ComplaintsforThe Grounds Guys of Ellwood City

• Initial Complaint

  06/16/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Made plans with Ground Guys early Aprol to do some grading at my property and accepted their quote but sincr have been getting the run around. In the beginning I was told that it was a small job and that they could come out as soon as there are 2-3 dry days in a row but each time I would check to see if I was on their schedule I would get an excuse by phone but never email. On one occasion the owner pretended to think I was a telemarketer to be unprofessional and discourage me from followup up with business. I contacted their corporate people to find out more as it was then past 45 days which resulted in the local franchise owner calling and saying he would come out the next week and make everything better llus remarked that he was surprised I still,wanted the work done and if he was the customer he would have found someone else. He scheduled the job for June 9th and said the project manager and him would call in the morning Wednesday. Wednesday he call himself and said he changed his mind on doing the job and simply wouldnt do it. I explained that I couldnt make him do work he didnt want to do and follow up. He said that businesses have protection from harassment and could do what he wanted as 'owner'. Clearly he was upset that I followed up with corporate and was unprofessional. His wife/secretary tried to say that they were waiting on my check to be received but clearly not the case despite their follow up with corporate cause they have returned it. I chose to use a local business with corporate backing and an A+ Bbb rating to support local but protect myself but much of my time has been wasted by shady creeps, not professional business owners.

  Business response

  08/23/2022

  We met with ***** once, While in the process of quoting we were harassed aggressively, while we were in the process of scheduling we were harassed aggressively, sometimes he called us 3 times in the row back to back to back while were on the phone with other customers. After evaluating the behavior of this consumer and potential threats to our organization we decided to part ways with this consumer. We mailed his deposit check back without depositing it, decided not to sign a contract and let him know we do not wish to do business with him. He was never a customer of The Grounds Guys of Ellwood City, therefore this complaint is invalid, Thank you

  Customer response

  08/29/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********* and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  

   

  Thank you for this follow up and continuing to pursue my complaint. I have been meaning to send documentation in support of my complaint and you will now find it attached. 
  
  
  There are four separate attachments to review. The first attachment is the original quote that I received from the Ground Guys on 4/8/22. Most notable in the quote is the guarantee from the company "that either party may terminate the contract, without cause, upon delivery of thirty days written notice of termination to the other party."  Unfortunately, I was given less than 24 hours notice that my job was being terminated. And even then, the termination was not given in writing. I was only provided with verbal notice by phone. 
  
  
  The second attachment is a screenshot of my correspondence with the Ground Guys following up on their quote. I replied to them on 4/8/2022. In it, I express interest to hire their company and move forward on my project. 
  
  
  On 6/6/2022 I sent a follow up email expressing concern that work had not started on my property yet. I had already sent my deposit to the company and was told by their secretary by phone that I would be placed on the schedule. This never happened and I was disappointed by the lack of response and effort by the company to get me on the schedule or even provide me with a rough timeline for the proposed job. 
  
  
  Because of the lack of response from the Ground Guys, I reached out to their corporate office. This is the fourth attachment. The attachment is a direct reply from the Ground Guys of Ellwood City to their corporate office. I was cc'ed on the email. In it, Mr. F******* (Owner, Ground Guys) makes the following statement: We are aware of his reach out to us. We specifically told him that we need signed contract before we would schedule a job. We got it last week. We are working with our project manager and operations manager to schedule the job tentatively for this Thursday and Friday." 
  
  
  Unfortunately, my job was never scheduled and the Ground Guys called me and abruptly canceled their proposal. I feel this was unfairly done. At minimum, the business did not live up to their advertising (Reference Attachment #2 "Company based on customers first, morals, respect, integrity....). I understand that landscaping schedules can be variant based on weather or unplanned issues on job sites but this doesn't seem to be the case here. Rather, it was lack of planning and communication on the part of the Ground Guys to efficiently manage their business and come through on their proposed contract with me. I remain disappointed in this local business. 

   

  
  Regards,
  
  ******* ******

*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. ↩