QUALITY EDGE LAWN CARE LLC

I have had Quality Edge as my lawn care and snow removal provider for about 4 years. When Mr. Ross started cutting my grass he did a great job. My yard is a little over 1 acre, with some mature trees, flower beds, plants, some rocks and some lawn ornaments, with a slough running across the front of the property, at the roadway. There are some rough spots in the yard, and sometimes when it has rained, the ground is very soft. Mr. Ross made the yard look great, cut the grass, trimmed around the flower beds etc, cleared debris on the sidewalk, etc. During the first year, there were a couple of mishaps, where he accidently cut down some plants, but all in all it was a good job. At the end of that first year, Mr. Ross told me that he miscalculated how much work would be involved, and would be increasing my bill from $65.00 to $75.00 a cut. I agreed. Mr. Ross also offered to do some more intense work, helping me clear branches, weeds and yard debris from the yard. I have several mature trees on the property, and you would definitely call my home "out in the country". One area of work was a line of Yucca plants interspersed with Sassafras trees, by the roadway. The trees were suckers that had grown up over time, the tallest about 10 feet. The Yucca plants, about 20 in all, were somewhat overgrown. I told Mr. Ross that he could take out as many Yuccas as he wanted, I didn't care if he pulled them all out, but make sure he saved the two largest Sassafras trees. Well, I'm sure you know where this is going; when I got home, all the Yuccas were still there, and all the trees had been cut down. When I told Mr. Ross what the problem was, he joked, "You want me to put them back?" I eventually started putting stakes in the ground and wire cages around the plants that were being continuously damaged, making my yard look like a marked mine field. The next year, I had a large maple tree near the house die. Mr. Ross's son worked for a nearby university doing the exact service I needed, so I hired the two to take down the tree. Well, the tree ended up striking the house, causing damage to the vinyl siding and storm door. Mr. Ross apologized and offered to "fix that." I had no idea whether he had any knowledge or experience with siding, so I told him I would take care of it. During the next years at least a dozen plants were cut down, including 2 hardy hibiscus in the front yard and a patch of wild ferns that I intended to transplant, that I eventually gave up on ever seeing again, a spider lily plant, coreopsis, a small beech tree, a flower bed in the front yard that was cut smaller and smaller, every time the lawn was mowed, several day lilies and Asiatic lilies. Several times, my car, parked on the gravel driveway, ended up covered in sticky grass, and often, spots were cut down to dirt or ruts were sunk in a wet yard. Every time I mentioned these problems, Mr. Ross apologized and sometimes blamed the problem on unqualified helpers. This last year was the last straw. During the winter, when they plowed my driveway, they left piles of gravel a good distance into the yard, and a cement slab (12"x12") was dragged from the top of the drive down to the roadway, as well as a fairly large rock from one of the flower beds near the drive. When I complained the gravel was blown back onto the drive with a leaf blower and after a second complaint the slab was returned to the top of the drive. Next, a spider lily that I complained about a year ago, was again cut down. A strip of yard, approximately 20 feet by 60 feet, between my neighbor's an my property was left uncut, as well as spots on the other side of the property. Once again, the front yard flower bed was shrunk, including a coreopsis which shrunk from a diameter of over 2 feet to less than a foot. I called to complain and Terry Ross, Mr. Ross's son told me "We'll get it next time." I also found another spot of broken siding on the house where a rock was thrown up. After cutting the grass right after a heavy rain, the passenger side of my car was covered with sticky wet grass. I had to take it to a car wash to clean it. I normally pay my bill with an automatic payment from my bank, but in June I did not pay the previous months bill. I was totally frustrated and didn't know what to do. I was also called out of state on a family emergency. I am on a pension which is distributed once a month on the 1st, and the lawn care bill was two months unpaid. I sent a payment for one month, and deducted $50.00 for the time when the lawn was not cut completely, and the plant and car damage occurred. I also apologized and explained that I would make the account current when I got paid on the 1st of the month. I received an email from Terry Ross, asking how I knew that the damage was caused by the lawn mower and not animals eating the plants. I countered that animals don't leave tire tracks, don't eat just around the outer edges of flower beds and don't "cut" plants down to the ground and then mulch the debris. Terry Ross then emailed me that they were discontinuing my service and expected the balance immediately. Luckily, I was able to find another service to cut my grass at a cheaper price, and after two months I have had none of the problems experienced with Quality Edge.