Loudoun Lawn Cares, LLC

I contacted Mr. Jason Rader of Loudoun Lawn Cares, LLC by e-mail at the beginning of December 2014.  I asked that our leaves be raked and the leaves and weeds be removed from the gardens.  I specifically advised Mr. Rader that my husband had already cut back any dead plants that needed to be cut but that he had ran out of time for raking. 
As I told Mr. Rader when all was done, I should have backed out from working with him the minute I received illogical e-mails from him only to be told he had me "confused" with another client.
Mr. Rader and his crew arrived on December 4, 2014 and got to work.  They did not touch base with us when leaving and when my husband and I went out to check the work we were nothing short of horrified. In the interest of clarity I will relate what was done and what Mr. Rader's comment was when I called him to complain.
Hydrangeas that will bloom ONLY on buds formed on branches the previous year were cut to a height of three inches. These hydrangeas are never to be trimmed as they will NOT bloom!  These are specific plants my husband had bought from around the country and nurtured for years.  These were gorgeous blooming plants each Spring/Summer and they are ruined.  Mr. Rader's comment was that he cuts HIS hydrangeas back every year and they are just fine.  Any attempt to tell him these were a special breed of hydrangeas was ignored.  PLEASE NOTE: This work was  NOT authorized.
A prominent eight foot branch was lopped off a mature cherry tree.  The tree now looks lopsided.  Mr. Rader's initial comment was "what cherry tree?"  When advised where the tree was in the yard he said it was cut because it was in the way of his man mowing the lawn.  PLEASE NOTE: This work was  NOT authorized.
We have two large pine trees at one end of our property.  We have spent thousands of dollars on these trees, having them shaped to avoid Winter storm damage (as they are HUGE) and for aesthetics as they are the first thing you see coming up to our house.  We also had a screen porch added to the side (rather  than the back)  of our house last Spring specifically to take advantage of the view of these trees (and the aforementioned cherry tree!) and to enjoy that part of the yard as the pine trees blocked the view of traffic on the main thoroughfare. The trees were last worked on by a professional licensed arborist just this Fall and they looked gorgeous.  We had the canopy of the bottom branches trimmed to a height of eight feet from the ground (and it is specifically noted on the arborist's  estimate that this height was to provide maximum screening from the street).  Mr. Rader and his crew BUTCHERED these two pine trees. He randomly cut branch after branch and the trees now have a ridiculous look.  The lower branches are far above where they had been trimmed by a professional arborist and the trunks are a mass of stumps.  Any screening provided by these trees is lost forever.  His response to our complaint about the ghastly cutting was the trees were in his way (when he was chopping the hydrangeas mentioned above).  PLEASE NOTE:  This work was  NOT authorized.
As mentioned, I called Mr. Rader and told him we had serious problems.  I told him we WOULD pay for the work we had asked for but we were going to ask for compensation for the UNAUTHORIZED work done.  He became angry and said he was on his way back to the house.
When he arrived my husband went out to talk to him.  Every issue my husband brought up was thrown back in his face by Mr. Rader.  As it became apparent that Mr. Rader knew nothing about plantings and argued that the tree trimming was "necessary" (again UNAUTHORIZED!) my husband told Mr. Rader that he (my husband) needed time to calm down and he would contact Mr. Rader later in the week.  Mr. Rader shouted "I don't need this (expletive deleted)!"  My husband then turned away and went in the house.
What happened next was nothing short of a nightmare.  Mr. Rader ordered his crew to EMPTY the truck of everything that they had just taken from our yard and RETURN IT TO THE YARD.  They all acted like mad men.  They hauled the branches off the truck and threw them all around the front lawn. They took all the leaves and trimmings and not only threw them around the yard (front and back) and in the gardens but they took special care to stuff them under bushes and in the crooks of tree branches.  I looked out the window at one point and one man was on his hands and knees jamming armloads of leaves under an azalea bush.  I became concerned about what else they might do and wanted to try and stop them but my husband said it was safer to stay in the house.  We had  the leaves originally raked in October and the yard was in good shape when Mr. Rader's crew arrived (we just needed the leaves raked!).  What they left behind was a disaster.  As one neighbor said it looked like a tornado had come through and hit only our yard.
NEVER in our lives (and we are retirement age; we are talking a long time) have we ever met anyone in a service field like Mr. Rader.  In speaking with him it became apparent that he knew nothing about landscaping as he without thinking damaged trees and plantings beyond repair (offering lame justification for doing so).
We ended up not paying Mr. Rader for the work done as he lost control of his senses with ordering his crew to return all yard trash to the yard.  Again, we had offered more than once to pay but he chose his way of resolution.
There is nothing I can say in favor of Mr. Rader.  As I stated, it was shaky from the beginning with the client identity mix up.  This was then followed by the destruction of our trees and plantings.  We later noticed everything that was wintering in the gardens was cut back whether it should have been or not to an even height of mere inches.  The finale was he and his crew running back and forth across our lawns dumping yard trash everywhere.  We are working with a professional landscaper as to how to best make repairs and will be asking for damages paid through official channels as we will not meet with Mr. Rader under any circumstances.
I am not able to provide a listing address for this company as there is no address listed on his website. 
If nothing else, I will NEVER hire anyone again that is not on Angie's List.  We were in a hurry to get the yard cleared of leaves as all our neighbors had done their yards.  We live on a cul de sac and when the wind blows the leaves easily travel around the neighborhood.  I called a number of Angie's providers but it was going to be weeks before someone could come out as it was the "busy" season for leaf raking.  I foolishly fell for a slick website with pretty stock photos of a company that was not listed on Angie's List (at least not under the company name I have).  Again, lesson learned and NEVER will I bypass Angie's List again!  (Which is why the yard was later cleaned up by an Angie's List landscaper -- at a third of the price quoted by Mr. Rader!)) 
P.S. -- I will share with Band of Neighbors but just about each and every one of them came by after watching Mr. Rader at work to hear the story!