We were so excited for our plants to arrive and the landscaping to begin. We'd wanted a nice-looking entry for Christmas. Emmanuelle sent a contractor to pick up the plants at a nursery, instead of personally selecting the plants herself. Apparently, the nursery took the opportunity to offload the plants they had no chance of selling. We had paid her in advance and received dead and dying plants. Some even had little or no root system. When we told her how upset we were about this, her suggestion was that we go out and "talk to the plants." Not only did we pay her, in advance, for the plants, but we also had to pull the dead and dying plants out and pay another to replace them, at our own expense. We asked her for a refund and she ignored us. The plants were at the front entrance of our home. We'd told her we were looking for a "Wow factor" for our front entrance. This certainly didn't hit the mark. I counted on her expertise in choosing the right plants for the project. Unfortunately, many of the plants she chose would be lovely in the dry climate of Kona but not in Hilo. I'm very much in favor of supporting women in business and had wanted to support her. I'd even introduced her to my women friends but this project was a disaster. We are retirees on a fixed income and this really hurt. This is the last time we will use an unlicensed contractor. I think one star is too high a rating. read more

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