VIRGINIA LANDSCAPING & IRRIGATION

My experience was Randy Holder, owner of Virginia Landscaping and Irrigation, was an absolute nightmare which has cost me thousands and thousands of dollars. I had known him for years; he winterized my sprinkler system every year and fixed a few sprinkler problems. He seemed like a nice guy. I wanted my front yard landscaped, so I asked him if he knew anyone; he said he was a landscaper. Before I hired him, I made it very clear I wanted all shrubbery. I wanted a unique variety with different colors (red, burgundy, silver green etc.), that kept their colors throughout the winter. I showed him some examples in my neighbors? yards. I also wanted a small Japanese maple and a pink dogwood tree. ABSOLUTELY NO FLOWERS. Every year the deer ate all my flowers, even when I sprayed. I didn?t want to deal with it anymore. He said he knew exactly what Iwanted, was excited and would do an excellent job. He quoted $4,300 which was $1700 more than my other estimate. I agreed since I knew he would treat me fairly and do exactly what he said he would do. He was supposed to do the job in April. When I called him about starting it, he said he had one job to finish up, and I would be next. One week turned into another, and another. I contacted him repeatedly. He promised he would be here the next week, and then he would cancel at the last minute. He did this for 3 ½ months. He had one excuse after another. I finally told him I was going wait until fall since it was mid-July and all the shrubs I wanted were long gone. He said he was really looking forward to doing my yard and the nursery he dealt with would still have everything I wanted. He started in mid-July. When he went to get the plants, he came back with a 4 different types of shrubs, all green, an 18 inch Japanese maple, a half dead dogwood and lots of flowers. I told him I wanted the shrubs we had agreed to; I didn?t want any flowers. He acted as though he didn?t know what I was talking about and said they didn?t have anything like I wanted, and this was it. All my other plants had been dug up, so I didn?t have a choice. The Bobcat used to take dig up my old shrubs tore up my yard, leaving huge tire tracks. I showed it to him, and he said it wasn't much he could do about it. I had to have a small sprinkler system installed next to my house to water the plants since it was in the middle of summer. He told me I had a bad sprinkler leak underground which needed repair; I also had some leaking sprinkler heads, some didn?t work at all, and all of them need to be adjusted. I told him to fix whatever needed to be fixed. I also wanted to him cut up a tree that had fallen on my fence, repair the fence and install a new gate. The gate was an unusual size and had to be special ordered. It would be here the first week of August. He charged me another $2300+ which included half of the cost of the gate. He said the only other thing left to pay would be for the other half of the gate when he installed it. Within a few days after they finished, I turned on the sprinklers, five heads were still leaking, two weren't working at all, some of the sprinklers were spraying water into the woods instead of my lawn, and the underground pipe was leaking like a sieve. The deer had eaten the flowers, some had died, and my half dead dogwood was losing its leaves and some of the branches were dead. I called him about everything including the flowers that had been eaten by the deer. He said he was on vacation and would install the gate and take care of everything else the following week. He also told me the deer never eaten any of his plants at his house and just spray the plants with deer repellent. The next week, no Randy From the middle of August to the end of September, I tried to get in touch with him either by text messages or phone calls. He didn?t respond. Several times when I called, his phone would not accept messages. I finally got in touch with him at the beginning of October. He said he would be out later that week, but couldn?t say what day; he had another job to finish. I never heard from him. I tried the entire month of October to have him come out. Each time he answered if at all, he was busy finishing up another job, etc. Several times his phone wasn?t accepting messages again. I sent him a text and told him I had paid him a fortune; I should be a priority since this had been going on since April. If he wouldn?t do the job, give me back my money, and I would find someone else. By now, I had given up on having my sprinklers repaired, or the plants replaced. I knew it wouldn?t happen. All I wanted was the gate to be installed and be done with him. He replied and said he would be out the first week in November. I asked him how much did the gate cost; he said he didn?t know. He called me the first week of November and said plants had come in for another customer, and he had to plant them before they died. He could do it the following week. We settled on Tuesday, November 11th. He called me Tuesday morning and told me he couldn't do it, one of his guys had hurt his back, and he had given the other guy the day off because it was his birthday. But he would go and pick up the gate so they could be there first thing Wed. morning. I told him my boyfriend was taking off from work, so he needed to be early as possible. Wed morning, I sent him a text at 9:30 asking him where he was, we were waiting. He said he was on his way to pick up the fence and would be there shortly. At 11:30, I called him, no answer, left him a VM. No response, I sent him a text. He responded that they were still at the fence place, but would be there shortly. At 2:00 I sent another text, he said they were on the way. Finally, around 3:00 he showed up. My boyfriend had lost an entire day from work. My boyfriend was with them as they installed the gate and winterized the sprinklers. The man who had hurt his back was able to dig post holes, sit on the ground and lift the gate. Afterward, my boyfriend tells me Randy wants another $820: $60 for winterization (no problem); $300 for labor and $460 for the gate. Initially, he had told me the only thing left to pay was for the other half of the gate although I never knew the price. Now he wanted another $300 and $420 for the gate, which meant it cost $920 which seemed outrageous. I called the fence company the next morning and found out the gate cost $690. He called Thursday morning and said he was coming by to pick up his money. I told him I would pay for winterizing the sprinklers, but I was not paying another cent. He had taken advantage of me from the start; he had done a rotten job, had not fixed the sprinklers, replaced the dead plants etc., and I had to pay to get my yard fixed from the tire tracks. He became furious and wanted to know if I was home. I told him I wasn?t, but it didn?t matter; I still wasn?t going to pay him. So while I was gone, he came to my home and took the gate. He didn?t return the $460 I had already paid. It will cost me at least $1500 to fix my sprinklers and dig up my yard to find and repair the leak, another $200-400 to replace the plants and possibly the dogwood tree, he owes me the $460 I originally paid for the gate and $690 for another gate. So the grand total for dealing with him will cost me approximately $9,950. I cannot remember one time during this entire ordeal where he kept his word or told the truth. It is my fault; I allowed him to take advantage of me. I totally misjudged him. I have no recourse since you can?t squeeze blood out of a turnip. I will not comment on his integrity and honesty. I will let you decide.

Virginia Landscaping is a company that we've used several times over the last three or four years. Their crew of workers completed this job within three days, and once again they did an excellent job. We like the new look.

Virginia Landscaping is a company that we've used several times over the last three or four years. Their crew of workers completed this job within three days, and once again they did an excellent job. We like the new look.