Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/28/2023

  Type:Service or Repair 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.

  We hired American landscape to complete our lawn and patio on a new build home with no current landscaping.
  The planning procedure was great with our project manager. He got back to us promptly, worked with us on our budget, and designed a patio consistent with our visions. He communicated well on the start time of the project and was there almost daily to make sure the project was going well. There were some adjustments that were made and he was flexible with this and able to accommodate everything requested.
  The project seemed to go well and looked great at completion.
  Unfortunately, this is where a lot of problems started.
  Prior to our project being completed, the pavers placed were already starting to chip. Fortunately, I felt this situation was handled extremely well by the company and ultimately all of our pavers were replaced in spring. We were told the problem was a “bad batch” of pavers.
  Besides the above problem, the rest of the problems were handled with much less ease. Communication from project manager significantly lacked. There were times I needed to reach out to him weeks later to try to get a response after attempting previous communication. This happened for months upon months to try to get the below problems addressed.
  -a few of our plants did not make it through winter. 2 were replaced. We were told that only completely dead plants qualified under warranty. We had two grass-like bushes that had one or two leaves sprout all season and were told they didn’t qualify to be replaced. Our project manager told us he would be out in mid-May to assess these plants and didn’t end up coming until late June/early July.
  -our contract stated that erosion blankets would be placed where necessary on our lawn after seeding. When finished, the erosion blankets were placed throughout the ENTIRE lawn, even in flat spots. While I appreciate them being extra careful, I don’t know if it was really needed throughout the entire lawn. And I’m sure I was paying for every blanket placed. To make matters worse, each blanket was staked down by at least 4 stakes. While they are meant to stay in place, ultimately, they came up, bent, twisted, etc causing us to step on them and trip over them. The first time we mowed our lawn, we hit once every few feet. One even went flying through the mower and hit my car. Ultimately, we had to buy a metal detector in attempts to find them all to prevent damage to the mower or injury to my family. Given our lawn was 0.6 acres, I spent 15+ hours picking them up, and estimate well over 500 picked up.
  -our lawn did not come in very well in multiple areas. I was told this was being watched closely by the lawn care team through American. We also had a seemingly excessive number of weeds. After multiple calls to get someone to address this, we were ultimately told that acidic top soil was brought in by American. They would need to come back to spray lawn to neutralize lawn and then would need to reseed the areas that did not grow in. This did not happen promptly despite multiple requests for a timeline; however, it did ultimately happen.
  -when our pavers were replaced, the saw that was used ultimately cut through our flower bed irrigation. I did not get notified about this by the company (nor did the company attempt to contact the irrigation company) and instead found out when our flower bed by the patio started flooding. I called the irrigation company thinking it was their fault however when they came out, they told me it was flooding due to the line being cut. When American Landscaping came out next, it was admitted to me that they attempted to fix it themselves.
  - when the project outline of our built-in fire pit was spray painted, I had requested that it be extended further from the house. I had asked the project manager was code was in regards to fire pit distance from house. He got back to me promptly that the code was more than what was initially planned in the final project blue print. Had I not mentioned anything, our fire pit would have been placed not up to code and we wouldn’t have been able to actually use it.
  -Lastly, when noticing excessive amounts of weeds early in spring, I was encouraged to get a weed program from American to control the weeds (recommended by the project manager). This was before finding out the acidic top soil was brought in. I purchased this program and paid in full. Unfortunately, NONE of the applications worked to control the weeds. I made call after call about it. Later when the reseeding took place, I was told they couldn’t spray the entire yard without jeopardizing the new turf placde. Ultimately, because the weed program was completely ineffective, I requested a full refund. I sent this request to my project manager, his boss, and the lawn care manager. I was messaged back the next day by my project manager stating he would look into my request and see what the best option is. After 10+ days of no response, I ultimately filed a BBB complaint. Within a week, the project manager’s boss reached out to me to discuss the multiple problems I had had with the company (I had spoken with him on the phone before the complaint regarding my project manager’s lack of communication and had cc’d him in multiple emails with no effective assistance or response from him). He was now completely willing to help with anything he could and I was refunded my full amount for the weed program. Ultimately, he fixed a few of the problems left to fix and also offered to finish out the weed program for free. This was a better-than-expected resolution.
  
  Given the above, these are my recommendations for any future customer of American Landscape based on my experience:
  1.     Carefully discuss codes/law of the city/town/village of your home with your project manager to be sure all are considered legal within the HOA and township.
  2.     If erosion blanket will be used, discuss where on the lawn it will be used. While extra careful is great, the extra $$$ and picking up stakes In the ground is not.
  3.     Have a discussion about expectation of weeds. Discuss what is normal and what is not. Consider having American check the pH of their top soil that they bring in. (I was told by the company that due to the problems with my lawn, they now check everyone’s top soil).
  4.     Discuss warranty of plants. I would encourage they write out what qualifies under the warranty.
  5.     Buy their pavers! They have a life time warranty and getting them replaced was easy. Have confidence you will have excellent looking pavers for life.
  6.     Hold American accountable to their “highest quality craftmanship and dedicated service” and “land stewardship” business moto.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/02/2023

  We appreciate the constructive feedback and we take matters such as this very seriously. Over our 50
  year history, we have been fortunate to experience very minimal complaints on the Better Business
  Bureau. We work very hard to ensure that our clients are happy, and when issues arise that they are
  being addressed. We also appreciate the BBB for the opportunity to provide a response.
  When working with elements in the living environment there are definitely unique challenges with
  regards to the natural processes that occur with things like plants, lawns, the soil, weather, the changing
  seasons, etc. These can require a lot of patience, especially when it comes to establishing a seeded lawn.
  We try to educate our clients as best we can. Our proposals are quite lengthy, and while we can not
  cover every possible scenario, we try to provide the most important relevant information so as to
  prepare the client for a reasonable expectation. In the case of seeded lawns, the following standard
  language is included in the body of all of our seeded lawn proposals:

  
  Important Notes regarding Seeded Lawns:

  
  - While we believe seeded lawns to be the best long-term solution to establishing healthy and vibrant turf grass, it
  is important to note that seeding is a process that can only achieve the end result through time and patience. A
  seeded lawn often takes two (2) complete growing seasons to fully mature.
  - Every successful lawn seeding inevitably includes weed growth during the early stages. This is an unavoidable
  part of the process. Weeds can be persistent until the time when lawn seedlings mature enough for a lawn
  fertilization containing broadleaf weed control. This typically occurs after the lawn has been mowed four (4)
  times. If applied earlier, the broadleaf weed control could potentially kill the lawn seedlings.

  
  Any time topsoil is brought to a site, there are latent seeds contained in that soil. When the lawn seed is
  watered, those lawn seeds are also watered, and then they grow. To treat the weeds at the time of early
  lawn establishment can cause harm to the young lawn seedlings. This is why it is necessary to tolerate
  the weeds for a time while the lawn is establishing. In the case with your lawn, and based on your
  concerns for the lawn not coming in quickly enough, we did extensive work to top-dress and reseed
  certain areas in order to accelerate growth. When you do this, it essentially restarts the process with the
  additional topsoil and seed that is brought in, resulting in an extended window of weed toleration.
  Again, this is a process that requires a lot of patience. The most important part during the initial phase is
  getting the lawn seedlings established. Once you can do that, the lawn care program will take care of
  the weeds.
  Erosion blanket is part of the seeding process as well, in that it helps to hold the seed and soil in place -
  especially in areas where there are steeper slopes, or where stormwater is more likely to collect and
  flow over land. While preventing washout, erosion blanket has the added benefit of helping the soil to
  retain moisture which helps in promoting seed germination. At the time of seeding, if there are larger
  storms predicted in the weather forecast, or in cases where the seed is installed in a late season time
  frame, it may be prudent to put down more erosion blanket so as to help ensure that the seed stays in
  place and has the chance to germinate. In certain cases, seedings are considered dormant seedings
  because the seasonal window of grass growth may be closed, and therefore the seed needs to be held in
  place until spring before it is expected to germinate. In this particular case, it was an October seeding – a
  timeframe when we typically get more rain, and near the end of the seasonal window, which is why the
  blanket was used on the entire lawn. To be sure, our decision-making and primary focus is centered on
  providing the best conditions for establishing the lawn, taking the relevant environmental data points at
  the time of installation into consideration.
  
  The sod staples that are being referred to are standard industry practice, and are necessary to anchor
  the blanket into the ground. Under the right conditions in our Wisconsin winters, the frost can heave the
  sod staples, thus pushing them up beyond the surface. This is a natural process caused by ground water
  expanding when it freezes, and pushing the staples up. There is not a way to prevent this, however
  based on your feedback, we will add an item on this to our standard language.
  Our turf and lawn care specialist, one of our technical maintenance specialists have been to the site
  regularly throughout the summer. We’ve performed a soil pH adjustment, we added extra top-dressed
  soil and seed, we’ve performed the lawn care applications, for which we are covering the cost for the
  entire season. The truth is that this is a natural process, and sometimes, the best recommendation that
  those experienced professionals can make is to give it time and patience, living with some weeds while
  the infant grass seedlings develop. This is the advice that our turf and lawn care specialist provided
  immediately before this complaint was filed. It is not an immediate solution, and not always the
  feedback that people are looking for, but it is time-tested. We understand that there is a desire for this
  natural process to go faster, and that it can be frustrating. Once again though, your lawn is absolutely on
  the right track, and filling in very nicely. In the bigger picture, your lawn is still in its infancy stages, and it
  will mature into a beautiful turf lawn provided it continues to receive regular lawn care treatments.

  
  With regard to the planting warranty, our policy is detailed in our proposals, and it is as follows:

  
  Any of the proposed trees, shrubs, evergreens or woody vines that subsequently die will be replaced one
  time, at no cost to the client, for a period of one year from the date of installation. Perennials and ground
  cover will be warrantied for the first six weeks after installation. Annuals, seeds, bulbs and plants
  installed in raised planter boxes or above ground pots will not be covered under warranty. This warranty
  is contingent on the client providing the plants normal care per watering guidelines listed in this
  document and paying invoices when due. It is the client's responsibility to notify the contractor of any
  plants that need replacement. Contractor is not responsible for plants damaged by insects, rabbits
  rodents, disease or acts of nature.

  
  The one-year time frame on trees and shrubs is a fairly standard warranty within our industry. Some
  companies chose not to warranty perennials and ground covers at all due to the nature of the plants and
  the care required by the client to help get them established. We cover them for six weeks. In this case,
  we were happy to extend that warranty period on the three perennial grasses.
  Once again, we are thankful for the opportunity to address the concerns expressed here. We are very
  glad to hear that you are so happy with hardscape. The three perennial grasses have been replaced. We
  are happy to continue the complimentary lawn care service for the entire first year, and we are
  confident that the lawn is well on its way to a successful mature turf setting. Thank you for the
  constructive feedback. We wish you lasting enjoyment in your beautiful landscape!