ComplaintsforB&E Sod And Landscaping

• Initial Complaint

  10/29/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I hired B&E Sod and Landscaping to (1) Bring an irrigation system of unknown status to working order and find and/or place heads in the back yard as needed for $1350; and (2) prepare the ground and place sod in the back yard for $1700. He has received full payment - $3050 from us to date. It has cost me more than that to fix the problems he caused. On 6/13 the contractor's employee accidentally severed the neighbor's irrigation system, shut off the neighbor's water system, left the pipe severed, and then left the property without telling anyone. This caused extreme distress with the neighbor. ***** ****** indicated he would send someone out to fix it. On 6/27 the ground was prepped and sod was placed. The same day I alerted ***** that the neighbor noticed a substantial amount of water pooling in his driveway, still coming from the irrigation system. On 7/5 the system was still leaking on the side of the house and the system was not working properly. Problems included the leak, a head that was placed too high, and a faulty electrical wire to the control panel. On 7/20 the leak problem was still not fixed, the sod was completely dead from lack of water, and there was standing water pooling in the neighbor's driveway. I contacted ***** for resolution. On 8/25 the problem was still not fixed, and arrangements were made for someone to fix it, but nobody came. On 9/24 the problem persisted, water was also now pooling around the corner at the front of the house, and a delivery person slipped and fell in the water. ***** again told us someone was coming to fix it. On 10/23 the problem remained, we had to refund our tenants $100 in rent for their increased water bill, and there was an ant problem in the house where the leak was outside. I demanded a fix and immediate communication, and ***** failed to respond in any way.

  Business response

  03/13/2023

  Business Response /* (1000, 10, 2022/12/08) */ I, ***** ******, was hired to bring a old irrigation system up to operational order. Which my licensed irrgation sub contractor did. After we fixed the system and added more heads for the back yard area a leak occurred in the front yard area. We also found a leak in a copper pipe which was not included in the original bid that I paid $500 out of pocket to fix for ****. I also paid $500 for 3 additional trips back to the property to fix the leak. The leak kept occurring on us due to the irrigation system being old and outdated. The home owner stated how they did not want to pay for a new system just to fix the old one. After my 3 trips back to the property the leak appeared again and I got threatened by the home owner and the home owners husband that they were going to sue me unless I refund them over $4,000 for the project by a specific date. We did not cause any damage to the property. There was standing water in the neighbors drive before we even started. I communicated and paid over $1,000 out of my pocket to try and be a good contractor and get it fixed for them. Then they stated they are getting another contractor and that I will be hearing from them. Again, the only thing wrong is a small leak. Could be the same leak could be a different leak now, there's no telling because of how old the system. I believe that i tried everything I could in a timely manner to get that one leak fixed for them. They seemed to be impatient and wanted to bully a small business owner into paying them money and getting all the irrigation work and grading and sod work(which was completed professionally by my crew) for free by making threats and sending emails and voicemails. Again the home owner did not want to spend the money to re do the job correctly because it is a rental house for them. I, ***** ******, stand by my work and my subcontractors work. I tried to be professional and communicate and find a solution to the problem. At the end of the day they are wanting all the work done for free because of a leak that they would not let me try and make right. They are trying to bully me and it's not right for them to do so. Consumer Response /* (3000, 12, 2022/12/09) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Wow - I have never threatened ***** ******. I asked him very patiently to fix a problem he created and I'm attaching my text messages to prove it. I gave him four, then five, then six months. He went 30 days at a time without responding. After 6 months I told him I needed to make a claim on his insurance. No response. Then I asked for my money back and he went silent - until this response. He was hired to bring an old system back into working order and create a new system out back for sod, which we also hired him to lay. He was given ample opportunity to inspect the system before he bid it. He never even bid a replacement system for us after inspecting it, and this is the first time I've heard him say we should have done something different. So his claim now that it should have been a whole new system is a really convenient story. The point is, he just disappeared - with my money and no working sprinkler system. It never worked. The sod he planted died because it never got water and he didn't even know it. I even tried sending pictures and asking him if he could still fix it and save the grass. It's not trying to get something for free when you paid for it. What happened is that we still didn't have a working system after 6 months and I had to hire someone else to stop the water bills and foundation problems and running water in the yard. I gave him a last chance. And a second last chance. He just didn't respond. I sent a text message, an email, and a facebook message. But he just blew me off. He already had my money. He claims there was standing water before he started. That was from RAIN. The actual irrigation leak was not just a drip - it was moving, running water going over the ground, coming out of a pipe. I sent him videos, so he knows that. He knows it was not there before he worked on the system. Finally, that $500 he spent (from our thousands) to fix the copper pipe - that wasn't just a new leak or new series of leaks from pressurizing the system. He didn't "pay for it out of his own pocket" from the kindness of his own heart. His irrigation subcontractor cut that pipe! My neighbor's pipes! His guy cut the wrong line, didn't tell anyone, and left the water main off. Just left for the day and didn't come back. My neighbor called the cops and called his insurance agent to file a homeowner's claim. ***** ****** says he paid someone else to fix it. But it didn't get fixed, so how ever much he paid really doesn't matter to me. That's a lot less than the thousands I paid, and I didn't have a sprinkler system - or even any living grass - to show for it. He says he tried to be professional, communicate and find a solution. Well the solution is to do the job you agreed to do after you took someone's money. There is absolutely nothing about our interaction that shows an attempt on his part to communicate. I had to reach out every time. You can't ignore someone for a month when they have an active leak and call it "professionalism." I gave him plenty of chances to "make it right." See for yourself in the text messages attached. Business Response /* (4000, 14, 2022/12/12) */ Hello, what the text messages don't show are the multiple phone calls that occurred between the dates. The irrigation system was in fact working correctly before I received full payment from ****. The problem leak occurred after we finished the job and collected payment. I sent multiple people out to the job site to address the leak that are all licensed professionals and the leak still occurred after they left. I communicated through text messages and phone calls. I attached photos from a email from **** below that gives me a specific date to pay her $4500. She is trying to scare me into paying her more than the full amount of the job back. And gave me a specific date to do it by. In the job itself the majority of the sod portion was grading work which is not damaged. The sod can not be proven dead, we are in dormant season and will be perfectly fine come spring time. The only true problem is one leak. Not anywhere near $4500 worth of refunds. That's why I stopped responding after I received the email. She stated that she was going to hire another contractor to fix the leak. I would enjoy to see the invoice from that company.

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