ComplaintsforD & A Fireplace and Patio

• Initial Complaint

  01/04/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had landscaping completed on May 12th, 2022 by D and A Landscaping and Patio. I paid $2,625, paid in full.The business and I agreed to having a retaining wall installed in front of my house, in front of my fence and a square retaining wall around the front tree along with edgers along the east side of the house. The owner was suppose to install said landscaping but had an employee do it instead. I am disputing the quality of the work. The employee used my mulch instead of top soil to fill in gaps, not enough paver base was used. The landscaping stones were not recessed into the ground for stability. Sections of the retaining wall rock back and forth. Multiple stones have come loose and I've had to reattach them with landscaping cement. Sections have settled since not enough paver base was used and there are now gaps between the stone. Some stones were not offset and seams are lined up causing weak spots. I advised the owner of the issues and he came out and did not agree and did not take accountability for the poor installation. After arguing he agreed to give a small partial refund for the square around the tree which did not add up correctly when compared to the amount he said labor cost plus the material. I declined and after more arguing back and forth he hesitantly offered to fix only the square if I signed off on the job saying nothing else was wrong and if I removed my negative review from ******* I told him I would not remove my review but I would update it and I needed all issues addressed. He than rescinded his offer and refuses to fix the issues. I was ultimately looking to have everything installed correctly by the owner but after his poor customer service and insulting me I no longer want him on my property. Therefore I am looking for a fair partial refund. I have text messages as evidence if needed.Note: on the estimate the $700 edger along the side was removed from the job so subtract that from the total and I had some edgers in the rear for $75

  Business response

  01/04/2023

  Hello, I am ***************************** from D & A. I'd like to start by saying I know that keeping customers happy and doing quality work is of utmost importance and its how I've ran my business through its entirety. However in this instance, nothing seemed to please him. I gave him an estimate around March or April of 2022 for a retaining wall and had told him I was approx 6-8 weeks out in which he said that's fine and he gave a deposit. I was actually able to fit him in much earlier ahead of schedule of which he was grateful. When we started the job, we marked everything out including the box around the tree of which I had told him we should move it slightly over due to the root, which he agreed. After the job was finished, he was more than happy. Gave me a 5 star review and that was the end of it. Or so I thought. Fast forward 2-3 months later I receive a text message saying he wants a full refund. Just like that, no other details. I asked why and he said his retaining wall isn't stable; of which I thought was odd seeing that its only a 1 block high retaining wall and nothing could be falling over, but nonetheless I told him I would come take a look. When arriving at the job, I tested all the blocks and none of them were moving at all. He said "yes they are look at them" and proceeded to rip them out of the ground causing them to move. After explaining to him that nothing in nature is going to recreate this scenario and a 1 block high retaining wall is essentially a border wall to keep his mulch from getting into his grass, he proceeds to come up with different issues (of which he never mentioned before) like the square wall around the tree of which we had went over prior and had marked off with spray paint with him approving. I had wondered what changed in this 2 months when he was more than happy until now. Come to find out he received "expert advice" from a plumber friend that was saying everything is wrong because it's not the way he did his. Regardless of this after going back and forth, if he is truly unhappy with the quality of my work, I would come and take the material and refund his money for the labor. However, he was not happy with this and demanded he a full refund and keep the work as is. As a last attempt, I had told him I would move the box around the tree again, even though we had agreed upon the location initially, if he agreed there won't be any more "issues". After realizing nothing would make him happy with the exception of receiving a full refund while still keeping the work done I had removed my offer to move the box around the tree. If you have any questions feel free to Call me at ************ or email me at *****************

  Customer response

  01/06/2023

   
  Complaint: 18655998
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  **** is making statements that never occurred and he is exaggerating about really occurred. I never asked for a full refund and I never ripped the stones from the ground.  I also did not receive "expert advice" from a plumber. However the plumber he is referring to is a friend of mine who is to work for ****, however at the time **** denied ever employing this friend and I never told him he was a plumber. Clearly **** knows who I was referring too and lied about ever employing him. I never agreed to a box that was off center. I did agree to the spray painted box around the tree that was center. **** was suppose to do the work himself and instead he had an inexperienced laborer complete the job. The laborer even told my wife (laborer only spoke spanish so he did not tell me) himself that he recently started working for **** and did not have that much experience with retaining walls, nonetheless he was a hard worker but he was not a professional by any means.

  **** never offered a FULL refund otherwise I would have taken him on that offer and ended all this back and forth. **** came out and denied anything wrong with the landscaping. He would not take accountability,  I wanted the issues fixes. **** offered a small partial refund for the box around the tree and he would dog up the landscaping but never answered me if he would return my lawn back to its original state. ****'s offer for the partial refund did not make sense since he said labor cost $300 for the box around the tree.. however total cost for the box was $650 and the material by no means coat $350 so the offer was unfair. 

   

  **** mentioned I was happy with the landscaping the day it was complete, which was accurate. However shortly after I noticed how off center the box was, settling started to occur and more problems arose. Many stones have come undone and I had to recomend. Section is have come loose and I am able to see that minimal paver base was used.

   

  **** mentioned offered a "full refund" which he did NOT. I have the text messages from our conversation as proof.

   

  All I wanted was professional landscaping and a proper installation as I paid for. **** himself is fully capable of installing professional landscaping but he did not install my landscaping as he said he would. I've seen work he has done himself which looks great but unfortunately I had a person who was not properly trained install my landscaping. 

   

  I am looking for a refund to cover the costs of having a professional landscaper fix all the issues at hand.

   

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

  Business response

  01/11/2023

  I have attached the pictures of the work and video of after he had complained of "settling". In any case if there was any issue to be repaired or fixed I wouldn't hesitate in the slightest to fix any issue a customer had. However as you can see in the picture there aren't any issues to be fixed. I cant fix whats not broken. It seems the customer just wants money. We agreed on the location of the box. The customer had seen it both as it was marked and after it was completed. All the caps and blocks are glued with landscape adhesive. The customer is referring to the one of the cap blocks lining up with the block but that has no bearing whatsoever on durability or strength. The caps are simply decoration and give you something better to look at rather than the top of the block. I stand by my work. I went on 3 separate occasions to check on my employee and he did a great job. The customer must have misunderstood when he said he was new. He was a new employee to D & A but had been doing this type of work for quite some time. The customer was referred to me by the neighbor across the street whom I did a retaining wall for 7+ years ago. The proof is there everyday when he leaves his house that We do quality work. It took a bit to return this message as I was out of town and didn't have access to my pictures at the time. It will only let me upload 4 files but I believe I have more If you need. Thank you.**EDIT** It will not let me send pictures or videos. If there is another way of sending them please let me know

  Customer response

  01/12/2023

   
  Complaint: 18655998
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

   

  The business owner has still failed to offer some type of resolution to the many issues at hand. As he stated I did in fact agree to the spray painted outline around the tree, which we both have a photo of and the spray paint is centered around the tree. The stones were not placed where the spray paint was, also the north side of the tree the stones are unlevel due to settling or perhaps initial installation, **** you saw this particular issue and agreed it was unlevel (center is higher than both ends). You can see it with plain eye and of course a level. The only times you ever came out was to drop the employee off or to pick him up.

  Yes my neighbor across the street had work completed by you the owner. I've said it many times that you **** do quality work. You were suppose to install my retaining walls not an inexperienced employee.

   

  I am tired of **** attacking my character and insulting me. I am not looking for a "cash grab" as **** thinks. Through our many texts message and our conversation when you came out to see the issues, I requested that the issues be fixed. You were not willing to take accountability for the issues let alone correct them. Also there is more than one cap that has the seam lined up. This does cause an integrity/stability issue because when seams line up it creates weak points where the stones can rock, which mine do in sections. And the sections rock where the seams are. If they were layed correctly where they overlap by half then everything would be solid. Also there were many stones that came loose and I had to reapply landscaping cement because very little was used. I've also checked the caps and found a few that were never cemented. Also if your employee was "experienced" why would he use my mulch that I purchased as a filler when he ran out of top soil. You even told me you would come out and backfill along the retaining wall with top soil and you never came back out. 

   

  Due to your lack of accountability and your lack if respect for me I am now requesting enough funds to have the landscaping corrected by another landscaping company. 

   

  Please BBB help us come to a resolution.  If needed ***, an ex-employee,  of D and A Landscaping is willing to testify as to his experience with how things were done when he worked for *********

   

  I am also requesting a copy of D and A Landscapings business license and insurance proving he was license insured/bonded on the date of my installation. Also note he never called for the grounds to be marked for underground utilities before having his employee dig.

   

  I am requesting these seeing as it is required for contractors within the ********************** and I will need these for my records if there is no resolution if I decide to take this to civil court.

   

  Thank you

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

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