Jill wrote on 11-05-2018

Not worth the hassle

Having moved into a new build and with a blank canvass for a back garden, we set about researching landscape gardeners and obtaining quotes. After reading good reviews about this company we phoned them. John attended promptly and agreed a reasonable price and timescales to extend the already existing patio, install a section of fake grass, and decking; and lay stones on the remainder of the space. On the pre agreed date John and his team arrived as agreed and worked solidly, appearing to carry put a good job and also tidied everything up before leaving the site. Approximately 5 weeks after the work was completed, the fake grass almost completely blew away in the wind. We phoned John and he agreed to re attend the following week to fix it in place. He did not turn up. The following day, after phoning and texting him, he came back to the garden with one of his workers and assured me the fake grass would be fixed in place in a tidy manner, as if the wind had never touched it. I was on my way out to do something and presumed that he would either still be there when I got back a short while later or if gone, the job would be done with the place looking great again. Unfortunately when I got back I discovered a shoddy mess and rubbish left lying including sharp metal pins......the fake grass is not sitting square within its' stone boundary. Instead it overlaps the boundary on one side causing a trip hazard, there are spaces between it and the stone border around 3 out of the 4 edges, instead of it being flat and even across the top there are indentations in the surface below it and air pockets due to it no longer sitting taught and even. It has also been damaged at one corner where it has been pulled and gathered and pins / pegs forced into it. I phoned John and got no answer so I sent him a text with photos of the mess he has left. He did not reply to the text. I have phoned his mobile and house phone numerous times since and he has completely ignored them. SHAMEFUL! He has turned what started off as a good job, well worth the money carried out by what appeared to be a reliable company into a stereotypical nightmare where the company doesn't care about their customers after they have the money. He is now putting us through the additional stress and (at this time) cost of hiring a solicitor to take legal action and of sourcing a more reliable company to fix the mess he has made. Hassle we could be doing without, even though we are assured that we will be refunded for the cost of repair to the garden and solicitor fees through the small claims court process. The reason I am still giving this company 2 stars is because they did initially turn up on time and carry out the work that was agreed BUT the overall affect of what was potentially to be a lovely garden has been destroyed by not only their failure to correct a mistake (fake grass wasn't pinned correctly in the first place) but by the damage they have caused whilst botching what appears to be a very grudged re attendance. Bottom line is......hire at your own risk.....in my opinion, you should steer clear of this company .....NOT worth the hassle incase they need to re attend, though to be fair they should have done it right in the first place.