Landscaper sending invoices for work that was not performed

I am on the board of directors in my community and have to approve the landscaping bills that come through. I had an invoice from our landscaper that said he trimmed and dead headed the bushed at our front entrance. I am up there every month making sure everything looks great with another neighbor and he wants to take credit for it and get paid. I refused to pay the bill only to open up a huge can of worms. I am new to the neighborhood 2 years and everyone thinks our treasurer is getting free lawn service. Well now I do too. I have sent several people in the neighborhood to look at the site and everyone said that nothing had been cut. It is obvious that there would be blunt cuts on the bushes. I ask the board to call a special meeting to fire him because he did this same thing to the person last year who had this position. That girl is now our President. She tried to call a meeting and no one would come, meaning the board. The treasurer writes me an e-mail stating that he went up there himself and it looked like a few branches had been cut and he said he called the landscaper to see if he had really done the work. I am at my wits end already and feel that we are getting ripped off and my board is a part of it. This is also a board that reduces there dues when our by-laws specifically say no compensation. I was the only board member this year to pay my full dues and my husband said I will be black balled on the board. I am not a quitter so please anyone enlighten me. What do I do next? Our next meeting is September 30th and I am trying to get as many people to show up as I can. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this and respond.

It is not unusual for the landscaper to CALL AHEAD when coming out to do work. That way you can stand with the crew leader and discuss what has to be done while the crew does the work. Implement that new policy ASAP.

Good for you that you are watching the money pot!

It is a very small section at the front of the sub and they wanted $600 to take perfectly good flowers out and put new ones in. We just paid $17,265.00 for this little playpen with 6 knock down roses 20 mini boxwood and 4 Aristocrat Pear which were really suppose to be Cleveland Select Pear but no one on the old board new that we were getting something else other than what was on the plan which I have. One of the pear trees is at the end of the playpen the other line the road about 10 feet off our main street. We call it a playpen because it is a complete joke. Some of the houses are multimillion dollar homes on the water and we have this pathetic landscape. Some of us neighbors had it quoted and we got 3 other bids ranging from $ 5800 to $6000. We did not get to see the plans before this project was started. The neighbors want to redo it but there is not enough money in the kitty so we thought we would save the extra expense and do it ourselves to save for our new masterpiece A note: The flowers were planted in May so we have been doing it all along and no one said one word. Now it is September and he decides to start taking care of them without even contacting us or us contacting them. Sometimes his guys would sit out from and watch us work. Each homeowner pays $800.00 and we have a dredging fund and aqua weed spraying that gets most of the money. It doesn't bother me to do the work I know what to do I have been a landscaper myself for 40 years and I am free to the community. I forgot to thank you for your reply. So thank you. Enjoy your weekend. LD

Hi Mary,

There is no contract he said he has a verbal from the board but no one can tell me what board members. It is all a secret. The only thing I have is a price list with no signature. The landscaper has been able to bill for what ever he wants and no one has done anything about it until I walked in there and started monitoring it every day. There is only one way into our sub so you have to pass everything on the way out. You can't help but look at the landscape everyday. I am suppose to be responsible for approvals but now it is obvious that it doesn't matter what I say. The Treasurer wrote me an e-mail saying he went up there himself and looks like there are cuts 2 inches down into the bush like they had been cut recently and in the next sentence writes. I called the landscaper and asked him to confirm the work was really done. Does that even make sense? These are virgin boxwood they have branches that stick straight out so the plants look like a perfect airy dome. These plants would look dense if they were cut at all and have blunt edges and some starting of new grow. I am from a landscaping family and trimming landscapes is what we were greatly known for. Everyone out there thinks they no how to trim a tree or bush. If you were to see my house you would then know I know what I am talking about. Thank you again Mary it is nice to vent to someone other than my husband he has just about had it with them too. Enjoy your weekend.