Outdoor Environments Inc

In February, I contacted OE to let them know we wanted their bid for the next season and that we were also getting other bids, but that I anticipated we would stay with them. I also asked four questions and asked them to itemize the cost of that work. They did not respond for nearly 10 days and then when they did, they said the contract auto-renewed in January and that they were looking forward to working with us again. They attached the contract. I emailed Kollen back and expressed my disappointment they he did not respond to any of my questions and that I was giving them a year's notice that the contract should not auto-renew for 2016. In the spring, I contacted OE to let them know what annuals to plant. They emailed me back a week later and said they were no longer their service provider. Since we had a binding contract that they told me had auto-renewed in February, I responded to say there had been a mistake and asked him to contact me. I followed up 4 times and nobody contacted me. I was able to call their main desk a week later and was routed to a new employee, who said we had canceled the contract with them. I explained the situation and asked to have someone call me back. When nobody reached out to me, I then emailed the owner and attached copies of the emails with his sales rep showing that we had a contract, that nobody had responded to emails or outreach and that they had our sprinkler valves. I asked him to contact me so that we could arrange to get them back. NO RESPONSE. I was able to hire a new vendor and he also had to reach out to them multiple times over the course of several weeks before they arranged with him to go pick them up. I am FLOORED by the absolutely unprofessional handling of this situation. Mistakes happen and I was more than willing to work with the vendor to remedy it, but they did not even bother to contact us. We were easy money for them for nearly 5 years and their treatment of us as a customer was absolutely unprofessional and unacceptable. The new vendor has also informed me that they did not appear to have done many of the items that had been spelled out in the contract, such as maintaining the raingardens, trimming bushes, etc., had been done. Please note - I found that when I met with them over the years, they were always very polite and pleasant. Clearly, they had me fooled as they didn't do the work right and when they decide to breach the contract, they wouldn't even talk with me about it. I have been nothing but professional and considering this is a volunteer gig for a homeowner's assn, it's not like I was a high-maintenance customer. If they didn't want us as a client, they had many more professional ways to handle the situation.

I was not satisfied with their work. They over promised and and under delivered. As an individual homeowner, there wasn't enough information about what we were getting. They didn't go out of their way to educate you on all the things that were included. We paid a lot and I'm not satisfied with it at all. It was way overpriced for what they delivered. Most of the landscaping died, the grass is uneven and they didn't do a lot of grading, like they said they were going to do, they didn't put two inches of top soil, like they said they were going to do. We literally pulled dead plants out of our front yard a year later, it was really bad. Once they were off the job site, they were dragging their feet when we tried to get them back to fix anything or evaluate. They were professional, but they were difficult to work with.

The project started off fine. The designer/project manager worked with us on the design. We signed a contract with them mid-June 2008 to start the project. Towards the tail end, they billed us an additional Change Order without any discussion with us. However, the owner and the designer/project manager resolved it and we paid in full early-mid Sept when they provided us with the llien waivers from their subcontractors. That took a few weeks but it worked out. This year, some of the plants did not live over the winter. All plants were under warranty for 1 year. We called Outdoor Environments (Steve M is responsible for warranties) and discussed with Steve M in the week of May 11, 2009. He right away asked the quantity and what plants. After telling him that, his response was he needed to check "our account" to see if we paid in full/delayed etc. I told him we did pay in full and on time and that I had all documentation/emails that went back and forth between us and the designer/project manager. Unfortunately, the project manager has left the company during this time. We emailed Steve with all our documentation on May 29th and requested him to call us regarding setting up an appointment. He has never called us to-date. However, when we call him on his cell phone, he has answered but each time there has been some excuse not to commit to setting up an appointment -- "I haven't had time to set your account, I have your email and am on the road - I will call back soon, I don't have my calendar in front of me - either Friday or Monday, (when we called him after the Friday passed) -- either Monday or Tuesday". It seems we are getting the runaround without any definite plan to visit or address the replacement of the plants that we under warranty. We would like to request Angie's List's help in assisting us with this issue. Thanks.

The staff that actually did the design work and the installation were wonderful! So wonderful, they have now left this company! The subcontractors were also excellent, but had major issues also with the way they were treated by the company and the small notice, and demands placed upon them. The management of the company was NOT responsive, did nothing to make sure that the project was done on time, and after they had issued me a lien relieas indicating we had paid everything in full, they wanted to bill additional. When we had issues, the staff was very unprofessional, did nothing to support the team, and seemed only concerned that the project (which they had delayed) get done by their fiscal year end regardless of the quality. Meaning, they wanted to get the work done "quicker" not better. I have since worked with other companies much better organized, much more responsive, and with much better pricing. Also, although they "guarantee" their work, they were unwilling to come out and check on trees that had died, and brickwork that was sinking. Stay away from this company!

Overall poorly. The designers did not clearly communicate their plans. The workmen were not professional, among others leaving a timer that was to be installed on my driveway for me to find and install. The final installation did not meet my expectations, which could be my mistake; I may have misunderstood the design. The lights were installed on three large branches. After two weeks, the lights on one branch stopped working. After two months, I had no working lights left, even though this installation was to last for 3-5 years, that's why I picked the more expensive LED lights. The worst, however, was/is that when I complained, my original contact, a nice guy, promised me on several occasions that his manager would contact me. I never heard from anyone until I withheld payment, the case is not closed yet. Conclusion: Do not hire these people, if it is just a residential job. They do a lot of commercial jobs, and obviously put all their attention on those customers.