Wendy negotiated to perform landscaping services at our house. She represented herself as an expert in sustainable gardening and an expert with drought tolerant planting. I should have known not to trust her when she offered me a discount if i would prepay her a deposit by a certain date and then when I didn't sign the contract until a few weeks after she said that the special offer had expired. The contract called for her to install trellises and do basic weeding and training of our plants.

She did one site visit and stopped. WE argued over the Trellis design. She never provided a design, only that the materials would cost around $900. When I requested detail of materials and design a length mean spirited email campaign began. After weeks through my own efforts i found the materials she wanted online and suspected what her design would be. It was nice but I just couldn't afford it. When I asked for other options all i got was drama.

When she came out for the site visit she asked me to provide certain soil, fertilizer, etc. When I questioned the quanities or if there were options to substitute since I couldn't locate one of her requests she got incensed and indicated she was the expert and not to question her. I finally found the fertilizer she wanted and made a special trip to buy it. After her visit she didn't even use the soil (claiming it was the wrong kind) and she only used 2 lbs of this special fertilizer. (she insisted I provide 25 lbs' of it).

Then the problems really started. She now wanted to be paid for "advice" and consulting she gave me about the trellis and soil/fertilizer she already provided. When I explained that our contract didn't call for any consulting fee she indicated that she was an expert in her field and should be paid for this advice. She provided a new contract and asked me to sign it. I told her i would not sign a new contract and she can't just change the contract we signed previously unless I agreed she didn't miss a beat.

To Paraphrase..."Basically, I'm not coming out for more visits unless you agree to sign my new contract which includes a fee for my trellis design, or you pay me a fee for my email advice I've given you".

From the list of emails i have I can tell you this woman is whacked out. I've already spoken with my family attorney who has reviewed her contract and laughed. In California contracts require two consenting parties. She can't simply decide not to alter this contract and make up another one and withhold services or charge you for consulting you didn't agree to pay for. Anyway, be careful about working with her.