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:02/27/2025

  Type:Billing 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.

  We have been trying to contact Liban since mid-November for issues with what we paid not matching the contracted services. Our contract with Liban states we will be charged $135 for "clearing the drive, walks and salting 'per clearing'," with a snowfall trigger height of 1". There is NOT a second line item for salting OUTSIDE of a snowfall in the contract. The property was also to be staked.After our property had NOT been staked and we noticed delivery of services outside the terms of our contract, we made 10+ attempts to contact Liban via email and phone between November and January with no response.We finally made contact with *** on 1/18, who hung up on us. On 1/21, we made contact with ****, with whom we had a brief discussion, during which we asked for our account to be terminated and which resulted in only a partial credit for services not performed. All attempts to contact after 1/21 have gone ************* summary, we have been charged and HAVE PAID $875 to date, which includes $540 for clearing the drive, walks and salting 3 times, as well as $335 for salting outside of snowfall (and thus outside the contracted conditions) 5 times.There is also one outstanding invoice issued on 2/20 (after agreeing to close our account). This invoice remains UNPAID as we seek a resolution with Liban. This unpaid invoice is for 7 salt ONLY charges totaling $455, minus a $205 credit that was promised by **** during our phone call on 1/21, for a balance of $250. The $205 credit was for **** acknowledging that we were incorrectly charged on 11/21 for an unauthorized performance of services by a now-terminated employee.However, we have received NO credit for the salting services performed outside the terms of our *********** summary, we seek the UNPAID invoice to be voided and a total refund of $505, which includes $300 for salting outside of the contracted 1" snowfall and the $205 refund for the fraudulent 11/21 charges that would be voided on the final invoice.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/04/2025

  Subject: Response to BBB Complaint ID: ********

  Dear ***** ******,
  Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We take customer concerns seriously and aim to provide fair and transparent services. We would like to clarify our position regarding the complaint submitted by ***** *********, as outlined in BBB Complaint ID: ********.
  First and foremost, we stand by the services we provided to Ms. ********** All services were performed in accordance with the terms of the contract. Each service was GPS time-stamped and completed as agreed upon. Additionally, we communicated the details of these services verbally during a phone call with Ms. ********* on January 21, 2025. Following the conversation, the services were concluded, and only the services that were completed before that call were invoiced.

  
  We acknowledge that there was a misunderstanding regarding the salting services outside of a snowfall event. However, as mentioned, our team followed the terms of the contract. The charges for the salting performed were in line with the contract, and all services were documented.
  Regarding the outstanding invoice for $455, we do not believe the charges are unjustified, as they reflect services that were completed and documented prior to the January 21st call. Additionally, the $205 credit offered during the call on January 21, 2025, was for charges that occurred on 11/21/2025 due to an error by a now-terminated employee, which we acknowledge and have rectified.
  As such, we do not agree to a refund or the voiding of the unpaid invoice. The services provided were fair, performed as per the contract, and documented with GPS timestamps.

  
  We are committed to resolving any confusion and ensuring that our clients are satisfied with the services rendered. If Ms. ********* would like to discuss this matter further, we are happy to do so, but we do not feel that a refund or settlement is warranted given the circumstances.
  Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.

  
  Sincerely,
  **** ********
  Liban Landscape
  *******************
  ********************
  Phone: ************
  Email: *********************************************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/11/2023

  Type:Order 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.

  We have been with this company for well over a decade for every winter season. This year they have repeatedly broken their signed contract with us, even after numerous attempts asking them to follow our signed contract. They have padded the bill and are charging customers for services outside of what was agreed upon. They also have invoiced for dates that are inaccurate. Cameras have been verified that the services rendered don't match up to the services given. Our contract clearly states that salt will be administered after 1" of snow or more. There is nothing in our contract that states they will come as they feel appropriate, or when they deem things like "refreeze" to be a thing. They have shown up to presalt before every snow event, which is not in our contract. Sometimes we didn't even get the snow that was called for yet we were salted. I have a attached a picture from 1/26/23, 2 days after I spoke to *** and asked for our contract to be followed, where they came to salt. I also attached a picture where they showed up on 2/20/23, 2 full days before the winter storm Olive was to come. The weather was 40+ degrees and we had no snow, however you can see the heavy amount of salt applied. They billed us that they salted on 2/21/23, 2/22/23 (the day of the storm), and on 2/23/23. For all of these events they claimed winter storm Oliva (it's Olive per the ************************ and wasn't a 3 day event). February billing is inaccurate. Our average snow plow bill per season for 10 years was roughly $3000 or less, even with rising costs/labor. This year we will be paying close to $6000 when November, December and ******* were lower than average snowfalls. Our price/event only went up $15 which would not justify a 50% increase in bills. We paid in full November-December 2022. After contacting them, we only paid for what our contract said *******-February 2023. We request a refund for November-December and a forgiven balance of what was in violation of our contract.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/15/2023

  Thank you for reaching out to for resolution to your recent issue with our winter services.  We take both the quality, accuracy, and following of contracts very seriously and over 48 years have worked hard to earn the trust of each customer and we appreciate the trust you have instilled in us over the last 10 years.   This year is no different and all decisions made around salt applications were made consistent with years past based on well documented weather events and advisement of the previous owner.  Further, this year weve taken steps to help verify all service visits with a GPS pinpointed tracking app that shows when teams completed their services onsite to verify the accuracy of all services performed.  

  With that said, weve review your BBB inquiry in depth and have provided the following response below.  Please note, we can also get together in person at our shop, onsite by you, or by phone/virtual call to further review any further details or questions you may have. 

  In looking into our communication chain with you, we had a discussion back on February 13th, 2023 about how you wanted us to adjust the application of salt at your location moving forward to only apply salt during a clearing event and not during slippery surface events as we previously had been.  In reviewing our documentation, this change was made in our routing system on February 13th such that you were taken off of our salt routes as to only receive salt treatment services during a clearing event.

  On February 21st, a proactive exception was made out of concern for a pending ice event as southeastern ********* received its first ice storm warning in 5 years in anticipation of winter storm Olive.  Anticipating a solid layer of ice prior to the arrival of 3-5 of thick sleet/ice/snow mix on 2/22/2023, we heavily pre-treated all of our customers surfaces with two to three layers of heavy salt to ensure the initial layer of ice could be cleared the next day during the actual weather event.  

  Although this salt application did not take place during a clearing event, we followed suit with recommendations from local municipalities, news stations, and a committee made decision to ensure the anticipated thick ice layer would not present an issue clearing the accumulation during the storm and present dangerous slippery conditions during and after the upcoming weather events.  This was just a unique situation where we did not want to jeopardize the effectiveness of other future services provided during the ice and sleet storm event.  With that said, if you feel a credit should be given, we would be open to discuss issuing a credit for this provided service.  

  Addressing your concerns over a salt application provided on 1/26/2023, below is our documentation of this event:

  Snow overnight ended up being around 1 1/2 with cold high 20s temps.  Team scrambled and cleared and salted all businesses.  Snow continued lightly all morning.  Cleared and salted all condos and residential units in the afternoon, some west locations only required salt to effectively melt the snow without a more expensive clearing.  System hung over ********* throughout afternoon with snow here and there.  Then another small lake effect system came in late and added a dusting.  Salted condo and business locations after 10:30 PM to melt off any remaining precipitation that would freeze up overnight."

  Note, in this particular event on 1/26/2023, salt treatment allowed us not to have to clear as the contract otherwise stated which saved your condo association the cost of a clearing for that day.  This occurred in several other instances as well.

  Addressing your total cost of services for the season against historical costs, weve attached with our response a statement of all winter services for this season for your building. Currently, the total for the season (November 2022-Februrary 2023) is $3,788.20.  This is normal for activity for the season, however, prices have gone up significantly over the last 2 years to account for the massive amount of inflation that weve been hit with economy wide since 2021.  Because this inflation primarily ************ worker wages and things like used trucks and fuel, we adjusted our prices during this period 10% and 15% annually over the last two years to account for increased costs. If your average season in 2020 was $3,000, inflation adjusted pricing would put this years services at $3,795, which is currently in line with what has been invoiced.

  Again, our team takes integrity and continuing to earn customer trust extremely seriously and we have systems are in place to ensure accuracy of services along the way such as GPS app based tracking and detailed weather event documentation.  We seek only to provide safe,reliable, timely, and quality services.  We can review further in person in our office, over the phone, or personally onsite any additional concerns or questions you may have.  Please just reach out directly by phone or email as you have in the past.

  -Liban Landscape

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/15/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  Our contract states that Libans will not apply salt until 1" of snow or more. I spoke to them on January 24th, not February 13th, which I have email verification where we asked them to follow the contract that we signed. They continued to come outside of the terms of their contract from November until now.

  The picture on 1/26 was an example of this just 2 days after our conversation, so no we weren't removed from the lineup. They applied heavy salt on 2/20 which is time/date stamped via a picture and camera. Understanding that there was an unprecedented event but heavily salting 2 full days before an event is wrong as the weather can and often does change. Even if the record shows they salted on 2/21, they actually came on 2/20 as well, which shows a discrepancy between what is actually happening and what is being billed.

   Our entire season for over 10 years from November-April was under $3k total on average. We are currently looking at spending already $3700 (November-February) and still have 2 more months left, which will potentially make the entire season double. Inflation is factored in to the increase of services, which we agreed upon in our signed contract. The contract is also what we signed for every other year in the past. Years past we were serviced according to our contract and it wasn't violated like it has been this season. The contract should be clear that Libans planned on salting as they deem appropriate etc. And not clearly state after 1" of snow or more. They have a more detailed waiver for salt than their actual contract. Our contract is clear and it was and continues to be violated.

  I can't wait for the bill for March.

  Regards,
  
  Allison