ComplaintsforErie Bros. Maintenance & Landscaping, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  06/19/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Erie **** Landscaping threatened to *** me if I post anything negative after refusing to give me a refund after 1 month and no work performed and a no call no show with no start date all while bragging about his great 5 star reviews. Here is my review they say they will *** me for. I am even posting their proposal they are saying is a "legal contract". I contacted **** 38 days ago. 25 days ago the check I gave cleared at the bank. This proposal did not include a new fence. I never heard anything about a start date. 2 weeks ago I text his son multiple times because I'm in limbo and no word. I need a schedule. He then assures me they can start sometime last week resukting in a no call no show. I sent them the attached text respectfully requesting a refund.His some ***** calls me. Defensive. No accountability. Harped on the fence which has nothing to do with this proposal. Claimed I changed my mind on the fence twice but they didn't listen to what fence I wanted and gave me the WRONG fence proposal. Proceeded to tell me how things will work and I will take it or leave it conduct and said they would show up on a new date. I ask if they don't show up will he give me a refund. He says no. They don't give refunds and I will work on THEIR terms and lectures me on how the business works. Bragged about their ****** reviews and how great they are. Tells me I'm only mad because I expecting things done sooner (except they no called no showed and never prior to this even scheduled anything but my money was good to take) Then says take it of leave it and the guy HANGS UP ON ME. His dad **** shows up at my house at 1pm yesterday but I wasn't there. My friend was. Today I speak to **** and still refuses a refund and proceeds to gaslight me. Claims he came by yesterday and couldn't get any of their equipment in (there was no equip there and no materials with him) and because I didn't clean up my yard so they can start....on Friday at 1pm AFTER this goes down blamed me and said and I quote "I cancelled the job for the day because you didn't clear the area for us" so now we have to reschedule to Monday because YOU DIDN'T CLEAN UP YOUR YARD AND WE COULDN'T GET IN." I have pictures. There was nothing for me to move. Just 3 kayaks non interfering with the work. I asked him to specify what i didnt clear from my yard for them and he couldn't name 1 single thing. They have access from pseg, my front lawn and since I wasn't home could have placed a dumpster. He also showed up unannounced. They can even access from my other side of yard. Multiple access points unobstructed. I had already started the work and removed the fence myself but I got injured and was in *********** for a month which is why I hired them and part of the "proposal" was for HIM to dispose of the fence and it's associated components. He proceeds to tell me I can bring him to small claims court and if I put a bad review about him on social media he will *** me for defamation. They have not started any work. Have attempted to gaslight me with lies. I'm not even sure if they are a licensed ***** now. Have threatened me and I gave a $3116 deposit where there are no long lead order items. No dates set. When I pushed for one they never showed. I want a full refund. They did not order materials and admitted that to me. My belief is that took my money to pay for other jobs and string me along for as long as they wanted to.

  Customer response

  07/17/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  At this time, I have not been contacted by **** Bros. Maintenance & Landscaping, Inc. regarding complaint ID ********. Last Correapondance was on June 17th, 2022....in which **** the owner on the phone with myself and ************************* said he was not giving me a refund and told me I can take him to small claims court and then threatened that if I dared to make any negative complaint in social media he would *** me for defamation. To be clear....they have NEVER initiated any work. No work done, no materials ordered, no out of pocket expenses. They just had several no shows, refused to commit after giving them the $3,114 deposit and after the no call no show and several chances refused to refund me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************************
  

  Business response

  08/10/2023

  These claims being made are false. This woman is changing the actual story and making false twists about timeframes and lying, painting a picture that makes our company out to be a fraud which we are not.
  
  ************************* and her fake alias(*************************) and others alias on multiple platforms posted pictures of her decrepit backyard full of construction debris, an old taken down fence just left there, garbage, old blacktop area etc. She has painted the picture that we made her property look that way but it had from the beginning as we had not been there yet to perform services. ****/**** hired our company to  provide those services such as spread dirt already left there and add more fill and topsoil. Supply and install originally a regular stockade fence, then she later changed the fence type and we had to request new pricing on it 3 weeks after we me with her originally. She also contracted us to fix her patio edges which she had a problem with her last contractor about as it was not properly installed. Please note our contract with her had no specific time frame in which the work had to be done by. She agreed and acknowledged this and had no problem writing us a check at her home with witnesses. She claimed we took advantage of her on while she was high on opioids while in the hospital. That was false.
  
  She has also lied about the us stealing her money, we do not steal our clients money. Their is a reason she has not been able to get her money back and it is that on Friday June 16th at roughly 9:45 am we had a conversation about when we would be there to complete the job and we were explaining all of this to her, she was rude and explaining to us how she knows how to do everything herself and didnt want me explaining our process and didn't like how we said we would be there Monday to get a large portion completed instead of just issuing a refund if her money back. Prior to that day(Friday) of our discussion on Thursday she posted on ******** what are the chances of me getting my money back from my landscaper. That weekend our company began to receive hate speech and defamatory slanderous claims put all over ********, instagram, ****** and birdseye about how we didntget her job done fast enough. However if she would have waited 2 days and not posted those defaming statements which now have taken a toll on our reputation and will be litigated and just let us complete the job we could have avoided all of this nonsense. 
  
  The reality of this is such that she received feedback comments on her fishing post saying about getting her refund which read you are paying too much or you can get it done cheaper and that enabled her to try and get her money back from us and we were not going to do that. We wanted to complete the job and have another happy client. Our communication has been stellar with her and any messages or questions have been answered. 
  
  There was never any reason for this to go down this road. Please review all of the posts and we can gladly explain the pictures if you are not clear on what they pertain to. 
  
   I have about 50 pictures of evidence to prove everything we are saying.
  We look forward to hearing from you,
  **** bros
  

  
  

  Customer response

  08/22/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  Here is my response to **** Brothers Landscaping. I will be addressing each of their points and attaching supporting documentation. I will also be supplying messages from the owner *************************** wife who has been messaging moderators from ******** and engaging in ACTUAL defamation. Defamation my ex husband has to address and my son saw who was a witness at the tike **** Brothers was at my house. Also my friend ************************* who met with **** Brothers was also present. As a matter of fact it was ***** who met with them the first time after my initial phone call in which they also promised HIM a 2 week start. That was weeks before they promised another 2 week start and then after promising another start the following week and not showing up is what prompted me to ask for a refund. I asked for a refund before going to social media. I only went to social media because ******************* threatened me that if I did he would sue ******************** CLAIMS BEING MADE ARE FALSE. THIS WOMAN IS CHANGING THE ACTUAL STORY AND MAKING FALSE TWISTS ABOUT TIMEFRAMES AND LYING, PAINTING A PICTURE THAT MAKES OUR COMPANY OUT TO BE A FRAUD WHICH WE ARE NOT. I have changed no such story. My story has always been consistently the same. I will attach texts and a phone bill of our initial correspondence as well as the check that has cleared by the bank directly from ********** for verification. 
  
  2)************************* AND HER FAKE ALIAS(*************************) AND OTHERS ALIAS ON MULTIPLE PLATFORMS POSTED PICTURES OF HER DECREPIT BACKYARD FULL OF CONSTRUCTION DEBRIS, AN OLD TAKEN DOWN ***** JUST LEFT THERE, GARBAGE, OLD BLACKTOP AREA ETC SHE HAS PAINTED THE PICTURE THAT WE MADE HER PROPERTY LOOK THAT WAY BUT IT HAD FROM THE BEGINNING AS WE HAD NOT BEEN THERE YET TOPERFORM SERVICES. My full name is **************************************. There is no alias. Interestingly the attached proposal is made out to what he calls my fake alias. Either way my name is on the check they cashed. Hes creating drama in this to discredit me. He is also further trying to discredit me bay making ***** insults on my backyard describing it as decrepit. I need to point out the obvious here, that this decrepit yard and old fence taken down is one of the line items first which I hired him. In his own proposal (not a legal contract) it calls out for their removal of the old fence and debris. Also I have a text noting the old blacktop. Also I NEVER painted a picture that they made my property look like that. I ALWAYS consistently maintained they never initiated work. I would like to thank **** Brothers for supplying 50 photos of the existing conditions I for which I hired them to perform to un-decrepitize my yard. I woukd also like to thank them for admitting they did not perform any work. See attachments for proposal and description of work. I would also like to note that no dumpster or equipment has ever been scheduled to be brought to the house and the fence debris wouldnt magically put itself there anyway.
  
  3)****/**** HIRED OUR COMPANY TO PROVIDE THOSE SERVICES SUCH AS SPREAD DIRT ALREADY LEFT THERE AND ADD MORE FILL AND TOPSOIL.SUPPLY AND INSTALL ORIGINALLY A REGULAR STOCKADE *****, THEN SHE LATER CHANGED THE ***** TYPE AND WE HAD TO REQUEST NEW PRICING ON IT 3 WEEKS AFTER WE ME WITH HER ORIGINALLY. SHE ALSO CONTRACTED US TO FIX HER PATIO EDGES WHICH SHE HAD A PROBLEM WITH HER LAST CONTRACTOR ABOUT AS IT WAS NOT PROPERLY INSTALLED. PLEASE NOTE OUR CONTRACT WITH HER HAD NO SPECIFIC TIME FRAME IN WHICH THE WORK HAD TO BE DONE BY. SHE AGREED AND ACKNOWLEDGED THIS AND HAD NO PROBLEM WRITING US A CHECK AT HER HOME WITH WITNESSES. See texts correspondence where I received a fence estimate and IMMEDIATELY,  not 3 weeks later called the son ***** out on it not being the fence I discussed with his father ****. IMMEDIATELY. Then I proceeded to provide him with examples I DID ask for when he met with me the day I gave him the deposit. I not once accepted the gothic fence he quoted for. On the phone later he blamed his father **** for the miscommunication and apologized.  Please note that the pending fence estimate had nothing to do with the work I gave a deposit on. See proposal where it literally states that. Also they kept telling me they couldnt get an estimate for the fence I requested and blamed the suppliers. After I ended up firing **** Brothers I was magically able to get an estimate for fencing in a day and was able to have that fence delivered next day delivery. Ultimately my ex husband, kids and friend ************************* put up the new fence. It is my belief they delayed the estimate intentionally to delay work till Fall or later. Maybe even next spring and trap me with the deposit. Also how doesnt even make sense that someone would agree to no time frame. It contrasts with the text messages as well.
  4)SHE CLAIMED WE TOOK ADVANTAGE OF HER ON WHILE SHE WAS HIGH ON OPIOIDS WHILE IN THE HOSPITAL. THAT WAS FALSE. This is bizarre. I agree I wasnt taken advantage on opiods. 
  
  5)SHE HAS ALSO LIED ABOUT THE US STEALING HER MONEY, WE DO NOT STEAL OUR CLIENTS MONEY. THEIR IS A REASON SHE HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO GET HER MONEY BACK AND IT IS THAT ON FRIDAY JUNE 16TH AT ROUGHLY 9:45 AM WE HAD A CONVERSATION ABOUT WHEN WE WOULD BE THERE TO COMPLETE THE *** AND WE WERE EXPLAINING ALL OF THIS TO HER, taking a deposit after several no shows and promises to start work after an extended period of time and being held in limbo..then when I request the money back because of the lack of commitment to refuse outright, get nasty with me, hang up the phone on me (*****)is stealing. Then for his father right after to come over the house unannounced in a panic and approach my friend **** at his car that he never met ranting to which my friend had to close the window and lock the door is inappropriate and crazy. **** can give a statement if requested. This altercation came after the texts requesting my  money back and after having a phone call with ***** where he basically told me to go F myself, gave me a take it or leave it response I put in my initial complaint and hung up on me. 
  
  6) SHE WAS RUDE AND EXPLAINING TO US HOW SHE KNOWS HOW TO DO EVERYTHING HERSELF AND DIDN'T WANT ME EXPLAINING OUR PROCESS AND DIDN'T LIKE HOW WE SAID WE WOULD BE THERE MONDAY TO GET A LARGE PORTION COMPLETED INSTEAD OF JUST ISSUING A REFUND IF HER MONEY BACK. PRIOR TO THAT DAY(FRIDAY) OF OUR DISCUSSION ON THURSDAY SHE POSTED ON ******** "WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF ME GETTING MY MONEY BACK FROM MY LANDSCAPER".  There is a bit to unpack here. 
  
  First, again see the texts. This part where **** Brothers is disparaging me is nothing more than an attempt to discredit me. To say I was rude and explaining how I know how to do everything myself and explain the processthey know Im an Architectural Designer. They also know that the reason my yard was in the decrepit state it was in is because I actually was doing the work MYSELF until my legs got crushed under an excavator and I spent about a month in *********** Hospital and a Nursing home. This statement blows my mind and isnt consistent with facts like most of what they say. Im not sure why they would even go here expect perhaps they are misogynistic and dont like a female who understands construction. Also they know I called them from the hospital bed. They knew all about why I hired them in THE FIRST PLACE. 
  
  Second, its not that I didnt like that they said theyd be there Monday to get a large portion of the work done. Its that they were supposed to be there the Monday before, then before that too. Constantly moving start dates and promises. They were nasty, they hung up on me, they broke trust with threats and broken promises and guess whatthey didnt show up that following Monday  either. I also asked for a refund prior to that already. I asked for a refund after hey didnt show up AGAIN and they moved the goal pole. Its not that I didnt like their new location of the goal pole, its that **** Brothers didnt like that I requested a refund and so they refused. 
  
  
  7) THAT WEEKEND OUR COMPANY BEGAN TO RECEIVE HATE SPEECH AND DEFAMATORY SLANDEROUS CLAIMS PUT ALL OVER ********, INSTAGRAM, ****** AND BIRDSEYE ABOUT HOW WE DIDN'TGET HER *** DONE FAST ENOUGH. HOWEVER ***** WOULD HAVE WAITED 2 DAYS AND NOT POSTED THOSE DEFAMING STATEMENTS WHICH NOW HAVE TAKEN A TOLL ON OUR REPUTATION AND WILL BE LITIGATED AND JUST LET US COMPLETE THE *** WE COULD HAVE AVOIDED ALL OF THIS NONSENSE. There was no ******** conversation prior to this. I have my facts. They can show theres. I only posted my story because ******************* threatened me. As a matter of fact I never even brought up social media. They brought it up. They took the first step in threatening me. Wrong move. As far as slanderous comments. Hate speech, and their claim through here and slanderous remarks his wife made towards **** am white and also *****. Im over 80% ***** actually. This is what happened when you threaten another ********. Truth is not defamation. Truth is the truth. By withholding my deposit, you have brought this on yourselves **** Brothers. You shouldnt have been condescending. You should have honored your multiple start dates you promised me. You shouldnt lie which tgia response Im confident debunked their lies. 
  
  Moreover, since this response I was contacted by moderators of a ******** page where the owner ******** ****** wife ******* has engaged in TRUE defamation. One can argue their response here is defamation since I can clearly debunk much of this  ******* has claimed I made racial slurs toward my fellow *****. Claims Im engaging in hate speech. Also stated  to a moderator that I have a vast history if Cyber Bullying both individuals and I situations. Even claims that I have cyber bullied my ex husband. She doesnt even know me which makes this crazy unless shes defaming and stalking. When I posted images of texts to her posts she blocked me. 
  
  Below I will add my ex husbands response to her claims which I hope you read. I will attach his image as well:
  
  From the childrens father who was supposedly cyber bulliedI call BS on this obviously misinformed post. If there is false or slanderous information, it is in your response, nowhere else. 
  
  Presenting a bad review or a fact pattern that someone doesn't like (especially when it is true and looks bad for a particular company) is NOT "cyber bullying". The critical facts are clear here: money was taken for a deposit, but NO WORK, NO SERVICE, and NO MATERIALS were provided. None. Despite several promises of start dates that all passed with NO WORK, NO SERVICE, and NO MATERIALS. 
  
  Calling attention to a local company that engaged in outrageous conduct is far from an embarrassment to ******** Patriots.  If anyone should be embarrassed, it is **** Bros. Again, it is not in dispute that they took a deposit of thousands of dollars, became unresponsive (clearly shown), made multiple promises to start then didnt show up, and only became eager when a refund was requested 6 weeks later. No work done, nothing supplied, nothing. Then making disparaging remarks about the property when the things they cite WERE WHAT THEY WERE BEING HIRED FOR! 
  
  To say that **** Brothers has handled this in an appropriate way is either misinformation or a deliberate lie. If a company takes a deposit for work and then never comes to do it, how could any reasonable person expect anything but a refund? No one would be OK with giving someone money for a service that never comes. And taking money for a service then not providing said service is what? Fraud? Theft? 
  
  Your baseless attempts at justifying it are just sad. Further, the audacity to claim someone is cyber bullying others when that is EXACTLY what you are trying to do is shameful. 
  
  ******** Patriots should not be embarrassed. Neither should **** ****, or any of the dozens of people that see what happened for what it is and expressed their support. The only ones that should be embarrassed is **** Brothers. Any poor reviews that they EARN can only be blamed on themselves. 
  
  If they want to handle the matter appropriately, thats pretty simple. Refund the money they took without providing any service or materials. Period.
  
  
  8)THE REALITY OF THIS IS SUCH THAT SHE RECEIVED FEEDBACK COMMENTS ON HER FISHING POST SAYING ABOUT GETTING HER REFUND WHICH READ "YOU ARE PAYING TOO MUCH" OR "YOU CAN GET IT DONE CHEAPER" AND THAT ENABLED HER TO TRY AND GET HER MONEY BACK FROM US AND WE WERE NOT GOING TO DO THAT. WE WANTED TO COMPLETE THE *** AND HAVE ANOTHER HAPPY CLIENT. OUR COMMUNICATION HAS BEEN STELLAR WITH HER AND ANY MESSAGES OR QUESTIONS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED THERE WAS NEVER ANY REASON FOR THIS TO GO DOWN THIS ROAD. PLEASE REVIEW ALL OF THE POSTS AND WE CAN GLADLY EXPLAIN THE PICTURES IF YOU ARE NOT CLEAR ON WHAT THEY PERTAIN TO. I HAVE ABOUT 50 PICTURES OF EVIDENCE TO PROVE EVERYTHING WE ARE SAYING. The reality is that **** Brothers took advantage of me and still feels entitled to keep money they didnt earn. I woukd like then to present my fishing post. I want to see it dated and compared to texts. If **** Brothers communication was stellar then why do the texts tell a different reality? Its been over 12 weeks. I had to hire another contractor to do the work because I have a pool and because of the safety for my kids. Yes **************************there was no reason to go down this road, threaten me, not give me my refund when I asked after failed start dates. All the 50 pictures just mirrors and supports my story. Thank you for taking pictures of existing conditions for work you were hired to do. Smh. As far as posts I am well within my right to post a negative review with a company especially one who is still stealing my money and who threatened me in from of ************************************* who was also on the phone call. As far as the hate speech. Malarkey. Im *****. I even told you I had family there and went to a family 3 day wedding and been there many times. You are no victims. Anything to steal money from clients. To not give back your money someone else worked for.  Its so ridiculous and I hope the BBB takes this seriously. I work in commercial construction in *** and there was no contract. At the end of the day no work was done by their own admission. ANY bad reviews that hurt your business is because of your felonious behavior since the sum of money constitutes a grand larceny. BBB please take this very seriously. With all the mom and pop contractors we need to protect the good while weeding out the bad. 
  
  I apologize for duplicate images as they are pdfd from my phone. I also included conversations with my from **** to show his intent for being at the house when **** confronted him. ************************* used that text she got from my FB page to distort the image of it and intent. She has distorted so much to project be as a cyber bully against a plethora if entities. Scoured through my FB account for many many hours it seems. ****** picking while stalking my account and defaming me with intent to create an image of me that is false. Defamation is the action of damaging the good reputation of someone; slander or libel. Its not a bad review to protect my community and myself. What ******* did by defamation is defamation however. What **** Brothers wrote which directly conflicts with facts is in fact defamation. The only one defaming anyone is then to me. Im merely trying to regain monetary losses due to their unethical business practices and now to sick the wife on me to slander me and attack my character is ******** defamation. I belief without any doubts you will find my account truthful. **** Brothers should be ashamed of themselves. As far as ********************** sounds like SHES the one with too much time on her hands. 
  

  
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