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:05/20/2023

  Type:Customer Service 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 emailed the **** around a certain company that shows up their site.This site is not credible at all. This company has bad reviews by every customer.When I emailed concerns, I had a ********************* - no etiquette and unprofessional. Responded telling me to buzz off This **** is shady and getting money from these companies they promote.Then I go there to complain and I get this ***** respond like this?Unacceptable and he will be getting a formal complaint from the FTC.Rude and unprofessional. How is this association still going? Shut them down The reaction I get from this ***** is revealing how shady and unprofessional they are. They are not here to help consumers at all and they dont!

  Business Response

  Date: 05/22/2023

  Our organization is a non-profit 501c6 trade association for landscape professionals that has been operating since ****. We provide training, education, regulatory and legal assistance, and other member benefits. We list members of our association on our website. We are not, nor claim to be, a rating site for landscape companies. 
  
  We received an unsigned email from a spoofed email address with the name *********************** on 5/19/23. The email blasted ** for not listing "credible" companies. It specifically called out ******'s Landscaping in ********, **. It claimed "terrible reviews" for this business. The business has a 3.5 star rating on ****** based on 17 reviews (higher than the local *********** None of those reviews is from "***********************." The email then told ** to shut our website down and asked if we are "paid by these companies" implying some payola scam for listing our trade association members. It ended the email with "What a joke." 
  
  I am not sure what effect this email was hoping for. We are not Winter's Landscaping. The person never indicated a problem or complaint with ******'s. It did not identify any personal issue with **. It said that because one of our members has a 3.5 star rating on ****** they are "not credible" we should "shut our website down" and are "a joke."
  
  We took issue with the tone and accusations. ****** then kowtow to an aggressive, anonymous poster we told them to "buzz off" and questioned the credibility of the spoofed, unsigned email.  
  
  This is when we received three emails in succession on 5/20/23. These are direct quotes from those emails. We never responded to any of these three emails as we worried what type of person we were now dealing with: 
  "We will see who is credible or not [you] bum" 
  "you buzz off loser and your website full of crappy low standard landscapers!"
  "I will be reporting you to the *** and then we will see whos fake idiot"
  "******* and others are on here ****. Rated below 3 stars."
  "Yeah idiot how old is this website?"
  "got your picture too - ugly as all ****."
  "You look like a loser and I will show consumers your response"
  "Landscapers and companies are 90 percent crappy. No surprise. Look at the reviews and you promote them?"
  "Idiot - you have been reported to BBB and *** - I bet those emails you will get are fake too lol"
  "Get some class loser"
  Proof of these emails can be provided. 
  
  We feel no guilt for responding the way we did to an obviously unhinged and classless individual. 
  
  When we receive an actual consumer complaint, we: 
  1. Speak to the consumer and take notes on the nature of the complaint
  2. Intervene and contact the member in question
  3. Let the member know the context of the complaint and ask them to follow-up
  4. Let the consumer know a complaint was lodged

  If a member acts in an unethical or unprofessional manner we can take steps to censure or remove the member from our organization. We have policies in place that guide this process. 
  
  That is not what happened here. This person went on the attack and was looking to be provacative. Instead of engaging, we sniffed it out and snuffed it out. His/her original email and three subsequent responses were clearly telling to what kind of individual we were dealing with. 
  
  I can provide records or follow-up, but would ask this issue to be closed. You may also want to prevent "***********************" at ************* from making complaints and harrassing future businesses. This individual clearly has issues they need to work out.