We contracted York River Landscaping to plant a row of arborvitaes and spent in the neighborhood of…read more$2k on the project. Of the 10 trees planted, 7 died and the others suffered from a severe case of failure to thrive. We did not contact the owner, Andrew, immediately as the trees went one by one right down the line, and we kept thinking we were somehow at fault. When we did contact the company, we were well aware that the project was over a season old and did not expect a "free" replanting.
The spot the trees were placed had a lot of roots and we were nervous from the start, but Andrew had assured us the trees would do fine. So, when they clearly did NOT, what we wanted going forward was an understanding of what went wrong so we could decide if we wanted to invest in new trees to be planted either by York Landscaping, or another company.
A representative of YRL came and took a look and told us that the "trees were planted incorrectly" and yes, of course they would work with us and replant at a discount. What we hoped for was to feel secure about spending additional money and after this conversation, being told the trees could, and would thrive, if planted correctly, we agreed to move forward.
What followed was not nice new trees but weeks of frustration with unreturned phone calls, texts, and emails, and 2 price increases. Sometime later we were told that YRL actually would take no responsibility at all and that we must have overwatered the trees, there had been a drought that year so everyone's trees died, the trees had increased in price, that the job was too old, and finally, that the trees were completely unavailable. We got the message. Not only were we not getting the job redone at a discount, but we also weren't getting the job done even if we spent more money than the original project.
We eventually contracted with another local landscaper, Corey Reynolds, of Reynolds and Sons Landscaping, who planted 10 arborvitaes for less money than our original job with YRL. Corey guaranteed his work and assured us that the trees would thrive. And they are! Corey was pleasant to work with, professional, knowledgeable, true to his word, fair, and honest.
I cannot say the same for York River Landscaping. If you wish to be disappointed, frustrated, and jerked around, give them a call. We tried to be fair, and we would never have expected even a small discount if we had not been told the job was poorly done. It is less about the money and more about what an incredibly unprofessional company York River Landscaping is. Use them at your peril. Crappy work and a litany of poor business practices.
