[conservativechick]

hi my hubby and i hired a landscaper last yr to do our home and spent a fortune. he said everything was guaranteed for one year. so over the winter all our hibiscus trees and bushes did not do well and most are dead. Trying to call him now we get nothing but excuses "well nothing is warranted against an act of God" well we'll be there today and on and on and never shows up. anyone else going through this aggravation?? They are quick to take your money but wait till you need them to return after they have your money. cc

[BogeyBoy]

Unfortunately yes. We had an area that could not be completed because we were building a bird cage. Once the bird cage was completed I called the landscaper to finish his job. After repeated calls I gave up and hired someone else to do the final work. I had some hibiscus plants with problems before the freezes and called and asked them to come check them out and replace if necessary. The never showed and now the plants are really history. Interesting point: I did check the references and went looking at jobs they had done. They did nice work for us - just no follow up and they don't return my calls.

[conservativechick]

wow sounds like my guy. maybe we used same one!! ha mine did beautiful work for thousands (mind you) last spring but where is he now that i need him to replace what i lost??? he's working on new customers for more thousands. i have never seen such disregard for customers as the contractors here. seems as if no one has work ethic anymore. Why not please your customer especially when everything in the villages is spread by word of mouth. you'd think they'd want to keep a good reputation!! cc

[thegreenerside]

Based on what you have stated it seems to me that the problems are an "act of God". Would you have expected him to replace plants because of a Hurricane or Tornado? The hibiscus is a fragile plant along with many others including some palms and with the cold weather that we experienced this past winter those plants did die. The good news however is that they will come back in a matter of a few months. Very few of the plants planted in this portion of Central Florida do not come back after a heavy freeze. Regarding the inattention of the landscaper that is wrong, but my belief is the poor condition of the landscaping is beyond their "warranty" and it was probably explained, but not in the manner you wanted to hear.

[Village2/09]

I think that everyone needs to realize that it was a very cold winter and if you lost a few plants it should not be the Landscapers who should have to replace the plants because it was cold they did not control the weather. Landscaping does not come with a life long of replacing plants that is why the plants are $12.00 not hundreds of dollars. When you hire a landscaper if you want nothing that will die back then tell them that is what you want.

[F16 1UB]

In the early 80's my parents lived in Clermont, about 25 miles south of TV. Many groves were froze out. Their palm trees, although the frawns turned brown, came back w/o issues. They did nothing until they fell to the ground. The hibiscus came back as before.

[Boomer]

This is not about the particular situation with the landscaper. I am not in TV. But I just wanted to share a little piece of landscaping advice that I was given a long time ago and that has served me well.

A friend who knows his way around landscaping told me that before choosing your plants, spend some time looking at the landscaping of commercial properties. If you see something at a restaurant or an office building that you like, find out what it is and if it will work in your yard's exposure and space.

That makes sense to me because commercial landscaping has to be pretty tough. It is not like anybody is babying it. And because the plants are tough, they are tried and true and should be less expensive than other plants. If they are not less expensive up front, at least overall they will be because they will make it.

But another thing that some landscapers may try to do is to sell more plants than can mature in the space and do well. As I look at commercial landscaping, I can tell the ones where somebody was not minding the store. I can see where too many plants have been sold. Sure it's the instant gratification look, an easy sell, but that always results in a mess after a while, no matter how tough the plants are.

A truly professional landscaper wants the landscaping project to look great years down the road and will design accordingly. Not easy to find sometimes. From what I have read here on TOTV about the problems so many Villagers have had with various landscapers, I have to wonder what it takes to set up a landscaping business there. A shovel?

I wish you all the best in finding good landscapers. Beautiful landscaping sure makes a house complete.

Boomer

[lorigiam]

Originally Posted by conservativechick

hi my hubby and i hired a landscaper last yr to do our home and spent a fortune. he said everything was guaranteed for one year. so over the winter all our hibiscus trees and bushes did not do well and most are dead. Trying to call him now we get nothing but excuses "well nothing is warranted against an act of God" well we'll be there today and on and on and never shows up. anyone else going through this aggravation?? They are quick to take your money but wait till you need them to return after they have your money. cc

We are having the same problem only with a different company.. he also took our money, does not return calls ...ADVANCED CURBING AND LANDSCAPING OWNER JEROMY FINEGAN ABOUT 29 YRS OLD. I WAS TO TRUSTING THE JOB IS HORRIBLE. SO CALLED BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU AND WENT SENIOR V CRIMES. HE SEEMED NICE AT THE START OF THE JOB. AFTER PAYING HIM BEFORE HE FINISHED, HE STARTED TALKING DOWN TO US. NOW HE IS YOUNG AND WE ARE 69YRS. WHERE IS THE RESPECT?

[elcid]

We also had a lot of landscaping done and lost 10 or so plants in the freeze. We called the Landscaper to have it replaced. He responded and replaced all but one without charge. I told him I expected to pay and he said no this time it is free, but next freeze is on me........He advertises a lot in the sun and by mail, the name is Mansfield (Steve).