My experience with this company has been awful. I was left feeling ripped off and taken advantage of. Stay away from this company at any cost.
I had 3m3 of soil that needed to be removed urgently as we were having a party the next day. In my initial phone enquiry, I was told $150m3 and that it could be done tomorrow. Based on this, I estimated $450 which I was happy to pay. I was told that someone would arrive the next day, inspect the site, confirm the volume and give me a firm quote.
As promised, a young man indeed arrived the next day, but alone, which was the first warning sign all was not well. But he reiterated the cost at $150m3 and confirmed 3m3. However, I was now told I would need to pay for labour in addition, also at $150/hr - and that it would take him about an hour to do the job. This was the 2nd warning sign. I wasn't particularly happy about it, but the reality was I didn't really have another option as it was now too late to organise someone else. I reasoned that he was already here and that the job would get done in an hour, so I agreed to the extra cost. At this stage I had agreed to $600.
An hour later, and less than half way through the job, he said he had already loaded 3m3 and that his truck could not take any more. This was clearly not the case. It was a 30m3 truck so I queried him, only to be told it was a matter of weight. Suddenly, it had become about weight. I said this was not what we had agreed but he just kept saying the same thing. He also said he would need to drop off what he had and come back. I did not believe him about the weight or that his truck need to be emptied. Even if it was true, why did he start the job if his truck couldn't cope?. He returned 2 hours later, with his truck only partially emptied.
The bigger issue however, was that he was now less than half way through the job and had already used the quoted amount of m3 and time. At this point I realised I was being scammed but I was stuck. Our front yard was a complete mess (worse than before he started), if I told him not to come back, I would still need to engage someone else to clean it up and, the job would not have been completed before our party. In hindsight, I should have ended it there and got someone else, but felt too pressured and could not think clearly - so I didn't.
I complained that this was not what we had agreed and, that I was not prepared to let him continue with an open ended timeframe. He finally agreed to cap it at 6m3 plus 2 hours labour (double the initial quote). I had an awful feeling in my stomach the whole time and felt totally ripped off. Rudimentary geometry showed it was nowhere near 6m3. On top of that, I realised this young man (who was pleasant, enthusiastic and very hard working) had no wheel barrow. He was equipped with only a plastic bucket which he would fill and carry back and forth to his truck, 10 meters away. There was no way he was going to finish in 1 hour and I feared I would be charged additional time.
My neighbour, watching all this with a mixture of amusement and pity, offered me his wheelbarrow. So I borrowed the wheelbarrow and spent the next hour and a half, loading and carrying it to the truck - while he continued to carry his bucket back and forth. In the end, it took both of us about an additional hour and a half. I was charged for a total of 6m3 and 2 hours labour ($1,200) and, ended up doing approx half the work.
As I reflect back, I have no doubt I was the victim of a scam. I was deliberately under-quoted, put into a situation that was impossible to back out of and then taken advantage of. After several weeks of having my written complaints ignored, I called and spoke to Debbie, and asked for a partial refund. She offered excuse after excuse, lie after lie and was not even willing to consider a refund. Even her parting comment was a condescending taunt " What do you think? That a negative review is going to destroy my business?"
I appreciate the amount I have asked to be refunded is relatively small but I will be taking legal action as a matter of principal. read more
