ComplaintsforSDA Lawn Service

• Initial Complaint

  06/27/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  In early June S.D.A. Lawnservice killed the front lawn at *************** - adjacent to my lawn at ***************. During this process they also killed a 1 foot strip of my lawn the length of my front yard. On June 24th they returned to cultivate / reseed my neighbor's lawn at ***************. They never fixed the portion of my lawn that was killed. When I told them I wanted that portion of lawn fixed they claimed to have laid down seed on top of the dead grass. I told them that was not acceptable, that I wanted that piece of land worked up and seeded correctly. They refused. I checked later and there was no new seed on top of the dead grass. I have been trying to contact the owner of this company to request that they work up the dead grass and reseed that strip of lawn properly. They will not respond to my phone calls or messages. I tried to get my neighbor to backup my claim that day as she promised me that my lawn would be repaired, but that day she took the side of the landscaper. I refuse to spend my time and money on cultivating and reseeding the portion of lawn they killed. I want them to come out and fix the damage they caused in a timely manner.

  Customer response

  06/28/2024

  Initial Complaint

  04/22/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We had used SDA lawnservice since 2020 for our home at ****************************************. In Sept 2023 they began requesting an advance deposit for snow removal (2023 & 2024 service timeframe) which we paid for the total of ****** the deposit was paid in 2 payments: ***** 9/13/23 and ***** 10/19/23 checks cleared the bank 10/18/23. the contract stated they would apply to the March 2024 bill (for Feb service). We had called them in Feb when we received invoice for Jan 2024 service to check if we should deduct it and were told by the ofc mgr/April to pay bill in full (which we did-1***** and they would refund us by check in March for the deposit. There was no March bill-no snow for Feb. We never received our deposit back,we called them 4/8;4/11 lvm,emailed reqst 4/13; called again 4/16. twice same day calls wouldn't complete. We never received the refund nor a call back or email acknowledgment. We were sent a letter in early Feb for another deposit for lawn service requesting ****** for another deposit. Not using their service going forward it seems this is deceptive practice or fraud. We will follow up with the ** consumer protection agency next if they fail to return our money.

  Business response

  04/25/2024

  ******,
  
  I understand the purpose of BBB and appreciate you taking the time to send us a letter, in which we received on Thursday, April 25, 2024.  
  
  Please note ***** & ********************* concern is invalid as they were under contract with our business, and contract states the security deposit details.  The customer signed the contract and included the security deposit, therefore indicating they read the contract terms and understood them. I also had several conversations with both **** and ***** regarding the security deposit to answer their questions and allowed them to pay in two parts to secure their place on our snow removal schedule. In fall, they said they understood that if the deposit was not used, it was refunded. This was stated in our conversations on THREE occasions. The security deposit description and terms were understood and accepted by our other 300 customers.  
  
  Please note, the security deposit could not be refund until snow season ended. Even though it did not snow much this season, in many cases it can snow through the month of April.  Wisconsins snow season start November 1st and ends April 30th. Those are our contract terms, as listed in our contracts.  In a normal year, we would not issue refunds (if any) until May.  This year, after April 15th, we assessed the long-term forecast and made the decision to refund the security deposits as we promised, once we knew the snow season has ended for 2024. We did issue refunds to ALL our customers whose deposit was not utilized. Please note, we did have a blizzard with 8 to 12 of snow on 4-3-24 and had several customers utilize part of their deposit for that final invoice this season.  Knowing the Savios were concerned about their deposit, I refunded their security deposit on 4-17-2024.Their security deposit refund was the first issued. They should have received it in the mail as of today.
  
  If you have further questions about this concern, please let me know.
  
  Again, we appreciate the purpose of BBB and the letter, but in this specific case,this is a case of an impatient customer who accepted a contract they did not like and/or decided not to understand the terms, even after several conversation.
  
  Thank you.

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