Business ProfileforACS Land & Snow

Their owner doesn't communicate well and can be unreliable. The blizzard of Xmas 2022 took everyone by surprise. Plowing needed heavy equipment. Customers were concerned and contacted him asking when service was coming. He replied to everyone, "If anyone contacts me again regarding plow service they will go to the back of the line." Not a very nice way to treat your customers. The contract we signed under #5 states, "ASC is not responsible for snow removal which includes the use of heavy equipment to relocate snow." We didn't know what we were going to do but obviously we can't call him or we risk getting put at the end of the line. 4.5 days into the storm he brings a backhoe to get my neighbors and I out. Grateful,, but there was no communication regarding if this service was going to occur or whether it was going to incur an extra cost. Three months go by and we get a bill for $300.00+ for the extra work. OK, I get it, but I still would like and email, text or call to discuss the cost. I talked to other neighbors and coworkers who needed heavy equipment but they didn't pay nearly that amount. So I decided to hold onto the bill. Fast forward to October. I get an email from the owner threatening collections or small claims court if I don't pay up. OK, well that's not what I was expecting communication to look like. I give him a call, but all I get is defensive posturing. I tell him that he will get his money, don't get defensive. As soon as he hears that, he says, "Good, Sorry but I'm a busy man." and then hangs up on me. It was completely uncalled for and unprofessional. I don't trust that he has his client's best interests at heart. His attitude suggests he just wants to get paid. He also quit on my neighbor's landscaping job without warning and essentially he's gone from having 3-4 jobs in our little culdesac to zero in one season. All of this could have been avoided if he were to be straight-up with customers. It's just a shame.

In response to this negative review. As this review is in regards to the Christmas Blizzard 2022 I would like to share my thoughts. This was a difficult time for all. I have been clearing snow in WNY for almost 30 years and we had no benchmark to prepare for such an event. The last time a similar storm occurred I was 1 year old. Many of the people tasked with dealing with such an event were very young or not even born. Did I handle things 100% correct? No. But we did our best. When I set the auto reply stating if customers keep contacting me re:snow they would be put to the end of the list is true... If you KEEP contacting. We were inundated with calls, not just from customers, but non customers looking for help. Cell phones were crashing and this made it difficult to communicate with the men tasked with dealing with this Federally Declared Disaster. This outgoing message was up for a very short time(less than 2 hours) so we could mobilize out fleet. We were busy getting our trucks and employees dug out at that time. As for the complaint. The customer writing this had been a customer since January 2016. I took him on when another provider failed to live up to his expectations. We provided excellent service for several years until the customer chose to switch providers in 2020. He requested to have us plow his driveway again after 1 season as the provider he chose did not live up tho the customers expectations. He again signed on with us as he trusted our level of service. We granted this request and again provided excellent service...until the Christmas Blizzard of 2022. In his opinion. His comment that we did not come to service the driveway for 4.5 days from the BEGINNING of the storm is true. However, the Friday the storm began driving bans were put in place and we as private contractors must follow. We couldn't have plowed even if we chose to break the law as the conditions did not allow it. Roads were impassable for pickup trucks. Many pieces of equipment used my municipalities were stuck or abandoned due to the poor visibility. We started plowing on Christmas morning(3 days after the storm began). We still could not plow in his area as Civic Leaders did not lift the driving Ban until the next day(day 4). When the town plows finally arrived and cleared the neighborhood he is in, we came immediately. We started at one end of the neighborhood and reached his cul de sac in about 8 hours. Cleared the driveway using a Bobcat loader and a truck. It took approximately a half hour to hour to clear each driveway (normally a 3 minute job on 6" snowfall). There were 3 men at each site. One operating the Bobcat, One using a pickup truck with plow and one with the trailer and a second truck to transport the machine and direct traffic due to roads being very narrow and very high snow piles which put the public and our crews at risk. We worked 12 hours shifts like this, 2 crews, 24 hours for 3 days. My crews did a commendable job, and I was very proud of them. As for the charge, it was not outlined in the contract as we never faced a storm of this magnitude. We realized we had to charge extra for this as the cost was great. We came up with a number of $277.00. I did not find this to be exorbitant and neither did many of my customers. We now have it written in the contract that if needed this would be done at a cost reflective of the size of the driveway at a minimum charge of $185.00. His driveway is one of the larger in the neighborhood so it would be a bit more(around $250.00). I don't find this to be an unreasonable charge as the investment in equipment & good operators is substantial. When the customer called to have the bill explained the conversation went in a negative direction as I tried to explain the cost involved. He was not understanding and eventually I chose to terminate the call on the basis of not extending a disagreement. I have been providing great service, at reasonable prices for many years in WNY. I pride myself in being good at my trade, showing dedication to my work and being a pretty good guy to deal with. Unfortunately, in my almost 30 years in business I have found you can't please everyone, everytime. Thank you for reading my response. And please know, hiring ACS Land & Snow for any project will not leave you disappointed. If I have any say in it Sincerely Jason M F**