| The Lawn Service |
| The Lawn Service Marc Abbott Incompetent, Arrogant and Rude- AND a Peeping Tom to Boot! Lake Placid, Florida |
| 8th of May, 2011 by User888649 |
Marc Abbot is someone whom my husband and I have known since 2003. He used to do good work, but our last experience with him was terrible. First of all, he killed my aloe plants by spraying them with Roundup. He mowed down a little fir tree on my property that was struggling to survive- just plowed it right down with his riding mower WITHOUT asking me first! Secondly, his pool service left me with a dry hole in my back yard and a torn liner. I had watched him clean our pool before, and had literally BEGGED him to be careful- we have a liner pool that has been patched in a few places, and he was scrubbing over those patches with enough force to dislodge them. He didn't listen, probably because I am a woman whose religious and political beliefs are the opposite of his, and therefore not worthy of his respect. We had paid him extra money to watch our house while we were out of state visiting family for the holidays. To me, "watch the house" means that you come every day, check the doors and windows, and look around. Our house is on his way to and from his regular job, so it wouldn't have been out of his way. However, according to our neighbors, who are retired and always home, he came ONCE in the four days that we were away. We came home to a pool in which the water level was low, and in the morning, we had a dry hole! He didn't bother to show up again for a week and a half, and when he did finally come, stated the obvious- we had a problem with the pool. Later we found a three foot tear in the liner, which he caused by using the wrong chemicals and the wrong cleaning technique for the pool. Of course, he denied causing the problem, but WHO ELSE was back there working? It cost us $100 to have the liner repaired by someone else, which was better than the $3500 that Marc wanted us to spend on a brand new liner. The worst part of the whole thing was his abusive and belittling behavior towards me. He would walk up to my office window and peer in, like a peeping Tom while I was working (I telecommute and work from home). He harangued me about my religious beliefs, that I should embrace the Fundamentalist Christian beliefs that he espouses- and he has known us long enough to know that this is not our belief system. He would call me names such as "Big Lib" because of my political views. He felt free to abuse me, the person who was putting money in his pocket.There were many other hurtful, abusive, belittling comments that came out of his mouth during the time he worked for me. Finally, I stopped the insanity, and stopped coming to the door when he banged on it (he never called first or made appointments, just showed up when he left like it). I cut off the flow of my hard-earned money into his pocket. So, residents of Highlands County, Florida- BEWARE and STAY FAR AWAY! If you are a woman, lock your doors and cover your windows in case this Peeing Tom/ Lookie Loo is in the neighborhood; better yet, call the Police! Woman or Man, the quality of his work leaves a lot to be desired and so does his unprofessional manner. Hire somebody ELSE!
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Wow. Let's see where to start...A friend of mine gave me this link to read, and it is sad that some people must always have to have it their way, and can show so much hatred and contempt.
This woman whom I met (and I won't mention any names) at a mutual job in 2002 (in which company she later tried to sue because of moldy air vents) was an avid drug user. When she hired me on and off over the past 10 years, we would get into some heated debates over religion and politics, usually because she would stop me from working and engage me in conversation. I always tried to give her and her husband a good rate, and a job well done, whether it was mowing an empty lot for one of her real estate clients, to cleaning up the trash in her backyard, or mowing her yard. Towards the end of our working relationship, she had promised me years ago that she had quit "doing Java" as she used to call it, so I was glad for that. I even considered coming to her church last year when she invited me, even though I don't believe in what she and her husband believe in, in which I will not mock on here (but I dont think trees are alive).
The house these people live in is a small house with some potential, on a raod in which I have several other lawn customers. I remember when they first bought it, before they were married. The reason I started this round of work for them was because there was an order from the county that the yard had to be cleaned up because several neighbors had complained about the unsightly outside of it, and there was a deadline. I have been inside this house (invited, of course) to stand, and wait to be paid. It was one the most unkempt and smelly places I have been in. It was disgusting the way these people live. I relayed this information to several people, just because it boggled my mind that someone could live this way, in garbage and cat crap. Late last year she showed me a spot on her leg that was getting larger and larger, and told me it might be MRSA (a highly contagious staph infection). Thank you for sharing! This woman would make me knock on the the window after my work was done because she didn't like me banging on the door, then have me wait while she put her clothes on (because she told me she was a nudist), and pay me only partial payments. Believe me, I had absolutely NO interest in seeing this woman through ANY window, even though she interupted my work one day to show me pictures of what she used to look like when she was younger (and before the 150 lb. weight gain), unbenownest to her husband. Not having ever tried, but had I even TRIED to look through any window, it would have been impossible to see though it because of the dirt. She would sometimes put the money that was owed to me for working (when she had it) in the pool timer UNDERNEATH the window in the room where she answered phones all day. I could hear her, but not see her, thankfully. When she WOULD answer the door she would do it in nothing but a dirty nightshirt, or something like it, and would only seem to wear clothes when leaving to drive somewhere.
The pool. Sigh. The pool...The "Pool" was a 10 year old liner in a hole in the ground (no cement) that was covered in patches and ripping apart from the sunlight. The steps were fiberglass steps resting on the viynl liner resting on a hole in the ground, on raw dirt. The steps and the liner were covered in patches that her husband applied as this pool sprung leaks, usually bi-monthly. He would get upset with her because she wouldn't use the metal ladder in the deep end. Her weight was causing the fiberglass to crack, and then he would have to patch it. When the BIG leak happened, they couldnt even find the leak. I put them in contact with 2 different people who do nothing but live and breathe pools all day, but they never called them. I went out one day to service the pool like noramlly did and saw that 75% of the water was gone. She had just gotten back from vacation days earlier, told me it was like this when she got back, but never called or e-mailed me. She tried to pin this on me. I obviously stopped cleaning the pool, but she had me nail up her dilapidated fence so the nieghbors wouldnt be upset, so I was still working for her - even mowed the yard again. That was the last thing I did for them. She didn't talk to me anymore after that, but her husband would. He told me the pool was fine when they got back, and it only went down abruptly the next day after they had been back for a day. I felt bad for the whole situation, they way they lived, the lack of money, and her anger towards, well, towards everything, but I could feel I was being set up. I think what really pissed her off is that (1), I showed no interest in her or didn't kiss her buttocks (2), I picked up twice as many yards in the neighborhood since I stopped doing hers, (3) I didn't take responsibilty for her dilapidated pool situation, which I only charged $80 a month to maintain a 20k gallon pool (including chems), and only $95 to bring it back to life (cleaning out the snakes, roaches, tadpoles, spiders and that lovely shade of dark lime green).
Synopsis: This woman is a nutjob-liar-slob with WAY too much time on her hands. I have now joined the ranks of those people who have, in her mind, wronged her, and I have now been added to her list of "bad" people, and believe me I have heard about some of those "bad" people from her over the past 10 years. It is a ver Elite group I must say. She likes to write stories, even one I most recently had to hear about was someone in her own church - a douible standard maybe? Love one another, maybe? I have been in business since 1991, and have never had to deal with this. It is borderline comical, but those of you who know me can ask me for more info, if you want. There is more to tell, trust me. I do feel sorry for her. They do have money problems, and some of the extra stuff I did was for free, or close to it. Funny how just 3 weeks ago I was mowing in that neighborhood, and she came up in the conversation with one of my customers. I went over afterwards and knocked on this their door, not looking for work, just to see how they were doing. No one answered. I didnt even know about the above complaint at the time. This entire odessey just gives more merit to the old addage "No good deed goes unpunished".
Sincerley,
Marc Abbott |
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