Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Gardenias Land Care Services's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

close

Find a Location

Gardenias Land Care Services has 2 locations, listed below.

*This company may be headquartered in or have additional locations in another country. Please click on the country abbreviation in the search box below to change to a different country location.

BBB accredited

Near

Country

USUnited States

Please enter a valid location.

Filter

• 

  Gardenias Land Care Services

  17707 Front St NE Hubbard, OR 97032-9702

• 

  Gardenias Land Care Services

  PO Box 727 Woodburn, OR 97071-0727

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:05/12/2025

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  UnresolvedMore 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 March 4, ***** Enrique ****** co-managing owner with ***** ******** of a non-BBB accredited landscape business, Gardenias Landcare Services LLC #****, did work on my front yard. This person changed the contract materially in several ways first by changing the date of work, by arriving late to do the work, by changing materially the design of the work I wanted done, by using inferior materials instead of what I requested and by covering up the gravel he covered my front yard with a small layer of dirt. I am. 80 years old and could not supervise his work. I only learned afterwards when I tried to plant in the yard that there was a deep layer of gravel that I could not dig into dirt. I had told the business that I would use my own dirt but he said he filled the planter box with "really good" dirt--now there are many unknown plants growing in this box which came with his dirt. I have tried to call, text and email the business to negotiate a payment for the driveway which was done well. But I have received no response at all; Mr. ***** showed up at my door two days ago demanding payment and refused to come inside to discuss the work with me. I asked him then to leave if he did not want to talk but today he came back and tried to enter the locked house while I was napping upstairs. My elementary age grandson saw him and reported it when I awoke. I do not deserve this treatment. Please advise me to feel safe.

  Business Response

  Date: 05/20/2025

  While I understand the complaints from the client, this does not coincide with the written interactions that took place. I have included a 12-page document noting this. 
  
  
  Yes, the work date was changed; however, she was always asked about it beforehand, and she always agreed. Yes, the crewmember was late, however, I had let her know they would be arriving around 10 AM and ****** may have gotten behind. She stated this was fine. Yes, the materials that were used were not listed under the contract; however, this was due to concerns of dissatisfaction with the way things looked, she was not charged additionally for these materials, and it was only after she had approved any changes. 
  For example, she did not like the gravel, thus bark dust was used (no charge), she did not like the gravel path; thus, flagstone was used (no charge). This was nowhere on the original estimate, but they were discussed in person with her, and she was not charged for these products because ***** wanted her to be satisfied. 
  The materials used are not inferior. In the photos I have shared, you can see that quality of the materials and work. If this is regarding the potting soil, I have listed what it contains according to ******* website. The product is of good quality; however, with 2 months of it sitting in the planter box, contamination would definitely occur and any weeds growing in there are not our responsibility.
  As for a "deep layer of gravel," this is not the case. She had mentioned 5-6 inches of gravel, we never use that much gravel, ever. I am very interested in seeing a photo of this. If there is gravel, it may be residual gravel since it was used as a base for the pavers and the flagstone, but the amount she is mentioning seems way off. 
  ***** did notify me that he went to the client to resolve this amicably; however, it did not go well as she was trying to have ***** go inside the home. He declined for his safety and no conclusion was reached. He did not return and neither did anyone else from our company. She stated that she notified the police of the second incident, the trespassing, which I believe to be a wise choice if someone really did try to break into her home after ***** had been there. 
  I had not responded to her immediately because I was unable to do so. Spring is our busiest time and although I do find this matter pressing, it was not a priority at the time since 2 whole months had passed from when the work was completed. Also, I did not want to answer her calls, knowing that I could not have proof of what was being said. 
  ***** feels for Mrs. ******** He knew that she may be struggling financially since she repeatedly asked if he was interested in her grandson's truck so that this could be counted as partial payment. This is also why he did not want to increase her grand total and included work free of charge. He was willing to accept the $1700 she proposed, but I am not. It is a significant decrease from the almost $3000 owed. We can take the $1700 as a first payment. However, she still needs to pay the full amount or at least the majority of it. We take partial payments; she can pay it off a bit each month. We are not ******* her, but we do need to be paid for the work that was completed per her requests. 
  I have no idea why it would take a full 2 months to begin brining this up. That is not acceptable. We had open communication - she emailed me, text me... she had a full 60 days to do this if she had issues. Yet, she did not. Had she messaged in a timely manner, we have been able to further assist, however, it has been way too long. 
  We are very open to coming up with a resolution that will be agreed upon by both parties. In which we don't lose $1300 for work that was completed.   
  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/28/2025

  *******, I am replying to the response written by ***** of Gardenia Landcare with the background information that she neglected to include:

   

  From: MT ******* <***********************************************************************************>
  Date: Thu, May 8, 2025 at 8:59 AM
  Subject: Re: Your Invoice #***** from Gardenias ************
  To: <***************************************************************************************************************************>

  Hello,

  I am sorry to take so long to write again. I have wanted to help you understand the issues I had with the work done by your crew. First, my original plan of design was changed by your workers: instead of a side path along the edges of the front yard to get waste/recycling bins to the street, the workers persuaded me to have a walk created to link the side porch area housing the bins to the new driveway. Subsequently, they filled the entire area with black gravel which I wrote you about as it was not attractive, not requested and no consulting with me on this took place. 

  When I complained to you, they did come back to fix it but I did not supervise it. Instead of removing the gravel, they simply covered it over with some dirt, so that now when I am trying to plant flowers in those areas, I am finding nothing but gravel. I have dug as deep as I can to plant a blackberry **** or flowering plants, but after 5-6 inches, it is still gravel. I think you will agree that this should not have happened and was not part of my contract.

  Second, the plant box was built using treated wood and I am uncertain exactly what kind of wood and what chemicals were used. For a garden where plants will be gardened to be consumed in the future, it seems illogical to use wood treated with toxic chemicals. Moreover, i had stated that I would fill the box with my own (organic) soil; instead the box was filled with "good soil" the worker suggested and now many plants are growing inside of the box among my vegetable plants and I am not sure what they are. they are hard to weed out.

  Finally, I asked for flagstone to create the small pathway from porch to driveway. Instead, the worker said he had some stones to use which he showed me and I agreed could work, but I said they needed to be flat for an easy move of the bins. Instead, several stones used are not flat and it is harder to get the bins down to the street -- especially if there is a car parked in the driveway--using this pathway.

  In sum, I had wanted to support your small business but I feel I cannot give you a good review or recommendation. I am 80 years old and thought--despite a language barrier--I could communicate my wishes to your workers. Unfortunately, they either did not understand me or had their own methods/ideas of getting the work done.

  If you could please respond to my concerns, I would so much appreciate it. I will add that the paver driveway was well done/attractive and I appreciate that work

  Thank you, Dr. ***** *******

  ******* *****	May 13, 2025, 10:14 AM (8 days ago)
  tome

  Hello *****. 

  I am looking over all of the information we have and during one of the busiest times of the season. You cannot demand a response at your convenience 

  You did encourage me in when you took months after the work was completed to bring up any issues. If you had brought up these issues in a timely manner, we may have been able to assist you, but you cannot expect to not pay the balance when it has been months since. ***** was there once since you had not paid the significant amount you owe. He has not been back or contacted you since. I am not sure who was at your house the other time, but I am glad you did notify the police department for your safety. It was not ***** or anyone from Gardenias. 

  To my understanding, this is the timeline of what occurred:The work was started on the 4th and that same day you stated that "they're doing such a good job!" On the 5th you did mention that you had issues, and I let you know that you could bring these up with ***** so that he can make changes. In that text you also stated that ****** warned you that flagstone may make it harder to move the bins, but you were set on stone over gravel. You sent a photo of stone you had that could be used; however, it would not work since you did not have a sufficient amount, which is why ***** supplied the flagstone, which was your other requested option.  On March 11th you had suggested that ***** could purchase the truck from your grandson as a landscaping discount and on March 26th he notified you that he was not interested. On April 28th you stated that you would prepare to pay towards the balance very soon after I had contacted you regarding the unpaid invoice.On May 8th is the first time that brought up anything and this was after repeated attempts to collect the balance.  On May 12th, you offered to pay $1700, ignoring the remaining $1296.

  Based on all of this information and the fact that the crew did a backyard cleanup, which you were not charged for, we cannot accept anything less than the amount you owe. It took you months to bring any issues up, you yourself requested the flagstone per your text and you were dependent on the purchase of the truck to cover a portion of the balance. We will accept the $1700 as a partial payment; however, you can pay off the remaining balance as you are able to. We accept partial payments if you cannot pay the full balance. 

  We can work with the BBB and with you to come to a resolution and so that we can review all the work. However, $1700 is not enough for all the work that was done. If you are unwilling to work on this with us, we can also send the bill to collection, which we would rather not do.Please note that I will only respond to text or emails and I will not be answering your phone calls as I have no way to record the conversations. Sue

   

  First, I want to address some inferences you have made that are not true. First, my grandson did not initiate a conversation with ***** about the stated truck. ***** asked me about this truck parked because he stated he had just spent $1500 on repairs of his truck which was the same. When I replied that my grandson was selling this truck, he asked me the sale price and I told him I would talk to my grandson. He did talk to my grandson directly and asked him to diagnose what was wrong with his truck after he learned my grandson had an auto mechanics background, stating he didn't have the price my grandson was asking. When my grandson had a buyer for his truck, I let ***** know in case he changed his mind. When I didn't hear back from him, I told my grandson to sell the truck. It is utterly unfair of you to suggest that I was using this to acquire a discount on your bill. Recall, I was there and heard the conversations; you did not.

  2) This is a fairly new home (20 years old) on a tiny deadend street of four homes. Hardly anyone drives or visits here. If this was not another of your employees, I apologize. 

  3) I am a new homeowner, co-signing a loan for my grandson and had hoped to retain the services of a small business that employed minority workers, however, our communication may have been hampered by the fact that I don't speak Spanish and ***** has limited English.

  4) I first asked to have a gravel walkway for moving garbage/recycling bins in a straight line to the south side of the property. ***** said it would be better to have the walkway connect to the new driveway and since I have never contracted for landscaping services before, I followed his lead. 

  5) Our contract will show that I asked it to be changed to reflect the fact that I would provide my own dirt. I wanted to purchase organic dirt for my vegetable plants. However, ***** claimed that he had some excellent dirt I should use and again I thought he knew what was best. While you claim this dirt in your care may have become contaminated, I was not told this and subsequently there are weeds growing in the planter box that are taller than the vegetables. (See photos.)

  6) I also was not told that treated wood would be used for the planter box. I know that such wood is full of toxic chemicals and I would have asked that it not be used if I had been made aware of *****' plan.

  7) On 5/4 I was asked to change the work date to 5/5 and I agreed even though I had a morning appointment. The workers who came were 30 min late when I contacted ***** asking if they were still coming. It seemed as though the workers had their own schedules and ideas on the work to be done. For example, from the very first day, I told ***** that I wanted to use flagstones for the walkway and I took him to the side and back of the house to show him the type of stone I wanted to use. *****, instead, used some stones he had in his truck. He showed me one which was flat and I said that would be okay if all the stones used were flat. They were not, and now we have a rocky path as we attempt to move our bins to the street. Here is the text I wrote:

  hi sue The paver driveway looks beautiful but I was persuaded to not create a side gravel path for the garbage bins and the result is a front yard full of dark gravel-not attractive. I had told ****** that I wanted flagstone not gravel for the walkway but he stated that might be harder to move the plastic cans upon. I had to nap & when i woke up I saw the front yard which is disappointing. I am sending a photo of stone that could be used for the 3ft walkway from side of house to driveway in case flagstone cant be used. But if no stones are going to be used Id rather they just re-do the path to my original request which is along side the property line The front yard already looks bad w 2 utility boxes in the front so thats why i am not happy w a front yard of gravel. I will send you a photo of what it looks like . I guess I should have asked for a sketch of the proposed work. can you call to see how we can improve things 

  8) ***** sent ***** (no longer ******) back to my house to remove the gravel but now I find that he simply covered up the gravel and when I have tried to plant where he used a bit of barkdust to cover the gravel spots remaining, I cannot dig through several inches (almost five in one case) of gravel. At the same time, the many weeds in the dirt that he filled the planter box with are taller than the vegetable starts, and now the leaves on my beet plants are all dying. (I am trying to attach photos that will document this.) 

  9) On April 28, ***** asked if I had had a chance to review the invoice and had no complaints about payment since she had previously told me I could pay at my convenience.

  Because she did not respond to numerous phone calls to discuss the work and my disappointment and failure to comply with our contract, I wrote her May 8 after a week's trip out of town for work.

  10) I did not request a backyard cleanup - a minor job at most--and am not sure why they offered this. I called them to ask about whether this was an extra charge but was unable to reach them again. I do not know any other businesses who do not take phone calls because they are unable to record.

   

  It is only after I notified ***** that her worker had come to my door very loud and argumentative, refusing to come inside to talk (really, he feared for his safety of an 80-year old 5' senior?) and stated I was contacting the BBB did she respond. I am willing to negotiate a payment, but the company took so many short cuts without fulfilling their contract. While I never did receive the breakdown of costs to create the driveway, it turned out well and I have no problem paying for that portion of the bill: $1500-1700. But it appears that fairly soon I will have to hire someone else to un-do the walkway and have unexpected weeding ahead of me. Also, at some point, I will replace the treated wood used for the planter box, another future cost. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/12/2025

  Thank you for your email, *******. I have attached another photo of the gravel fill in my front yard that was covered by a very thin top layer of bark dust..Today I tried to plant another plant, but after digging through the bark dust, I was stopped again by several layers of gravel. 
  I realize I probably will just need to hire someone to remove the bumpy walkway and the gravel, and create the garbage can pathway on the side of the property that I originally contracted for. 
  I know how slow paperwork can be, so I am patient.