ComplaintsforBayside Sod, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  04/25/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  ** February 2023 I called Bayside Sod *** for a bid on installing Bahia grass on my property. **** came out and measured the yard. His bid for Bahia sod was over three thousand dollars and due to the yard being striped and ready they could supply Bahia sod the next week. What was delivered looked nothing like Bahia or what the employee at the Bayside sod sales lot on Sr64 walked over and showed me, I even took a picture to show the wife. I have used Bahia grass for years due to the low maintenance and draught resistance, what Bayside sod delivered was nothing more than some type of wire grass that came out of a cow pasture with cow pies included not true Bahia. When I complained to **** the manager that what was delivered looked nothing like the picture I took in the Bayside Sod display yard he said that was another type of sod and they dont maintain Bahia.

  

  Business response

  05/01/2023

  Customer contacted ********************** on February 8, 2023, to inquire about a delivery or installation for sod for one of customers rental properties. Bayside Sod representative did provide a per pallet price for delivery and collected customers information and indicated that our install estimator would reach out to schedule a time to visit the property to be able to provide a proposal for installation. Bayside Sods install estimator did reach the customer and scheduled a visit to property for February 9, 2023. Estimator did meet with the customer on February 9, 2023, and looked at the project, took measurements and had a discussion with the customer. As part of this discussion, our install estimator did discuss that Bahia is harvested from pastures and is the only variety of grass that we do not guarantee as it is not produced or maintained by **. This is part of our standard process whenever we sell Bahia and we include this on our website as well see attached photo.
  

  Bayside Sods install estimator specifically recalls his conversation with the customer, because if the customer is present at the initial visit, it is customary that we provide them with a bottle of honey from our subsidiary Organic Farm to promote the Organic Farm. In this case, the customer indicated he was a Welsh Honey Judge which led to a conversation with our estimator and made the visit and conversation with this customer stand out.
  

  The customer was sent an electronic proposal that same day (Feb 9 th ) and records indicate the customer opened the proposal on February 9, 2023. On February 15, 2023, the customer did call ********************** and spoke with our Store Representative (the SR ************************************* his complaint).  Customer asked if we had any Bahia sod at the Store as he would like to see it.  The Store Representative indicated we had one pallet of Bahia at the Store and the customer indicated he would come out and look at it, which he did.  However, the picture that the customer submitted in his complaint is not a pallet but instead is from our display area where we have multiple varieties of sod on display at the Store location.  The specific picture submitted by the customer is our Empire Zoysia sod that is in the display area.  While the customer indicated our Store Representative walked him to the display and indicated that this is *****, this must have been a misunderstanding. The Store Representative employee has been employed at Bayside Sod for multiple years and actually started in our sod fields, so he is very familiar with the varieties of sod.  Furthermore, our display area has never included ***** sod as it is not a grass we produce nor push to sell.  We only sell ***** when it is specifically requested by the customer, the customer does not have irrigation, or the customer wants maintenance-free grass for the property.  Our Store Representative is responsible for maintaining the display area and understands what varieties we display. It is not reasonable that this Bayside Sod employee would have indicated this is ***** so it must have been a misunderstanding. This is not to suggest that the customer did not believe that was Bahia; however, if he has been utilizing Bahia for many years (he indicated he has been buying Bahia for 40 years in a subsequent e-mail he sent **), we can say with confidence that he has never seen Bahia during that time that looks like the image he submitted for what he believed our ***** would look like, meaning the Zoysia that is in our display area.

  
  Customer electronically signed the proposal on February 27, 2023, and the sod was installed on March 3, 2023. In the proposal that the customer received on February 9 th and agreed to on February 27 th , there is a section that is highlighted for emphasis, that indicates the following:
  

  ** If your proposal includes ***** sod, please note that ***** sod is harvested from pastures. It is not maintained or irrigated like our other varieties of sod we produce from our farms. The quality cannot be guaranteed. Generally, ***** sod is used for roadside work and erosion control. It is very common for pieces to have weeds, to break apart, and appear inconsistent. Bahia can be used in yards but will take a few weeks to settle, grow, and appear like a normal looking yard.
  

  Attached is an image of the customers actual proposal with all identifying information blacked out, which shows this language. Customer acknowledged this when accepting the proposal.
  

  Once we received this complaint, we drove by the property to look at the Bahia and this Bahia is in line with typical Bahia that is provided.

  
  At Bayside Sod we pride ourselves on our quality and our customer service and it is on display on our website as these two items are two of our three Core Values (Quality For Your Mama, and We Care In This House) see attached photo. Our Core Values are the foundation on which we do business with our partners, suppliers, customers, and the measure by which we hire and retain employees. We feel this is evident in the consistent 5-Star Reviews we receive and our A+ Rating with the BBB.
  

  Bayside Sod feels we did everything that we could with regard to informing the customer about Bahia sod and are confident we delivered on what we promised in this transaction. That said, it disappoints ** when we have an unhappy customer, and are willing to work with the customer and provide a reasonable discount on the sod price for areas that *** need repair.

  Customer response

  05/08/2023

   
  Complaint: 19978627
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I did see the disclaimer at the bottom of the quote stating their ( Bahia sod is harvested from pastures. It is not maintained or irrigated like our other varieties of sod we produce from our farms. The quality cannot be guaranteed.  It is very common for pieces to have weeds, to break apart, and appear inconsistent. Bahia can be used in yards but will take a few weeks to settle, grow, and appear like a normal looking yard.)

  
  This is why I waited several weeks and watered waiting for it to settle and grow before making sure it did not appear like a normal looking yard and sure does not look anything like other Bahia.

  
   I requested a quote of Bahia sod, was this seeded and grown in a pasture or just something out of any field? Never was it stated it was not produced by Bayside Sod.
  My fault for what the employ said was incorrect and they dont guarantee this sod so I will pay another company to remove this pasture grass and install true Bahia.

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

  

  Business response

  05/11/2023

  We are sorry we were unable to meet your expectations of what Bahia is and you rejected our offer of a discount for areas needing repair.  We are disappointed we could not keep you as a customer.

  Regards,

  *********************

  Customer response

  05/17/2023

   
  Complaint: 19978627
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Please explain what you consider  a reasonable discount on the sod price for areas that *** need  to replace ? I would like to resolve this problem and remove my complaint if I can recover some of the cost to replace the sod on the front of this home.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩