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Report: #1381002

Complaint Review: South Texas Landscape - Adkins Texas

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  • Reported By: cbaker — China Grove Texas USA
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  • South Texas Landscape 100 Moss Lane Adkins, Texas USA

South Texas Landscape SW Landscape BUYER BEWARE! Adkins Texas

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DETAILED BACKGROUND ACCOUNTING OF ACTIONS FOR LANDSCAPING WORK @ 7397 REAL ROAD CHINA GROVE, TX 78263

My husband, Aaron O’Neal and I, wife, Carla Baker, contacted Mr. Sodrock, Owner, South Texas Landscape, LLC., by text on Friday, June 9, at 1:07 pm to confirm if he would be coming to start the Landscape work he stated he would do on Monday, June 12, 2017, for which he took a $2,500.00 deposit from me for on Saturday, May 20 and cashed the check on May 22. We received no response so I sent a 2nd text on Sunday, June 11, 2017 at 8:26 am asking for a 2nd confirmation and time. We received a very scarcastic response back from Mr. Sodrock.  We sent a third request for him to call my husband on Monday, June 12, at 7:30 am to once again confirm if he would be here for the landscape work but again with no response. Not to mention, that I first made contact with him back on March 22, 2017, to get a quote and patiently waited for my turn for almost 2 months while contacting him every couple of weeks (dates/times documented on my phone-April 17-11:06 am, May 4-4:34 pm & May 19-8:38 am) to confirm my place “in-line” for landscaping.  I was patient at the time, because my husband suffered a severe heart attack in Houston, TX, December 2016 just before we moved here and he was in and out of the hospital 3 additional times both in San Antonio and once in Houston after we moved during that 2-month wait period.  I spent more time at the hospital then I did at my house and this can be substantiated by doctors and family members.   When he first came to my house to meet with me, my mother and two sisters were present as they had attended a funeral in Devine, TX, and came to visit. They can attest to his presence at my property.

 After the deposit was finally taken by Mr. Sodrock on Saturday, May 20, 2017, he delayed the work once again a week to finish an existing job. My husband was present at this time I gave him the deposit, questioned why he requested a 50% deposit down (when most companies request a 1/3 of the amount down) for the job.  We then listened to him rant and rave for 20 minutes or more  (of which we thought odd)about previous people scamming him in the past…!  In fact, his daughter had driven him over, sat in the car and finally texted him asking why he was taking so long to get the deposit…that is certainly one of the reasons why!!!!  He knowingly took our deposit and defrauded us. He knew that he might be shutting down his business when he took the deposit from us and he openly admitted that on a future text I received from him on June 6. We believe that even with a signed contract he intended to terminate the job anyway.

He then had an employee set to come on May 30 to start the landscaping work and he changed that to May 31. Then on May 31 he stated there was rain (but not at our house) and he delayed the employee from coming.  He then stated the rain had caused problems with one of his other jobs, he received a $10,000.00 chargeback, he might shut down the business and he then took June 1 and 2 and another week (June 5-9 ) to as you say, “fix” that job.  Again, we patiently waited! He then stated he would finally start our job on Monday, June 12.  I received no answer back when I texted him to confirm the June 12 start date that he offered by phone and text as any responsible homeowner would do and as I did on all the other dates listed above.

On Monday, June 12 at 1:54 pm, he sent over a contract by email for us to sign. He said you did not have a signed contract.  My husband reviewed the contract but did not like the wording in some of the contract, but he had taken a $2,500.00 deposit from us so I signed the contract and returned to him to make sure the work got done.

On Tuesday, June 13, Mr. Sodrock showed up at our house about 8:30am (we were actually surprised since we had no real confirmation from him that he would show up) and had two employees to begin work on the front courtyard. Mr Sodrock did not provide us or the employees any drawings to use as a plan for the entire job. He reviewed the work in the front courtyard with my husband and I and the 2 employees. The work consisted of removing existing plants that were overgrown and dead and to install new rock and granite to achieve a zeroscaped  look. The employees trimmed the Sago palms using my husband’s tools and my husband trimmed all of the 5 crepe myrtles. Any remaining grass was killed by weed killer, as crushed granite would be placed on top of the surface. They took 2 sago palms and 2 red yuccas to the gate and planted them.

 Mr. Sodrock also took all of us around the back and discussed the center back courtyard work area –they were to remove the current dog fencing and spray to kill the grass on Tuesday. The plan was to build a fountain surround made of pavers, install a fountain, zeroscape the courtyard with crushed granite and add some additional plants and foliage.  There would be a section to add a table and chairs where we could sit out there and enjoy. The employees used my husband’s tools to remove the fencing.

On Wednesday, June 14, the two employees came about 8:30 am and they prepared some flower beds by adding a rock edging (my husband and I furnished the stone) outside the front courtyard which ran along the wall and a small circular area that looped around the front right of the courtyard.  Once they laid the stone, they sprayed to kill the grass which would house the new flower beds. Mr. Sodrock came by in the morning, around noon and in the afternoon.  In the afternoon, Mr. Sodrock stated that the stone we had on site could not be used to build the fountain surround.  He stated that Keller materials had the best selection of pavers that would match our house stone and the cost would be approximately $1,000.00 for a pallet.  At this point, no materials had been purchased by Mr. Sodrock.   My husband went over and bought a pallet of pavers and mulch for the flower beds for under $500.00.

 On Thursday, June 15, Mr. Sodrock nor his employees came to do any work.

On Friday, June 16, both employees came about 8:15 am. They sprayed the back center courtyard and also began removing the grass from the courtyard. They employees stated that Mr. Sodrock told them to stop at where the back fence once was and they were not to go any further.  However, Mr. Sodrock did not review with them that the zeroscape containing crushed granite beds was to continue around the outdoor fireplace and on around the corner and end at the outdoor kitchen.  The small area on the other side of the outdoor kitchen was to have crushed granite put down. This way my planters could be put on the crushed granite beds with metal edging and not creating stains on my newly bricked patio.  I had also requested 2 Texas step stones to be put down—one  to the right of the outdoor fireplace and one just near the outdoor kitchen so guests had a place to step comfortably out to the grass from the granite beds.

My husband contacted Mr. Sodrock  about 10:00 am to discuss the problem but he did not answer.  He then returned the call to one of his employees within about 3 minutes asking what the problem was. My husband took the phone from the employee to discuss why Mr. Sodrock had the employees stopping at the original fence line with the landscaping.  My husband asked Mr. Sudrock to come by and discuss the issue with him and my wife who was not here at that time.  He stated that it would be nice if he would do what he originally said he would do, then we would just get along fine. Mr. Sodrock asked if my husband was threatening him?  My husband said “no” and his employees chimed in to agree that my husband was not threatening him. He then proceeded to say that would not come by to discuss the issue and he was cancelling the contract. The employees were standing there listening via the phone to the entire conversation. He called back the employees and told them to leave at approximately 12 noon. Mr. Sodrock did not call them back for any further work after the employees were released that day!  Due to Mr. Sodrock’s business practices and the way he treats people, the employees said they could no longer work for an employer that treats customers unfairly. Please see the text exchange on the text page from one of the employees.  The other employee called him to resign but he did not answer the phone.

My husband provided lunch for Mr. Sodrock’s employees during the first two days of work.  The employees both stated they had never been treated so nice on a job before. They stated we should have received drawings from Mr. Sodrock outlining the work for the project and that he should have confirmed with us each day when they would be arriving instead of us having to call the employees asking  them when they would be here. He ran the project unprofessionally and by the seat of his pants. They stated they were not treated well by Mr. Sodrock at all.  They also stated that he did not treat his customers well and was rude to most of them as we experienced.  The employees also stated that he was not completing his jobs and had a lawsuit(s) pending.  They also stated when he gets too many lawsuits, he lays low for awhile, then re-emerges under a different company name and re-starts the business over again. When Mr. Sodrock came over on first two days, he complained about his employees not doing their work to my husband.  He accused one of the employees of lying to him because he did not believe my husband trimmed the crepe myrtles.  Mr. Sodrock said he watched from the gate of our house and saw the employee trimming the crepe myrtles and not my husband, but the employees verified it was indeed my husband trimming the crepe myrtles. In addition, Mr. Sodrock bragged to his employees that his contracts are so bullet proof that he can screw over anybody!

 I believe the information above just touches the surface on the many problems we have encountered with SW Landscape LLC company and its owner, Mark Sodrock.  AND certainly my husband and I are the least of his problems as we PAID HIM, so that certainly was not an issue! All three of our other contractors we hired from February-May 2017 for remodel work at our home were happy working with us. We will have them testify to this.  They were cordial, responsible and informed us of when they would be here each day, when they were taking lunch and when they planned to be here the next day.  They were paid with no issues. Since Mr. Sodrock took the deposit, he has been  been rude, changed start dates on us and has gotten upset when we have asked him to confirm or re-confirm start dates for the Landscape work. He looked upon me asking for confirmations as ”demanding” but I think he needs to review his emails and texts to see all the delays, excuses and changes he made since the start of this project. Rain was only a minimal factor at our house as we have advised him of that during the end of May and the first part of June.

Mr. Sodrock appeared on the property on Tuesday, June 20, 2017, without calling or notifying me in advance.  He had someone with him and a camera. He told me he was going to get me for a lot of money.  I believe Mr. Sodrock tells so many lies that he gets confused and cannot remember terminating the contract with his employees listening in on the conversation as my husband spoke to him. 

On Thursday, June 22, my husband and I took a drive over to Quail Run in Southerland Springs to talk to Fred  and his wife  (972-948-1976)-who were the victims of the same theft and defrauding and cancelling of the contract by Mr. Sodrock to the tune of $6,250.00 of an $8,250.00 job.  Can you imagine that he promises a one –year warranty! Imagine his website voices “Honesty, Integrity, and Quality at a fair price on the front page! He also did not put in the grass or rocking and the whole yard is bare. They filed a lawsuit in Wilson county and then Mr. Sodrock filed a counter lawsuit to claim the rest of the money that he was owed.  The lawsuit is set for July 18 in Wilson County.  The people said he had the same rudeness and thousands of excuses.  He told the owners he was cancelling the contract because no one wanted to work for them.

On Friday, June 23, my husband and I took a drive over to La Vernia, TX, to 125 Coper Ridge Drive to visit with the owners, Adopho and Elizabeth Becerril.  These were the victims of the same theft and defrauding just before he scammed my husband and I, but this time Mr. Sodrock claimed that Mr. Becerril cancelled the contract on him.  Mr. Becerril paid MR. Sodrock a $2,000.00 deposit.  Rock was delivered to the house.  Mr. Sodrock ordered a cheaper rock, Colorado, rather than what the customer requested and he failed to order enough.  The rock was spread but not all places in the landscaping got covered and pictures were shown to us…looked awful!  The grass that was to cover the back was never ordered as by Mr. Sodrock as promised by the invoice. All of his invoices are very vague as you can see.  No diagrams were provided as usual.  So look what happened here.  Mr. Sodrock sends a TERMINATION OF CONTRACT AND A DEMAND FOR PAYMENT OF AN ADDITIONAL $897.92.  He also filed a NOTICE OF INTENT TO FILE A MECHANICS LIEN against his property.  In this case, the Bercerril’s paid MR. Sodrock because they wanted the shady character out of their life so they could enjoy their retirement .

We, homeowner’s, compared notes and here is what we noticed we had in common so far:

  1.  Mr. Sodrock tells his customer’s  the story of either his mother or father having “cancer” as an excuse to delay the landscaping  schedule at any time due to medical reasons .  He used the mother for the Becerrill’s and he used the father in my case.  How sickening!!!

  2. Mr. Sodrock is nice to one family member and treats the other rudely.  In the case of Becerrill’s, he was nice to wife but rude to Aldolfo.  In our case, he was nicer to my husband and rude to me. He uses the “Are you threatening me” to every customer at some point during the contract phase.  He used this approach with Adolpho and he used this with my husband, Aaron.

  3. His invoices are vague and he provides no diagrams.

  4. He tells so many lies that often times he gets confused what he says as he is juggling lots of customers at the same time. It is just his criminal nature showing through.  In my case, his chain of emails shows me he is a “little off.”  We cannot decide if he has a mental problem, an alcohol problem-(of which he has a DUI), or whether he has a drug problem—but probably a combination all of these and more!

  5. So if you file a lawsuit against him, he typically countersues you for the remainder of the money you owe him.  If you cancel the contract, he sends a termination of the contract and a notice of intent to file a Mechanics Lien on your property.  (See attached copies from Mr. Becerrill documents )Then, of course, I don’t recommend the mediation route with him in Wilson County! He hopes the intimidation factor works and it does much of the time.  Most customers just want him out of their lives. 

  6. He never works at any site—he just takes the 50% initial deposit and runs and then tries to get the entire amount out of you based upon one of the above methods.  He juggles the lawsuits  between Wilson and Bexar so it does not look like the docket is too full of his cases at any one time.

  7. We do not believe the customers wrote his positive reviews. We could all agree with the negative ones.  BEWARE OF HIS RATINGS!  

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 06/24/2017 05:55 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/south-texas-landscape/adkins-texas-78101/south-texas-landscape-sw-landscape-buyer-beware-adkins-texas-1381002. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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