ComplaintsforThe Difference Landscapes

• Initial Complaint

  07/05/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I contacted MADL for a landscaping project, Mike came, assessed work and provided an estimate. I then asked about irrigation, Mike came out, assessed work and provided an estimate. After several communication failures that required me contacting the CEO (they had my deposit), work began. Work was going well and I inquired about stone work, Mike came out, assessed the work and provided an estimate. I say this because I asked about additional work 3 times and 3 times the work was assessed with a written estimate. Part of the job was brush and log removal, but since there was about a two month delay from estimate to start of work, I continued to clear unhealthy trees, but piled separately from the originally assessed work. I asked Mike 3 times inquiring about removing the new brush/logs and he never responded. I then contacted the CEO and Operations Manager about the unanswered emails highlighting the additional work inquiry for the fourth time. The CEO responded stating that Mike would be in contact and the ops manager would come out to the house. Mike never addressed the additional work, so I asked a fifth time; no response. The ops manager came out to the house and was very professional, I showed him the additional piles (6th reference) specifically stating that I was separating them as to not be unethical and sneak work in. He commented that he thought they could do it, but did not commit nor did he quote a price. I text him offering $1000 more to pull the additional material, his response made no reference to the additional work or potential cost. The project was mismanaged from the start as far as staffing, time worked and trucking. I ended up going out and correcting work and helping chip brush and was charged for my own work. In the end, I was sent a bill for $4500 over for work I didn't agree to written in a wildly inaccurate invoice. When I mentioned it to the CEO, he threatened an additional $3,000 in charges if not paid in 30 days. UNETHICAL

  Business response

  07/06/2022

  Hi *****

   

  I appreciate your point of view, but I would have to disagree. We gave you a set price to remove piles of branches/wood and from the time we estimated the job (2 months prior) to the time we went on site to execute the work, it was about 6X bigger than the original pile. Never once did you ask permission to add more debris to the pile or communicate you were doing so. Throughout the job, when the crew left for the day, you would add more debris to the pile without their knowledge and they would come back to a bigger pile each day. It took us 2 extra days to complete all the extra work. We don't mind doing the work, but explained to you it would be an additional charge. 

  To put it in perspective, it's similar to going to a restaurant, ordering a dish, then when the waiter leaves, you add more food to your dish only for them to return to see you took more food without their knowledge. If you are going to do that, you need to expect to be charged an additional fee. Hope this puts this into perspective as we billed you fairly for all the additional work you added to the job site after the crew had left for the day. 

  Best,
  
  Greg

  Customer response

  07/06/2022

  
  Complaint: 17511319
  
  I do not accept the business's response as a resolution to my complaint because:

  Greg,

  As mentioned numerous times in previous emails, I was upfront about everything and at no time did I try and hide my actions.  You made reference to "the pile" growing 6x the size it was when the work was estimated.  This is completely inaccurate on numerous levels and further highlights the following:

  1. You are lying on the BBB website acting as if you and MADL had no knowledge of my request; it's in the emails that you responded to and are attached to this complaint.

  2. There was never one pile the way you speak of and nothing grew 6x before work began.  The original estimate was based on 9 piles of brush and logs throughout the backyard that I have pictures of, so "the pile" didn't exist and therefore couldn't grow 6x by the time work started. Another false statement by you.
  

  3. I did not do additional work in the back until AFTER your team started in the front. I specifically told Ryan, Jason, Mike and Scott verbally about the additional work and pointed it out to them.  I also have my three emails to Mike and one to you and Scott specifying that additional work was done and all piled separately from the originally estimated work. All emails requested an estimate, but no one ever provided one.
  

  4. The result of me forwarding my 20 June email to Mike, which he ignored, to you and Scott was you emailing me and telling me Scott would come out to the house to assess the current status of the project, which he did.  Point being, you claim you have been busy, yet Mike was at the house numerous times and Scott specifically came out to assess the project but no one drafted an estimate for the work I asked about six times.

  5. You violated your own contract language by changing the scope of work without having a written and signed agreement by both parties and in turn are trying to hold me financially responsible for your failures in management.
  

  In all of this back and forth, you still do not address any of the other faults of your company.  The fact that I had to rebuild the drain area twice because both attempts by your staff were incorrect, yet your charge to me was the same.  Your staff destroyed three sprinkler heads and cut two water lines to my irrigation system.  I recognize that this happens with this type of work, but it is your responsibility to correct what you damage, but you do not even accept responsibility and charge me the same.  You also charge me the same price for two guys chipping brush, yet one of your guys left early and I was working with Jason myself for eight hours just to make progress, but you choose to try and charge me for work that I did myself.

  On top of all of this, when Scott, your number 2 came to my house at your request, he specifically told me and took responsibility for a truck scheduling error that is MADL's fault, which delayed progress in the front yard, but resulted in MADL owing me an additional two days of work in the backyard.  He stated this to me and to Jason that MADL was responsible for a delay and owed me two days of work.  Scott acknowledged this delay on Wed the 22nd of June, yet you are not honoring what he stated as owed work and in turn trying to double charge me for two days that were owed to me.  Lastly, you claim that my additional work took two additional days to remove, that is 100% inaccurate as the separate pile of logs was not touched until all of the original brush and logs were removed.  I made it abundantly clear to Jason that the extra work was not a priority over the original, so it was removed last and was completed in one day, not two.

  Your management and documentation of this project is atrocious and wildly inaccurate, all of which I can document with facts and you cannot.  Therefore, as stated in emails and USPS documentation, I sent you my FINAL payment of $5,550.00 for the work that was contracted and agreed upon by both parties with a signature.  I deducted my efforts while chipping using your cost of $75 per hour ($600) and I deducted $500 for the damage to my irrigation system that I now have to fix.  With that said, I did add the $1,000.00 that I told Scott I would add via text for the additional work that no one ever provided an estimate for.  I recognize that additional work was done and I never tried for or expected free work, but since no one at MADL provided an estimate for the additional work, the way you did with three other estimates during this project, I offered an amount of $1,000.00 and then the work was done, so that is all you will receive from me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** ********

  Business response

  07/07/2022

  Hi ******,

  This is going to be my last response to this issue as I do not feel we're making any headway. After the job was done, the crew had you sign a sheet where you stated the job was done to your satisfaction. The issue here is the billing for the extra trucking for the extra brush/logs you accumulated that the crew had to spend extra time to remove. The main concern is, if you didn't get any response from us in regards to a price for you to pile on extra brush, after we had given you a fixed price, why would you continue to proceed without permission to do so? We are incredibly busy and it takes us 7-9 days to provide a quote. If we didn't respond, then I'm confused why you took the liberty to add to the pile and create extra work for us without getting a price first. Like I said before, this issue would not exist had you not added extra brush to the piles. I'm willing to give you $500 to settle this matter, but I will not be responding after this message. 

   

  Thank you,

  
  Greg

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