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:01/05/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore 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.

  I hired *******************, Monarch Hardscape group **** ****************, ************* ** ************************ August to do the retaining wall and paver work, he quoted $80K for the entire project and took $32,000 in advance and after haggling for months finally he completed the wall and did not move on with paver work, even after receiving additional payment of $24,000 .. He was suppose to get permit from **************** city council for wall and pavers, but he didn't.. when we approached city council in person , city told us pavers are not allowed in our backyard to comply with city ordinance and i can only go with sod in my backyard. Since he has significant amount of our advance money (~7.5k) he wont refund the balance amount , nor he would do the sod/fence work. Rather he said he will only do paver work near the driveway and near the basement to BREAKEVEN with us and gave this in writing saying, but again has been constantly delaying this and not showing up to do the work. He will only respond to text messages and keeps giving excuses to show up and complete this paver work. In summary, his only intention is to siphon off money from gullible customers and keeps delaying and frustrating them to an extent that the property owner will have to hire another landscaper to do the work. In my case since he was only asking for more money to jump start the work, had to hire another landscaper to do the sod/fence work .. Also, he has done shoddy work by breaking all the storm water pipes and vandalizing the backyard, which eventually had to be repaired by another landscaper.Now he is reluctant to refund the remaining advance money of 7K also not willing to complete the job in a proper/ethical manner.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/20/2024

  Good morning ********!

  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to respond to the complaint posted here . First I would like to say I take great pride in my work. I have done this for years and never had any complaints from any customers. My previous company was called Sugar maple outdoors. My partner decided to do something else so we parted ways professionally. He is still a very close friend. So when I first met with **** he showed me the engineering plan. Or side profile of his retaining wall. He also wanted over 4000 square feet in pavers . I explained to him that we could pull a permit for the wall but the city would not permit the paver patio because of the easement and 100 year flood plain his property backs up to . He wanted the pavers anyway. After much haggling we agreed on a price. The quote he posted was not it . Before we started the project he needed tree work done to remove all the trees. He was getting pretty high quotes so he asked if I could refer someone. It clearly states in our agreement that tree work is to be completed by NAZ tree removal. So I called them over they did the work. He asked me to cover them because he was not home. I did , when I brought it up he said that I was supposed to pay for the tree work. $3800.00 . That was my first issue. Next we begin excavating and discover a massive underground spring that the builders didnt report. It flooded the entire back area making all of the dirt to be removed very muddy . To heavy to haul off . Within the budget . Now the only way to deal with the spring is a massive French drain . We had to dig out a 4 wide and deep trench all the way to back of property with several perforated pipes to allow the water to flow out of the area . Its unfortunate but not our fault or his . I did not try to charge him regular rates I asked him to cover material. During this time we had to let the area dry to get our wall footing in. It has to be on solid ground. This client just refused to listen to reason. He expected us to pay out of pocket for all the issues not included in our quote. He demanded that we try to haul the mud off . We tried to oblige only to get our machines stuck in this awful mud pit. We got it out and the wall built . Passed our inspection and he decided to try and permit the patio. They shut him down. Told him sod only . I explained to him that he would have to set up smaller French drainage to keep his sod from being completely submerged. He refused to pay for that or any of the other issues we had to pay for. I agreed to lay the pavers in approved area and part ways . I didnt even read his agreement I was so upset at the time . But I have video, pictures, estimates, text messages and communication with city officials to prove everything I have stated here