Neighborhood Landscapes Failed to provide snow removal per prepaid contract Bloomfield Hills Michigan

Don’t contract with Neighborhood Landscapes unless you like getting ripped off. I contracted with NL for snow removal on two driveways on my residential property and paid them in advance for the season $499.00 to clear both. After the snow on 1/29/19 they came and plowed one driveway and left without doing the second. I called within five minutes of the driver leaving and thus began a journey that has involved contacting the State of Michigan, the Bloomfield Hills police department and other orgs because NL refused to finish the job per the contract.

I called the number on my contract and got no one. I left a vm message, then texted them per their message and emailed. No one returned any of my inquiries. The next day I called again, left another message and emailed – nothing. Called again and this time pushed “1” for sales versus “2” for support. “Secretary” that answered said she got my emails, but I failed to include my contract number so she did nothing – my name, address and phone number were on the emails. She then gave me a story about how NL contracted with Penguin Snow Removal for my service and she couldn’t help me, but she did promise to “escalate” the issue to the other company I’d never heard of. “Escalate” is their favorite word.

I then found the contact info for Penguin Snow and called there plus sent a text. No return contact.

I called NL again, got a different person on the phone and he promised to “escalate” the issue. I then offered to email a photo of the unplowed driveway and was given an email address: support@penguinsnowco.com. I sent the picture PLUS a picture of my contract showing the second driveway had been contracted for and paid for. Nothing happened.

I managed to find a local 248-216-1122 number for Penguin and got someone who sounded suspiciously like the last person I spoke to. It was infuriating: I was given the runaround with stories of how they would have to contact the driver for his side of the story, they would escalate the issue and had a “process”. What story, what process? The contract wasn’t fulfilled and I had proof. To sum it up, he refused to say he would send someone to fix the non-fulfillment issue and stonewalled me till the end of the call. He probably thought it was funny.

I called again the next day and it was the same thing all over again. It’s now 2/2/19 and they still haven’t come back out to fulfill the paid in full contract for two driveways.

Here’s some info if you’ve had a similar experience and will be filing a lawsuit, small claims or otherwise like I will, or you’ll be contacting local law enforcement for fraud:

Neighborhood Landscapes and Penguin Snow are closely related. NL is run by Christopher Stefanopoulos and Penguin by William Omand. The two of them have a history of companies together.

Here’s the SOM LARA links for the companies if you’d like principal names:

NL: https://cofs.lara.state.mi.us/CorpWeb/CorpSearch/CorpSummary.aspx?ID=802168149&SEARCH_TYPE=1

Penguin: https://cofs.lara.state.mi.us/CorpWeb/CorpSearch/CorpSummary.aspx?ID=802123651&SEARCH_TYPE=1

You’ll notice both of them use a drop office in Okemos to handle their corporate filings. They use an internet company that charges $49.00 a year for the service. Worth it to them if it’s harder for you to find them to sue them.

And don’t bother looking for a NL website – they had one, but their account was suspended.

Don’t bother going to the NL office, they don’t have one. The 41000 Woodward STE 350 address is a rented mailing address that Stefanopoulos uses for several companies: NL and District Landscapes. If you would like to complain to the company renting a mailing address to this sham of a business, you can contact Regus here: 1-800-400-3575 https://www.regus.com/locations/united-states/michigan/bloomfield-hills/michigan-bloomfield-hills-bloomfield-hills

Same thing with Penguin – they also use a rental mailing address for several companies: https://www.bizapedia.com/addresses/30555-southfield-rd-ste-170-southfield-mi-48076.html Click on the address link and you’ll find a Stephanopoulos / Omand company at the same address.

I went to the NL Woodward Ave location and it’s nothing but an empty third floor – no furniture, no people, nothing. NL and Stefanopoulos are actively trying to make it as hard as possible for you to find them. Do you really want to pay money to a business that actively hides itself?

This is a link to Stefanopoulos Linkedin profile showing one link with Omand from Penguin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-stefanopoulos-69a13481/

Notice if you navigate to the NL company info it shows four employees, one of which is in NY and the other in AL. Must be a hell of a commute.

In summary, don’t waste your time with these inept and shady companies.