Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:30/09/2024

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On June 12, 2024 I retained the services of Ottawa Lawn Salon (OLS) to 1) cut my lawn & trim edges; 2) weed my flower beds, I was informed that it was too late in the season to enter into a formal contract, but that I could obtain service on a pay-as-you go basis. They also required that I provide payment in advance of each visit (proof attached).On June 18, I paid $271.20, via e-transfer. *** provided the grass cutting & edge trim service on June 28. The flower bed service was only provided after I reminded them. On July 17, I paid $119.78, via e-transfer. *** only provided grass cutting & edge trim services, and no flower bed service on July 19th. After numerous emails back and forth trying to figure out when my flower beds would be weeded, I decided to cancel, via email, all future services with OLS on August ****** be clear, they only came to my house 3 times: 1) employee of *** ****** came to mow/edge trim (no flower weeding); 2) *** himself came and weeded the flower beds to make up for employee's negligence; 3) employee of *** ****** came and again only did mowing/edges. This represents approximately $316 worth of work according to the costs of each service provided by the company.Last week I received notice that they were turning my account over to a collections agency. As I have confirmations in my bank statements of the payments already made, and OLS insisted on being paid IN ADVANCE, and we were working on a pay-as-you-go basis, it is unreasonable to have asked me to pay a further amount without the previous work having been completed.I am seeking that the *** cease and desist from seeking further amounts from me via the collection agency. And I'm also seeking a refund in the amount of $60 for the flower beds that were not completed. (I would not trust the company to come on to my property again, so I'm not seeking specific performance on the outstanding flower bed issue.)

  Business Response

  Date: 30/09/2024

  This is a copy/paste of the email sent same-day to the client after receiving her complaint and taking action to rectify her concerns. I've also attached her account statement (corrected),  and her voided invoice, as well as her signed Service Agreement and proof that her refund for her overpayment has been processed: 

  "Reaching out as I saw your concern regarding billing you had submitted through BBB. I appreciate you bringing this to our attention as I personally looked through your account this afternoon and see that you were mistakenly over-billed.
  
  These services were the only ones you should have received an invoice for:
  - June 20th: Grass Cutting, Bagging & Garden Maintenance (Invoice #*****)
  - July 9th: Grass Cutting & Bagging (Invoice #*****)
  - July 19th: Grass Cutting, Bagging & Garden Maintenance (Invoice #*****)
  
  This being said, you were also sent a third invoice (Invoice #*****) before any services were performed for your deposit for the first 2 services. This resulted in you being billed for an additional 2 garden maintenance, grass cutting & bagging services, instead of the deposit being used for the invoices above.
  
  This was an honest mistake as we typically only send invoices after services are rendered to avoid scenarios like these, and so that deposits are properly applied to invoices for services rendered. I can assure you that *** did not have any malintent sending this deposit invoice, he simply wanted to accommodate your preferences before signing up and start things out on the right note.
  
  I've attached a full corrected account statement for your convenience, but wanted to summarize the corrections here as well:
  - Invoice #*****: $0.00 (voided)
  - Invoice #*****: $119.78
  - Invoice #*****: $187.58
  - Invoices total: $307.36
  
  Your total payments come to $390.98, calculated as follows:
  - June 18: $271.20
  - July 17: $119.78
  
  To rectify this with you, I've already contacted our Company Manager to process your refund of $83.62 ($390.98 - $307.36). In addition, we've contacted our collections *** to stop any further action as this was clearly a mistake on our end.
  
  Again, I sincerely apologize for this inconvenience. It should not have escalated to this point, and while I cannot reverse what has happened, I do hope that immediately rectifying it as soon as I was made aware of the situation does provide the resolution you were hoping for and demonstrates our commitment to resolving the rare mistakes we do make with our clients.
  
  Typically, refunds take 2-3 business days to process. Please let us know once received.

  If there is anything else I can clarify or if you have any questions, please let me know. This is my personal email so you can contact me directly. I'm here to help."

   

  To be clear, we do require a deposit upfront for the first month of services. This is the only time we require upfront payment from our clients. After this deposit has been fully applied, we bill our clients at the end of each month for the services performed that month. We outline this upfront for each of our clients during the signup process and directly in our service agreements. ********* account has been updated to reflect only the services performed by ***/his team and does not included any services that *** agreed to discount ******* for due to a drop in service quality and she has been refunded for her overpayment. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused and have done what we can to recitfy this as soon as possible, as we always strive to do with our clients. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 30/09/2024

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******* ******