[k2at]

I have only myself to blame as I thought the ethical standard people down South subscribed to was higher than up North. This may very well be the case, but with every barrel of apples one is surely likely to find a rotten one.

I, unfortunately, found the rotten apple vis a vis sunscape landscaping.

[gary42651]

I am surprised to hear about the problems with Sunscape. They did a great job for us, and like many people we lost most of our small plants to the freeze. Sunscape came back and replaced them at no charge. He did not cause the cold weather, and I didn`t expect him to do it for free, but he did. Sorry to hear about all the problems people are having with his company.

[BlueHeronFan]

Reminds me of a sub-par pool install at my former home neighborhood. The neighbor erected a sign the size of a sheet of plywood on his lawn, stating for all to stop over to see the workmanship of the company that did the work if they were considering installing a pool or spa.
Amazing what word of mouth can do. Both good and bad. I read somewhere that good work word of mouth might 2-3 people, but bad work word of mouth reaches 10+.

We had carpenter work done one time and before the work began, mentioned to the contractor that my wife had over 70 employee's working for her at the hospital. The work was excellent, and anybody who asked was referred to this contractor.

Thanks for the heads up on Sunscape.

[k2at]

Gary42651, I am glad you had a better experience with Sunscape as mine was a horror. I believe I was a model customer. I asked him the cost of the project and agreed to it. I asked for no plot plan, nor a contract, I left the selection of plants up to him with the caveat they had to be freeze resistant, I made a point of inquiring as to whether we should wait till March to plant so the roots could establish themselves, and overall I treated he and his workers with dignity and respect. Despite all of that, 95 percent of the plants died and he absolutely refused to return my emails or my phone calls.

The proof of the pudding is that he has not even responded to this THREAD. I know if it were me, I would want a chance to defend myself.

When or if he does, I would like to see how he will attempt to lie his way out of what I have said.

[walterray]

I contacted Jeff at Sunscape based on the positive postings in TOTV for some landscaping work as well as paver cleaning. He responded right away and seemed very knowledgeable and honorable. His crew came as expected and the work was completed on time and to my satisfaction. I was a bit put off by the fact that Jeff did not come to review the work or check with me after it was completed (as he said he would). However, I was ok with it.

I attempted to get in tough with Jeff in order to have some additional landscaping work done. I left him a voicemail. No response. I sent Sunscape an email via their website. No response. I called the office and spoke with a woman who answered the phone and was assured that Jeff would call me back. Again, no response. Sent an additional email. Once again no response. Finally, yesterday I sent a private message to Jeff via TOTV and guess what - no response.

Based on this thread it is probably good that Jeff has not gotten back with me. I cant understand how people can do business like this. It is one thing to not respond when there is a complaint but another to not even respond to someone who wants to give you more business.

I will be contacting other companies to do the work I need and wont waste any more of my time with Jeff and Sunscape.

[KathieI]

Sadly, I hate posting negative things like this.... but I also had a problem with Jeff yet I think I praised him when the work was initially done.
He planted about 8 hibiscus trees around my house for me. I requested extra bracing because I live in a wind tunnel area of Heavenly Hadley. In only a couple of days, one tree when down and I called him and by the late evening, and a couple of reminder calls, he sent someone to brace the tree properly. A few days later, another tree went down, and I called him, emailed him, PM'd him, and he never came to do anything about it. After a month, my friendly Handieman (Handie, from TOTV) came out and braced it for me the way it should have been done in the first place. Before Handie did the job, Jeff pm'd me that he wasn't ignoring me but he was busy and promised to be out the following week -- needless to say, he never showed up.

I find this totally unprofessional and unforgivable and have no clue how people can think they can stay in business and treat us customers this way. Jeff, if your reading this, you know I'm in the right....I was very disappointed in you behavior.

I have since hired a very nice man, who shows up on time, on budget, no pressure and does a very good job. He is returning this week for the 2nd phase of my job. He had to pull out every one of the hibiscus trees as they all died in the freeze, I don't blame Jeff for this, but he should have made me aware that they were so vulnerable.

[2BNTV]

I went to my list of recommendations for a landscaper for when I move to TV.
LANDSCAPING:
John's Landscaping Services
• Is anyone currently using, or have used in the past, a landscaping & gardening company called John's Services out of Lady Lake? Met one of his employees yesterday and he spoke very highly of the owner, John Marko. Usually, if the employees are impressed the owner is doing something right. Apparently he's been in the area about 38 years.
• I am new to TV and have been given contact numbers for:
lawn mowing
weed removal
garden pest control
shrub care
palm tree care
tree-trimming
lawn green-up
What I really want is one person to do everything, rather than seven different specialists
• I just hired Joh's Services, John Marko - owner to handle all the things you mentioned for myself and my neighbor. He is a small business out of Lady Lake but has been doing landscaping and related services for 39 years. Call him for a quote at 352-409-6087. He's a hands-on gardener who's staff really like working for him. I've met with him several times and am impressed with
his work and quality. Nice man!
Hope this helps

[Halle]

I'm also disappointed to hear this about Jeff and Sunscape Landscaping, I was one of many that recommended Jeff based on the job he did for us.

Unfortunately this is a very familiar scenario concerning services and recommendations in TV. A homeowner will have a great experience with a service provider be it handyman,yard service,pavers,painters,plumber etc and recommend that company or individual only to find out later that they are not providing the same quality service that the recommendation was based on. I don't have a solution to the problem, but do appreciate being kept informed of homeowners experiences good or bad.

Last year when I bought our villa I called Jeff to talk about taking care of lawn since we are part timers. Jeff agreed to meet me when we was in TV. I called and never heard from him. I had to scramble to find a lawn service in a short time. I was considering calling Jeff as I am ready to landscape the yard as we prepare to move in full time. Thanks for the heads up. It enforces what I suspected last year. Back to square one on the landscaping.

[dcrherb]

Woooow thanks alot--I have tried numerous time to have Jeff return my calls ---New to Villages and wanted landscaping done--I also find him a poor customer relations Person Thanks for saving me from a big mistake Herb New villager

[Chi-Town]

Based on all the recommendations I used Sunscape in mid February and was most pleased. They put in two paver patios, stone bordering, and numerous bushes and plants. All went as expected. At the end of the project his right hand man had a heart attack at the races in Gainesville.

I called a few days ago asking for Jeff to call me as the bracing is still on a Queen Ann palm that they put in. I also would like him to just check out the plants and get a summer watering schedule from him. No call back even though it was promised. If he doesn't call a happy customer back there is little chance he will call anyone with issues.

I was told his right hand man is doing well now, but Jeff must not be. How else could you explain such a turnaround? My son owns a landscape company up north http://www.lawnstopatios.com/ and said that Jeff is erasing all the good will that makes a business successful. What a shame.

[coloradoavs]

We have been attempting to arrange warranty work with Jeff since last October without success. Sunscape been informed numerous times by email and telephone that we are arriving at our home in TV on 5/21/10 and would like for Jeff (he has stated that he did not perform the job (curbing) to his standards and would perform warranty work) to re-do the curbing while we are in TV during this trip but have not heard one word from him.

ColoradoAvs.

I agree. We have been attempting to reach Jeff since last October to perform warranty work on the curbing that he installed. Even though he has admitted that his work (mixing process) was poor and he would come back and re-do. Through numerous emails and calls, we have informed Jeff that we would be back in TV on 5/21/10 and would like for him to fix the warranty issues during our stay but have not heard from him.

ColoradoAvs

[dfn8tly]

What a shame that someone would destroy their company's as well as their personal and professional reputation with total disregard for their current and future clients. If Jeff no longer wishes to be in the landscaping business he would have been so much better off to make such an announcement here on TOTV than end it this way. I also had difficulty getting him to return calls and quickly got the message. As any elementary student soon learns, you can only use "the dog ate my homework" as an excuse one time.

[Skip2MySue]

This is what makes this such a great site. The sharing of info whether good or bad to help your fellow neighbors. We are newbies moving to Pennecamp part time in July and will need all sorts of support services. Thanks for all your opinions and helpful hints.
Skip

[LoveFlorida]

I had lunch with some friends today and found out that Sunscape is now doing work for TV, I do not know which contractor hired him to work but that he is doing work for one of them. This must be the reason he is not at all concerned about making homeowners happy anymore he has moved on to doing the new installs in TV. I thought that TV only hired good reputable companies. Somehow they got hired to do work with them. Contractors must not go on this site and read the complaints he has had lately.