J & E Nursery

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They were supposed to take down a tree, do some work in the backyard, and take dirt off the foundation/ re-graded the side yard. When they chopped down tree we noticed one of our other trees in the yard was dead . They said put dirt around the tree and then it died. This is not the tree they were there to cut down. The tree that died was one that we planted. It was a newer tree. When they cut down the large spruce they must have damaged this tree and tried to cover it up by replanting it. We find it very odd that they put dirt around the tree when they were only there to cut a tree down. They never admitted to killing the tree but he did admit it was quite a coincidence that they put dirt in a random tree's hole and it was then dead. He agreed to replace the tree after arguing with him. The tree has not been replaced. The day after the tree was cut down my husband went up to pull leaves out of the gutter and noticed that the gutter was damaged and the roof had a rather huge dent in it. The tree that they cut down must have hit the roof, dented it and rolled off the roof of our house. Now we have a dent in our roof and the gutter is damaged. We had a roofer come out and look at it and he said that something would have had to hit it. J&E said they were sending a roofer out but that has not happened. It has been over a month. The tree they cut down was enormous, it had an 18 inch diameter and it was really tall. It hovered over this part of the house. He then had the nerve to sent us a new invoice demanding more money after the damages he created. He still has not tried to resolve the issue. IN RESPONSE TO J&E RESPONSE BELOW ON 12/24/14 It is rather difficult to be happy with a contractor that destroyed our roof, gutter, and tree that not only had monetary but also sentimental value to our family. Mr. Hoffman claims he had a roofer come inspect our roof and his roofer found no damage. This is a bold faced blatant lie. Mr. Hoffman himself and only he came and inspected our roof without letting us know he was going to be on the property let alone going up on the roof. This is consistent with how he has handled most of this job. He has a very flippant respect for his customer's property or the jobs he takes on. There was no effort made to let my wife; who was home at the time; know he was going on the roof. The way she found out was by the noise on the roof, a ladder on the side of our house and legs hanging down, which scared her to the point where she was about to call the police. She went outside and at that point witnessed Mr. Hoffman himself taking the pictures he claims were taken by a roofer. He was alone and did not have a professional roofer with him. A qualified roofer would know they needed to look inside the attic to properly inspect the damage done to our home by J&E's crew while cutting down the tree. He claims there is no damage at all. Blatant lie. We on the other hand have had 2 professional inspections; both of which say there is clearly damage to the roof and gutter caused by the impact of a very large piece of tree. These professionals not only inspected the exterior but also the interior of the roof from the attic, which Mr. Hoffman or his fake roofer never did. I assure you they never entered our home or the attic of our house. The attached pictures show the depression in the roof which is in the shape of a log as well as the damage to the gutter. Strange how his supposed roofer 'has no interest in being part of this issue'. Our roofer has no problem stating there is obvious and significant damage to our roof and gutters (+$5000). The small tree that was killed was more than a "seedling"; it is about 7 feet tall. From the time the dead tree issue was brought to Mr. Hoffman's attention, there was repeated denial that any damage had been done. Mind you he was not on site supervising his crew. Several conversations were had about the tree being dead. First it was flat out denial. Then they said the crew had some extra dirt and they decided to put it around that tree since they noticed that tree could use a little more dirt in the hole. At that point the tree had been in the ground for two years. This was not a newly planted tree so there was usually grass around the tree not a dirt hole (well until they put dirt around it, which is how we realized they knocked it over and tried to hide the damage) HIs foreman insisted very rudely and angrily they didn't touch the tree otherwise. Finally, Mr. Hoffman relented and said he would have someone replace the tree with one from his nursery. This was another of the many lies he told. This never happened. The credit of $50 that was offered was given on a fraudulent invoice sent weeks after the job was done and just so happened to also include extra charges for services never agreed on. He claims that extra work was done when in reality what was originally asked for was not done. The purpose of the side yard work was to lower the dirt along the house. This was always the focus of the project. We never asked for a swale. When he says my wife kept telling him the work she wanted was work closer to the house, she tried to stop him from doing the other work and only do the work that was originally asked. Mr. Hoffman was not on site supervising. To do the work in the side yard he sent the same crew that cut the tree down. It was the same dishonest and rude foreman who swore he didn't touch the tree that was now dead. The crew was sent over and never asked myself or my wife what they were there for before starting the job. So either Mr. Hoffman did not understand the job or he disregarded what we wanted or he did not properly communicate with his crew what was supposed to be done. This was his mistake, not ours. My wife was not asking to expand the job, but merely to only do the job we asked for and no more. Another misstatement (lie) from Mr. Hoffman is regarding our yard and "flooding of our home". Our home has never flooded. And the grading in the side yard has nothing to do with the water coming into the backyard. These are two different places on the property. I believe Mr. Hoffman never understood this project and inserted his own in order to get more money out of us. We never had flooding in our home. My wife was repeatedly spoken to with disrespect and condescension as if she was a dumb woman. It is obvious by his rebuttal below. When issues were brought up by her the immediate responses by Mr. Hoffman and his on-site foreman were defensive. In fact, one of his crew witnessed this and tried to step in and help my wife while she was being verbally attacked by the foreman. His crew member also agreed the job was not being done correctly. This crew member in turn was yelled at by the foreman in front of my wife and literally told to shut up by the foreman. Highly unprofessional. Upon researching J&E, is it clear that we are not the first and only customers who have had issues. Other customers have complained about damage to their property while work was being done by J&E. They also experienced similar denial of responsibility by Mr. Hoffman.

Called and left message. I called back again and got estimate for mulch and delivery over the phone. Price was higher than I wanted to pay.

I first approached J&E in mid-March. I had also gotten a bid from another company to do the treatments, but they were much more expensive, so I asked J&E to proceed with the treatments. I didn't hear from them for several weeks. I tried emailing and calling them. After several attempts, I finally spoke with Larry, the arborist, and he explained that with the strange spring weather we were having, he was having challenges getting over to do the treatments. He assured me there was still time to apply the chemicals without harm to the blossoms or trees, and that he would do them. Several more weeks went by, and there was no evidence they had come by to treat the trees (no invoice, no phone calls). I began to see evidence of apple scab (leaves dying and falling off) in mid May, and emailed them twice more to ask what was going on. They have never responded, and it is now June 3rd. I believe it is too late to treat them now for this year's growth, so my trees are going to look horrible for another season. If they couldn't handle the amount of business they had, they should have told me, so that I could have had someone else come do the job. Their complete lack of responsiveness and customer service is appauling. I will never work with them again.

We called just to see what time their store hours were open and they ended up offering to send out a landscaping consultant to give us some ideas on what we were trying to do. Mary came out and spent about an hour with us walking around and giving us plenty of information and suggestions on what we can do around the property. We wanted to clean it up, take out a lot of the overgrown bushes from the previous owner, and replace with something that suited our needs. She said she was going to email us a bunch of ideas along with drawings showing options and did not do so. After a couple weeks of waiting, we had researched some of the suggestions she gave us verbally. We couldn't wait any longer to place our order and start our installation so we just called them to order what we decided on and schedule the tear out. The staff that showed up to do the work were great - they were courteous and fast. Mary showed up in the morning and failed to tell the workers everything they were supposed to do so it was a good thing we both took the day off from work to be at home. Otherwise all of the work would not have gotten done - she didn't tell them about the aeration we paid for and was not clear on the other work. Mary was very nice but extremely spacey. The workers were good so I don't want to say anything negative about them just because the landscaper was on a different planet. We also had to call them back multiple times about the scheduling. Mary took detailed measurements and the first time did not tell us to get enough privet hedges or limestone for the area she measured. We had to order more privet hedges and pay again for delivery fee to get them another weekend. Luckily the workers brought extra limestone so we didn't have to pay for a second delivery for that. I do not think the highest of the office staff but the product was of reasonable quality.

Company was responsive. They came out and gave and estimate. Offered ideas and creative solutions. Faxed a proposal in a timely fashion. They showed up when promised, did more than asked and cleaned up nicely. Fantastic experience. Will use them in the future. Highly recommended.

They met with me to discuss dimensions and spent time looking at the property. They sent me proposals and a quote. I asked how to accept the proposal and he asked for a deposit. The final products had not been selected at that time. He was supposed to come out a few months ago and I haven't heard from him at all.

Ken was supposed to call to set up an appointment for a bid. No call for days. Called back and was told he would call. Again no response. Finally, I got a call a few days later from Ken "Hey man, I've been busy." Talked like a hippy from the 60's. This was not the level of professionalism I was looking for, and so I went with another company.

Ken was supposed to call to set up an appointment for a bid. No call for days. Called back and was told he would call. Again no response. Finally, I got a call a few days later from Ken "Hey man, I've been busy." Talked like a hippy from the 60's. This was not the level of professionalism I was looking for, and so I went with another company.

Treated as a child who did not know what they needed. Everything we asked for was wrong. Price was very high. Made snap decisions without asking questions. Try Acosta's Landscaping in Waukegan if you want a good experience.

I liked the color pictures they provided to illustrate the work that they would do and they listened to my suggestions.

I INITIALLY HAD SOME ISSUES WITH THE WATER FEATURE, BUT THEY HANDLED THE SITUATION WITH THE UTMOST PROFESSIONALISM BECAUSE THEY WANTED ME TO BE HAPPY. I REALLY APPRECIATE THE UNBELIEVABLE EXTRA EFFORTS THE COMPANY WENT TO. WE WERE SO HAPPY THERE WERE NO HIDDEN COSTS. I'VE NEVER BEEN HAPPIER TO PAY A BILL THAT I WAS TO PAY FOR THE WONDERFUL SERVICE THEY PROVIDED, AND FEEL LIKE EVERY PENNY WAS WORTH IT. WE HAVE ALREADY HAD PEOPLE WHO'VE SEEN THE JOB ASK FOR THE COMPANY'S INFORMATION, AND WE HOPE TO DO BUSINESS WITH THEM AGAIN IN THE FUTURE.

THE PROPOSAL WAS COMPLETE AND NICELY PREPARED WITH COMPUTERIZED PHOTOS OF HOW OUR YARD WOULD LOOK AFTERWARDS. THE FINISHED LOOK WAS VERY NICE.

THEY WERE GREAT TO WORK WITH. GAVE ME COMPUTER GENERATED PICTURES OF HOW MY YARD WOULD LOOK WITH THE PLANTS THEY CHOSE SO I COULD MAKE CHANGES BEFORE THEY DID THE WORK.

THEY ARE EXCELLENT