Rainmaker Landscapes

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 9, 2015/10/16) */ The issue with this customer is that he had a brick encased hole in the middle of the front yardThe hole was covered with a concrete lidThe customer was told that this was a situation we had not ever come across, and because the bricks were all being removed that it very well could hold water and be an issue in the futureThe customer didn't want it completely disassembled but rather for us to simply fill in the holeThere was an extra charge for filling the hole in with soil and totally disassembly of it and then filling it with soil, the customer didn't want to pay either expense so they chose the cheapest, which was to simply remove the concrete cover and fill it upWe actually removed several layers of brick to try and help it to remain level and not be an issue in the future for themIn the end, we did not charge them to fill it, we actually absorbed that cost ourselves knowing they had put everything they had into the project in the beginningThe customer did not voice any concerns with us regarding any issues with the project for months, and then he spoke to the owner who told him that we had expressed concern about this from the startThe customer was told that we would do some research to see if anyone else had come across such a thing and what to do about removing it so that it doesn't become a hole in the yardThe customer said it was sinking, which means that it is holding water inside and the soils are settling causing the sod to "fall"The customer was told that this whole thing is an underground unforseeable issue and that our original contract and estimate did not cover such items, we cannot be held responsible for things that are not visable to the eye on the estimate and that is clearly written in the contract that the customer signedAt the time this phone conversation took place, the customer was told that he would need to pay to have this correctly handledThe customer was also asked to give us a call back in the early fall to see what could be done as our schedule did not allow us to do anything on this customers job at that timeWe told him that once we slowed down in the fall is when we normally are able to return to do additional work, and he said that he would call back then if he hadn't heard from us yetWe never heard anything at all until the customer jumped onto Yelp and wrote a bunch of nasty comments, most of which are untrue and we have proof, and then got this complaint from the Revdex.comCommunication is key and it would have been polite, respectful and nice of the customer to contact us before posting lies on the internetThe hole needs to be completely taken apart and filled in correctly, as we recommended to begin with, then it needs to be sodded again on topWe are not going to do this at no cost, if the customer would like the estimate to repair this we would be happy to give it to him but the original contract does NOT cover this in any wayWe may have been a little more willing to work with the customer if he had handled this in a adult manner but to go about it the way he did is unacceptable Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 11, 2015/10/19) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) The statement by the company is fallaciousI was told that there would be an additional charge of approximately $to remediate the hole correctly, which I agreed to it on the spot and without contestAside from asserting that I wanted the hole fixed, my opinion on the method which would be employed to do so was never solicited by the companyThe solution chosen by ***, the supervisor, was to fill in the hole with the bricks and put soil over it, same as the rest of the yardOther experienced professional contractors on the job opined that it needed to be tamped down with a soil compacting machine, which ***, the owner of the company, decided against I gave the owner a call, as he stated, during the summer, and was told that I would be contacted after he had done some research on the issueMonths later, still having received no response, I called back to inquire, leaving a voicemail, to which I received no response

The issue that [redacted] has is in regards to an area of his front yard where an underground bunker of some sort was built underneath the existing grass. When we found this, we explained to the [redacted]’s that it is not covered under our contract to dismantle and backfill this large hole, nor would that be covered under any warranty as it is considered “unforeseen buried items” in the ground that are discovered during removal, meaning we cannot see them when we give the estimate, nor did the clients know it was there. [redacted] states that we would not repair the area when the soils sank, as we told him it likely would as the new yard settled in. That is untrue, we called him and offered to come back and make the necessary repairs at their expense. They declined to have us do that. In regards to his comments about his neighbors sledge hammer, we replaced it when it was broken, after we broke multiple tools of our own trying to dismantle this concrete and block structure in the middle of [redacted]’s front yard. This was never an issue, during construction nor afterwards when we advised [redacted] what type of lawn mower to purchase, so why it is being brought up in this complaint is irrelevant to the contract and work we did for the [redacted] family. If they had wanted the sunken area repaired, they were given the opportunity but refused as they would need to pay for it.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 9, 2015/10/16) */
The issue with this customer is that he had a brick encased hole in the middle of the front yard. The hole was covered with a concrete lid. The customer was told that this was a situation we had not ever come across, and because the bricks were...

all being removed that it very well could hold water and be an issue in the future. The customer didn't want it completely disassembled but rather for us to simply fill in the hole. There was an extra charge for filling the hole in with soil and totally disassembly of it and then filling it with soil, the customer didn't want to pay either expense so they chose the cheapest, which was to simply remove the concrete cover and fill it up. We actually removed several layers of brick to try and help it to remain level and not be an issue in the future for them. In the end, we did not charge them to fill it, we actually absorbed that cost ourselves knowing they had put everything they had into the project in the beginning. The customer did not voice any concerns with us regarding any issues with the project for months, and then he spoke to the owner who told him that we had expressed concern about this from the start. The customer was told that we would do some research to see if anyone else had come across such a thing and what to do about removing it so that it doesn't become a hole in the yard. The customer said it was sinking, which means that it is holding water inside and the soils are settling causing the sod to "fall". The customer was told that this whole thing is an underground unforseeable issue and that our original contract and estimate did not cover such items, we cannot be held responsible for things that are not visable to the eye on the estimate and that is clearly written in the contract that the customer signed. At the time this phone conversation took place, the customer was told that he would need to pay to have this correctly handled. The customer was also asked to give us a call back in the early fall to see what could be done as our schedule did not allow us to do anything on this customers job at that time. We told him that once we slowed down in the fall is when we normally are able to return to do additional work, and he said that he would call back then if he hadn't heard from us yet. We never heard anything at all until the customer jumped onto Yelp and wrote a bunch of nasty comments, most of which are untrue and we have proof, and then got this complaint from the Revdex.com. Communication is key and it would have been polite, respectful and nice of the customer to contact us before posting lies on the internet. The hole needs to be completely taken apart and filled in correctly, as we recommended to begin with, then it needs to be sodded again on top. We are not going to do this at no cost, if the customer would like the estimate to repair this we would be happy to give it to him but the original contract does NOT cover this in any way. We may have been a little more willing to work with the customer if he had handled this in a adult manner but to go about it the way he did is unacceptable.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 11, 2015/10/19) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The statement by the company is fallacious. I was told that there would be an additional charge of approximately $300 to remediate the hole correctly, which I agreed to it on the spot and without contest. Aside from asserting that I wanted the hole fixed, my opinion on the method which would be employed to do so was never solicited by the company. The solution chosen by [redacted], the supervisor, was to fill in the hole with the bricks and put soil over it, same as the rest of the yard. Other experienced professional contractors on the job opined that it needed to be tamped down with a soil compacting machine, which [redacted], the owner of the company, decided against.
I gave the owner a call, as he stated, during the summer, and was told that I would be contacted after he had done some research on the issue. Months later, still having received no response, I called back to inquire, leaving a voicemail, to which I received no response.