Bury drainage pipes and re-lay bricks for safety and drainage
The work they did for us was for rerouting the water from the eves and digging rain drainage pipes underground through the front yard, side of house, and out the back yard, plus relaying front sidewalk brickwork after (to remove safety (leveling) and water pooling issues). The work did not seem to us to have been done properly - we were pretty sure they didn't bury the drainpipes deep enough through the yard. They sent a senior person to check, and that person agreed. But when the company sent someone to fix it they did not dig the pipes deeper - they re-laid the brickwork (they may have dug that part of the pipe deeper, but they did not touch the rest of it through the yard). It looked good afterwards and they asked us to formally agree to that effect. We did. But as the season passed we could see that the pipes under the grass and side of the house and back of the house were still sticking slightly out of the ground (the lawnmower chops up the top of the pipes). As well, the brick steps were falling uneven and loose - probably the brick was sitting right on top of the drainspout and the pipe was still not deep enough. A big issue is that the pipe all along the yard is not deep enough - you can see it sticking up. We placed calls and got no reply from Markham Landscaping. Since they did not sound like they opened our file for those calls - they just said they would have someone get back to us -- perhaps they did not log those calls. We gave up for a while, tried other things on our own (putting more lawn soil and seed). Pretty much every year (probably every year), after we made an effort to fix the lawn to no avail, we called to say the problems are still outstanding. We're told 'someone will call you'. Yet still no reply. Life is busy, and I'll admit I did not take the time to chase down an answer. Sometimes I followed up once or twice, sometimes I just placed the call and let it stand for that season. No one called us back and unless they came to the home without communicating with us, to our knowledge no one came again to look. Today I decided I was going to succeed in speaking to someone. I guess I'm motivated by the fact that we have to pay someone to have the pipes re-dug along the yard and the sidewalk re-laid once the pipes are deeper. So I waited on hold until I could speak to a manager. He acknowledged that there is no record of the company replying to our calls, after the first time they came back to repair the work. I had him read back the logs to me and we both agreed it was not there. So I asked if, given that I had tried to contact them but had not received call-backs, they would still honour the warranty, or at least to some extent. He said it would be hard to admit at this point that he has a warranty issue, since several years have passed. He also pointed out how many calls he gets in a year and how hard it would be to respond to all of them. True, but it seems rather 'weasly' to not return customer calls while a warranty is valid, and then when an adamant customer reaches them say, well, now it's too late. I asked if he would honour the work and send someone out to redo it, and he declined. So I offered that perhaps we could reach a compromise -something they could be proud of, too, and requested an offer from his part. His response? "The demand for my services exceeds my ability to supply. Just look around your neighbourhood to see how many homes we're doing. I don't need to justify my work." We interpret this as: they will rest on their laurels - they have plenty of business, they don't need to resolve our problems with them. We would absolutely not use Markham Landscaping again. Postscript: I see that they have replied below, so I tried to clarify a couple of items here. But the response is disappointing - their facts are different than ours, including the description of the work, and I just don't hear the sense of responsibility for not returning calls within the warranty period. I woudl be happy to show pictures of the pipe sticking out of the lawn along much of where they laid it.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $2,000.00
- Company Response
Response to negative Review on Homestars
The Facts
• Customer contacted us June 3, 2008 sales appointment booked for June 13, 2008 and quote given for front and sides for approximately ninety five hundred to redo the poor quality front and side landscaping.
• Customer just wanted a repair done to existing poorly installed interlock and steps with no consideration for the roof water that was causing erosion and puddles in the existing walkway.
• August 15, 2008 customer sent a fax to our office, to just do some repairs to existing interlock and steps and fix the down spout roof water problem. The cost to do that work was approximately twenty five hundred dollars.
• Work was completed in October and invoiced October 15
• Customer paid part of the invoice and held back five hundred until spring
• March 8, 2009 customer sent a request that three items be addressed two items on re-leveling the existing interlock and one on some sand wash out at drain pipe.
• On April 29, 2009 a senior service person addressed the three items and on April 30 our office called to make sure customer was happy and requested the final payment. Customer was happy and agreed to pay the balance.
• May 6, requested payment second time and payment was received May 25, 2009.
• October 2009 repair work is out of warranty.
• Fall 2011 customer calls and asks for some repairs to existing interlck. Office manager responds by indicating work is long out of warranty and there would be a charge. Customer does not want to pay for any repairs.
• Summer 2012 customer calls again requesting repairs, talks to the office manager and wants someone to look at the interlock and drain pipe.
• Senior service person goes to the residence and finds normal settlement on a walkway that was installed poorly, may years ago by the previous contractor and there is some further settlement in a few areas, which is to be expected.
• The drain pipe needs some soil and seed as the slope of lawn is vary steep, and will erode with time. This is normal ware and needs to be maintained over time by the homeowner or their maintenance contractor.
• Office manager communicates this to the customer and that there will be a charge. Customer wants the maintenance done at no cost.
• Office manager sends a letter to the customer stating, further to your requests for service work to be done by Markham Landscaping our warranty is for one year. After one year there is a charge for service. The work you had done at your residence was in 2008, and serviced in 2009.
• Fall 2012 the customer insists on calling and talking to the general manager. I get on the phone and explain how unrealistic the customer is to request and insist on follow up service work after four years from installation. I indicated that we keep vary detailed records of all calls and service requests and that the work we did in 2008 was serviced in spring 2009. She expected the work to be done at no charge and if we did not do the work that she wanted which was some major repairs, that she would write a complaint letter about us in an attempt to do our reputation some harm. I indicated that her behavior is totally unreasonable, because we have an excellent reputation and work very hard at servicing our customers. Just look at all the projects we do in your neighborhood every year. Further, that existing landscaping that was done over ten years ago was poorly done by the previous contractor and they were aware of that fact. They made the decision to repair, and not do the re-landscape of the front and side as first quoted in spring 2008.
• I have been running this business for over thirty years and I have seen unreasonable requests for service outside warranty, but this one is extreme.
Mike