Ilkeston man lost £11,000 after Newark landscape company scammed him
A frustrated homeowner says a landscaper left his garden looking like a ‘bomb site’ — and walked away with the job unfinished having been paid about £11,000.
Richard Newton, 55, of Ilkeston in Derbyshire, placed a job advert on a website called Bark saying he was looking for landscapers and within a few hours he got a call from Newark’s D&F Landscapes and a meeting was arranged.
He says two workmen came to Mr Newton’s house and a quote of about £15,000 was initially mentioned, including a £1,000 deposit.
Mr Newton said he was given details of three properties around the Ilkeston area where the firm said they had completed jobs and the customers were said to have given good feedback.
The landscapers were paid £1,000 for a deposit, followed by another £5,500 and then £4,000 to support the cost of material and labour.
“When he first came down to give me the quote, do the measurements, he was with a gentleman who was the driver and also his business partner. Then when he came to start the work on the Monday, the other partner wasn't with him.
“I questioned where's the other guy and he said that they had a bit of a fallout and that he's was no longer with the company, he's doing his thing and the other one was doing his thing.
“I asked if it would have any impact on the job but he said no, not at all and that they would keep it the same and nothing would change.”
The work started on the May Bank Holiday and Mr Newton was told that the works would take around three weeks, with an estimated cost of £19,000 total after Mr Newton added a few tweaks to the original plan.
The landscapers started breaking and ripping the front and back gardens until it was left “like a bomb site,” said the property owner.
When the lorry was collecting the waste, it damaged the driveway, leaving the family with a future extra £2,000 repair cost.
After transferring the landscaper an extra £4,500, he was told that the materials would be arriving within a few days, however, as the days went by, nothing happened.
“I had a few scares over the weekend because he said he was coming Friday, but never showed up, then he said he was coming Saturday, never showed and then he said he'd possibly come Sunday, but again, he never showed,” added Mr Newton.
“The delivery never came, so then that set alarm bells shouting even more, I tried to ring him and then I never spoke to him since, it was all just through text messages, WhatsApp and text messages, I never spoke to him physically again.
“It was just promise after promise, he was saying that he had to get his head sorted and there was always some excuse.“
After not hearing anything from the landscaper, Mr Newton travelled to Newark to find the man through the address found on the company’s invoice to no avail.
Further discussions regarding paying back money came to nothing.
The landscaper’s initial business partner then gave Mr Newton a quote and said he would do the job for him and would only collect the money at the end.
A crew went to the property in Ilkeston and measured the front and back garden. There was a suggestion that the cost of the original job had been underestimated.
“I had to dip into my pension. This is costing me a little bit more now because I've had to redo some of the work, but the new company is doing it the way I want it.
“We’re slowly getting it done as we had no back garden since the end of May.
“I don’t trust anybody to tell me anything now.”
Mr Newton had approached the police and was told it was a civil matter and not something for them.
D&F Landscapes, Bark and Nottinghamshire Police have been approached for a comment.