Pitchfork Landscape Material

My dad, who lives adjacent to us, was helping haul sand for our pool. He called Pitchfork (yesterday) to find out the price. He was quoted $31 for limestone sand. We get there and ask for creek bed sand instead. He puts three scoops in the bed of my dad’s truck and one scoop in my trailer. All is well. I go into pay and he charges me $175. I told him we were quoted $31 a scoop. He said creek sand is more expensive - twice the price - and waves it away saying Biden is in office, so things are more expensive. I was annoyed, but paid because I didn’t clarify the price of the creek sand before he scooped it in, which is on me. As he’s processing my card, he looks at me and says, sharply, I told him that on the phone yesterday. Not liking his change is demeanor toward me (I’m the one paying $175 when I expected $90), I go get my dad, confident my dad would have mentioned it being twice the price had he known. When confronted with the discrepancy, the owner immediately starts *yelling* at both of us, saying we’re accusing him of cheating (we didn’t) and telling him how to run his business (again, didn’t) and he can’t give us that price for creek sand. When there was a lull in his rant, I told the owner that my issue is that he looked at me when my dad was outside and said he (owner) had told my dad the price for creek sand on the phone, but that it was untrue. He then started yelling louder and said he would give me my money back and took the ticket out of my hand. Shaking, I said, fine. Then, resuming his rant again, threw the ticket down and said, “No, never mind! You people always want something for nothing and don’t tell me how to run my business.” Angry and a bit shocked, I told him I wasn’t asking for a refund, but an acknowledgment that he was not honest about his communication on the price with my dad, which he refused to give. Once my dad was present, he steered away from the merit of my dad’s statement and instead, focused on attacking our character as wanting things for free that he has already paid for (again, I never asked for a refund - he’s the one who brought that up). Then, even more appalling, he told us he we doesn’t want our drama (??) and to get out and he would not do business with us. As we’re walking away, he yells that he never wanted to see us again (!?!?). Uhm, no problem there. We said nothing in return. He has his $175. I have (overpriced) sand. He was rude, belligerent, unreasonable, dishonest and frankly, a little unhinged. My reason for the review is not to dispute what he charged, rather, to forewarn people of his behavior should they choose to do business with him. He seems very nice, until…and the switch flips very quickly. Yikes.

Told we were in no hurry, known for years. 6 months later still not completed. Started in Oct. 2015, fired April 10. He has a hard time saying no to jobs and overextends himself. Went to pay for what was done, went over to his business 3x. 3rd trip finally paid for materials because I insisted that was April 29th 2016. 6 weeks later receive bill for Labor with " overdue" written on bill ( bill dated May 1st.). Paid bill that day with cash ( June 10) Lady that works there knew I had been over 3x to pay also. Quoted 5-6k for all landscaping. I paid 3975.00 for a mess. Charged $420.00 per pallet of rock to lay, and 50 to deliver each pallet approx. 14 miles (5 pallets x50=250.00) I unloaded. He did not Lay or charge for laying all 5 pallets. my ticket has amounts crossed out and made higher. I am in wrong business for sure. And to think he was a so called " friend". I have tickets to document what I am writing. Don't spend your hard earned money here go anywhere else. With accounting practices and customer service like this he shouldn't be in business long. I should have listened to friends that said I would get took on this deal from the start,lesson learned. I fully expected to pay for the labor that was done, but not at the rate it was charged his numbers won't match his quote. I even unloaded pallets off trailer with my tractor. He fleeced me good.

At the Lawn and Garden show we were quoted a price of $23 a scoop for rock to lay down on our driveway plus $25 to deliver into Springfield. I called to find out their hours and we discussed the quote from the show. When I went to pay for the rock and delivery I was told that there was no way that I had been given such a quote. I was told by the same man (the owner) who I spoke with at the show and on the phone that I was causing him to lose money since he pays more than that for the rock and he charges $50-60 for delivery to Springfield. Classic bait and switch.

The owner was the only person at the shop, he asked me what price he had given me over the phone for a load of top soil and when I said I didn't call for a price he thought and thought then decided to gouge me with $38.00 + tax for a scoop (I have since found that Nixa Hardware charges $31 a scoop and gives you a full rounded amount - or as much as your truck can carry in my experience). I thought that I would be getting the nice, dark, screened soil that is out in front of the shop so I went ahead with the purchase (fyi... bring cash or check because he charges an upcharge if you use plastic). After paying, he told me to drive my truck behind the good soil and up a hill where there was another pile of soil, not ammended, and he barely filled the scoop bucket, dumped it in the back of my truck and waved me on. When I got home, my husband noticed that he had damaged our tailgate on the truck with his equipment. Dented in & scratched where he hit it with the forks of his equipment. Then after transferring the soil to our yard, we found that we had to go through and pick up a lot of rocks (so not screened well, if at all). We did not call him back about the truck damage because it will just be our word against his and he seems shady anyway so we know he would not admit to it. I feel ripped off on the price, was uncomfortable with his weird flirty behavior (he said I didn't smile at him big enough to get a lower price on the soil) and very upset about our truck damage. DO NOT BUY FROM THIS VENDOR.