Marcellus Nursery

My house is on a corner lot, and it lies on a small hill so that it sits above the street. There are two sets of stairs: one leading from the main sidewalk, and then a short sidewalk leading from those stairs to a few steps to my front door. It should be noted that the front stairs leading from the main sidewalk sit on the corner of the lot so it has high visibility as one is driving up the street. Previous to having the landscaping performed, there were two large shrubs on each side of the stairs from the main sidewalk. I wanted to give the front of the house a fresh and updated look so I had the shrubs removed from the sides of the main steps. The removal of those shrubs was performed by a neighbor. I wasn't a subscriber to Angie's List at the time - I wish I had been - so I checked the yellow pages and came across Marcellus Nursery here in Syracuse. The owner, Ted Stetler, came to my home and drew up a design in his car since it was pouring rain on that early evening. He showed me the new design, which was very nice. Since the front steps are on an incline, he couldn't use mulch since rain would simply wash it away. Instead, he suggested using 3" flat stones. So far so good. The owner quoted a price of $770, but would charge me $600 if he were allowed to put a sign in front of my house since it might help him get more business from the work. Keep in mind that he mentioned no fewer than 3 times that he wanted to put a sign in front of my house, and that's why he was giving me the "special" price. I should have known that that line is one of the oldest used sales closes where the company makes you believe you're getting a better price for allowing it to put a sign in front of your house to give them free advertising. Don't fall or it. The price they're quoting you is what the job is actually worth, and not that they're giving you any special deal. I gave Ted the approval to proceed, and he said that if I wasn't satisfied, I wouldn't have to pay him. Based on his guarantee, I looked no further and gave him the approval to proceed with the work. When I came home from work one day in late July, I noticed that they had completed the work. I called their office to tell them how pleased I was with the work, and I reminded them that there was no sign, which Ted wanted to place in front of my home, and which was a condition of the "special" deal. No sign would ever be forthcoming, either. As time went on, and after having some time to live with the work they had done, I wrote a letter to Ted on October 27th (3 months after the work had been completed), and told him that the predominance of the gray stones washed out the plants so that's all one saw was a sea of gray stones. I suggested in the letter that perhaps some color was needed to be introduced such as flowering plants to detract from all the gray. The owner never replied to my letter, and completely ignored my concerns. I called another landscaper - who came over today - because I have some aggressive weeds growing up from under the stones, and they're spreading, ruining the whole appearance of the "landscaping" performed by Marcellus Nursery. He said the reason for the weeds growing from underneath the stones is because Marcellus Nursery never placed a weed barrier before placing the stones down. The new landscaper must now remove all the stones, and place a weed barrier, and then put in place the stones again. I need to pay for this work, which should have been performed the first time. It is for the reasons above that I gave Marcellus Nursery an "F" for "Overall" and "Quality" since their failure to place a weed barrier has created a need to have work performed that they should have done at the time the work was initially performed.. However, if they had done the work correctly, I still wouldn't have given them anything better than a "C." Also, I gave them an "F" for both "Responsiveness" and "Professionalism" since the owner never responded to my letter. Under no circumstances would I ever recommend Marcellus Nursery to anyone.

I have been talking and planning with them for a couple of weeks and they came and did the first step of the job on Friday. Their estimate was the lowest that I got. It has been a good experience. It went exactly they way that they said it would on Angie's List. It is a family ran company, so when you call, they sometimes have to track Ted, the owner, down but that was fine. I got a call back from him and he came as scheduled to go over things with me. He does not do a contract and you do not give him any money upfront. He just says, "If you like it then you can pay me." So I thought, "Well, okay." I mean, I liked him and we went to look at their stock. He walked me around and we picked out what I wanted and he gave me suggestions. If I picked out something that would not grow well or do well in that area then he told me that and said, "I will plant it if you want it but I am telling you that this is not the right pick." So I said, "Alright, then show me something else," and he did. So overall, I have been happy with the service and I expect to be happy with the work. It was fine to call them and set up an appointment to get an estimate. That went well and he gave me an estimate right on the spot. I did not have to wait for it. He showed up exactly when he said that he would. He is a little more laid back but he is professional. We are doing this job first and then he is going to come back and do the inside of my pool.

See Avove

Large 7 ft Burning Bush fell over and provider reset the bush in Sept 2009,now( May 2010) the bush is leaning and roots on one side are above ground. Provider(owner) refuses to reset without charging us. His response has been rude,cynical and totally unprofessional ie" I am not a babysitter for every bush on the hill." When I asked the charge he responded cynically$ 1000.