup we discussed.  I told him, again,that the cleanup was just to cut the high grass, blow everything off and to doa general “straighten up” of the propertyWhen [redacted] received our invoice for services, shequestioned the $250.00 cleanup charge.  Iagain explained to her that it was a general cleanup, that there was nodetailed work completed, and if we had done a complete Spring Cleanup, the costwould have been estimated around $600.00. We went back and forth several times debating what was included in thebasic cleanup and she continued talking over me and telling me that myemployees were only there for 15-20 minutes. My employees have no reason to lie about their time.  Whether they were there for 4 minutes or 4hours… they did the project that was agreed upon.I could see from my 30 plus years of experience owningthis company, I was not going to change her view of the events.  I told her I would cut the cleanup cost inhalf and split it with her. She said she had to speak with her husband andwould let me know.On Monday, 6/22/15 [redacted] called and agreed to pay$125.00 for the cleanup, and the regular maintenance.  I resubmitted the invoice with the reducedprice.  They agreed and I processed [redacted]credit card.After all the debating, being talked over, called a liar,told my employees must be lying, I decided to end our businessrelationship.  Yes, it was by email. We executed the agreement of the contract through email, and I ended thecontract by email.[redacted] didn’t respect that.  She called and asked if I really ended thecontract.  I responded yes.  She asked why.  I told her that in my years of experience, Ihave found that sometimes it is better to end a short relationship, than tocontinue and have problems later on.A few hours later, she called me again to debate the sameissue.  I again explained to her, that weprovided a service, completed the service and I feel justified in ending therelationship.  She complained that I gotpaid and then ended the relationship.  Ireplied that had I ended the relationship the previous week (which I neverintended to do) that she probably wouldn’t have paid me at all.  She got angry at that and I apologized. I explainedthat I shouldn’t have said that, but in my experience, people that argueinstead of listen, call me a liar and start off relationships on a badexperience are trying to get away with something.  I did apologize multiple times, but getting talked over,accused and told that I stink was wearing thin on my nerves.  I normally keep a cool head. You may ask anyof my thousand plus clients and previous clients about their dealings withme.  Not one would say a bad word aboutme.  We (as a family company) donatework, time and money to local charitable organizations.  We do volunteer work for the Veterans andhave worked with handicapped children within the school.  We have done free services and/or drasticallyreduced prices for senior citizens when emergency help is needed.   I findMrs. Keller’s comment about my attitude needing to be adjusted extremelyoffensive.At the end of our last phone call, I said, all we are doing istalking over one another and getting nowhere. I asked her what I could do tomake her happy, besides work for her, because that was not going to happenagain.  She said nothing, that she wasgoing public and filing complaints against us. As for [redacted] looking for further reimbursement,they agreed to the initial price for a general cleanup of $250.00, disputed itand I reduced the price to $125.00.  Theyagreed to and paid that reduced price.  In reference to our contracts - they state whatis involved in the service.  It is simple,basic language.  General cleanup means ageneral cleanup which was explained to them multiple times.