Sun Creek Turf & Landscaping

We had called several landscaping firms to get a retaining wall built.  Doug was the first contractor that my husband thought was personable and would do a good job.   Then things went bad.  My husband was helping Doug and one of his employees move gravel and hit one of Doug's tools laying on the ground. My husband felt bad and offered to pay for the repair. Long story short, Doug wanted an extra $500.  I can't believe any contractor would charge a customer who was trying to help them...that aside, my husband only agreed to pay for repairs to the saw, not a new saw, he left Doug numerous messages and finally Doug told my husband he would send him a check for $250. No check arrived. Numerous calls later Doug finally sent my husband a check for $250.00.

My husband trying to help cost us an additional $250.00. Save yourself the frustration and avoid this guy. I rated responsiveness low because he wouldn't call my husband back and I gave him a very low rating on professionalism.  Who charges a customer when they were trying to help the contractor?

We contracted Sun Creek Turf to provide fertilizer treatments to our yard. We were new to the area and the previous owner had contracted them as did some of the neighbors. Sun Creek first provided us a price which we knew was far too high since we had gotten several other bids from other contractors. Doug, the owner, appeared upset that we didn't trust his quotation and that we had gotten other quotes. In the end, we agreed on a price and a service schedule. We completed the remainder of the first year with mixed results. Our yard was peppered with weeds and dead spots. In the spring of the next year (2009), Sun Creek applied the first application with the assumption that they were continuing service. They also left a bill for this service nearly double of what they charged the previous year. I was shocked and contacted Doug immediately. He stated that he sent out notifications during the winter with the option of paying for a full year and getting a discount. This is an option which we clearly discussed with him when we originally met in 2008 and we had made it clear that this was a requirement. We also asked him to check that we were on his mailing list, because we managed to get all of our Christmas cards, but some how his notification never arrived and their office is only a mile away. Our intention for 2009 was to go with another company since Sun Creek did just an average job in 2008. Since they had already applied their treatment on the lawn, we worked out a contract for 2009. During 2009 we continued to have weeds and alot of grass die off. We called them repeatedly about it and they said that it was our fault. They claimed that we cut our lawn too short and were not watering it enough. They referenced our neighbor's yard for the height of the grass. I checked with the neighbor and it turns out that I cut my lawn higher than they do. They stood by their claim and told us to continue watering the lawn at least 40 minutes per zone. I'm not sure where they were hiding, but 2009 was an extremely wet summer and the lawn was plenty wet. My wife got tired of their excuses and researched the problem online. It turns out that we had a fungus on our lawn, which if treated immediately is easier to control. The added watering only made it worse. My wife went to Lowe's and purchased a fungus control. After two applications to handle a large case, we had a clear and healthy lawn. We made the determination to cancel them after the 2009 season and go a different direction. In January I noticed that they did only 6 applications to our lawn, but had charged us for 7 at the beginning of the season. I called Sun Creek and inquired about this. They claimed it must was a wet summer and they weren't able to apply 7 treatments. (Now they realize that it was wet) They would credit this missing treatment to my bill for 2010. So what would have happened if I wouldn't have called? I asked what would happen if we didn't have their service in 2010. They said that they would normally issue a refund check, but since they were already planning to do our services for 2010 it wouldn't be an issue. I then informed them, "Thank you, but I would like to cancel your services and request that refund." The tone of the conversation went from polite to very unprofessional. They got very insulting that we would cancel them. I told them that this attitude was a big factor as well as they do a terrible job of treating our lawn. Ultimately weeks passed without receiving the refund check. They screened our calls and did not respond to our written notice. We finally received the refund check once our lawyer made contact with the company. Why does it need to come to that? Ultimately we went in another direction and now have a healthy and weed-free yard. Our neighbors continue to use Sun Creek and our yard looks far better.