ABC 36 confronts landscaper who’s been scamming customers

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ)-Fuller says about two months ago three men, Daniel Wilkinson, Shawn Wilkinson, and another claiming to be with “P & W Landscaping” showed up at his front door offering to plant seven trees in the front yard for $400.

Fuller says, “They had ’em in the back of a truck. The trees appeared to be good they had a root-ball on ’em.”

But in two to three weeks all seven trees had died,

“It was August and I kind of knew better not to plant trees in august but I figured with a two year warranty I couldn’t go wrong.”

Fuller tried to call the company several times with no luck as did the Better Business Bureau. The BBB says it’s received five complaints against the operation run by Daniel Wilkinson. Most of the complaints are in Kentucky, and one in Ohio.Customers all have similar stories about dead trees and the company promising a two year warranty that was never honored. Some customers are out more than $2,000.

Kim Sweazy, Director of Operations at the BBB of Central & Eastern Kentucky, says, “It seems like he’s moving from town to town to town. So it’s not easy to say he’s going to be in this area tomorrow, or this area the next day.”

But ABC 36 was able to confront one of the landscapers, Shawn Wilkinson, over the phone who claimed he never received any customer complaints.

Wilkinson says, “Never. Not got a message once.”

ABC 36’s Diane Gerstenfeld asked him, “Can you at least make a commitment to come out here, set a date. We’re talking to you right now. We’re not going to leave a message again.”

He reluctantly agreed to come out the first of the month and replace the trees.

Charles Fuller asked Shawn Wilkinson over the phone, “Will the new trees come with a warranty as well or I’m screwed on that?”

Wilkinson said, “Yeah, you get a one time replacement.”

Charles Fuller and his wife moved into their new house they worked hard to build together only about four months ago. Now Fuller says they’ve got seven sorry looking Charlie Brown Christmas trees in the front yard to show for it.

Fuller says, “Driving by them everyday is just a reminder that you’ve got scammed. It hurts.”

The BBB says to be careful with offers that seem to good to be true. It says a warranty is only as good as the word of the person offering it.