Landscaper - Rant

I am still upset this morning over a conversation I had last night. I thought I would share it with you to get it off my chest. Maybe you can console me.

In the past we have hired a certain man to do some landscaping work for us. This man is somewhat of a rural fellow with a small operation. He layed some sod in our backyard and this winter planted some trees. He did some work for our neighbor and we recommended him to a friend. This spring I asked him to come by and give me an estimate on some landscaping I wanted to have done. He said he would call back that evening. Instead he called at 6:30am and left a message with my husband (rather than talking to me directly) with some numbers. I looked the numbers over and decided on some but not all the work and gave him a call. I tried to get him twice before I left a message. I then called and left another message a week later. Meanwhile, the trees are leafing out and I am getting anxious to get planting. I had pretty much given up on him calling back.

He calls last night and I told him what I wanted done and could he review the numbers he gave me because I no longer had the paper with the quotes. My husband then got on the phone to talk to him about the trees he had planted. One of the trees was apparently partly buried in dirt and was suffering accordingly. He had not staked the trees when they were planted. Hed didn't seem to think it was his responsibility if they died. He agreed to stake them for us for an additional $20 per tree.

When I got back on the phone I told him I could not find the message with the estimate. He apparently did not record his estimates in anyway and could not give me them again. He then said that he normally liked to get on a job right away following an estimate and not wait a month like I did. I reminded him that it took two messages and 3 weeks for him to call me back. He said he had been busy on other jobs and didn't see the point in calling me until he had time to do the job. He became very agitated with me. I told him we had not had problems with him in the past but I had know way of knowing what to pay him. I gave him a number that I thought was what he quoted and he said that was too low. I asked him if when he got out here would he give me another estimate and he said, no. He was not coming out to my house unless it was to do the work. I said I wanted him to do the work but wanted to know what to write the check for. He said to call him if I found the estimate and hung up.

Now, I didn't like the way this man had talked to me on the phone. Up until now, I had found him friendly and accomodating. I am not accustomed to dealing with business in this manner, however. If he had returned my call, maybe I would have hung on to the paper. Or perhaps, if he had called and talked to me with the estimate I could have given him the go ahead then. I could hardly sleep last time I was so upset. I don't think I will do business with him again but would like to hear your input. I need to go calm down now. Too bad, I can't have a glass of wine at work.