Business ProfileforDLC Landscaping

Abysmal communication, zero integrity We signed a contract with DLC on April 5th, 2021. They had our 10% deposit in their account by April 8th. ****** told us the work would be complete by mid-June. We encountered some permitting issues and we understood this would cause delays. We did everything possible to keep ****** in the loop and had obtained all permits by June 17th. We called multiple times and wrote several emails to establish the start date for our project. ****** finally deigned to respond on July 28th. We expected work to start on September 7th. In August, we made three additions to our plans, all approved by ******. We requested an updated quote to specify the additional costs. We expected that these changes would add a maximum of $10K to the project, likely less. At 12:02 p.m. on Monday, September 6th, ****** contacted us to say that the team would not come the following day due to expected thunderstorms. Indeed, DLC did not appear on the 7th, or any time that week. Again, our calls and emails requesting updates on both dates and pricing went unanswered. We didn’t hear from ****** or anyone else from DLC for the entire week. At 8:17 a.m. on Monday, September 13th, ****** sent us the ‘updated’ quote. The new cost was to be 2.24 times the amount we had signed for. ****** didn’t include the requested changes. He did quadruple the corten steel costs from $6,101.77 to $24,670.08 and he replaced the patio/driveway material with a product we had never discussed that would cost $51,208.12 more than what we had chosen. None of the requested changes should have had any impact on either of these aspects of the project. ****** sent this ‘updated’ quote without any explanation or apology. He simply forwarded it saying “I worked on updating the quote this morning [Sept. 13th]. Have a look and let me know what you think.” We tried to get in touch with ****** and to get some kind of explanation and information all day, to no avail. In the middle of the afternoon, I did what I should have done months ago and scanned DLC’s ****** reviews. Amongst many happy customers, there are the clients like us who get systematically ignored (although we seem to be the first who actually had a contract and paid deposit). I called and left a voice message with ****, presumably the same DLC representative who tries to put out the ****** Review fires. I said I was just curious: could she please explain to me how DLC chooses whom to serve, and whom to neglect and disrespect? She has yet to respond. Meanwhile, I also called the accounting team and requested a refund on our deposit. I was transferred to **** ******, DLC’s controller. His first question was: “How big is the job?” followed by “Have we started yet?” There you have it–DLC’s priorities: size, and self-interest. All we have to show for dozens (perhaps hundreds) of hours spent chasing DLC and an entire summer waiting is our refund and a chance to start fresh (the only thing DLC did promptly was send the refund). Luckily, other members of the Association des Paysagistes Professionels du Quebec are quoting for end-of-season work and we have already been in contact with several who are more experienced, more responsive, and less expensive than DLC. We are hopeful that we actually dodged a bullet by not having the work completed by DLC. I don’t often write reviews but I feel a responsibility to write this one in hopes that it might help to spare at least a few people the stress and frustration DLC have caused us over the last months. Do yourself a favour: instead of hiring DLC, go to the website of the APPQ and hire literally anyone else. If this is the service that DLC provides to clients with a signed contract and a promptly paid deposit, what will you get?