In November 2015, we obtained a proposal from Brett Bathurst at LandEscapes for a landscape spring clean up, to include “tak[ing] out existing leaves and debris” in all landscaped beds, including cobblestoned areas. The proposal included “clean up and redefine” all natural beveled edging, and trimming to “make shrubs uniform, trim back and shape up evergreens as needed” and “install 2-3” of premium hardwood dyed mulch on all landscaped areas.” We put a $300 deposit in for a $1,030 bid. In response to a solicitation from LandEscapes, we also contracted with prepayment for sprinkler service (spring turn on, adjustment in mid-summer, then winterization). A crew of two from LandEscapes arrived on Sat., March 5, 2016. The crew of two spoke nearly no English and had no understanding of the project. They appeared to have no experience with landscaping tasks, as they began to suggest they would remove good shrubs that had simply not yet leafed out for the summer and would pull up perennials. Bret showed up after our calls informing him of obvious language difficulties, walked around our property and talked with the workers. We incorrectly assumed at that point that he had communicated the needed work plan to his employers. What we have found since Land Escapes completed their work is that almost every aspect of the contracted work was done incorrectly and incompletely, creating new work and expense for us. Workers did not remove leaves from the decorative rock areas. Very little trimming of some shrubs occurred, and others were so dramatically sheered that we are not sure they will survive. Large volumes of mulch were dumped on top of perennials. When beds were edged, the grass that was cut in was dumped into the beds and is now beginning to grow. So much mulch had been literally dumped onto our beds that roses and other plants were buried in it. To make an already bad situation even worse, we have found that the leaves were not removed from around shrugs and rose bushes before the mulch was added so each time we attempt to uncover buried plants or reduce the volume of mulch, we scoop up a handful of leaves that then becomes mixed in with the mulch. The result of work Land Escapes did on our property is that we now have more work to prepare for summer than we had before they arrived. It will take us several weekends to remove excess mulch and clean all the leaves under that mulch and from the decorative rock areas. We do not yet know how many plants may be lost as a result of their reckless and destructive handling of our beds. The beds that should have looked fresh and ready for summer now are strewn with a mix of mulch, leaves and grass patches that we will be cleaning out for weeks to come. We sent a text to Brett about the failure to remove leaves in a cobblestone areas as that was the first problem and most immediately obvious issue. Brett’s response was to make a trivial adjustment to the charge, cancel our irrigation contract and refuse to fix his shoddy work. He stated in his final bill: “That was our last time out, we will not be able to help you anymore.” We should have waited to pay LandEscapes for any work on the spring cleanup project, since we are now faced with more work and expense than before. The company implied that we were the problem, made no effort or offer to fix the situation, but instead simply stated that Land Escapes would never again do any work on our property. We are in agreement with Brett’s conclusion because we would never again trust Land Escapes to do even the simplest of work in our yard or beds.