Twin Valley Landscape And Construction

My mom and I recently started remodeling a 1910 house in Arkansas City, Kansas. We've had to use several contractors for the work that has been done. My mom contacted Twin Valley Landscape and Construction about fencing in a section of the yard. He came out and told her that he would email an estimate in the next couple of days. She waited 5 days and since she didn't receive an email, she called him back. She was told that an estimate would be emailed again. She waited another 2 days and called him back. She was anxious to get the fence done, so she asked him for the estimate on the phone. She was told it would be $1,800.00. We discussed the price, and even talked about how we could reduce the price. We talked about the possiblitiy of reducing the amount of fence. She had several conversations with him. After a couple of days, we decided to go ahead with the original project. He said he could start in a couple of weeks. It ended up being 5 weeks before the project was completed. Everytime she called and talked to him, he always had a reason to pospone it, and several times he would say that he would come out and start....but ended up not showing up. Finally, we made arrangements to talk to someone else about doing the work, but Twin Valley Landscape showed up on the same day, and started digging holes for the posts! He assured her that he was going to contact the city about having the yard flagged for underground lines. HE NEVER DID THAT! He did however, get a permit.... but not until after the digging was done! It is in accordance with the City of Arkansas City that the Contractor contact 1-800-DIG-SAFE before digging. HE DID NOT DO THAT! The permit also shows the valuation of the project. That didn't even match what he billed her for!! He spent two weeks installing 200 feet of fencing. This should of been done in a matter of a few days! After it was finsihed, she had to call him 3 or 4 times asking for a statement. He kept saying that he had either sent one, or he was going to send one to me. Finally, on June 27th, she recieved a statement in the mailbox. It did not have a stamp on the envelope. The bill was dated June 12th and the amount was more than what the agreement was. And.... according to the statement, we had 20 days to pay or we would be charged an extra fee. Since the statement was dated June 12th, it gave us only a few days to get him paid because we didn't recieve the statement until June 27th. My mom realizes this is partly her fault because she didn't have a written estimate from him. SHE TRUSTED HIM. He did do a good job on the fence, but my mom and I would or will never believe a word that he says. Nothing he told her was ever true! If anyone does business with this company, then they need to make sure that EVERYTHING IS IN WRITING BEFORE ANYTHING IS DONE. Nothing was PROFFESSIONAL about this company. This entire situation caused a great deal of hardship for my family because we were having out of town family here from North Dakota for a visit. A baby that was visiting is allergic to animals. Mom needed that fencing done so her dogs could be outside while the family was here visiting. Since the fencing wasn't done, the baby got sick so they had to leave early. This ruined our family visit, especially for my mom, because it was her newest grandson that was visiting. Mom learned a lesson about getting everything in writing before she EVER has any more work done. I just think it's too bad that you can't trust someone's word when they tell you something. Especially, someone that is doing business with others. I am planning to have my yard fenced in Winfield, and I will NOT use this company.