nitially, this Mexican-run company “Eduardo & Isabel” did an excellent job with the basic landscaping in our beautiful, neighborhood. We always paid them a very nice tip, after the work was completed. We were very satisfied with our new gardener "Eduardo", because our gardener of 15 years had simply & suddenly disappeared; so we thought to see this as a possible "blessing in disguise", as we received a random advertisement on our door, from Eduardo & Isabel's” company. Their first day working for us was September 11, 2009.

If our bill for mowing the lawn was $60.00 we paid Eduardo more, such as- $100.00 for his excellent work at the time. [Please see attached copies of checks, and the different names that Eduardo uses, in comparison to the name he signed on the copy of the contract.]

Then I, who is battling a brain tumor, have had 2 brain surgeries at Barrow's Neurological Institute, and have undergone radiation, asked what Eduardo would charge to put a hedge in, just like our neighbors had; exactly the same make of foliage, and around the entire front yard. I also asked them for winter grass & fertilizer.

Included was to be a sprinkler system, since our yard was currently only on an irrigation system, every few weeks.

The Head-Gardner "Eduardo" always appeared with a different team of workers, and he promised that he would also include a "dripping system" around the entire hedge, so the foliage would get adequate water during the summer and winter months; especially while it was still newly planted and growing. I was very grateful for his offer, and this made the offer even more enticing. Eduardo also agreed, in the contract, that he would constantly upkeep and shape the hedge and apply "Miracle Grow Powder" around the hedge, each time he does the lawn (which is on average, once every 2 weeks).

I told him that I would pay for the materials, and he should please let me know what my costs for materials would be, and then what his labor charges would be.

He told me that the materials would be no more than $1500 and that he would charge $500 for labor. I drew up the agreement/contract, while he was sitting directly next to me, and even read it out loud for his confirmation, as to make sure that no mistakes or misunderstandings were found. This I also did as a courtesy, as I wasn't sure what his education level was, and if he could read or not. This was a habit of mine, since I worked with English as a Second Language students for about 20 years in education.

On that day I was feeling absolutely horrible, due to the pain of my brain tumor, and asked him if he would mind getting the materials for me, and also bringing all receipts for my immediate review; he concurred. I trustingly gave Eduardo $1500 cash. I didn't feel bad at the time, because many of our conversations revolved around how he and his wife were very active in their church.

Upon his return. he had not purchased enough foliage to cover the perimeter of the front yard, but he also bought seeding and fertilizer for the front yard. Nothing was bought for the sprinkler system or the dripper system.

He mowed the back yard to dirt, and turned our backyard into a dust storm; making our swimming pool look like a mud bath, and everything else in our backyard was covered in at least an inch of dirt.

I contacted Gallagher Pools, and spoke with Ms. Kelly Gallagher, and asked her what I could do to rectify the problem they left behind with our swimming pool. She did the best she could without making a trip out to our house, since she was out of town. The damage done was severe and currently is still taking time for us to try and rectify the negligent issue.

The seeds were spread over the front yard, and the back yard was still neglected, other than the dust storm and mud bath incident. The fertilizer (or steer manure) was also unevenly separated by shovel in the front yard. I questioned the way it was done, and the owner "Eduardo" told me "your grass will be the greenest in the neighborhood, and if I have to stand here all night and water it myself". That made me question his intentions of installing the sprinkler system, since everything appeared to be done backwards. I asked why the sprinklers were not installed first, and he told me it was because they don't take much time to install; contrary to my belief, because I saw the birds eating everything he was putting down.

Well 3 days into the project, Eduardo confronted me, and told me he needed more money. I asked him to please provide me, as previously requested, with all the receipts. He left my house, and made a bizarre phone call, saying that he had forgotten his son at school, and that the school was very angry; therefore, he needed to go and get him, and then he would return.

Once Eduardo returned, he handed me a document, which was obviously constructed using a Ms Word Template. There were spelling errors, and it didn't resemble any receipt I ever saw from a nursery. It didn't even have the name of the nursery.

I confronted Eduardo, and told him that I had trusted him. I asked him how much each plant cost. He responded by stating $16.00. I also reminded him that we were both Christians and that he assured me, from the beginning, that he would conduct only honest business dealings with me.

Eduardo finally confessed and apologized, by telling me that each plant only cost $6.00, meaning he had ample money to continue buying materials; not to mention the back yard had not even been started, and the front yard was being planted, seeded and fertilized without a watering system. I was doing my best, in severe pain, to water the front yard with a hose, worried, because I saw birds eating the seeds and didn't want the newly planted seeds to die.

Eduardo apologized over and over again, and even apologized to my mother (who had just gone through chemotherapy for liver cancer at Good Samaritan Hospital), and my father, (who is 73 years old and recently underwent a quadruple, heart bypass surgery at John C. Lincoln Hospital).

That day Eduardo just left the job.

He called later on, and as I had the phone on speaker phone, so my parent's could also hear the conversation, he said he felt that he was entitled to a profit from the $6.00 trees. I reminded him that he was satisfied with the $500 labor charge, which he would receive upon successful completion of the entire job; hence, the reason we wrote it this way into the contract. I told Eduardo that from the beginning, it was written and discussed that I would buy and pay for the materials. There was never any time to discuss him adding a profit to the materials, since I didn't feel well enough to go along and buy the materials the last minute; that's when I asked him if he would mind going alone, without me, and I would give him the cash to purchase the materials.

Eduardo threatened our family, and said he would not return any of the cash he still had left from the receipts, and also told us that he was not going to complete the job.

I asked him where the receipts were, and he told me that the nursery that he frequented refused to issue Eduardo with a receipt. I asked Eduardo for the name of the nursery, and after some difficulty, I finally got the name and address from him.

Early that morning (10/29/09) I contacted the nursery, and a Spanish-speaking lady answered the phone. Once I began inquiring about the transactions that Eduardo had taken place in, the lady promptly was unable to speak English anymore. Luckily, I speak Spanish. I asked her to provide me with the totals for the 3 days that Eduardo purchased plants from their nursery [twice on the 28th and once on the 29th] and I also asked her what the price for each plant was.

After she kept me on hold for 45 minutes, the apparent owner, a Mr. Dario Perez gave me all the information I needed in English. He told me that he did not want any trouble. He kindly informed me that each plant cost $6.00, not the $13.00 that Eduardo was taking from my money. I asked Mr. Perez if it was his store's policy to not issue sales receipts (as Eduardo had told me several times), and Mr. Perez told be absolutely not. I could come by or he could mail me the receipts from the transactions, upon my request.

Eduardo signed our mutual "contract/agreement" that we wrote out together, with a different name "Eduardo Godoy" and in the previous month, when he satisfactorily did our lawn-mowing, he requested that the check be made out to "Eduardo & Isabel Ramirez". Even though Isabel never took part in any of the daily work done by the different team of workers that Eduardo always brought to our house, Eduardo signed the checks “Eduardo Ramirez”.

After Eduardo refused to continue any work, unless we paid him more money, and justified his actions, by saying that he was entitled to a profit on top of the $6.00 plants, my father (a senior citizen) was contemplating giving him more money, as to avoid any confrontations or problems. When we did the calculations, he had more than enough of the $1500 cash left to purchase more supplies. After all, this was his estimate, and we were going to follow it.

He told us that he was a licensed contractor, and that is why he was able to get a substantial discount at the nursery. This is also what enticed us to do business with him- because of the discounts he said he was entitled to.

I repeated to Eduardo that as written in our contract, "receipts and $ difference would be returned to Russell.” It was also written that "overage was to be returned from the $1500." I told Eduardo that had I known he was planning to take advantage of my sickness (brain tumor) and inability to go shopping with him that day, to purchase the needed supplies, I would have asked a friend or neighbor to do the work I had intended to do, and accompany Eduardo to the necessary stores to make his purchases; but he continuously insisted he was now entitled to a profit from the purchases he made. I told him that is not what we had agreed upon, and it was never discussed.

As of today, November 4, 2009, no further work has been completed by Eduardo and his team of workers. The backyard has not even been touched again, after tearing up the entire grass. The front yard is still missing a large portion of hedge. The seeds are being eaten by birds, and no sprinkler system or dripper system has even commenced to be installed.

We asked Eduardo today, since he again confirmed that he is a licensed contractor, for his number, but he refused to give it to us. This time I had the phone on speaker phone, and was with a friend who passed by to look at the work at hand. His name is Mr. Ron Emes, and he witnessed Eduardo's confirmation that he was a licensed contractor and also witnessed Eduardo refusing to give me his contractor's number. Mr. Ron Emes was in charge of many large projects in Scottsdale, such as the OPUS Scottsdale Waterfront Project.

I mentioned to Eduardo that Mr. Joe Dana of Channel 12 did a very nice story about me, when I commenced radiation just prior to Christmas of last year. I told him that I do not want to ask channel 12 to do an investigation into this matter; I would prefer to handle this amicably.

Once when Eduardo showed up at our house, he brought my mother to tears. She did not need this now, especially after just going through chemotherapy. I called the police immediately after seeing my mothers state.

Apparently, Eduardo again made false promises to my mother, and said that he would finish the job. My mother asked to please come into the house and tell my father too. At that time I called the police, and canceled the call. Unfortunately, the officer did not get the cancellation in time and showed up anyway.

Today Eduardo told me that he received a Police Report. I told him that normally both parties are entitled to copies of a Police Report, if filed. I called the Phoenix Police Department, Squaw Peak Precinct, and was told that no Police Report was filed. Just another fabrication on the part of Eduardo.

We appreciate all that you do. Our family is being challenged currently with health issues. Possibly, this is why Eduardo saw us as "easy targets" when he received the $1500.

It is true, this is very difficult for us to do this paper work, and muster the strength to complete all that is needed; however, we cannot allow people to conduct business dishonestly in this manner, nor can we allow our money to go wasted, simply because we do not have the strength to put up the fight an average person might be able to.

We want to thank you in advance for all of you help and hope that we can come to an expeditious, positive resolution to this incident.

Thank you for all that you do.