Finally! I am SO glad this review came in! I have been eager all day to respond. Fortunately, we have been blessed with EXCELLENT customers, many of them from Angie's List... but once in a while you get one like this member, and I am thrilled that we have parted ways. Where do I start? We were contacted by this member in Late April of 2013. They were in need of weekly lawn service and I was told they were "dropped" by their previous company. Red flag there... Anyway, we agreed on price (which they apparently had NO ISSUE with all summer, but now it's worthy of a "C" grade...?) and started work. It was a tough Spring of mowing, as their grass was VERY long and we had to take special care to get things looking good each service. We did a great job, as we always do. Things were going along just fine until about mid-July when we were approached one day by the member's husband, who was quite angry and confrontational, regarding some broken items around the yard: A) A broken picket on the fence gate (the top had broken off along one of the grains of wood) B) ONE damaged solar path light near the front door (they said the weed eater was hitting it and ruined plastic cap. It looked at if a dog had chewed on it - how a weedeater creates that type of damage, I do not know) All four us us on the crew where there that day when the member's husband came out. I questioned everyone in front of him and we methodically went through what "might have happened" but neither I, my partner, or our two guys knew ANYTHING about the damage that we were confronted with. But we wanted to make it right because we had an upset customer. We left peacefully that day, with the husband calmed down and all was good. We were fired on August 7th, about an hour after mowing the lawn. They then sent in the July payment. The following is from an e-mail I tried to send thru Angie's List to the customer, regarding their July invoice payment, in which they sent in the payment WITH deductions (14.46) for the damaged items. This was a surprise to me, as I had not heard from the customer about how to handle this situation. There were written "notes" included with NEW complaints about not spraying weeds and a broken drain cover (HUH???), written on the returned invoice, and I responded to them here... This was all AFTER I had made an attempt to make right on the supposed damages. They just sent in payment with the deductions. Again, assuming WE DID THE DAMAGE and were lying to them. Here is my response: "(MEMBER), I find your notes on the returned July invoice rather amusing, for a number if reasons- 1) We sprayed weeds and grassy weeds on the front bed edge in July. On the 24th. Other than your small front bed, there are no other areas that require bed maintenance/weed control. That's why we say "as needed" on EVERY mowing invoice to every customer. Either way, they were sprayed. I also walked in the back and did under the deck. We do not spray weeds in turf, if that is what you were thinking. 2) The broken fence picket... all 4 of us discussed this issue with your husband. We did not break your fence. You have accused us of breaking your fence. To my knowledge, none of my employees is responsible for breaking your fence. You have assumed "the lawn guys" broke your fence because ..... I don't know why! Because we use the gate? If we break something or something is damaged on a customer's property, we tell them. EVERY TIME. We were willing to rectify this situation nonetheless... but NO response from YOU on if you wanted credit for mowings (our original offer). 3) Solar light - SEE #2.... Yet another item that we did not damage. We physically demonstrated to (MEMBER'S HUSBAND) how our string trimmer would not even be at the top level of the solar light to create such damage in that area. Again, another thing we would own up to if we had indeed damaged the light. You are accusing us of breaking something and have no reasoning to do so. Every week I was no further than 20' from my employee who was string trimming and I never once saw him hit the light. 4) The drain cap....????? Apparently you are missing a drain cap or cover... and WE are responsible? Did we steal your drain cover? No. This is a new one. How would mowing your lawn result in a missing drain cover? What puzzles me is that we provided you with timely, consistent, professional service at a fair price and even after we were rudely confronted and accused of creating two issues (fence and light), WE WERE WILLING TO MAKE IT RIGHT. Because we are honest and reasonable. When we first spoke with your husband when he came out of the house that one day, we left it at exactly this ---> He said he would talk to you and I would be informed on how you guys would want to handle the "damages".... Call me, e-mail me, whatever and we will take care of it. We were fine with making it right, but bothered about being accused. But I never heard from either of you! We talked about and were ready to credit you a service or two (at most a $90.00 value for your troubles) but all I received was a phone message to stop service (8/7/13 @ 11:47 am)... I called back immediately to discuss the service stop but never heard back after leaving a polite message. Then I get your note today with the receipts for the items you bought. It's not about the $14.46 or that we lost servicing your lawn. It's about being accused of things we did not do, but if given the chance, were ready and willing to make right anyway just because we value you as a customer. You found us on Angie's List, where we have EXCELLENT reviews and many happy customers. Please feel free to write us a review. If it's all "F"s, great. I'de be MORE than happy to respond. If the 14.46 is what you would like credited, that's fine. And you are not "paid in full" as you state... you still owe us 45.00 for lawn service on 8/7/13. Thanks." SO, today the review comes in and we also get our LATE payment of 45.00 in the mail. The member claims they were not sure about the "final bill" and they were researching. Right... they must have missed the previous THREE past due invoices sent with the final August 7th service date. On today's returned invoice, I had written, "Please Pay!! You owe for the final mowing. Pay Immediately." I also marked the heck out of the invoice with our red 'PAST DUE' stamp. Member writes in return, "Given that your services were below standard + you didn't take ownership with the items that were broken as a result of the lazy crew plus this threatening message, you will receive a negative review on Angie's List." 1) We provided EXCELLENT, timely, consistent service. 2) We deny breaking items. We were accused of this and member has NO proof that we caused damage... were still willing to make amends though. 3) Our crew is anything but lazy. This is insulting. Trust me... we're one of the hardest working small businesses out there. (Member perhaps has a personal issue with one of our guys??! Hmmmm) 4) My invoice notes were an attempt to collect a LATE PAYMENT and were non-threatening. This is a comical assertion and dramatic. Bottom line here, a bad experience with a poor customer. Someone wanted to play judge, jury, and executioner while ignoring decent communication. I would love if Angie's List could keep this review posted at the top of our page forever. Customers have all kinds of outlets for bashing contractors, but what about bad, petty customers? If this response comes off as defensive and bitter, so be it. We are a responsible company and strive to do what is right. I hope the member finds another decent lawn service (or two) next year. They can have fun mowing the backyard that's full of dog waste. Good luck to them.... you just can't please everyone I guess. Well, off to read my 30+ EXCELLENT reviews and take care of our good customers. Spent too much time with this but I am confident of our position and sleep with a clear conscience. Thanks for the review!!