North Side PWC

I would like to start my response by stating that I am very proud of the multiple teams I associate myself and my company with. The relationships I have built with other companies by working together to obtain our daily goals is one of the reasons why my company, North Side PWC has been
blessed with what I would call success in our past years of existence. And even though Mrs*** believes my company to be at fault for the current condition of her lawn, I as well as the many team members I have, feel empathy for what she is going throughOn Friday, May 12th, I had set up one of the companies I utilized as a sub-contract to perform larger jobs that consist of multiple team members, to complete a flower bed cleanup and mulch installation at Mrs***’ home. Friday afternoon, I received a message stating that Mrs***’ work was complete, along with other jobs this company completed for me that particular day. This is the operation we have put in place with our sub-contractors to insure the lines of communication are clearOn Monday, May 15th at 11:am, Mrs*** sent me an email asking if I could send her another invoice that consisted of all the work we completed for her up until the job on May 12th. Before this date my company had completed a lawn mow and another company I use for our fertilization needs, ***, had done their first treatment on May 3rd. I told her no problem and send her a revised invoice consisting of all the work completed. In this same thread, we even spoke about and set up additional work such as power washing and window cleaning that I would complete once my family and I returned from our vacation in June. She was very nice and even indicated that I did a great job on her other house I serviced last yearOn Monday, May 15th at 8:35pm, I received an email from Mrs*** with a picture attached. The picture shows many yellow/brown spots in her yard. She stated in her email that “as I pulled in tonight, the lawn now looks like this. It wasn’t noticeable like this yesterday. I think Izzy (her husband) is going to freak out. Any ideas on what is doing this?” I stated that my initial thinking was grubs but I would need to reach out to our grass specialist from ***’s first thing in the morning. Mrs*** then emailed back and said “I was thinking maybe the dead patches are weeds. It basically has been heading this direction since they sprayed.” I got the impression that she thought it had something to do with the grass application that was conducted on May 3rd by ***’s after she said this. I emailed her back to let her know that weeds wouldn’t cause that type of patching and I will do everything I can get her an answerOn Tuesday, May 16th at 7:24am, I sent the manager of *** and my main contact, Dan N*** a text message with the picture Mrs*** sent me and asked him if he had any idea what the patching was from. He said “yikes, did they try to kill the weeds but used round up?” I said, “No sir, this couple is never home and has everything done for them. The day before she said everything was fine she came home yesterday to this.” Dan then asked if I could take some pictures to send him. Approximately minutes later I arrived at the home and took four pictures and sent to Dan for him to view. He responded back “Yea definitely looks like somebody spot treaded the weeds with a roundup or an improper mixture maybe the husband? An annoying neighbor maybe??” I said “ok, I’ll ask”. At 8:26am I sent a message to Mrs*** asking if anyone sprayed roundup or weed killer on her grass recently. I also attached the same pictures I sent to Dan and told her that every spot has a weed in it. This indicates that someone has sprayed round up or another type of weed killing chemical recently and that no one on my team would have done this. She stated that they had not sprayed anything and that the only spray that has been put down was the new lawn chemical company that came out. She said that she could trust that she was leaving everything up to me and wondered if they should have seeded after they did the treatment. I told her I understood but once again that no one from my team would have done this. The first application ***’s put down was on May 3rd indicated by the small flag still left in the lawn. I indicated once again that someone had sprayed some type of weed killer and I wasn’t sure if it could be a family member or a neighbor but it had to be very recent. Mrs*** then stated that no family member would touch their yard and she just posted in their neighborhood website asking if a neighbor touched her yard. She said she would call law enforcement if a neighbor is touching her lawn. I stated that I believed she had every right. She then said that she will investigate the neighborhood. She felt it to be pretty strange that neither neighbor has the spots and that someone would use it on hers and not theirs. I told her that I understood but was starting to get the feeling that she thought I had something to do with these spots. I told her that I checked with every member of our team and they have all confirmed they have not sprayed any week killer on her yard. I stated that it was very unusual to me that all the spots that are dead have weeds in them. This indicates that maybe someone just didn’t know that the week killer would not only kill the weeds but the grass around the area sprayed as well, in hopes they were doing the right thing. Also, the grass has been absolutely fine up until know which would also indicate the something happened over the weekend. I told her none of my crew were at her home Saturday or Sunday and that I was in Columbus with my familyMrs*** stated that “I told you right up front that I assumed this was the grass master taking effect and that I assumed that because the weeds all died, and nothing else. You said you and *** had nothing to do with it and I said, well ok, basically that means someone I don’t know came out and did something to my lawn, which is really upsetting. Then I simply asked how we are going to fix it.” I told her “yes mam, the last thing I want is to make you any more upset than you already are… I was simply being honest. I will get help with what to do.” Mrs*** asked, “Is there any way I can talk to grass master directly? The neighbors (and google) is telling me that it can take a few weeks after application of a product before something like this emerges. Others say they’ve had the same thing happen. I just want to find out what they specifically put down on the lawn. Ultimately, if that’s what it is, it doesn’t matter, as long as we can fix it. My number one concern is not looking like the worst lawn on the street. I just need to be somewhere in the middle. I would also sleep better not thinking my neighbors are creeps. Maybe our lawn was all crab grass and we need to star over?” I told her I have no problem with her speaking with anyone at ***’s and sent her Dan’s number. A few minutes later, Mrs*** texted me back and said“So after talking to Dan, the consensus is that someone in my neighborhood is a psycho. He said that we can’t even reseed it for a while because whatever the person sprayed, it will have to wash out. He did offer to provide us with some grass seed for free though, which was really nice.” I told her that was great and that Dan and his company are top notch, one of the reasons I utilize their services. I said that we would probably need to wait until a heavy rain hits or hose down the yard to wash away the chemical. The areas would then need to be dug up, new soil laid down and fresh grass seed laid. I said I was very sorry this has happened to herThe next thing Mrs*** sent me was a message stating that “I am raising some hell in the neighborhood online group. I think it’s time for me to put a security camera on the house.” I told her that I didn’t blame her and that the only thing I couldn’t understand is if a neighbor was in fact the one who did this, why they would put it only where the weeds were growing. To me that doesn’t indicate someone trying to hurt the lawn but trying to help it just not knowing what they were doing. Mrs*** then stated, “Because they are some busy body who doesn’t like our dandelions. So they, not knowing what the hell they were doing, came over and sprayed them with god knows what”. Approximately hours later at 1:22pm, Mrs*** sent me a text message that said, “So the police suggested to me that my landscaper might be trying to make money to redo the yard. I told them that was insane, and that you even referred me to another company for the chemical work on the lawn. They did ask your name, and for Grass Master’s information. I don’t know if they will contact you. They said it would have taken a neighbor hours to do this to our yard and they can’t believe someone would do that. I just want to move out of this awful neighborhood.” I said, “I’m so sorry you are going thru this. I’d be happy to answer any questions anyone has.” Mrs*** said, “My mother in law said she watched your guys and they worked like crazy and never took a break. And that nothing was sprayed here on Friday. I told the officer that.” I thanked her for the compliment and the verification. At this point it now sounded to me like she is thinking that the crew I had out on Friday to install her mulch may have something to do with this based on the police telling her that it sounded like we were trying to get more money out of herTuesday night my wife and another couple we out having dinner. At 9:42pm Mrs*** texted me asking, “Do you have a few minutes to chat on the phone?” I did say yes because I knew how much she has been going through up until know and I wanted to do everything I could to help. I told my wife and the other couple that I was sorry but I needed to take the phone call. We spoke for approximately minutes about the events that had transpired. She now adds at this time that a neighbor had come over and told her that he saw someone spraying something in the yard on Friday. I am very curious at this point in wondering if this neighbor is one of the same ones that was giving her grief on her neighbor website after she started asking questions earlier in the day. I told her thank you for the additional information. I said that based on my confirmations that I was already given from the owner of the install crews company, that I believe him when he tells me that his crew did not spray anything in her grass. This is someone whom I’ve work with for many years on hundreds of other jobs that have created over five star reviews as well as an A+ rating on Revdex.com, based on the work we have done together and in that same amount of time has never given me any reason not to trust him. I told her that I would once again, and this would be the fourth time, confirm with the owner of the company that no one sprayed anything at all in her yard on Friday during the installation of the mulch. At this time I also told her that I didn’t feel comfortable with her asking me to complete the fix just to prove to her that I am not trying to get any additional funds from her like the police mentioned earlier. We finished our conversation on great terms. That night at 11:53pm she sent me a text message stating that her husband called and said he and his dad noticed the spotting on Sunday morning. This is a completely different timeline than what we have been speaking about since 7:30am that morningOn Wednesday, May 17th at 9:00am I had another conversation with the owner of the company that handled the mulch installation on Friday. He confirmed who was on the crew and these same members have been on dozens of other installation projects of mine including the other two they completed that day, both resulting in an A grade on Angie’s List. He also confirmed one more time that nothing was sprayed in the yard and none of the machines like the bed edger had any leaks in them what so ever. He did confirm that there was a chemical sprayed in the flower beds to halt the future growth of weeds. This is a part of each and every cleanup service we provide to insure the weeds do not grow back through the new mulch, but again, nothing was sprayed in the grass. I’m not sure if the neighbor who claimed to see a team member spray something in the grass had a good enough line of sight to confirm if it was the grass or in actuality the beds they were spraying into. Also, to go back to what the police officer mentioned about it taking hours for someone to do that amount of damage to the yard, this means someone on the team, by that logic would have had to have stood all over the front, side and back yards spraying for that amount of time. I would also imagine if it would be for hours that her mother would have seen it happening the few times she looked out and notice the crew working so hard, but again she stated she did not see anything sprayed in the yard that FridayAt 9:09am I updated *** with the most recent confirmation I received. She stated that she heard what I was saying, but now that she was told it was dead Sunday morning, and her husband was home all day Saturday, there was no way anyone else was there either. She believed that her dogs would have gone nuts and that she was a loss. She then said “it’s fine we can just find another company and get this fixed and move on.” At approximately, 2:45pm on that same day, I received a phone call from Mr***. He asked me if I had a chance to speak with the crew that completed the work. I was very confused by the question as I had just spent the last to hours speaking with his wife about everything that had transpired. I asked him if he had a chance to speak with Mrs*** and he said yes but he now wanted to talk to me. This conversation was not a pleasant one which I completely understood because he ultimately believes that I am to blame. I tried multiple time to have a genuine conversation with him but could not as he constantly talked over me. After the to minute conversation, Mr*** told me I was 120% responsible for what happened to his yard and I have to get it fixed or we could get it fixed in arbitration. Once that was said I indicated to Mr*** that I was starting to feel threatened and would need to end the conversation if we couldn’t converse rationally. He then said thank you for your time and have a great day, I said the same At 4:33pm on the same day I received a voicemail message from a Ms*** ***. I had completed work for Ms*** last year and she was the one who referred me to Mrs*** for the work we completed on her previous home which lead to us continuing to work on her new home. In this message *** states that she believes the crew had messed with Mrs***’ yard and in terms of integrity she really felt like I should step up and take care of her yard because Mrs*** is not going to let it go. *** says that Mrs*** will sue me, and that she is an amazing market, PR, social media, she connected and she teaches this at a college level. She then said that Mrs*** will destroy my reputation online and she feels horrible because she recommended me to Mrs*** and that she had all the faith in the world on the work I did. She then said if I could do the work for her since she highly recommended me than she would greatly appreciate it. I must say that I was completely caught off guard that an entire third party would contact me and tell me that my customer is going to sue me, and that she is connected and can ruin my reputation online because of what she knows and teaches. As upset as I was, I also knew that *** did not have the opportunity to hear my side of the story, even before she made, what I would call, threats against my company. I then call *** and explained in more detail the events that transpired. I told *** that I am by no means washing my hands of this situation and that if Mrs*** could supply me with definitive proof that anyone on my team was responsible for what had happened to her yard that I would have them out there right away to fix it. But, I could not take the hearsay of a neighbor that told Mrs*** four days after they saw something, let alone after she by her own words “raised hell” on the neighborhood website and the fact that I do not know what type of line of site they had to see the yard at all, as definitive proof and that I stand by what the owner of the company told me four times. I also told *** that I was sorry that she was placed in the middle of this unfortunate incident. By the end of the conversation, I felt that I was able to better clarify my position and we ended the phone call on a pleasant noteIn closing, I would like to reiterate that I am in no way trying to wash my hands of this situation. But I cannot hold someone else accountable after they have confirmed multiple times that their experienced crew did not do what our customer accused them of doing. If I had definitive proof, i.ea picture or video of the person completing this act than I would absolutely have them fix the problem. I struggle with the fact that the only so called proof is a neighbor that came forward days later and only after Mrs*** said she was “raising some hell” on the neighborhood website and that then the neighbors were “all going off on me for even suggesting it”. I also struggle with the fact that a third party that has a friendship with Mrs*** calls me to tell me that she will ruin my reputation if I don’t just go ahead and take care of this. I continue to trust and stand by the companies that I use to complete the award winning service we provide every day. I believe I have proved and shown that I do have the integrity it takes to continue to run my business the way it has worked since our inception and will not be bullied to feel otherwise *Text message documentation available upon request *Email documentation available upon request *Voicemail message from *** *** available upon request

From: [redacted] <[redacted]> Date: Wed, May 24, 2017 at 11:27 AM Subject: Complaint [redacted] To: [redacted] Hello, You say that the business has made a good faith effort to answer the complaint, however, I did submit a screenshot of written proof that the neighbor saw them spray the grass. The business asked for this exact item in their last response. I was not able to reopen/view that photo, which I emailed in - did the business get to see it? I cannot see it in the files, and would like to be sure it was sent to them. Second, the business has never really responded - just continued to say "we didn't do it." There are a lot of untruths about verbal conversations in their last two statements. Thank you! [redacted] [redacted]

Throughout this entire process we have been discussing whether or not the grass was sprayed at Mrs. [redacted] house by my sub-contractor that was there to work on just her flower beds.  I believe we have established on multiple occasions, as well as the invoice, Mrs. [redacted] placed on this thread that the staff was there for a flower bed cleanup and mulch installation.  They had absolutely nothing to do with anything involving any grass at the property.  The grass is serviced by an entirely different company all together. Also, per the owner of the sub-contracting company, he never admitted to spraying any portion of the grass, whether it be along the edges of the mulch or anywhere else for that matter. I must state once again for everyone that may get the opportunity to read this thread that I would again hold anyone that works for me accountable if there was definitive prove that someone on the mulch installation crew sprayed anything in her grass that day.  If Mrs. [redacted] has written documentation that a neighbor saw someone spraying something in her grass and the crew that was there that day supplied written documentation that they did not spray anything in the grass that day, in my opinion, I am still left with no definitive proof. Also, this exact company, just last year while mowing a lawn for me while I was out of town, damaged a brand new tree just installed at a property.  The worker that caused the damage notified the owner of the company, (the same owner I keep referring to) told him what happened, went and purchased a replacement and installed it the next day.  I have the customer’s name and contact number if anyone would ever like to verify.  I am stating all this because I do not agree with Mrs. [redacted]’ statement that I, or in this case the installation company, don’t fix mistakes when I know I am at fault, without question.