[samhass]

What would it have cost you to properly stake his trees and move on...keeping your reputation intact? As business owners, we've all had to to do this in one form or another.
Sometimes you find a customer that is difficult to satisfy. It comes with the territory. You need to factor those people into your pricing. I am not saying that Mr M is one of those people. If you had just sucked it up and made it right immediately, we might not be posting right now. One bad job can take you down if you allow it. The word of mouth factor is amazing. I'm hoping you make Mr M happy and he comes back on this site with kudos for you. He can't change your "lawsuit" statement, though. That is your statement and one that you should never have posted on this forum. The ease with which you throw around the terms defamation and slander are frightening to us old folks. We will heed your words and not forget them easily.

[ConeyIsBabe]

Ummmmmmmmm..... I don't know the original poster, I don't know the landscaper, heck- I don't even live in TV...... but one thing I do know (from watching Judge Judy for over 10 years) is that there is NO slander case here. Mucci's photos reveal that simple fact. He is expressing reality as he sees it -- and as we all can see it from the photos.

The bottom line is: poor customer relations along with not fixing the poor staking job as promised in the verbal contract!

I love Judge Judy ;D

[redwitch]

Jessica, I do understand and somewhat sympathize with you. I am self-employed and it is my reputation that gets me customers. I can have hundreds of satisfied clients but it only takes one to be unhappy for me to be out of business. You have an unhappy client. I would be standing on my head to make him happy unless I truly thought he could never be satisfied and then I would simply walk away. He has not complained about all of your work, just the trees not being staked (something that it seems should be standard -- I know it is in California where I used to live).

For you to threaten Mr. Mucci with slander and defamation is, quite honestly, ridiculous. He has spoken the truth. There is no slander (oral defaming of character) if what was said is true plus there was no defamation of character. Given the photos, I'd say the facts speak for themselves. There is no libel since what was written simply reiterated Mr. Mucci's feelings and the facts as he knows them. One thing I would never do is publicly threaten a client with a lawsuit -- people are going to take notice of that and remember it long after the emotions have died down.

You had (and have) choices. Do what you can to Mr. Mucci happy -- stake his trees properly. You can go back to his property, remove your plants, etc. and have him get a new landscaper that might make him happy and refund his money. You can do nothing and let him complain. If you're as good as you say you are, you might not get a customer or two but your previous satisfied customers will take care of that problem. You can try to sue but I doubt you'd be doing more than giving your hard-earned money to an attorney and the court.

If this were my business, I'd jump through the necessary hoops to get those trees staked properly, apologize to my client that there was any issue at all and go about my business (with a mental note to not deal with him again). If I felt fixing the tree issue would just lead to another complaint and then another, I'd remove my landscaping and wish the client well. As hard as it is, sometimes the best thing you can do as a small business owner is suck it up.

[samhass]

Jessica,I also hope you are a licensed contractor. If not, You may have more problems than Mr. Mucci on your hands.

[JohnN]

I was in customer service for many many years.
And a few unhappy customers, which were my responsibility , even when I felt they were wrong, it was my job to make them happy. And I realize we don't all have the same perspective.

Jessica, good of you to post, shows some pluck and wanting to defend yourself.
All said and done, you need to make the situation right, and then some, and stop worrying about your hurt feelings and reputation.

Fix it so that gfmucci (who is a thoughtful man, far as I know) has to put a closing post in here that says "C&E did me right, all said and done"

[samhass]

The Villages, Florida.
So, Mr Mucci, are you staked yet? Should we come and untie you??? 1rnfl

Originally Posted by samhass

The Villages, Florida.
So, Mr Mucci, are you staked yet? Should we come and untie you??? 1rnfl

Good one, Samhass from here in the Villages, Florida. :bigthumbsup:

[Boomer]

Jessica, Jessica, Jessica,

Stop sassin' Mr. Mucci.

Stop slappin' that old "I'm gonna sueya" card down on the table. You think not staking a tree can cost you business. Once you start throwing around that old "Seeya in court" :edit:, not wanting to spring for tree stakes becomes the least of your business worries.

Go stake the tree and whatever else, if you have not already done so. (I have kind of lost track of where this is right now.)

Now, resist saying, "Boomer is a :edit:." What does she know?"

Well, Boomer knows a thing or two. And now, I am going to tell you a little story. It's what I do.

In the very early days of my career, I could be a mouthy little snot sometimes. (Not saying you are. Just saying I was.) Not always. But sometimes. I thought it was all about me. I thought I knew everything about how to do my job. And I thought I could just say stuff. . .

Well, one day, an "old woman" kicked my young, cute little Boomer butt. She took me aside and told me quietly, but in no uncertain terms, exactly what I needed to be doing and what I needed to not be saying.

Well, even though I could be a mouthy little snot in those days, (Not saying you are. Just saying I was.) I also had a major clue once in awhile. And so I listened to what that "old woman" said. I apologized, sincerely. (In those days we did not consider "Sorry 'bout that" to be an apology. --That statement heard so often now drives me nuts. I don't even know if those saying it realize how it sounds. -- but I digress.)

Anyway, Jessica, I went on for 34 more years in one career. I needed specific education for that career. But I gotta tellya, Jessica, the education that "old woman" gave me, in about five minutes, turned out to have been the most valuable part of all that education.

I know your job is not easy. Any job done well is not easy. And I know you must be feeling, "What in the heck did I get myself into?"

But Jessica, if you stop and breathe and think about all this, you may realize that what you just got here in this thread from all these "old people" could just be worth more to you than an MBA. There is more business acumen riding around in those golf carts in TV than you could probably find anywhere in one spot.

And you did not even have to pay tuition to learn what you just learned. If you decide to learn it that is.

Well, Jessica, when I sit down at my computer, in my kitchen, almost every morning, I never know what I am going to write. And believe it or not, I really try to resist writing anything. But I cannot seem to stop. And this morning, I somehow landed in this thread. And here I am, a mouthy "old woman" trying to tell you what to do.

Jessica, I sincerely hope that you will learn from all this. And I hope you will tap even further into that potential you have. And I hope you will realize how big the business picture is. And how subtle the ins and outs of business can be. There is more at stake here than just a stake or two.

Boomer, the "Old Woman" with a Long Memory

[tkret]

Originally Posted by candelandscape

I understand all of you and I am just statin that it would have been nice to know about the situation by Mr. Mucci not on the internet. To this day I still havent recieved a phone call of I am upset or anything he call I returned his calls and then I read on here days before I go to his house that he has a serious problem with me and to beware and to avoid me. he didnt publicaly state my name but he did email people with it. I had no problem staking them. I went there 3 times in a week for various reasons other than staking. Also I am licensed and insured through lake county you cant work in the villages without it. The ridiculous part is that I didnt stake the trees properly it is that I am put into a catorgory of crooks and rip off and I have worked very hard. I dont have a degree in college I didnt even graduate highschool. But I have been around this business my whole life and I have made myself succsecful from treating people right but I dont feel its right for someone to make it seem as if I was a rip off. But I will listen to all of you I will be sending my crew there next week sometime on one of the weather permitting days and restake his trees properly I will be sending the other owner there to insure the proper way is done. So hopeful this might make you think different of C& E Landscape

Brovo! Jessica. Mistakes and misunderstandings happen in EVERY business. It is HOW the dispute is corrected that counts. Now it should be up to your client to advise if the problem(s) were resolved to his satisfaction.

[redwitch]

I do beleve Mr. Mucci will happily post when the trees have been staked to his satisfaction.

You may want to take before and after pictures. These would be good for lessons in how not to stake trees in high wind areas for future employees. Also, I'd recommend you make it a practice to stake trees. It just makes sense in this area.

Also, considering Tropical Storm is expected to bring some pretty serious winds to TV next week, I'd suggest you get the trees staked before Wednesday. Here's a link that gives a daily forecast of possible rain times this week: http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick...x=175&map.y=72

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by candelandscape

I understand all of you and I am just statin that it would have been nice to know about the situation by Mr. Mucci not on the internet. But I will listen to all of you I will be sending my crew there next week sometime on one of the weather permitting days and restake his trees properly I will be sending the other owner there to insure the proper way is done. So hopeful this might make you think different of C& E Landscape

Good girl Jessica. It's called customer service, learning from experience, and eating crow. Something we've all had to do from time to time. I hope the issue works out to everyone's satisfaction.

[Boomer]

Jessica, Jessica, Jessica,

I think you just might be a pretty daggone smart young woman. Having a degree or two is not what makes somebody smart.

Honesty, hard work, common sense, an understanding of human nature, and the desire and drive to keep on learning can take you far.

You got it. And you got it pretty darned fast, it sure looks like to me.

I wish you all the best.

And I, too, will be watching for the happy pictures.

Boomer

[serenityseeker]

OK, I just have to take a minute to say this is EXACTLY what drew me to this forum so strongly before I even decided to buy in the villages (about 6 yrs before i can actually move there full time). An intelligent exchange of ideas, some sage wisdom that I need to hear, and the supportive nature.
Jessica, glad to see you step up. Things can only continue to get better for you when you are willing to take wise advice even if it rubs the ego the wrong way a little. I can see some of your points and think I can understand your chagrin, but the fact is in a service industry you have to do exactly what you are doing, just make it as "right" as you can and keep moving forward.
My compliments to the intelligent and well spoken members of this forum. You only solidify my confidence in my decision to end up in this community.

[gfmucci]

Originally Posted by candelandscape

To this day I still havent recieved a phone call of I am upset or anything he call I returned his calls and then I read on here days before I go to his house that he has a serious problem with me and to beware and to avoid me.

To this day I cannot understand why Jessica had not responded to my two or three additional calls made AFTER her last voicemail to me.* In each of these additional calls I left voicemails further detailing the nature of the problem, repeating what I stated in my first calls.* Could be a voicemail glitch??? :dontknow: :dontknow:* I don't know how many calls it takes for a contractor to realize what a customer needs or if he is upset after voicemail explanations. No, I don't holler and carry on on the first (or even the second) phone call requesting corrective action.* Maybe I need to be more expressive. :realmad:

But I will listen to all of you I will be sending my crew there next week sometime on one of the weather permitting days and restake his trees properly I will be sending the other owner there to insure the proper way is done. So hopeful this might make you think different of C& E Landscape

Thank you, Jessica.** :bow:** Your efforts to make this right are sincerely appreciated.* A couple*of Queens have developed a bit of a lean as well.* Hope those can be corrected/supported along with the other item I phoned about (left voice mail a couple hours before your partner phoned me) this morning.* Please advise if you did NOT receive this mornings' (Saturday morning's) voice mail from me.*

Again, I appreciate your making amends.* I apologize for not communicating more effectively with you - but at this point I don't know how my communication could have been more effective than it was.* Perhaps you can give me (and future customers) some guidance in that area - different people or phone numbers to call, things like that.* During the six weeks I have been in The Villages, I have dealt with 10 or 12 contractors and did not feel ignored by or get frustrated with any of them.* With the phone call from your partner this morning, I believe we are back on track as well. :bigthumbsup:

[784caroline]

Jessica
You dont need a horticultural degree or fancy posters on the wall to develop a good trade but your reputation in how you deal with customers is learned from having a "nose" for bunisess and just plain common sense.
If you have not heard the phrase "You will get more flys (customers) by using a little sugar" ...I think it fits appropriately here!