Green Angels Landscaping


Country United States
State British Indian Ocean Territory
City Columbia
Address 10475 Clarksville Pike
Phone 410-772-8302
Website www.greenangelslandscaping.com/

Green Angels Landscaping Reviews

  • Sep 24, 2014

This guy - Joe Boeckman, of Green Angels Landscaping - totally RIPPED ME OFF. One of my coworkers recommended him as an "honest Christian guy" who goes to his church, and said he'd known him for years. So I hired him. WHAT A SCAM.

He showed up to give me an estimate. I showed him around my yard and told him that I only have limited funds to spend on the work, which was 1) Trim the tree in the back yard, 2) Fix the gravel landscaping along the back yard fence, 3) Trim the hedges in the front yard. He agreed to do the work for $25 an hour. I asked him if he was going to print up a cost estimate and he said,"No. I'll just get started and let you know how much things will cost before I do them, and you can decide." I trusted him. Again, he was recommended by a friend at work and was "a good Christian man." BIG MISTAKE. Lesson number one: Always get an estimate and agree on a price - even if it's a friend of a friend.

He showed up with an employee on the first day. He said they would start in the front. I specifically asked him to make Juniper bushes into square or round hedges. He said okay. When I came out a couple hours later, he'd cut them into bonzai trees. They look ridiculous. I didn't know what to say, but I wish I had told him I wasn't going to pay for that because that isn't what I wanted. Lesson number two: Don't pay for something you didn't agree to.

I asked them if there was anything they needed from me, and he actually said, "Sure, you can order us some pizza for lunch." I thought since we had mutual friends, this was the right thing to do. I offered to buy pizza for he and his employee, so they came in and ate lunch for an hour. They also took the leftovers home. I realize now that this was very inappropriate and he was really taking advantage. Lesson number three: Never let some old jerk convince you that you owe he and his coworker pizza - they are there to do a job, and feeding them is not in the deal.

He then told me that my pine trees looked like they were dying, and he offered to fix them up for me. For the next 2 hours he messed around spraying my trees with some black stuff. When all was said and done, my bushes were butchered. At the end of the day he said I owed him $400. They worked for 6 hours, which didn't add up for me - $25 an hour. Well, he failed to tell me that they charge $25 per hour per person. Lesson number four: get the hourly cost in writing and find out how many employees will be doing the work.

He also charged me for the time it took him to get spray for my trees and for the cost of the spray.

He said he would come back the next day to finish the back yard.

They came back the next day and didn't tell me that they had arrived. If they are being paid hourly, I expect them to let me know when they start. When I finally realized they were here, I went out to the front yard to find Joe standing on a ladder and picking pine cones off my trees in the front yard. Um, I didn't hire him to come back and do the back yard so he could fart around in the front yard and pick pine cones. I asked him what time he got there and he said, "Oh I been here about an hour and a half." So I got charged $40-something for him to stand on a ladder and pick pinecones. Lesson number five: Monitor these guys constantly to know when they arrive and leave, take breaks, and be sure to babysit them to make sure they are doing what you ask and now screwing around on your dime.

Then finally his employee arrived, so we were back up to $50 an hour again.

They finally went back to the back yard to trim the tree. It looks great. But, they were supposed to trim the tree and clean up the landscape along the fence. After about an hour, I went back to check on them, and found the employee trimming the tree, and Joe had completely HACKED OFF some bushes that I never asked him to even touch. They also broke my ceramic bird bath. He never even touched the landscaping along the fence like I asked! See lesson number five. Gotta babysit 60-year old men, I guess!

He charged me another $200 for that day, and said he would calculate the rest of what I owed and it would come to finish the rest. They left a huge pike of tree and bush trimmings all over my yard, which they would return to finish - but of course for another $25 an hour each.

I asked him then how much more he thought it would be and he said, "Um...probably a thousand total." What a jerk.

He scheduled to return 4 days later. I was busy cleaning up the mess of trimmings they'd left, and I decided I would just cancel the rest of his services, since my budget was $500, and he hadn't even finished what I asked and had already charged me $600. Well, two days before they were scheduled to return, he had two guys show up at my house to "finish the work." ???? I very honestly told them that they were here two days early, and I also didn't want any more services because they were too expensive.

Never, ever trust anyone - even a "good Christian" who comes highly recommended. Get everything in writing, don't go out of your way to do anything for them, and refuse to pay for anything that isn't what you want.

And don't EVER, EVER, use Joe Boeckman - Green Angels Landscaping in Albuquerque NM.

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