A & J Landscape Center, Sylvania OH

If you are looking for A&J for your landscaping needs save your time and look elsewhere. Not responsive and very unprofessional. Talked to four different people since end of June for landscaping needs at our home with no callback or follow up. Every time given a different excuse as to why no follow up. Finally moved on with my business. Talked to several other people in Sylvania area with similar experience with A&J.

The girls that answer the phones are pretty snippy. But the young men that help you out there are very helpful and pleasant.

Chose this landscaping company from an acquaintance’s recommendation. Did the research and got estimates from multiple companies. They were the most expensive but seemed to know what they were talking about when it came to our concerns for our backyard. We discussed plans and had some customized photo representations made for us of how our back yard would look like. This was months before the projected start date and this is where our concerns and problems started.
Usually a company would let a customer know about delays or even warn you when a project would start. This is called communication and this review is the focus of how a project can go from a simple miscommunication, to meeting with the owner so they can smooth things over.
We talked with the head landscaper a few months before the project and emailed back and forth to make sure there was nothing missed in our potentially $8k project (removing tons of ivy, numerous plants/giant weeds, transplanting numerous hostas, leveling, mulching, planting new trees/plants, and grass). Emails were answered slowly, probably because they were getting very busy, understandable. Got some extra estimates about some missed parts of the house we thought the landscaper knew about, but whatever, it’s a big project, things can get miscommunicated.
So, we get to the agreed upon start week and it has been rainy, no contact with the company. Call them and was told about the delay and that they would be out in a few days. Good thing I called them. In a few days they came and started their work. They were fast and had a lot of people power working with them to make this project get done very quickly. Problem was, they destroyed the water system that was just repaired, that they should have known about. They said they would repair at no cost to us. Issue was, the head landscaper knew about the system; the help did not know. Another delay.
Next issue was miscommunication with additional estimates on additional work to be done, which we emailed and asked about, weeks ago. They are busy, but still customer service is a must when dealing with homeowners who recommend companies to others and to reviewers who are perturbed by a certain experience.
Next was the destruction of multiple pieces of property, that if not pointed out to a worker, would have been left as it was.
Then, the assumption that project was done, when it clearly was not. Another call to clear this up. There was a pattern emerging. Lack of communication among all parts of this business. So finally, when it was all done, we made the decision to talk with management. We met with one of the owners, Scott, and we finally felt like someone was listening and really cared about what happened to us. He was very pleasant and understanding to the challenging time we have had. He changed this review from a purely negative review to a better review. The experiences still happened but he made the final interaction what it should have been, satisfying.
UPDATE 8/20/19
No word from Scott after our interaction. Has not returned emails and now feeling like we were just a hindrance to their larger projects. Neighbor asked about this company today and had to tell him that this company can not be recommended because of communication barriers.
UPDATE 7/30/2020
Called about some issues of the flowering plants and other plants that weren’t doing so hot and never got a call back. Called them 3 times. Must have better things to do then follow-ups on smaller $7k projects.

Message for Response:
The The project is under my wife's name, for she has a different last name. She left you a message a week for three weeks now. You can email me at [email protected] for the details. Also, if there are any outstanding voicemails that haven't been answered, you can try that also.

I live near this business and the drivers are always cutting people off. Hire better drivers, and have better time management so you don’t have people driving like a bat out of hell. I seriously choose to use different companies because this is such a problem.

Their vehicles are very unprofessional. They do not cover their loose clippings and leave them to blow all over the streets as they drive. Not to mention, they then crash red lights and speed making sure to blow the clippings as much as they possibly can. So they landscape to litter it.

Called and left a message looking for an estimate on landscape design. They never called me back.

The ol bait and switch. Told me over the phone that grass sod would be $3 for a 2 foot by 5 foot roll if I bought a pallet. When I got there to pick it up it was $5 a roll because they had to unroll it. Bad business practice. Last time I will ever go there. Lowes is a lot better and they give a military discount and truly respect and honor all customers.

Visited yesterday for sod strips and yes, they took care of us immediately.nice friendly people ready to help.very beautiful to visit with lots of ideas on what and how to do it.
Going back soon.