Eastside Gardens

unknown

I had used the company for about 14 years. The staff are very efficient and do a really good job at keeping things neat. They did a landscaping project for my parent's home in the past. That project turned out very nicely. The staff are also courteous and friendly. I had no problem scheduling with them when I needed their service. They are super busy during certain times of the year but I never had to wait more than 3-4 days for them to come out.

On the morning of the install date, the owner of Eastside Gardens (Chester Cocco), and one of his employees came to the house to layout where the trees and shrubs were to be installed. Not knowing the scope of work that was going to be performed, I asked Chester if they were going to install any additional sprinklers, since the current sprinklers would not reach the trees properly. Chester said that ?he was under contract, and there would be no discussing anything. He had his orders and would follow them, regardless of my input.?
I tried to explain to Chester that I was responsible for maintaining the trees and shrubs, once they were installed. His reply was that ?there would be no talking about what was happening with the landscaping. He would only do what he was contracted to do, and that I had no business butting in.? Chester went on to say that ?we (my Husband and myself) were just transients, and could be gone in a month. I had no need to know anything.?
That afternoon, Chester?s employees showed up to install the trees and shrubs. After having to ask the employee (who was at the house that morning, with Chester) to not run over a plant with his edger, I asked him if they (Eastside Gardens) were going to deep
soak the trees and shrubs before leaving. His response to my question was ?get out of the way and let him do his job.? At that point, my Husband told him to leave.
The next morning at approximately 8:00 AM, Chester called the Property Management company who we have our Rental Agreement with, and told them that ?somebody needs to control that Woman?, referring to me.
This is what Eastside Gardens website says:
?Customer Service is # 1.?
?Unlike other Garden Centers, you are not alone at Eastside Gardens, our staff welcomes you and your gardening questions and we have the expertise to answer them.?
Those statements were definitely not exemplified by the Owner of Eastside Gardens, nor by his employee, toward me.
I called Chester and told him that based on the way he treated me, I was going to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, and post a review of my experience with him on Yelp and Angie?s List.
The last communication I received from Chester was this voicemail message:
?Oh, yes, Terri, I just wanted to inform you that if you falsely slander the Nursery name and don?t have actual justifications for everything you do, we have Attorneys on retainer who will actually come after you and sue you for treble damages. So I encourage the fact that you slander my name so that we can actually sue you. Talk to you later.?

Eastside Gardens is my favorite garden store. They are knowledgeable, professional, and everything they have is of high quality.

I called Chester to do lawn care and maintance. I had a big issue with there billing, but mainly his staff came to service and maintain my lawn. I was dissatified with the service because they kept cutting my lawn, but they weren't weeding it. Eventually I contacted another company to come over and do the work correctly.  I didn't think it was fair to keeping getting billed when I was not happy with the work the staff was providing. I contacted Chester about my issue and he was willing to give me back my money.  At least I was refunded.

They were reliable. The owner is a friend of mine so I had them do quite a bit of work for me. I haven't compared their pricing. I would probably use them again.

I returned the dead ones to the nursery along with our receipt. I told Ashley what had transpired, including the fact that she told my wife she could return them. She held up a plant that she had in the nursery and said in a supercilious way, ?See ours, they are fine?. I again said that we were told that we could return them if they were bad. She called me a liar and refused to replace the plants. Never in my life have I been treated so poorly by any salesperson. I tried to reach Eastside by telephone to discuss the issue but the phone was always busy.