Complaint Review: Metro Green

After I paid him $350 for a set of drawn to scale plans for my front and backyard,  Jeff Payne provided multiple quotes for my landscaping projects. Payne said the money for the plans would be deducted from the total due at completion. I had to make several changes to bring both projects within my budget. Payne never showed the $350 credit on any quotes he gave me. Note: I signed nothing. And I have all emails, quotes and texts. The payment terms in his quotes were 100% materials & supplies plus 60% labor on acceptance, balance on completion. I did not agree to these terms. He sent me an email stating to forget those terms, he always charged 50% on acceptance and 50% on completion. I agreed to those terms via email and that we would start the front project only and gave him a check for half of that. I thought it strange when he came over to get the check, accompanied by his "crew" of Hispanic workers who were hanging out in front of my house. Ten minutes after he left, my bank called me; he was cashing my check. I strongly suspect he needed to pay his workers which is why they came with him. The front project turned out well. However, he billed me for several hundred more dollars than the amount agreed upon. I paid him, but told him that no further cost overruns were permissible without my express written permission. I found out after I paid him that he damaged a drip sprinkler in the front and never fixed it. I then paid him half of the backyard project, $8250. My bank attempted to reach me to clear the check but my phone was shut off because I was ill and in bed. He called me on another number and demanded I call my bank at once to clear the check. He was very pushy and, in retrospect, I should have told the bank to stop payment. He then took offense when I told him he did not follow the drawing I sent him and wrongly poured a concrete pad up against the house. I wanted it 3 feet away. I even verbally confirmed this with him just prior to start. He blamed me for my poor drawing (it was very clear, in fact I had to submit it to my HOA) and the fact that I had asked him not to disturb me because I was quite ill for several days. He told me the concrete was "fine" and "made no difference." He even said to fire him if I was not happy. At that point, he had not done anywhere near $8250 worth of work. I smoothed his ruffled feathers and he proceeded to install drains and partially install a flagstone path and concrete extensions to my existing patio. He brought over a few bushes and plants and dug out new border beds. At one point he yelled at me for not shutting off my backyard sprinklers. I thought I had; it got a bit soggy one day as a result. Yesterday, he did not show up. Instead, he sent an email asking for $3300+ to purchase the material necessary to finish the project. I sent him his own email in which he agreed to accept 50% at start and 50% on completion. He referred me back to the terms of his quotes, terms which I did not agree to. In any case, my initial payment for the backyard did not constitute the amount required in his quotes, yet he began work. There was never any mention of progress payments. He told me his other clients had no problem giving him money when he needed it for supplies. I told him I would pay him the balance on completion, as I did for the front yard and per his email agreeing to 50% down, 50% on completion. Now my backyard is a mess: there's a concrete pad where I didn't want it, my back sprinklers are dug up and disconnected, and there's a huge pile of dirt he left on my park strip, killing my grass. I have plants and shrubs dying in pots and a pile of flagstone damaging even more grass in my side yard. Payne's latest email states he is willing to complete "the project" for $3300+. "Your choice" is how he signed the email. I believe he was talking about the flagstone and masonry work currently in progress but his ambiguity left me confused and I told him just that. Incidentally, I found out that Payne contacted my HOA on my behalf, without my permission, before work started. It seems he felt they were taking too long to process my application for changes to the back yard. Fortunately, the HOA protected my privacy. As another of Payne's unfortunate victims wrote, Payne talks a good game. And he is creative. My assessment of him: he is a bully who is very skilled at spreading manure - if you catch my drift. I am a disabled senior citizen.