Greener Grounds

llWhen he and his crew arrived they were extremely pleasant but the amount of mulch seemed insufficient to cover the beds extending around the house. Darvin said there was more coming. When he did arrive, his crew started working on the beds in the front of the house, pulling weeds. (I had recently retuned home from the hospital after having had abdominal surgery and was having touble getting around and could not be outside to supervise them) I thought that made sense and thought they would follow somewhat of a pattern moving in one direction. At that time he presented me with a new adjusted contract. I again examined the contract and found that the second adjusted contract had been altered from 14.5 yards of mulch to only 10 yards. When I asked him about this, he oozed charm, scrathed out 10 cubic yards and wrote over it 12-13 yards. This new contract also included a statement,; If this estimate shall exceed $1575.00 it will be discussed by the customer and Greener Ground prior to any works that exceed the estimated pricee. I noticed that instead of moving in one direction placing the mulch as so many other landscapers had done, he and his crew jumped from one bed to an area out of sight. I thought this was strange but did not say anything. This of course resulted in some beds not having mulch, especially those toward the front of the house. When he had run out of mulch he approached me and said they did not have enough mulch to finish the yard. Against my better judgement, I acquiesced, and agreed to pay for more mulch. The final bill was even higher than his original offer by $285.00. The real problem came less than 2 weeks when I noticed that weeds were coming up everywher in the new mulch. This was not the first time I had the beds mulched. And from my experience, have not had to pull weeds the entire summer. So naturally, I was perplexed. I called Darvin who very charismatically explained that he didn't spray all the beds for weeds as some customers are very persnickety about him spraying weed killer; it might damage their landscaping plants. He also expostulated that mulch does not stop weeds from growing, but said he would come back out, look at the beds and determine whether what I saw were weeds or was it "new grass", and if it was new grass, then he wasn't responsible. He did come out; he sprayed or rather I assumed that he resprayed all the beds, claimed that what he say was really "NEW GRASS." To be fair, I did inspect the front beds and could see the weeds/grass turning brown. Shortly afterward, I noticed that there was no landscape light illuminating that corner of the house. When I surveyed the grounds, I found that the landscaping light at the left corner of the front wall was laying down, disassembled, but still attached to the electric wire going under the grown. What makes this so interesting is that the electrician had just replaced a new light bulb in that same fixture just prior to the mulching done by Greener Grounds. To my dismay, this is the same landscape light that I showed Darvin when we were doing a walk through aroung the property after he had finished, that was disassembled, the two main parts were laying on the ground separated. When I pointed this out to him, he exclaimed that "Oh, I can fix that." He claimed to fix it by simply screwing the screw that holds the light in position. Well, he didn't, A short time later, I noticed that the light was not working, viewed the area only to find that the landscaping light fixture was again laying down on the ground broken. I figured that if Darvin had the knowledge and the desire to fix the light properly he would have done so when he claimed to. According to the electrician, the joint part that allows you to position the landscaping light in any direction has been damaged and the screw has been stripped, The electricians charge was $120.00, with $80 of that being a service charge. I feel that the Darvin, the landscaper should pay the landscaper's fee. He is responsible for what his workers do. Clearly in a conversation we had, he acknowledged that his worker ran over the light with his filled wheelbarrow, and the electrician confirmed that he found mulch inside the fixture.. On August 20, 2013 I contacted Darvin again. Very charismatically he expressed his excitment about his wife getting ready to have a new baby but as soon as he could he would take care of this problem. Interestingly he tried to get me to ageee to sign a 2yr contract for lawn care through his company. I refused. Sept. 9, 2013 I contacted him again. He told me his baby girl was born August 21. He and his wife were elated. He told me that he needs to see the broken fixture and then once he sees it , he will take care of the charges. He also said he needed to know the place where the new light was purchased, the model number, and the electrician's cost. He didn't believe that the light fixture should cost so much, but once he got that, he would take care of the cost. Sept. 10, 2013 called Darvin with the information requested. September 11, 2013 Darvin requested that I send him a copy of the electrician's invoice, making sure it had the electrician's contact information on it;once he gets that he will pay. September 16, 2013 the statement with the electrician's contact information was sent by regular mail. No response. October 4, 2103 called Darvin. He said that he had never received my letter. Claimed that he had tried to contact the electrician but never got any response. October 7, 2013 sent electrician's statement with contact information to Darvin Hollicay at Greener Ground by CERTIFIED MAIL. No response. October 30, 2013, while in line in the post office, i could hear the young man at the counter ahead of me. What do you know! It's Darvin Holliday. I raced to my car, got the invoice and as he was leaving, I HANDED HIM A COPY OF THE INVOICE. As charm poored out of his pores, he claimed that he was so glad to see me and that he was so glad that I was looking well and if there was anything that he could do for me, he'd be glad to. He took the invoice and said that he would call the electrician immediately and as soon as he could he would take care of the cost. Before I could get home he called, left a message that said that he had left message on the electricians phone and as soon as he gets with the electrician, then he will take care of the matter. November 1, 2013, Darvin called said he was still waiting to talk with the electrician. November 1, 2013 I spoke with the electrician who said that he had spoken with Darvin and that Darvin wanted his receipts for lights & fixtures. The electrician told him "NO, go to the store yourself, price them for himself. He had already provided him with the make and model #s. The electrician also told him "PAY THE LADY" "your mulch was inside the broklen light." December 4, 2013 Darvin called. He said he was waiting for Dan to get with him to show him the broken fixture and the receipt for parts. He requested that I needed to contact the electrician and insist that he provide him with the bill and parts. December 17, 2013 left message for Darvin. No response December 19, 2103 left message for Darwin. No response. December 20, 2013 left message for Darwin. Told him that I have the fixture. No response.