A R LANDSCAPE INC

We contacted AR Landscapes in early 2008 to have an irrigation well drilled. We are very thorough consumers & take great care to ask questions before work begins to avoid surprises.Therefore, we met and/or spoke with Andy Rhoads several times before work began. When drilling a well, there are no guarantees about whether or not H20 will be struck, much less the depth that may be required. We understood & accepted this up front. However, we did not expect or accept the other problems to come. Since the depth of the well impacts other costs related to irrigation, we discussed it in detail. The size of the motor needed (hp) to drive the well & subsequent irrigation, is the biggest "depth dependent" cost; so it got our focused attention up front. We proposed a number of "what if" scenarios to A.Rhoads & he assured us several times, that the motor he quoted would cover a well up to X ft. in depth. Additionally, in response to our requests for "no surprises" & a full accounting of all costs up front, A. Rhoads told us more than once that all items of consideration were included on the written quote. No other categories of cost would be added. Well drilling was completed & we contacted A. Rhoads to get information on the depth reached & next steps to hook up the irrigation system. We did not hear from him for nearly 1 week. When we did, it was in the form of an invoice that was @ TWICE the quote...even though the drilled depth was well within the range that the much discussed & quoted motor would handle! AR also added on a sizeable charge for landscape "prep" that was never referenced on the quote or in any of our discussions! AR did not even feel the need to make a courtesy call to tell us about the huge difference in cost before we saw it in writing. We felt that this must be a mistake & contacted AR for a personal meeting at our home. Mr. Rhoads arrived nearly 30 minutes late & was unapologetic for neither his tardiness nor his overcharges. When asked about the overcharge for the motor and prep charges, he simply said that he made a "mistake" but was not going to "eat" any of the cost.We explained that in our business, customers represented a partnership with us & that this was not how we expected a professional to act. Mr. Rhoads walked out and said he'd see what he could do.We were not hopeful based on his behavior. A. Rhoads called to say that he had misquoted the size & cost of the motor & simply "forgot" to include the landscape prep charge in is quote & would not change that. He said that the motor mfg. may give us a discount on the larger motor (that we didn't appear to need), but that was it. Moreover, we had 10" wide and 8" deep tire grooves and damage to our turf that AR never repaired. We had to have the work completed elsewhere. AR Landscapes represents the worst vendor/service provider experience we have had in 30 years as homeowners. Needless to say, we will never use them again.

THE DESIGN WORK IS EXCELLENT, BUT THE COMMUNICATION WITH THE OWNER IS VERY DIFFICULT. I HAD PROBLEMS WITH MY POND, AND EVEN THOUGH HE WOULD SEND PEOPLE OUT, THE PROBLEM WAS NEVER FIXED. THE QUALITY OF THE MAINTENANCE IN MY YARD HAS NOT BEEN VERY GOOD IN THE PAST YEAR.