Laurence E Fosgate

"I thought this client would not post a review since they would have been embarrassed that their behavior was so egregious. The free flow of verbal abuse and profanity was something we simply would not tolerate from them and when we said something, we were told that's the way he talks to the people who work for him. When my colleague objected to the craziness, they said they didn't want him at the party but he was totally justified in calling them out for their crude abusive language. There was complete confusion between the couple about what was to happen. I took pictures of the landscape during the party- which was a big success and as they say the place looked really amazing and people made very favorable comments at the creativity displayed. We took pictures of what the rest of the property looked like before the party and frankly I can't imagine anyone, even in a down market trailer park, thinking the place looked acceptable- maybe a dozen scraggly plants and some tacky red mulch, weeds for a lawn and that was at the front entrance! It was apparent that these people were not very astute in the aesthetics of landscaping and yes, the non-invasive timber bamboo would have fit their design perfectly. It is my duty to try to make the case as strongly as possible for what is best, but also to be able to suggest a suitable alternative if the first choice just doesn't please them. It is mildly humorous to me but the more rigid and inflexible people tend to be the least knowledgeable and perhaps an inner voice of insecurity makes them think that by expressing strong opinions they look like they know what they are talking about. That kind of verbal bluster is usually a mask for massive sense of inadequacy . The irrigation system we were asked to work with was a jury rigged disaster that was concocted by the home owner. In summary this client represented another in the very disagreeable group of people we attracted when we made the mistake of offering an Angie's List Deal. Never, ever again. We had a perfect rating before the Deals and look forward to having to the experience of contending with such a group of people fading into a distant memory. I am thankful that Angie's List does at least provide the chance to respond to what could be called "Review Bullying" and although I would have preferred that this person just skipped reviewing us entirely (as the discreet option) I am confidant enough in people's ability to hear both sides of things and figure who the victim in this situation was."

"This customer was extremely happy with our work. He loved the front so much he had us do the back which he and his wife loved. Told me there was no end to the compliments they got. I have emails from him indicating that he was very happy and he invited us to give him a proposal for doing more travertine in his pool area. Hardly the thing you would seek from someone who makes you want to poke your eyes out. I have pictures of how great everything looked and assure you there were zero complaints until a few months ago the client said he was unhappy with one of the plants, tradescantia purperea , otherwise known as purple queen. The problem was it was growing too well ! I met with him and agreed to move some of the plants and replace others with another plant at no charge This doesn't fall under warranty work since most customers don't have a problem when a plant flourishes. This plant is very popular and is used as an accent ground cover at most Olive Gardens. I never complained about having to do this at no cost to the client and at some cost to me. We did freshen the mulch and perform maintenance that his regular service was having problems performing even though there was nothing tricky about any of it. I understand this maintenance company had also complained about the purple queens. We came back two more times for free to do more with the purple queens. At this time the client pointed out three travertine pavers that had moved slightly at the edge of the patio we created that had over two thousand pavers. After almost a year, that was the only problem on a patio with over two thousand pavers. The client became obscene and abusive to me in his emails and said he would ruin me on the internet in any way he could. He went into a rage because it took me two days to respond to an email. I told him that if he wrote that I did a terrible job and told lies about my work I would sue him for libel since I could prove that he had been completely happy with our work and that if he said otherwise it would lying. As it is I think he has tried to keep the lying to a minimum by writing a short review. I have many pleasant emails from each of us over a year period. He starts the review with the lie "never returned call." The facts reveal that is a lie . We did the front, then the back and almost a year of emails with nothing negative and I can show I had a history of prompt responses to emails. The email record is proof of it. As far as threatening me to do a bad review to get me to do work, quite the opposite is true. After he tried to threaten me with cyber bullying vulgarity and lies I stopped trying to make him happy and told him to be careful he didn't incite me to take legal action. $23000 in work and no complaints for months after we finished and then only complain about a plant that grows too well. For that he wants to poke his eyes out? Does that sound like a rational person?"

"Just love the way that people think that they can shade the truth and then expect to get way with it. One of the beauties of the review process is that in getting a chance to respond, I can act like the prosecuting attorney who gets to cross-examine a witness. And if the review doesn't add up or make sense, it's pretty easy for people to figure if he's lying about one thing, how can we believe any of it. And I might add that telling a half truth is as good as telling a lie. The fact that people can read the truth more often than not is the reason most lawyers don't want their guilty clients to take the stand. Yes these clients acknowledge that I had excellent ideas and fail to mention that they were ecstatic with the actual results we performed for them. These are intelligent business people and the only convincing I did for them was to come up with a great and economical plan. $13,000 is a terrific price for complete front and rear sod and landscape as well as a Fieldstone decorative feature and paver walkways and patio. In fact, this was the minimum amount practical for that area and an additional 7 or 8 thousand would have been closer to optimal.The "dirt" they refer to was the paver sand which we explained to them they would need to brush in over a few days as the first passes with sand would continue to settle into the joints. This is normal industry practice and they had it explained to them and they indicated they understood. To call the sand "dirt" and to act like it was carelessly left is disingenuous to say the least. I have purchased beautiful fruit trees for them and have had them available for months but there have been mutual scheduling issues. There was a small stump that I agreed to remove but I didn't ever charge them to take it out. I furnished a few hundred extra dollars worth of landscape plants at no cost but considering they are worth more than the fruit trees, I certainly know that they got more than they were charged for, not to mention the several hundred dollars they saved on the Angie's Deal. And even though I had "excellent" ideas and the project progressed to their liking with everything but the fruit trees, We don't get a single A or B or C or D in any category! Really? Do you think that looks like there was any effort to be fair? I think most people would see this as a very mean spirited and dishonest disparagement of what was originally considered great work (frankly the only kind we are interested in producing). Is it possible that this is a venal attempt to finagle a refund? Regardless, I would be happy to bring the fruit trees and remove the stump. In fact I purchased an extra tree and was (and still would be) happy for them to have it."

"This is a great example of why The Big Deal is so frustrating in the results we have gotten in terms of reviews. Our quality and professionalism are both rated "A." We formulated a design within a couple of weeks, executed it within a couple more weeks and completed the install in a day, yet we get "C" for that. We get a "C" on price even though with the Angie's discount he paid less than half the normal price. I can't imagine he has any idea of what the service we provided costs because anyone doing any research on that would find that we are at the lower end of most competitors. Also interesting that two "A"'s on the most lasting and important elements, two "C"'s and a "B" equal a "C". If that's how he does a compilation, how are we to trust his calculations on price? I am glad that at least he grudgingly credits the quality. Last I spoke with him he said many of his neighbors stopped by to tell him how great it looked. Maybe I should thank them for helping influence him. The rest of his property, aside from what we did, looks neglected-mainly weeds and dirt."

"It did take forever to get to this project, more or less at the end of the "Deal" clients. I appreciate the fact the [member name removed] waited and hope the "A" for quality made it worthwhile. We had 17 straight "A"s before offering the deals, our next few months will be devoted to get beyond the many negative and frequently savage reviews which many times ranged from clueless to mean-spirited. Many of the clients were lovely people and a pleasure to work with. Some were of a different ilk who might only have met us through a deal. The existence of a certain difficult kind of "Grouponer" professional respondant is well documented. I remember perking my ears up last fall when NPR featured a woman whose business was almost ruined by the groupon experience said she has cried every day since it came out. I haven't cried but I am resolved to get back to having the clients and relationships that earned us a solid "A" to begin with. We won't rest until that happens."

"[member name removed] review of our work is as untruthful as he is incompetent. When I met him and his wife they weren't sure if they really needed $1500 worth of work. Really? To start with their concrete driveway was surrounded by a row of bricks some places two or three inches below grade. Not only was it unsightly, it was dangerous. They had two large dead sagos in their front yard that they hadn't really noticed. The house had not one plant in the back yard nor anything other than a small concrete pad off their kitchen for outdoor living space and that was mere feet from a noisy busy road so we recommended a new patio on the other side of their house off their bedroom. Even though they needed a lot more, they really wanted to keep to the Deal budget only. We respected that and scheduled for them to be one of our first projects from the Angie's promotion When we showed up on a Friday to do their installation with six workers ready to do their install, he sent us away saying they were having people house sit for them that weekend and didn't want them disturbed. This was during a time when we were deluged with over forty new clients from our Deal with Angie's. Because he was in Winter Park, we were able to come back a couple of weeks later at which time we removed the dead plants, fixed his driveway and installed a beautiful 180 sq ft paver patio. To that point he had tendered us $700 and had received over a thousand dollars in services. We were to bring a few plants to render the total value to $1500. Then began the innumerable phone calls with long rambling messages with threatening unpleasantness mixed in. At one point when we did speak, I did tell him that he might think that his behavior was befitting the new "lord of the manor" title he felt he had earned by becoming a new homeowner but that what he should know is that his social, intellectual and, dare I say, moral superiors would never conduct themselves as he had. If he wanted to assume a mantle of respectability he might want to know how he stacked up against other people and should be aware that at best he was being a bit of a boor and at least he should understand that sometimes even much larger jobs than his could take a while. He said that was insulting but really it was meant to let him know that in the scale of human behavior he was aiming for some low marks and it was really to give feedback and perspective that he was looking like a bit of a hot-headed fool. There is also no question that I did determine then and there that since I had tendered work far in excess of what he had paid that I would be in no rush to return and subject myself and my team to such an irritable sort of person. Before we could return, [member name removed] saw fit to complain to the Florida secretary of state's office. I can say that after hearing both sides of our situation that my actions were judged totally appropriate and that [member name removed] had no grounds for complaint. I have an email and letter to that effect as well as a thank you for my prompt response. I can tolerate many things in other people but meanness and nastiness are things I simply won't endure. Even more so, I will not subject my team to people like that. Their usual experience is to hear customers rave about the great work they have done. Having them experience someone like this would deprive them of one of their top rewards for working. Fortunately people like this are extremely rare."

"We tried- we gave more than we were contracted for, allowed this customer an extension beyond the expiration of her coupon and at the time we finished she was very happy. Unfortunately the lack of irrigation is undoubtedly a problem. We gave her a forty dollar tripod sprinkler to help. We always say to water once or twice a day after installation, not every other day. I admire this person for her hard work and am sorry we were not able to provide maintenance for her. It's not something we do a lot of."

"Glad you liked it. I apologize for any failures in communication- over forty design projects from our "Deal" on top of our normal work made for a few bobbles on my part- although in my own defense, I think I handled it better than a majority of giant companies with many more people resources. And at least when I did communicate, I think the contact was meaningful. Can't tell you how many times I get a customer service rep so clueless that leaving an unanswered response would have been more fulfilling."

"Not only did [member name removed] and his partner tell us they loved it all, several neighbors stopped to tell us it looked amazing. That's a "B"?"

"Really enjoyed working with this couple and am very excited to be able to tie what we did to a re-imagined landscape. Hope to respond to an equally enthusiastic review after that. Thanks"