Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/16/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Giant Landscaping is disorganized, does not itemize its receipts, and lacks integrity with regard to timekeeping. With other companies that offer spring cleaning, we are told ahead of time what day to expect service. This is not the case with Giant. After being told that they were booked for the next five to six weeks, they suddenly called one hour prior to arrival on a Friday morning and arrived shortly thereafter. Fortunately, we both work from home so we were able to accommodate them on such short notice. They started work at 11:45 and finished by 14:30 and they took nearly an hour off for lunch which is something that we both saw. The foreman of the 5-man crew told us that we would be charged for 8-9 man hours at $85 per man hour totaling no more than $765 to which we agreed. We presumed that their time-keeping was recorded somewhere so we expected an itemized bill for no more than this amount. Today, we received a non-itemized email for nearly $1,100. We called the company and spoke to Charlene who told us that the crew did not leave our property at all for lunch but then verified that they did, indeed, leave supposedly for only 20 minutes according to their GPS records. Of course, GPS only proves where a company vehicle is located at a given time and not whether the individual in it is actually working or on a lunch break. However, she proceeded to charge us for the additional 40 minutes for lunch taken by the crew even though lunch should never be included as time worked. We are requesting a billing adjustment accordingly.

  Business Response

  Date: 05/16/2023

  I'll address the clients concerns in multiple parts here:

  Regarding the short notice availability on Friday, this time of year we have several crews mowing lawns so the manpower we have available for clean-up work is substantially reduced.  It was a beautiful week, with no rain, so we were able to get ahead of schedule by the end of the week and we had personnel from the mowing team available to service this client.  It was last minute availability, and the client very well could have declined the service at their discretion if the short notice was a concern for them.  

  Regarding the time keeping error, this was a COMPLETELY INNOCENT mistake that we don't deny.  The office is only as good as the paperwork they receive from the crew.  The crew made a mistake and didn't log their lunch.  This was not intentional.  The crew leader involved was out sick so confirming the situation with him could not happen immediately.  A day later we had that conversation, then immediately reached out to try to further resolve this issue with the client and process an additional refund.  We are awaiting communication back from the client at this point so we can complete this resolution.  We don't have any sort of integrity problems over here nor were we at any point ignoring this concern.  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/16/2023

  Complaint: ********
  
  I do not accept the business's response as a resolution to my complaint because:
  
  According to NH law, it is the responsibility of the employer to maintain complete and accurate time keeping records. Tracking time for work and lunch is taken very seriously since it is the law and employers can be penalized for any violation.
  
  As for our dispute, an employer does not pay for employee’s lunch time - that is their time to take according to state law. As a customer, we will not be paying the entire hour that they took for lunch in which no work was done. We will be paying for hours worked and that comes out to $765 as stated previously - 9 man-hours times $85 an hour.
  
  Please adjust accordingly since your records are incomplete and inaccurate with regards to lunch clock out and clock in.
  

  Business Response

  Date: 05/17/2023

  If you would please contact my office at ###-###-#### and speak to Charlene we will get you the refund, we don’t disagree that we owe you a refund and we have been trying to communicate with you but you don’t call or email back you just respond here.  Once again this was an isolated, innocent error.  I’m not sure what else we can do to make it right if you don’t respond to my office.  Also your comments about HR related law is ludicrous, of course the crew is allowed a break.  This was a simple case of poor note taking by the crew leader and nothing more and we apologize for that.  I’m not sure where you’re going with this.  He wasn’t feeling particularly well that day and was out sick the following day.  We’re all human, simple errors can happen.  Call the office to arrange your refund please.  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/18/2023

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. The business has agreed to accept $765 as payment in full and has credited the difference of $285.60.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** ******