Nature's Element Landscape

Review: We contracted with Nature's Elements Landscaping to perform bi-weekly yard maintenance services. We moved from San Diego out of state in July 2011 and rented the house. We retained Nature's Elements as our landscaper.Every time we visited San Diego, we were dismayed at how the yard looked. Often, the plants were overgrown. When we complained and asked that the plants be trimmed, we were billed extra for dumping fees. We made many attempts to communicate our needs to Nature's Elements, including e-mails, phone calls, and an in-person meeting with Jesse in February 2013. There were many times when we did not receive a reply to e-mails. We were also often billed for services that we did not authorize in advance. When we requested that we authorize all services in advance and that we receive a schedule of fees, we received no reply. In April 2013, we visited the house and found the grass mostly dead. The irrigation systems were turned off. When we turned them back on, there were clearly leaks in the drip lines that had not been addressed. We were horrified and immediately cancelled our contract. We know from our tenants that Nature's Elements provided one service on April 6th but we do not have evidence that they provided a second service in April. Overall, we feel that Nature's Elements took advantage of us not being in town and provided an inferior level of service. We now have to pay someone to fix the sprinklers, restore the grass, and replace dead plants.Desired Settlement: Full remedies and any other relief just and proper.

Business

Response:

Dear Revdex.com May

29,2013

We did not receive

this letter of complaint and the Revdex.com email was in our Spam folder on May 29. We

are not sure if you have our correct address as we did not receive

anything. This is our address: [redacted] San Diego, CA 923104.

In response to

complaint [redacted]. These have been customers of ours for four years. Their

complaint that we provided less than adequate service does not have any merit. Our pricing billing systems have not changed

since they started using our services. If they had been unsatisfied with our

services they would not have entrusted us to maintain their property during

their absence and maintained our services for so long after. Because of this long term relationship we went

beyond the scope of most landscape companies.

In addition to providing them before and after pictures, all of their requests

were immediately forwarded to our crew to address any situation. The emails from them were put in a special

folder for reference.

To address some of the concerns:

We try to respond to

our customers within one business day. Holidays

make take longer. From our records we

see that this customer did email us more than once during a 24 hr period asking

for more pictures or requests. She did

not give us the opportunity to respond within a business day.

We do send out

regular surveys to check the status of our customer's needs and to see if they

are happy with our services. The only

response we received from these customers was on Oct. 14th 2012, in response to

the survey emailed out on Oct. 3 2012.

In this email the only mention of serves quality needs was for more

communication, which we followed up on and ensured more photos of their

property were taken by our crew.

Customers are

informed during their initial consultation that services such as fertilizing,

repairs, aeration, pest control and dump fees for debris are extra. It takes

extra labor time, gas or product to perform these service and customers are

never billed for services that were not performed. There was a meeting with the client on

February 21st. Services were authorized

at that time as witnessed and noted by another management member. These services were performed as requested.

Her concern that she

did not get two visits in April was researched. Our records show they were

there April 6 as her tenant confirmed. The second visit was April 16th from

3-3:45pm. Our crew follows a schedule and fills out a log when they visit

properties. Their phones are also equipped with GPS tracking so we know where

they are at.

The complaint that the drip line had

some leaks is common for an older system. An estimate to put in more bark was

sent over to the customer on 02/21/13 but they decided to do it themselves.

Over time bark decomposes and a fresh deeper layer helps cover the line so it

is not exposed to the sun and becomes dry or brittle. Lines are checked and maintenance repairs

would have been addressed if these issues were found. Repairs

and parts are not included in the basic package and would have had to be billed.

The tenant did not inform us that the timer was

off or sprinklers were leaking. Had we seen these issues on the April 16th

visit the clients would have been informed.

We also sent all of our customers a reminder to check their timers and

set them for longer watering cycles on 04/19/13 since there was hot weather

approaching and lawns will dry out faster. This is not the first time the timer being

turned off has come up and we emailed the customer of the problem. She had to

get her tenant to let us in the garage. The

customer states in her letter that the timer was off when they visited in April.

According to our email records that visit was April 27th. Unfortunately once

the system is turned off, the condition of the grass is out of our control. We do not know how long the water was off after our visit. Plants can die without water

in a matter of days. The plants were not getting

water because the timer was off. Only the tenant has access to the garage where

the timer is located.

We have been in

business 9 years and have hundreds of satisfied customers and referrals. We

pride ourselves on the partnerships we build. We take seriously any concerns or

complaints. We take responsibility for

any issues that we are at fault. Unfortunately plants are perishable and

factors like pests, disease and weather

can affect well being. But aside from those

factors, thirsty lawns and plants that are not being watered will not

survive. It is completely unreasonable

to expect us to pay to replace the grass and plants when the timer for the water was shut off. The timer is in

the garage and the crew does not have

access to it. Our policy states "Irrigation timers

are to be inspected by client on a regular basis. Crew will only touch or

inspect timers if instructed to do so by client. Client is responsible for

ensuring timer is working and watering. Customer is ultimately responsible for

the well being of plant and lawn area." Neither

the tenant or client informed us of any issues with watering or

sprinklers. Our crew was does not have

the access to turn off the timer to water plants. For these reasons stated we

do not feel we have an obligation to replace or restore their grass.

Sincerely [redacted]

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

June 2, 2013

Dear Revdex.com of San Diego,

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the letter

submitted to you by Nature’s Elements on May 29, 2013 in regards to Revdex.com

complaint [redacted]. While thorough, Nature’s Elements’ letter is not factually

correct. We have detailed these inaccuracies and have provided copies of our

email communications with Nature’s Elements to serve as evidence. Each issue is

discussed below:

1. Location of sprinkler controls: There

are two sprinkler timers for the house. The

timer for the front yard is located in the crawl space under the house in the

front yard. There is no lock on the door to the crawl space. The sprinkler timer

for the backyard is located in the garage.

Nature’s Elements was aware that there were timers in both places. Reference

to the timer located in the crawl space is documented in the e-mail dated

February 11, 2012. However, in their response, Nature’s Elements response only

discussed the timer in the garage. Clearly, Nature’s Elements had been informed

of the location of both timers and certainly should have been aware of both

timers after four years of service.

2. Responsibility for adjusting timers: Nature’s

Elements states that it is the responsibility of customers to adjust irrigation

timers. This assertion is contrary to the several times that Nature’s Elements often

promised orally and in writing to adjust the irrigation. This can be seen in the attached e-mail chains

dated January 8, 2012 and July 6, 2012. These e-mails also show that we readily

gave access to the garage with advance notice. Further, their website also

promises testing the irrigation system and “inspecting for leaks” as part of

their standard maintenance contract.

3. Request to turn water back on in December

2012: On December 20 and 23, 2012, we notified Nature’s Elements via email that

we had turned off the sprinkler timers because everything was saturated and

that we wanted them to turn them back on. On December 26, 2012, [redacted] replied

that he would notify the crew. We were never informed about whether the timers

were turned back on. We trusted that it had been done. After recently reviewing

our water bills, it is clear that there was a dramatic decrease in water usage

from late December 2012 through late April 2013. The decrease in water use

suggests that the water was turned off for significant periods from December

2012 to April 2013. See the attached water bill documents showing the usage for

2013 compared to 2012.

4. Work Requested in February 2013: On

February 21, 2013, [redacted] met with [redacted] and Jamie at the house. Several issues were discussed, including the

grass health, pruning needs, mulch, and weeds in the side yard near the water

heater. The front and backyard timers were

discussed. Nature’s Elements promised to adjust the timer after the rainy

season. It had been raining enough that

the grass was not dead; in fact it was saturated and muddy. We received an estimate for mulch as discussed

separately below. The weeds in the side yard were never addressed and were

quite high when we went to the house on April 28, 2013. [redacted] was not told at

that time that fertilization of the grass would be taking place that month.

This was disputed in the attached email dated 3/5/13.

5. Condition of grass on April 28, 2013:

Nature’s Elements did not dispute that the grass was dead when we went to the

house on April 28, 2013. They argued that this could occur in a very short

period of time and that they would have notified us if they had seen problems.

However, since the water was likely off for significant periods of time since late December 2012, there was a

lot of time for the grass to die. Knowing that we were relying on them to

maintain our yard in our absence, Nature’s Elements should have noticed that

the grass was getting drier and drier over time and should have notified us

that there was a problem. There must not have been much to mow at the visit

that Nature’s Elements states occurred on April 16, 2013.

It was not uncommon for Nature’s Elements

to not notice that there were problems with the sprinklers. On 6/20/12, we

notified them that there was a large dry patch in the middle of the backyard

that ended up being a sprinkler issue. They stated that the crew had not

noticed any problems.

6. Requests to address wet area in front: After

terminating the contract with Natures Elements, we found that the sprinkler in

the system in front had some major leaks that had not been identified by Nature’s

Elements. It is possible that these leaks date back to 1/6/12, 2/12/12 and

12/20/12, when I reported that there were wet and mossy areas in the front and

the sprinklers needed to be checked. While Nature’s Elements replied that they

would look into the matter, we never heard about the outcome.

7. Lack of information about fees and when

they would be charged: Nature’s Elements states that they informed us that

there would be charges for extra services. However, we never received a

schedule of fees and we usually only found out that we would be charged extra

when we received an invoice. In the attached e-mail dated March 12, 2013, we

asked for a schedule of fees and did not receive a reply. As you can see in

emails dated May 1, 2012 and March 5, 2013, there were several times we were

caught unaware that we would be charged extra fees.

8. Requests for pictures: After going to

the house in April 2012, we were very disappointed in the amount of overgrowth

as shown in the email dated 4/13/12. In a conversation with [redacted] in May 2012,

we asked [redacted] to send us pictures on a regular basis. This was reiterated in

e-mails dated 6/3/12, 6/20/12, and 11/3/12. We only ever received pictures on

the following dates: 11/13/12, 11/27/12, 12/26/12, and 3/6/13.

9. Mulch: Nature’s Elements indicates that an estimate

was provided to us on 2/21/13 for additional mulch at our request. As shown in

the email dated 2/22/12, we opted not to have Nature’s Elements do this work

due to the high cost. It is important to note that we had previously requested

that mulch be put in and it was never done. The emails from 4/15/12, 7/28/12, 8/5/12,

8/6/12, 8/17/12, and 9/1/12 discuss the requests and authorization to put in

new mulch. We never received a cost estimate for this work. On 9/4/12, I

informed Nature’s Elements that I did it myself since they had never completed

the task as requested.

10. Lack of response to e-mail requests: Natures Elements states that they respond to

email requests in 24 hours, there were many times when we did not receive a

response and had to repeatedly ask the same question. The discussions above

regarding requests for pictures and mulch are good examples of this. In

addition, our email of 3/12/13 asking for a schedule of fees never received a

reply.

11. Email more than once in a 24 hour period: Nature’s

Elements alleges that we would email about the same request more than once in a

24 hour period. As the attached emails show, the only time emails were sent

more than once in a 24 hour period was to reply to an email that Nature’s

Elements had sent us.

12. Surveys- Nature’s Elements states that they

did regular surveys and that we only responded to one survey. The survey we

received in October 2012 was the only survey we recall receiving during the

time we contracted with Nature’s Elements. In it, we clearly articulated our

displeasure with the lack of response to our e-mail requests. Nature’s Elements

stated that they began sending us pictures after that time. We only ever received

pictures on the following dates: 11/13/12, 11/27/12, 12/26/12, and 3/6/13.

As this document shows, Nature’s Elements was negligent in its duty to

maintain the landscaping at our property and did a poor job of communicating

back about the status of our requests. When we moved out of the house in July

2011, we made it clear that we wanted the yard to be maintained the same way it

was when we were living there and that we expected Nature’s Elements to take

the initiative to do this. The email dated 10/2/11 reiterates this expectation.

We expressed our displeasure with the level of service and communication we

were receiving on numerous occasions as discussed in this document.

We believe that Nature’s Elements should reimburse us for the cost of

refurbishing the grass and repairing the sprinklers because we specifically

requested that they turn the water back on in December 2012 and [redacted] agreed to

do so. He did not indicate at that time that he did not have access to the

timers, nor that adjusting them was not a service that they provided. As the

attached water bills show, there was a dramatic decrease in water usage from December

2012 to January 2013. There was also a dramatic decrease in water usage from January

2013 through April 2013 compared to the prior year. This shows that Nature’s

Elements was not ensuring that the irrigation systems were working properly,

even though it was part of the service promised to us.

Thank you for your assistance in helping us to resolve this dispute.

Sincerely,

[redacted] and [redacted]

v

Regards,

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted]

San Diego Ca 92104

In regards to the complaint you filled with the Revdex.com. It's unfortunate that you became

unsatisfied with your lawn service.

We have several pictures of your your yard and at the time of your complaint. On each

occasion (most recent 6/3/2013) we show you landscape green and thriving .

We are reaching out to offer a one time maintenance supply voucher to your new

landscape company to keep your yard looking its best. We do not agree with the

statements that were provided to the Revdex.com. We are doing this as a good faith effort to

move forward.

Please feel free to contact us or have your landscape company contact us directly so we

can instruct them on how to retrieve this voucher at a local Nursery.

This should help you keep that way

Sincerely

Natures Elements landscaping