Where do I even start..? Experience started out great. Jason really cares about drafting up a good plan and took a lot of time to discuss which plants we wanted, etc. After that the experience went noticeably downhill. Our story, in a nutshell;
(1) Their Account Manager was nice at first, but as Spring drew closer there were a few episodes where he got really short with me. For us, this was a large amount of money to spend (several thousand dollars), and I don't appreciate being treated like I'm wasting your time with questions. He was rude to the folks at our local nursery when he (begrudgingly) agreed to pick up a tree for me on their way to do our job. I actually got a talking-to by the owner of the nursery when I called on a separate issue, and I had to APOLOGIZE to the nursery on Wildwood's behalf due to this person's conduct. I was brushed off when I told management about it. Ok - seriously? So do something about it. Unbelievable - you've just been told you have a rogue employee who doesn't treat customers well and you kind of just decided to look the other way.
(2) Their team DID do a great job digging out the beds for us, composting and shaping the gently-sloping curves of Jason's original plan. I am happy with that part, no complaints there. I'm sure this is an issue with lots of landscaping companies as they have to pay their employees somehow - but I was a bit (ok a lot) disappointed with the size of the plants we got for the price. Example; we put in 10 Blue Princess hollies at $40 a pop - they were ~ 1.5 feet tall, so relatively tiny. When I recently stopped at our local nursery in Lincoln, the same $40 hollies were nearly 5 FEET tall. I was shocked and horrified and have thusly learned my lesson. Next time we will buy all our own plants and have the nursery put them in, omg.
(3) Per Jason's plan, we had plants put in to areas that, according to two other landscapers and the manager at our local nursery, should not have been put in that area - either due to receiving too much sun or wind, etc. So we've had some plants not do well because of this. Just something to keep in mind that you may want to do your own research after you see their plan just to ensure a plant will survive in the area they suggest.
(4) The final straw, honestly, was our treatment after everything was done. We paid for several hydrangeas, all of which are dead. It took me a month to get in touch with them regarding a replacement, and was told it shouldn't be done until the Fall. Awesome, I love paying $20 a piece for tiny dead stumps. If my call had been returned a month earlier, they could've been replaced without an issue. We thought about it and decided on different plants, but honestly we wanted them replaced now (this was June). We were told by others that things planted in June would be fine with regular watering. Wildwood's reply; "well, you'd better choose wisely, as you only get one replacement." Really? You have a 1 year warranty - I've called 2 other landscapers in the area, both said a warranty should include as many replacements as it takes. So, fantastic. We're getting screwed again there - that may be on us if it was in their fine print, but I didn't realize the great warranty they touted (which is why I thought we were paying so much markup on the plant prices) included only 1 replacement. I was also asked to 'try to keep the hydrangeas alive' so they could take them back in the Fall. UMMM, nope. Plants are already dead. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here.
They've since GHOSTED on us and stopped responding to our calls and texts so we told them to forget about it and we will replace the plants ourselves. There goes $100 down the toilet. To exacerbate the matter, my co-worker (who lives in the neighborhood behind their location), had work done by them and said literally the same thing happened to them w/ ghosting on plant replacements. They also didn't compost the beds as was in their contract and she had to call them out on it.
Real nice guys - way to run your business. I know you're busy (as you've insisted on mentioning incessantly), but at this point it just seems like you're more interested in taking people's money for a one-time job than building a long-term relationship with a customer. It's a damn shame because they're a local business and I want nothing more than to support local businesses, but we put a LOT of money into this project to be treated the way we have been. Fool us once, shame on us. Lesson learned. If you decide to use Wildwood, I'd say proceed at your own risk. You may be better off shopping local nurseries and asking if they have hourly laborers that can do the planting if you have a lot you need done (most offer this apparently). I should write a book called "the wool hath been pulled over mine eyes for the last time - lessons learned from our first foray into being homeowners"). read more