Thinking of hiring Patterned Concrete! One word -DON'T! Based on the reputation of Patterned Concrete (PC), I decided to hire them for my landscaping project but it was a big mistake. I never thought that my experience was going to be this bad and frustrating.
For my project, the scope of work was clearly discussed with the PC salesperson and accordingly, she quoted me a price which looked affordable and I thought to proceed. I was advised to pay $1,000 upfront to create a drawing for the project with a promise that the drawing cost will be reduced from the final invoice. Considering the company's reputation/ salesperson assurance/confirmation for the written quotation and my capacity to afford, I paid for the drawing.
The drawing was promised to be delivered within a week's time. However, it took more than 3 weeks to even have a rough sketch. Even after making repeated requests, and 4 weeks later, we have still not received a Final 3D drawing for the project. The corporation which calls itself "The Experts, Award Winning Specialists"!) has been giving all sort of excuses for this delay- backlog, "computer" crash, request for personal priorities. It has been a full time job for me to get their attention and support to sit together and finalize the sketch and then set a schedule to start the job.
But my misery does not end here…4 weeks in, their updated quotation (that also based on a rough sketch) arrived with a big shock and surprise as it now includes a significant price increase from the last quote provided even when the area to be served has been reduced:
a) the area reduced by 41.4% but the quote is up by 30.5%
b) the area reduced by 11.5% but the quote is up by 53.7%.
These are significantly different than the original quote and definitely, way beyond my budget. It appears that salesperson misrepresented and misled me to pay for something that was not feasible. The $1,000 paid is going to be a waste because the significant price increase is neither acceptable nor affordable. PC drawing that has not yet been delivered is a complete waste as most landscaping companies provide drawing without any upfront charge.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $1,000.00
- Company Response
Himanshoo, My first on-site meeting with you (no charge), we discussed your ideas for both the front and back of the house. Once the discussions were done, I proceeded to take measurements and pictures of the entire area and provided you with a base price but I also explained the quote was not 100% accurate based on the multiple elevations and not knowing exactly the plan for the front of the house. So, I recommended it would be better idea to schedule a second meeting with my designer. I explained my reasons for this meeting, and you agreed. Once you agreed, you asked if there was a charge and I explained that there would be a charge for a full-scale landscape drawing. I even went further and explained that the charge for this particular design is $1000. If you decided to proceed with our company then we would credit the amount, however if you chose to keep the design and go with another company no credit would be given.