ComplaintsforSeasons Garden Design LLC

• Initial Complaint

  12/02/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On July 20, 2021 ******* N**** visited our home for a landscaping consultation. From our perspective, she focused on talking about herself and her travels. Her assessment of our property was casual and she shared scant practical information that day. She left us with the impression that she would soon follow up with something of substance. Ms. N**** has never presented an invoice, nor has she provided a receipt for the $350 check we wrote that day. After almost six weeks of waiting, we wrote to Ms. N****. On Aug. 31st she replied, apologizing for her absence and promising action. We waited. On October 11th we wrote again and asked "*******, would you please specify what we should receive in exchange for the July 20th $350 payment? I'm trying to get my head wrapped around this and any future transactions. Thanks for your help with that." On Nov. 8th we wrote again, "We are checking in again to be sure we are on your radar. Are you able to respond to the email I sent on October 11th?" By Nov. 17th we assumed that Ms. N**** would not respond to any emails. We left her a voicemail reiterating our serious concerns. Twenty minutes later she sent an email citing various excuses including emotional issues and lack of focus; concluding that she owed us nothing beyond what she provided on July 20th. Our issue is with Ms. N****'s poor business practices, lack of transparency, and unresponsiveness. Please review the attached email exchanges as examples. Thank you for helping to facilitate a resolution.

  Business response

  12/02/2021

  During the consultation with ****** and *****, I responded to questions as we walked around their property, focusing primarily on the back, at their request. They have issues with a slope and we discussed possible solutions to that as well as a way to connect and outbuilding and traverse the side slope to the front of the house. I explained solutions relative to degree of difficulty, impact on slope, and level of expense. They told me they liked the idea of constructing a deck versus terracing the entire slope because there would be less impact on the slope. We talked about using stone as a meandering steps alongside the house which they wrote in an email that they had implemented.  So for them to imply they received no value for their consultation fee is erroneous. As far as the charge that I ‘talked about myself and my travels’, I can say that it is important for a design consultant to establish rapport with a client by conveying something of themself as is also expected of a client. It is a way to get to know one another to determine whether to move forward in a working relationship and how to best approach a project should one be proposed.
  I make no explicit guarantee on my website that a consultation will lead to working together further, however I did say that I would send a proposal for their project. I have explained to them why I did not and they do not understand. I regret that I have not been able to follow up with this project. I have had emotional issues due to the loss of my husband last year, issues dealing with my property & preparations to relocate, as well as care facility difficulties and moving my 95 year old mother. It has simply been overwhelming so I cannot take on a new project. I’m sorry for disappointing their expectations and only because of that will refund $175 of the $325 fee I collected at the consultation. I reserve the right to keep at least my hourly fee of $150 as compensation for the ideas conveyed and time spent with them. A registered letter with a check for $175 will be sent to the clients. If said check is cashed, I will assume that this matter is fully settled and they will make no further claims against me nor in any way publicly impugn my name or business.

  ******* ******* N****, FAPLD, NCIDQ

  Customer response

  12/05/2021

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: Ms. N**** does not respond her the core of our complaint.

  * Poor business practice: Ms. N**** provided us no invoice, no receipt, nor any deliverable to document her service.

  * Extremely poor communication: Ms. N**** took our money in July and ignored our emails until making empty promises August 31st. She ignored our Oct 11th and Nov 8th email entreaties; yet when we finally left her a serious voicemail message Nov. 17th, twenty minutes later Ms. N**** sent an email making excuses for herself. In her response to our BBB complaint, ******* did not address this key issue of communication and has yet to hold herself accountable.

  * She says she will refund "$175 of the $325 fee" she collected at the consultation. ******* N**** actually collected $350 on July 20, 2021. And as for her promise to send a registered letter with a check - why should we believe her now?

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** *****

  Business response

  12/10/2021

  Ms. ***** gave me a check, which for every other client I have had in 20 years has been their ‘receipt’ once it has gone through their bank. For those clients that requested a receipt at the time of payment, which Ms. ***** did not, I have emailed a receipt. In the email exchange between the client prior to their complaint, they told me they had paid $325, which I thought was odd because my regular fee is $350. I took them at their word instead of looking it up. My apologies.
  
  
  I have already explained in separate emails to the client why I did not respond: dealing with my 95-year-old 
  mother’s residence & legal issues, finding a new place for her to live, packing and moving her, dealing with financial and property issues surrounding the death of my husband and moving myself, as well as trying to keep up with other existing client projects in a year where pandemic, supply, and demand has put my industry into overload, in addition to an overload of emails which has meant missing some of them. I attempted to try to keep up and just could not. 
  
  Again, there was no guarantee implicit in my offer to write a Letter of Agreement for further work and the money collected for my consultation time was strictly for that, as is advertised on my website. They paid me for the visit. I explained, at their request at the end of the consult what my process is, including that I would need to write an agreement, which they would sign prior to beginning any described work. I drove an hour each way to their site, for which I did not charge travel time and often charge a higher fee because of it.
  
  
  Given all of this, Ms. *****’s insistence on spending more time responding to her complaints and her rejection of my offer, I rescind my offer. I will not be responding to further emails. I will email them a receipt for their consult payment next week.
  
  
  In addition I will add that I have been in business for 20 years and have not once had a client that did not value the advice that I provided during a consultation, until Ms.*****. The fact that she was keen on having me continue to work with them speaks to the fact that she was satisfied with the consultation.

  Customer response

  12/19/2021

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because our concerns have not been adequately addressed. Please see attached .pdf file for specifics.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** *****

*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. ↩