Misleading prices, poor project management, childish owner, but good work
Did good work but did not honor the timeline or the discount I was promised. The employee who came to do the quote started measuring with half a meter on the instrument and measured a line that was not straight. I then had to call him about 5 times to get him to send me the quote. After about a month I finally received the quote and decided to contact the owner, Sheldon, after seeing that their quote came in a couple hundred dollars higher than some of their competitors. I had heard from a hedge trimmer in the industry that they do good work so I should go with them so I figured it was worth a shot to get a more competitive quote.
I was pleasantly surprised when Sheldon obliged my request to lower the quote by a few hundred dollars. He sent me the quote and said someone would be in contact about two weeks before they would be installed. After not hearing from them for a number of weeks I called again and left a message. To my surprise someone showed up the very next morning, even though they had not confirmed with me as to whether or not this would be a good time. Which in itself would have been fine, but then the owners brother, who happened to be the installer that day re measured, by walking, the perimeter of the hedge to be laid and said it was actually 4 meters longer than I had been originally quoted and they would have to charge me more. We did move the line where the hedges would be laid back by one meter. Since the layout was an L shape this should have only increased the measurement by one meter, not four.
Initially I just said no and that isn’t how business is conducted. You don’t give someone a quote for work and then show up saying it’s going to cost more, certainly not for a simple enough job like this where there shouldn’t be any surprises. I was in a rush to get to work so I said ok to paying $200 more for the job. Sheldon and I had previously discussed the job being $1200 tax in. I have the quote for this amount. So I assumed $200 more meant $1400 tax in. When it was time to pay I was sent an invoice of $1400 + tax! Understandably frustrated that one extra meter of hedge was now costing me nearly $400. I refused to pay the extra amount.
Sheldon went on to argue that the measurement was indeed 15 meters not the 11 we originally measured or the 12 from adding one meter to the job. I proceeded to argue that I don’t see how this could be the case since the original estimator got 11 meter and was very liberal with the line and instrument he used, but that regardless they should honor the amount quoted plus one meter.
I have since gotten a lawyer involved and we may have to escalate the issue to court. I offered to pay the $1400 flat to just put the issue to rest but he refused. I now have the impression that this whole effort was calculated on their part to come in with a low quote and Jack the price upon installation!
If anyone else has had a similar issue or experience with this company please comment below and I will provide my contact information to discuss further.
It’s a shame because they did do good work, but this is not the way to grow a business and certainly not a way to treat customers.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $1,400.00
- Company Response
Hi Mark L.,
I’m glad to hear that you were pleased with the work done, however it’s unfortunate that we have yet to have been able to resolve this issue, and that you felt compelled to post reviews across multiple platforms when you have yet to have paid anything towards your invoice. I additionally do not appreciate your characterization of my company and the insinuation that we had a pre-meditated intent to manipulate your price or that we threatened to rip out your hedges. To your first concern, it was you who requested changes to the job layout and size when the foreman arrived onsite, and who had agreed to the revised price; to your second concern, I provided several options in an attempt to resolve the matter, one of which included the option to forego payment and remove the hedge. In re-iterating several options a second time, I stated that failure to make a payment by the invoice due date would indicate to me that you had made the decision to forego paying and that I would come remove the hedges at our convenience. I apologize if this came off in a threatening manner as I certainly did not intend to come off as such, however I believe that's a fair option to present as I feel that failure to pay an agreed upon price for services rendered is effectively theft.
Ultimately, when my foreman arrived onsite, you requested changes which equated to an increase from ~11m to ~15-16m. The revised quote that he provided and that you verbally agreed to was significantly underpriced given the substantial changes, but I nonetheless honoured the verbal agreement made. Following completion of the job, you reneged on the revised price and questioned the professionalism and measuring skills of my foreman – someone with a very strong aptitude, let alone professional certification and nearly a decade of experience in providing site measurements in several different capacities across several different skilled trades. Nonetheless, I offered to you, and the offer remains open, to come on site and conduct the measurements myself using a professional measurement instrument in your presence. I clearly specified that if you were correct about what you estimate the measurements to be, I would honour your original price; if my foreman’s measurements were correct, I would require you to honour the revised price that you had agreed to.
I ultimately never want to leave a customer unhappy, but when you attempt to renege on an already discounted price without giving me an opportunity to confirm your concerns about measurements, I do need to take a firm stance. I additionally do not appreciate you reneging on the agreed upon price, and then attempting to negotiate down and force acceptance of your preferred price on the contingency of a favourable vs. unfavourable online review and/or escalation to various consumer agencies such as the Office of Consumer Affairs.
Again, it’s unfortunate you felt the need to post unfavourable reviews and to threaten legal action; I do hope to come to a fair resolution without necessitating involvement of the courts, but if that’s what you feel you need to do then I will leave it to the courts.
Regards,
Sheldon Best Green
Best Green Hedges