Giancarlo Bianchi

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Hard to get in contact with provider. Called a number of times to discuss service and did not receive any response.

Bianchi Landscaping seeded new lawn in 9/13. The job was agreed upon with Mr. Giancarlo but the bill paid to Paul Bianchi Landscaping. In  spring of next year it was clear that the lawn was not seeded properly. There were a lot of bare spots and lawn was very sparse. Called  Giancarlo who  said  Paul would come to inspect and overseed the lawn. Crew arrived on  May 16 began to clean with so power blower that damage a lot of my plant and pushed dirt to neighbors yard. Had to stop them, called Paul who came and promised to repair the lawn. New seed was planted. I went by directions by there was no improvement.  I called Paul many times no answer at all. Then I called Giancarlo who came and inspected the lawn. He said that the problem was the grubs and said would seed the soil and than again overseed the lawn. The job was done late August. I did water the lawn as recommended but there were again a lot of bare spots and grass was thin. 
This spring lawn looked horrible. Than round around started. I called Giancarlo who told me to call Paul because, he said .. I am out of business. After several calls finally I establish e mail communication with Paul. Tiffany Bianchi informed me that the lawn is Giancarlo responsibility, not Paul's, and that Giancarlo should let me know last fall they are not anymore one company. Called again Giancarlo who refused to come. Said he was out of business and that the problems is in soil that should be sent for analysis. He was adamant that Paul should take a responsibility because he took over his clients.
Never before I wrote any negative review because I am aware that in small business it takes a lot of time and hard work to gain good reputation  but only one bad job or decision can destroy something that was built up for many years.  I tried to explain it to both Giancarlo and Paul but, unfortunately, haven't received positive reaction.

John Bianchi came on a week-end to give me an estimate for the job.  He gave me a written estimate, using a pre-printed form, on the spot.  He was responsive, knowledgeable and pleasant. The problem is that he's just the salesman, but he didn't tell me that until way after I had signed up with his company. Because I wanted to make sure I could easily communicate with the actual person in charge of the weekly work if I needed to, I asked to meet that person. John brought his adult son, Paul, to meet me on a week-end.  He said that Paul managed the actual crew that did the work.  Paul assured me I could reach him by email and that he would respond.
We got started with the spring clean-up, and then the trouble started.  They didn't complete the spring clean-up when they had promised they would.  When I called John to discuss this, he called back and told me that he had a full-time job with a large corporation (that shall remain nameless). He said his son, Paul runs the whole business.  Paul refused over several weeks to respond to my emails directly.  His wife answered the emails, but with no concrete info or anything.  She basically shielded him from having to communicate with a customer.  I had asked that the crew not come on the one day of the week that my city's trucks come to empty my garbage barrels that I put at the curb.  But the Bainchi truck came anyway on that day and parked right in front of the barrels, so that the garbage truck couldn't see or empty them.
It went downhill from there.  Paul, who now apparently runs this company, isn't reliable or responsive.  Consequently, the company is unreliable and erratic.

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The higher ratings may seem odd based on some of the comments.  However it was based on when the business was run by John, who did a terrific job and I kept using him for various projects. 

 Sometime in the spring of 2014 Paul took over and came by to do some follow up work from John, which included replacing a couple of plants that didn't take from last year.  Paul appeared motivated and enthusiastic in taking over the father's operation.  I hired him to prune some trees, look at either redoing some patio stairs with a TREX type material, or painting stairs.  He told me he would follow up with some price options, replace the plants and perform the pruning.

Paul never followed up, he disappeared like  Malaysia Flight 370.  No idea what happened, I gave him the benefit of the doubt, and waited , waited , and waited.  No courtesy call no nothing.  He undid all the good his father represented in the business.  I understand stuff happens, unexpected emergencies or situations occur.  Just communicate!  I'm very reasonable and understanding.    

John came over in May, and discussed a plan for our lawn to involve late August planting. he was clear, a nice guy, and didn't try to oversell me products or services. we hired them to mulch our front beds only, they accidentally mulched both front and back, and then only charged us (i think) for the front in the end. his regular mowing prices were good, so we hired them for every other week mowing.
something must have happened to the company in June/July, because it became impossible to get answers or followup. i emailed asking to have brush removed after a storm, about 3 times, no response. called, no response. i was also calling to be able to pay our balance by credit card (invoice says "call us to set up credit card payment"). took a few weeks then finally i reached John himself, and he said they would aerate lawn in late August and absolutely remove the brush immediately and he would contact office manager so we could make credit card payment.  then another week and then 2 weeks, and 3 weeks went by (trust me, i was STILL calling and emailing every week, more and more frustrated).
they sent another invoice for lawn mowing, only now it reflected WEEKLY mowing when we'd discussed only every other week.  
furthermore, since it's been 2 months of my trying to have them remove the brush pile (and them promising they would), the grass underneath the pile is now completely dead, and will have to be replanted, presumably at my expense.
needless to say, no one came by to aerate or reseed the lawn as discussed, either.
the only explanation i can imagine for why a company would have such excellent ratings and then disappear is some kind of illness in the family. i'd still hope that even in that circumstance someone would at some point reach out to paying customers and offer an explanation or an alternative to their business, not keep billing for service that wasn't asked for, or not performing service that was agreed upon.
Edit 09/08: I came after work and found my backyard's lawn completely removed and it is now dirt.  They left their tools everywhere and a big pile of loam in the driveway.

Attendance was spotty.  The gardeners didn't show up for 3 weeks at one period and didn't notify me.  My lawn became overgrown, and the receptionist was snarky when I addressed her about this.  
Huge variability in the quality of services depending on the week (and the crew of individuals).  Sometimes, the work was done well, other times, many corners were cut and the work looked sloppy.  
Fall clean-up was a price gouge.  Was charged nearly $400 to clear fall leaves, and it wasn't a complete removal.  I was referred to them by someone who has an even larger yard than I do, and they paid well over $125 less than I did for fall clean-up.
These people are inconsistent, and not dependable, and would not recommend them to anyone.

I have decided to update this review after finally receiving contact from the company.  I was originally quite unhappy with the services provided and wrote a fairly harsh review.  The owner did reach out to me and offered to complete the work. 

Originally the crew came out to complete the work and left for the day without completing the job stating that they needed to return and would do so in a few days when they had another job in the area.  They did not, and the company began to demand full payment for the incomplete work.  The cleanup work they did was pretty good but I wasn't happy that it wasn't completed and I had to use Angie's list to get it sorted out.

On time . And very friendly.

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It was good. He did a good job cleaning up.  So far, so good. He has not billed us yet. We kind of added more services as he was there so he is going to send us the bill.

I have been in contact with John, very easy to deal with.  Willing to work out payment plan to make it easier to budget.  Has good ideas about yard seeing how I have none :-)
They will also be mowing during the Summer.

See previous summary.

It turned out very well. I was very happy with them. I am going to use them again.

He was very responsive and punctual. His work was good and fast.

They did a great job cleaning our yard on short notice, and they finished the job just in time for the snow.  They did leave a huge pile of leaves in the street, which I am sure my neighbors did not appreciate.  It was picked up the next day, but I don't understand why it was left in the street the way it was. 

Additionally, my neighbor accused them of hitting his mailbox, and Mr. Bianchi was diplomatic in handling it. Ultimately, my neighbor figured out it was not the landscaper's team that hit his mailbox.

Update - Since promptly paying their bill in full, I received a second invoice requesting the same payment again.  I think it will be resolved, but it is annoying.

Paul is in the process of taking over his father's business.  First time they came, we thought it was a lack of communication and ended up shoveling half the driveway before they showed up and spoke to us.  They told us it would cost one price to finish the job but ended up charging us full price.  2nd time they came later than I would have expected.  3rd time they came late and, after they left, the neighbors came over and complained that the snow was dumped in their yard.  When the other owner of this townhouse called and left a message about this, no one got back to her. Today, 2/13/14, I came home at 4 pm and had to shovel my driveway to get my car in.  The snow removal never came.  I cancelled their services.  I would never recommend this company. 
UPDATE:  I spoke to Giancarlo and he stated that he never put snow in anyone else's property.  Could have been the street plows?   He did say he squeezed us in when I first called him and, because they have so many properties to plow, they have to rotate who they do first so it takes time.  If you have time to wait for your property to be done, then you may have no problem with how long it takes for them to get to you. 

I like the crew Mr. Bianchi employs and will be using this company fo rmy 2014 landscaping needs

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They did a great job as always.  I first used them for a spring cleanup earlier this year.  They quickly provided a quote and came to do the cleanup as scheduled.  Their prices are about the same as other companies, but they always do a great job.  I will use them again.

It went very well.  Bianchi Landscaping is one of the few companies that will remove the leaves as part of a spring cleanup.  Most companies only remove leaves during a fall cleanup.  We have a lot of leaves.  They were clear on what the work they would provide, did it quickly (since our son's high school graduation was coming up a week later.)  I plan to use then again in the fall.

The Bianchi's were responsive - always answered their phone and were polite and pleasant.  I set up a visit to get a quote after getting one other quote prior and their price was the lower. (I did think theirs was just a tad high based on a friend's information from another supplier in a different town, but it was significantly lower than the first quote I received.) 
They came to do the work just a couple of days later and their team was focused, organized and efficient and got the job done quickly.  I had a question during the work and they answered the phone and the question quickly. And then they did exactly as they told me on the phone.
I am only disappointed that they don't offer other services in my area as I would hire them again for other lawn work if I could!

The work went very well. The crew was early, earlier than planned, but we we're happy to see them come. They were finished within about two hours. Our yard and house look completely different, in a good way.

They provided a quick estimate and completed the work, all in the same day. It was impressive. We will definitely use Bianchi again.

UPDATE: Our later experiences with Bianchi were not as good, and we've since moved on to another company. The problems were with accounting and punctuality, mainly, as well as simply returning phone calls or emails. Seems to be related to the transition of the business from father to son, as mentioned here by other reviewers.