We wholly regret that the homeowners were unhappy with our services. However, upon initial meeting with the customer, it was made clear to the landscape manager that our judgement would be the ultimate factor in determining what landscape maintenance would take priority. On the estimate, the manager itemized that our company would be mulching, weeding, light transplanting of select perennials, and trimming select shrubs that could be trimmed during the summer months, as it is not always wise to trim certain shrubs in the summer that are flowering. When the customer asked the landscape manager about the trees in question, he made it very clear to her that they were too large for us to prune, and that she would need to contact an arborist. Furthermore, the original amount we quoted was $640 for landscape maintenance and installing a small stone retaining wall around a landscape bed, a very competitive price for the size of the job. The estimate was submitted in middle May of 2012. After we left the estimate in the customer's hands, the customer then attempted several times to lower the price on the invoice by having her son work with our experienced crew. The manager made it clear that we could not accommodate her request due to liability issues, and she reacted rather negatively. Following that particular conversation, no contact was made for several weeks. The customer made contact in middle June, and we were very accommodating at fitting her in at the height of our busy season. The day that we came out, the customer was there, and spoke with the landscape manager regarding the work order. The customer immediately changed the work order, and added a substantial amount of work to what we had originally bidded on. The customer wanted quite a large amount of her perennials removed from the landscape, several leggy roses, groundcover cut out, as well as ornamental grasses being scaled back. The landscape manager agreed to the work after the customer made it clear that she understood that the services would incur additional charges. We began work on the property when agreed upon, and the customer followed our crew around, inspecting the work, pointing out what she wanted done, and even went so far as to do some of the work herself. This is quite out of the ordinary in our experience, and we do not typically work in that fashion. She established minimal to no trust in either the capability of our crews, or quality of our work. The customer also made it very clear to the landscape manager that she felt uncomfortable with our crews speaking Spanish on her property. Our landscape foremen are bilingual, while some of the crew members are limited in English. The landscape manager made it clear that for us to be effective, communication in any language was a necessity. On the day that work began, the heat index was at 98 degrees Farenheit, and the humidity was at 82%. While we certainly value that every customer takes precedence, the safety of our human staff takes priority. The landscape manager explained to the homeowner the situation, and the customer agreed that it was no problem to come back the following morning. Our crew went back as planned, and completed work. On this particular day, the customer was also home, and made several close inspections again, and the customer seemed quite happy with the work. The customer did contact the landscape manager two days later, and stated that we had missed a few things, including mulch around two small ornamental grasses, as well as an area where we cleared out substantial ground cover. She also stated that we missed clearing out crape myrtle. The manager apologized, and promised to be out in a few days to check the work. When he arrived, he noticed the areas, which totalled to about 15 square feet of mulch. The crew promptly mulched the areas in question. The customer did not even have any crape myrtle shrubs on the property. The landscape manager fixed all that could possibly be done, and contacted the customer promptly stating that everything was complete. The customer then responded several days later saying that we had missed pruning shrubs, missed more ground cover, and that she felt like a babysitter managing simpletons. The landscape manager responded, making it very clear that we completed work as outlined by not only our original estimate, but by her additional requests. He also made it clear that although she was a valued customer, we do not tolerate mindless insults to our crew. The customer did not pay the bill promptly, and while the customer states that the bill in question totalled to $850, the actual cost we billed her for was $800 in labor, and $21 in tax. The five-person crew worked at her house for almost two full days at the homeowner's property, and in our minds, this was more than a fair charge for the work that we performed. While we feel unfotunate to lose any customer, we stand behind our work, and we have a large client base that respects the timeliness, quality, and professionalism of our work.