Horrible landscaping service. Excellent pool service and good pest control.
PROS
- auto credit card billing
- friendly office staff
- all workers techs have been personable/friendly
- hand on owner
CONS
- constant over promise, under deliver
We hired Azteca for all three services last April. I cancelled my landscaping service today. The bi-monthly extermination services have been good. However, my experience with their landscaping service has been terrible. I think the owner Frankie is an honest guy, and I think he tries to follow through on his promises, but my experience with him and the various landscaping crews have been disappointing at every turn. I will itemize just some of the issues below. This is not an all inclusive list:
- Started off on a bad note. Was told Frankie would be by for a quote the same day. He didn't show up, but after the scheduled time he called and said he would be there the next day. He was then late the next day. We did a good walk around and he gave a very reasonable quote. I have approx 1/3 of an acre with lots of green/trees and grass, so I knew it would not be an easy yard. I explained that I am clueless about landscaping and just wanted a company that could handle everything and tell me when any action or additional funds were needed. That includes watering scheduling, timing for grass cycling, etc. Frankie said that would not be a problem and that they would "make it tight". He also took notes of all of the things that would be done on the initial cleanup. When thew crew did their initial work many items were missed. They also left the pool full of debris. I don't mean a little bit of trimmings. I mean the entire water surface was covered. Frankie had given me his cell phone number, which is great, and said I should contact him if there were ever problems so I let him know that the crew didn't do the promised job. To his credit he immediately texted back and called me in the evening and said he'd make it right. He said that the pool tech would come and that the crew would come do the parts they missed. The pool guy came a few days later and cleaned up, but the crew did not.
- For the second scheduled crew visit I texted Frankie and asked him to remind the guys that initial cleanup work was needed. They came and again skipped the work. Also didn't blow. I texted Frankie and he said he'd come with them the following Monday.
- Trailer had a blow out so the crew didn't come to fix it...it happens, so Frankie said he would come with them personally on the next scheduled run. The next time came and he did not show up. Again they left a ton of debris in the pool. This was Friday before memorial day weekend...also found a dead rabbit in the pool right after they were there. I'm sure this wasn't caused by them, but if they had skimmed out their clippings they would have cleaned him out too. I texted Frankie again just to ask why he had once again not followed through on his word and he just said "I just could not make it. as much as I would like to retain you as a client, we may not be the right company for you"
- After this they consistently scheduled the landscaping crew the day after the pool guy, and while they do a quick skim they never were as thorough as the pool tech so I still had to do my own cleanup every week.
- There was a glimmer of hope when a new crew chief was hired for the landscape crew. They did an amazing job on his first visit. It was good for a few visits then started slipping again.
- It has now been over a month since they have come out even through they are supposed to be here twice per month. No work from the office on why. I called other companies to quote and both came in at about the same price, but also pointed out which plants need to be cut back more, what needs more fertilizer/water, etc. I'd assume one is just trying to point out flaws to get the job, but there is a problem. when both point out the exact same areas of neglect.
After 8 month I did what I should have done after the first few visits and fired Azteca. I think Frankie is a good guy and I hope he get get more consistent workers to fill out his crews. Maybe they just grew too fast and can't hire enough quality workers, but after all of the issues above, plus many minor minor issues along the way, we had to pull the plug. We plan to continue with the other two services assuming we don't see a big price jump with the cancellation of the landscaping. We will likely add a couple stars back if those continue as well as they have, but for now we have to give 2. read more