We contracted with Allen Outdoor Solutions to landscape our home. A decision we have come to regret. Here is a list of some of the problems with more details to follow: -A whopping 40%, or more than $5,000, increase in the contracted price -Inaccurate measurements in the design that resulted in significantly higher costs -A project that was supposed to begin in May but began in July -A project that was supposed to be 3-4 days turned into 4 weeks with elements still not fulfilled -Calls and emails that went unanswered / unreturned -Inability to fulfill parts of the contract (trees/plants) -Agreement from the owner to replace a specific tree went unfulfilled as of 21 Aug 2022 -Agreement from the owner to extend the warranty on another tree went unfulfilled as of 21 Aug 2022 -An invoice dated almost 4 months prior to receipt & dated before the contract was even signed! -Introduction of new fees that popped up when the contractual relationship began to deteriorate -Unacceptable plants/quality of work -Bills presented as contracts -Not honoring the terms of the contract Of all the issues listed above, the most egregious are issues with the billing. Our latest invoice is 40.4% above the contracted price! This is after 2 items totaling $2,850 were removed because the company was unable to provide the contracted service. You might think if your bill was 40.4% above the contracted price, a company would reach out to you and engage in a conversation to talk about it. No such luck here. We were emailed an “invoice” with the increase and with an expectation to pay it – no explanation, nothing. When we brought it up to them, the response was, ‘we were waiting for you to say something.’ Who does that? The contract stated the cost of cobblestone was $300 for 150 Ln/ft but sent us a bill that says it’s $4,800. They’re argument is 1) they told us at some point the increased cost (they did not!) and 2) we should’ve known it was wrong on the contract. Just like I didn’t know if a hydrangea should cost $75 as the contract says, I had no idea the cost of a cobblestone. While the latest bill was a true invoice, the preceding two were in the form of modifications to the contract. Why present us with “contracts” when they clearly had invoices at their disposal? Think through that one… Another big issue has been wrong measurements The contract stated 850 sq/ft of sod (including regrading soil amendments) was needed. They mismeasured, not because the design was modified to include more sod, they simply got it wrong. The actual amount of sod used was 1100 sq/ft. No conversation or phone call just an email from an employee saying “I forgot to add the city area for sod and will need to make the adjustment to the invoice.” A 29.4% or $662.50 cost increase due to undermeasurement, and they didn’t think it warranted at least a phone call to discuss it. To add insult to injury, on the last invoice, they tacked on an additional $2.50 onto the contracted amount of $2,250 making the total for this item $2252.50. How petty is it to add $2.50? I don’t get it. In another example, the contract says they would need 13 yards of mulch and in fact, they are trying to charge us for 13 yards of mulch. However, earlier invoices say they used less than 10 yards of mulch. In yet another example, the contract says they would need 150 Ln/ft of cobblestone. They actually used 240 Ln/ft. We thought we were making some progress towards a resolution when we received a bill that showed they were charging us $500 for the cobblestone on 3 Aug. Only to find out later that day when we spoke to the owner, Mr. Allen, and he told us that the bill was no good. Here’s the kicker. Several days passed after that conversation with Mr. Allen on 3 Aug about our insistence that he honor the contract and fix the remaining errors in the invoice. After trying to get a final and accurate invoice on 2 separate occasions (August 8 & 10), we received an email on Friday, 12 Aug that says the company can’t honor our request to reduce the fees…. we never asked that, we asked them to honor the contract! The letter then gives us two options, pay the balance due (with the errors listed above and others) including the full $4,800 for the cobblestone or return the product by allowing Allen to remove the materials from our premises. The letter further states, “Please consider the options above and contact our office. We look forward to coming to a resolution in the matter, and do not want to see things escalate further to include a fee for restocking of Hydrangea, collections, or other legal action.” On Monday 15 Aug (1 business day after receiving Mr. Allen’s email on the 12th!!!!) we received an email letter of demand from Mr. Allen’s attorney for immediate payment as “invoiced on April 22, 2022.” We signed our contract on 23 April 2022 – how can they reference an invoice dated before the contract was even signed?! And what happened to Mr. Allen’s desire to avoid legal action?! A little about us – we are an active-duty military family. We’ve lived in many states and overseas and dealt with many contractors over the years. This is the absolute worst experience we’ve ever had with a contractor. We bought a home in the CWE because we fell in love with the neighborhood and STL. All we want to do is improve our home and enjoy our new community. There are other issues, but I won’t belabor the point. Oh, how we wish we had made a different decision about the contractor – we would have avoided Allen Outdoor Solutions like the plague. To end on a positive note, Chesterfield Valley Nursery had no problems supplying one of the items Allen Outdoor Solutions was unable to provide. Chesterfield Valley Nursery was easy to work with and very professional.