Joe Eley, of Eagle Eye met with me and agreed to cut and edge the lawn of my and frac14; acre yard and to clear clippings from pavement and to trim shrubbery for $45 per visit, approximately every two weeks commencing in the spring of 2013. Eagle Eye was chosen by myself based upon Angie’s List reviews and agreed to pricing which was a few dollars less than three other estimates I received at that time and the reviews seemed to be superior to those of another company who was charging the same price of $45. The yard is not complicated. It is a flat wedge shaped lot with 3 small gardens in the front and 2 small gardens and 1 larger mound garden taking up a portion of the back lawn. It includes typical shrub plantings along three sides of the house. There are approximately 5 deciduous trees (larch, sweetgum, hickory, maple) on or bordering the yard and two holly trees at the front corners of the house which stand approximately 15 feet high. There are no pine trees. The lawn consists of a combination of Bermuda, caterpillar and other grasses and unfortunately weeds to which I personally apply feed and weed products. The lawn is not irrigated and I rarely water so growth is not rapid. At no time from the day we agreed to the work, through the calendar year that this company was used, did Joe from Eagle Eye or any of his employees pronounce verbally or in written or electronic form any concerns over the yard or any problems he or his men might, or did, face while maintaining the property. The speed at which they would arrive, perform their work and be packed up and driving away was extraordinary, however I am not sure that this was beneficial as concerns arose after only a few visits. This included less than uniform cutting of the lawn (a few small areas missed) which I did not address as it was not entirely significant and something I considered to be a minor oversight. However, on June 16, 2013 I requested that they no longer “weed whack” my gardens as newly growing flowers (asters and others from bulbs) were cut down in the process of eliminating weeds. On at least one occasion, I personally asked that the lower shrubs be trimmed as they had not been trimmed in over a month, and was told, that they were running late and/or it was late in the day and they would do it next time. This resulted in at least six weeks (or more depending upon inclement weather causing justifiable delays to the next visit)of growth during the warm growing season. When I asked for the holly trees to be trimmed, I was told they did not have the necessary equipment with them and they would do it the next time. When it was done, this resulted in an additional $40 fee. When I wrote on that bill (all of which were paid promptly and in full) that I was surprised at the additional charge (for something a previous landscaper had included in the base price), I received a text message from Joe stating in part, ““you have to be crazy to think that there would not be an extra charge!” (quoted with exclamation marks). I was somewhat surprised by his stating that a client “must be crazy”, whether in jest or not, as it is not something I would consider to be professional by any business operator although I do understood his reasoning for the additional charge. I followed this days later by asking in a text, “…could I reduce my rate if I choose to trim my own shrubs?” as this is something I do not mind doing and received the simple text from Joe, “40 per visit”. On August 12, one of my coiled garden hoses was found to be sliced open near one of the gardens in the backyard when I went to water plants immediately after the crew left the property. When I texted Joe to let him know, he replied, “My guy said he moved the hose I don’t know how we could’ve cut it!” indicating to me that his employee was immediately aware of which hose, of two on the property, was under consideration when Joe asked him about it. Joe did appropriately agree to replace the hose or have me deduct the cost of a replacement and submit the receipt to him to deduct from that month’s payment. I did the latter. The biggest problem arose in December of 2013 when the Eagle Eye crew, with Joe, did winter cleanup of the leaves in the yard. Instead of blowing, raking and bagging the leaves as most yard companies appear to do here resulting in a minimum of eight typical paper yard waste bags needing to be placed on the curb, the leaves were mulched by being run over with their lawn mower. This method of making the leaves less bulky seemed logical. The leaves were blown from all of the gardens excluding the largest garden in the back yard and from alongside the south side of the porch. Those two areas of leaves went untouched and were still there after the crew left. One plastic bag of mulched leaves from the backyard was taken away from a backyard that was literally wall to wall leaves. This was after Joe had one of his workers bring a large orange colored, fan blower, on wheels into the backyard which was used to blow a vast quantity of the mulched leaves purposely and with obvious forethought onto the surface of pond at the back of our property rather than being bagged and removed for proper disposal at my curb or elsewhere. This caused distress for not only myself but for my neighbors who spoke to me afterwards who share the pond view, as it resulted in the pond with having a brown coating of dead leaves on top of it for yards which lasted two days. At this point, it became apparent to me that even though the price for the work done by Eagle Eye was lower than or equal to others, the quality of work and pride in work on my property was considerably lacking. It was outweighed by the haste and obvious need to simply get the job over with as quickly as possible. I sent a note to Joe on January 4, 2014, with a final payment explaining the above concerns and that Eagle Eye’s services would no longer be needed. Joe replied as follows in a text: “Got your little note! that’s fine! And just to let you know the things I don’t like about you and your yard far outweigh the list you gave me! Good luck!” Again, I was somewhat surprised by the unprofessional tone of this text as well as the fact that during the months that Eagle Eye serviced my yard, no mention of any dissatisfaction or problems was ever brought to my attention by Joe or his crew. I can only wonder if they had brought such matters to my attention in a professional and courteous manner deserving of any client/customer relationship, if this could have been worked out to the satisfaction of both service and client. In summary, Eagle Eye’s service was perfunctory and the rapport established by this business was considerably unprofessional in my opinion based upon the factors declared above. Joe often replies to postings on Angie’s List, however, regardless, I stand by my points here as documented fact, not merely opinion.