Originally posted on our website.
Deception is rampant today- and that’s without even accounting for outright scammers! Don’t say I didn’t warn you of these examples of scams and deceptive practices I have noticed recently on apps like Nextdoor! Additionally, if you are selling your home, you need to read this article as there is a scam that could impact you. I’m also going to share a bit about contractors failing to show up, as well as scams targeting contractors, as I’m just awkward like that sometimes.
It’s hard to find a good contractor, as I’ve been decrying for many years. It’s even harder now! If you’re in Central or Southern Indiana and are in need of landscaping or handyman services, my sweet, hard-working husband Dave Reece is here for you. Regardless of your location, please do take heed of my warnings below.
1) One woman posts praises about her husband’s company as though she is a customer. Fortunately, on the most recent post of hers which I saw, a number of readers called her out in the comments. While I haven’t seen her posting since, she could very well be continuing under an alias.
2) Some gentlemen from the same company are gaming the algorithms and deceiving people by commenting on one another’s posts as though they are customers- as though they don’t know each other. This increases the reach of the posts and deceives potential customers.
Personally, I do not find this to be indicative of trustworthy behavior. If they’re being deceptive about something so basic as to whether or not they are from the same company, what else will they hide from you???
3) Some photos of landscaping work- especially hardscaping- that I’ve seen posted on local apps are stolen from blogs or are stock photos available online. The people/ companies posting those pictures did not do the work.
(None of the photos of Dave’s work are stock photos, of course. We’ve not been fantastic about taking and posting pictures over the years, so we’re working on that!)
4) A lot of posts about garage doors are scams. Why garage doors specifically? I don’t know.
5) There are undoubtedly more. This is only off the top of my head.
And now to discuss something that is not a scam, but it is a problem!
Contractor Not Showing Up?
It is increasingly common for contractors not to show up for meetings or for the work itself. While my husband prioritizes communication, neither he nor I are perfect! He has accidentally forgotten about a couple of meetings. We own our mistakes though.
It’s hard to keep up with everything in this world. It’s even harder for an owner-operator, so if you’re working with someone who otherwise seems to be trying their best, consider giving them the benefit of the doubt. Consider texting or emailing the day before and an hour prior to an appointment.
Landscaping and handyman work is extremely physically tough work. The Golden Rule is something we try to live by ourselves, so please consider offering others some grace.
With that said, I've seen mainstream articles proclaiming the virtues of "professional ghosting," which often occurs after a meeting is missed or if you just don't want to talk to someone because.... who knows?
No. Ghosting someone basically means that you fall off the face of the earth and ignore them. That is not professional. It never has been, and it never will be, no matter how many mainstream articles declare otherwise.
(Side note: verbal abuse is never acceptable, so please don't hesitate to block anyone who is abusive.)
On the flip side, Dave has had clients miss appointments, ignoring all attempts to communicate with them, only to be later informed that a different appointment was "more important." They didn't forget about the appointment. They didn't forget to text. They just decided that Dave's time, energy, and resources were unimportant.
Communication is a two-way street. It take less than 30 seconds to send a text that something came up and you need to reschedule. That happens regularly, and it's not a problem.
No one is perfect, but normalized behavior today is anything but what we believe "normal" should be.
Scams Targeting Landscapers
My husband weeds out probably 8/10 texts or phone calls he receives as scams. Another 1/10 I weed out by looking at realty listings and public records. If your home is on the market, you need to have someone keeping an eye on it. There is a scam that I hope realtors have been warning their clients about for the past couple of years or so, but I haven’t seen anything about it.
In a nutshell, a scammer- typically someone from a foreign country- contacts a local landscaper, asking for work to be done on their home. They’re out of town due to (insert random reason here), and never are able to meet in person. The landscaper eventually would agree to do the work, complete the work on your house, then the scammer would insist on payment via a method that would divulge the landscaper’s bank information.
With the bank information in hand, the landscaper’s bank account is then drained of all funds.
Thus far, every attempt that we have fielded in regards to this scam (the number reaches the high heavens) was for a home that was currently listed for sale online.
Be aware if you are selling your home! This makes for quite the sticky situation, as landscaping then would have been done to improve your property, without your knowledge. Some of those scammers are pretty slick.
And Then There’s Us
While the intent of this article is to warn everyone of the above scams/ deceptive practices, I can’t help but offer a bit of a contrast here. When I comment or post a picture of work that Dave has recently done, I say so. It’s really not that hard to be honest, but it can hurt you financially. It certainly has hurt our pocketbook to do the right thing over the time we’ve been married (nearly 20 years!).
We’d rather profit less and be able to sleep at night! This world seems to suggest that sleep and rest are no longer important, but we disagree. No one can contact us evenings or weekends. We treasure one another and our time together, and if someone expects Dave to be accessible 24/7, then they aren't a good fit.
That's OK.
While I generally am not much a social media gal these days, I’ve enjoyed posting on Nextdoor, which I’m relatively new to, as well as seeing what people are up to in the area. On the flip side, it’s a bit concerning to see the uptick in crime. We now live in a world in which people are stealing $20 children’s chairs from front porches and trying to break into cars in broad daylight. I suppose it can’t be a surprise to see the scams/ deceptive practices on local websites/ apps as well when it comes to landscaping and handyman services.
Caveat emptor! (Let the buyer beware!)
If you found this post beneficial, please consider sharing it. The algorithms hate my information, so I really appreciate that!
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